A Treatise on the Law and Gospel (Colquhoun)
Description
Does upholding the law compromise the freeness and fullness of the gospel?
In this classic work, John Colquhoun helps us to understand the importance of knowing the relationship between law and gospel. In one of the most outstanding Reformed studies on the topic, Colquhoun encourages believers to combat both legalism and antinomianism by joyfully embracing a correct view of the law centered on the Person of Christ.
Contents
Publisher’s Introduction
Author’s Introduction
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- The Law of God or the Moral Law in General
- The Law of God as Promulgated to the Israelites from Mount Sinai
- The Properties of the Moral Law
- The Rules for Understanding Aright the Ten Commandments
- The Gospel of Christ
- The Uses of the Gospel, and of the Law in Subservience to It
- The Difference between the Law and the Gospel
- The Agreement between the Law and the Gospel
- The Establishment of the Law by the Gospel
- The Believer’s Privilege of Being Dead to the Law as a Covenant of Works
- The High Obligations under Which Believers Lie
- The Nature, Necessity, and Desert of Good Works
Quote from the Author:
“The law and the gospel are the principal parts of divine revelation; or rather they are the center, sum, and substance of all the other parts of it. Every passage of sacred Scripture is either law or gospel, or is capable of being referred either to the one or to the other . . . If then a man cannot distinguish aright between the law and the gospel, he cannot rightly understand so much as a single article of divine truth. If he does not have spiritual and just apprehensions of the holy law, he cannot have spiritual and transforming discoveries of the glorious gospel; and, on the other hand, if his view of the gospel is erroneous, his notions of the law cannot be right.”
—John Colquhoun
Endorsements
“John Colquhoun is little known in our own day, but this Scottish Presbyterian pastor has left a testimony to the life-giving gospel in this book that will echo for ages to come. Colquhoun expertly explains the moral law in its various administrations so that sinners know its demands, can flee to the gospel for life, and be informed how they can walk in a manner that draws on and reflects their union with Christ. Colquhoun’s work is a wonderful tonic for the soul, as he so clearly presents the demands of the law and the promises of the gospel, that anyone who reads this book is bound to walk away with a greater appreciation for the gospel of Christ.”
—J. V. Fesko, Harriet Barbour Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi
“Colquhoun’s book helps us understand the precise relationship between law and gospel. He excels in showing how important the law is as a believer’s rule of life without doing injury to the freeness and fullness of the gospel.”
—Joel R. Beeke
About the Author
John Colquhoun (1748–1827) was ordained as minister of St. John’s in South Leith in 1781, where he served for forty-six years. He was a minister in the Church of Scotland whose sermons and writings reflect those of the Marrow brethren of the Secession church. Colquhoun’s writings are theologically astute and intensely practical. He wrote on the core doctrines of the gospel, particularly on experiential soteriology.