Christ not Our Lawgiver.
By Kitto
“John 1, 17: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”” In reference to this text, the Reformers declared it to be improper to call Christ a new lawgiver. This was an objection which drew forth against them the anathema pronounced in the sixth session of the Council of Trent: ‘If any man should assert that God granted Christ Jesus to mankind only as a Redeemer in whom they should trust, and not also as a lawgiver whom they should obey, let him be accursed.’ (Conc. Trid. Sess. iv, Can. 21.) It is, however a fact, that Christ did not give new laws, but only new motives for keeping the moral precepts more or less clearly known to Jews and Gentiles, by making it a prominent doctrine, that love is due to God and to men in general, even to our enemies, and that intentions are of greater moral importance than outward acts. The characteristic of the doctrine of Christ does not consist in new laws given, but rather in the forgiveness offered for past transgressions, and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit promised to his true disciples.—Kitto.