Lawful and Unlawful Use of the Law (Newton)

John Newton (d. 1807) wrote a helpful letter which is now called “On the Right Use of the Law.”  It is basically Newton’s theological commentary on 1 Timothy 1:8.  After discussing the law/gospel distinction, natural laws, and moral laws, he gives some ways the law is used lawfully and some ways in which it is…

Natural Law Rejects the Idea of Human Autonomy

 Many Reformers and Post-Reformation theologians talked about laws of nature – natural laws that God has fixed in creation and in humans.  John Calvin, William Ames, Francis Turretin, John Owen, the Westminster Confession, and others used the term “law(s) of nature” favorably and (mostly) in continuity with Christian theologians that preceded them.  In his most…

Turretin on Natural Law

Near the beginning of his 3-volume theological work, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Francis Turretin (d. 1687) argues from Scripture that all humans have a sense of the divine (sensus divinitatis).  One reference he uses to prove this point is Romans 2:14-15 (quoted below).  Here are his comments. “We find in man a natural law written…

Natural Law and Two Kingdoms in Reformed Orthodoxy

  In my studies of the Reformers and Reformed Scholasticism, two of the more practical and helpful teachings I found were the doctrines of the two kingdoms and natural law.  In other terms, it was a great learning experience to see 1) how Reformed theologians typically distinguished between many aspects of the church and the civil…

Natural Law and Two Kingdoms: Conclusion

Though I had hoped to finish doing a very brief run-down of VanDrunen's new book last week, I'll have to settle for briefly finishing it up today.  I'm picking up with chapter eight, where VanDrunen discusses Barth and the Reformed doctrines of natural law and the two kingdoms.  Essentially, says VanDrunen, Barth rejected the natural law and two kingdoms doctrines because…