T-note WHAT WAS CALVIN's NOTION of the "THIRD USE of the LAW" "... God's Law as set forth in Scripture, remains valid. Indeed, the Law has three functions ( usi): the political (as a Indeed, the Law has three functions ( restraint for the wicked), the theological (as "a paidagogos to bring us to Christ"—Gal. 3:24), and the didactic (as a guide bring us to Christ"—Gal. 3:24), and the didactic (as a guide for the regenerate, or, in Bonhoeffer's words, "as God's for the regenerate, or, in Bonhoeffer's words, "as God's merciful help in the performance of the works which are commanded"). Few Protestants today dispute the first and second uses of the Law; but what about the third or didactic use? Do Christians, filled with the love of Christ and empowered by His Holy Spirit, need the Law to teach them? Are not the Christian existentialists right that love is enough? Indeed, is it not correct that Luther himself taught only the first two uses of the Law and not the Indeed, is it not correct that Luther himself taught only the first two uses of the Law and not the tertius usus legis?..
...elight in Thy Law" and "0 how I love Thy Law!" (Ps. 119;cf. Ps. land 19). Only by taking the Third Use of the Law — the "law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2) — seriously do we take regeneration seriously; and only when we come to love God's revealed Law has sanctification become a reality in our lives....
