Calvin, commenting on Galatians 2:19, refers briefly to Romans 7 saying:
There Paul describes beautifully, that no man lives to the law, but he to whom the law is dead, that is, has lost all power and efficacy; for, as soon as the law begins to live in us, it inflicts a fatal wound by which we die, and at the same time breathes life into the man who is already dead to sin. Those who live to the law, therefore, have never felt the power of the law, or properly understood what the law means; for the law, when truly perceived, makes us die to itself, and it is from this source, and not from Christ, that sin proceeds.
There is a great article in the latest Churchman by Dan Wu (Winter, 2010, pp 343-56), a student at Moore Theological College, with a fresh (and persuasive) look at Romans 7. What’s particularly impressive is the way he takes a complex and heavily debated book, yet manages to cut through the dense smog of scholarship, and present a simple presentation of Paul’s argument that is still sensitive to the development of Paul’s thought, rather than attempting to impose an artificial structure on the chapter.
Wu identifies the much debated “I” of Romans 7 as the person who lives in the flesh, in contrast to the person who lives by the Spirit in chapter 8. This solution has a lot to commend it. However, in conclusion Wu rules the law out of place in developing a Christian ethic. Instead the Spirit replaces the law. He explicitly rejects “Wright’s suggestion that the new life consists of Spirit-enabled obedience to the Torah.” (p 353) He calls for more thought and exegetical work on this as “the place of the Spirit in ethics has been an area of weakness in Evangelical thinking.” (p 354)
It’s only this last step that raises a question for me, since I find Calvin’s view of the law has merit (so to speak). There is, as in the quote above, a third use of the law as a rule of life for the Christian. Insofar as this is what Wright means, he is in line with the Reformed tradition within Evangelicalism at this point. Also, I may be mistaken, but I’m reticent to accept the assertion that the Spirit in ethics has been a weakness of Evangelical thinking. What about John Owen? Reformed Evangelicalism has a rather considered doctrine of the Spirit, to which John Owen has contributed not a little. The Spirit works through God’s Word written to reveal God’s Word incarnate. Unsurprisingly, then, Paul’s ethic is derived from the scriptures, and founded upon Christ. The Spirit conforms us to the likeness of Christ, and he does this through the Word of God, which testifies to the person and work of Christ. Since the Law is Christian scripture (and for the early church their only scripture), the Spirit teaches me to see Christ in the Law, and hence conforms me further to his image through the Law. Consistent with Calvin’s thought, if I live by the Law, then I am dead to Christ, but if by the Spirit and through the Law I die to the Law, then the Spirit reveals the Christ in the Law, leading me into life.
I don’t quite understand how the Spirit establishes a Christian ethic, if he doesn’t do this through the scriptures of the Old Covenant.
No Comments