In its covenant form, [the Law] serves to show them what Christ, the second Adam, did and suffered in their stead. By requiring from all who are under it perfect holiness of nature and perfect obedience of life with complete satisfaction for sin as the conditions of eternal life, it teaches believers what the Lord Jesus, in the greatness of His astonishing love, condescended to become, to do, and to suffer for them. They may see in it as in a glass that He did infinitely more for them than any mere man or angel could ever have done (Rom. 8:3–4; Gal. 3:13–14; Phil. 2:8). Thus, the law, in subservience to the gospel, teaches believers indirectly what the gospel teaches them in direct terms. It is of use also to show them under what infinite obligations they lie to the Lord Jesus for having fulfilled all the righteousness of it in their stead. Though they are not under the law in its covenant form to be either justified or condemned by it, yet it is of special use to them to teach them how much they are bound to love and serve Christ who, by obeying the precepts and enduring the penalties of it in their stead, has brought in everlasting righteousness for their justification. And so it is a means of exciting their gratitude to Christ and also to God, who so loved them as to send Him to answer all its demands for them (2 Cor. 9:15; Col. 1:12–14).
John Colquhoun | A Treatise on the Law and Gospel (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books), 117.
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