4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Track 6 of Hand It Down -- the law abolished, Christ the rule of the believer's conscience, as bluegrass gospel with chorus.
Source: Romans 7:4 (we are become dead to the law by the body of Christ), 2 Corinthians 5:14 (the love of Christ constraineth us), Galatians 3:24-25 (the schoolmaster), and the law-abolition doctrine B carries with Fortner in Chapter 20.
Doctrine: the law was a pedagogue until the Master came; the believer died to the law in Christ's death and rose to Christ alone. No tripartite division. No third use. Christ is the rule of life, and the love of Christ constrains the conscience.
Form: four verses with a chorus between, 8.6.8.6 meter throughout, female lead with full family harmony on every chorus.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The law was given by the Lord,
A pedagogue to bear,
Until the Lord Himself came down,
And freed us from its care.
[Chorus]
Christ is the rule, the law has gone,
The schoolmaster is done,
The standard of the saint today
Is Jesus Christ alone.
[Verse 2]
We died to law when Christ was killed,
We rose to Him alone,
The constable that ruled our flesh
No longer holds his own.
[Chorus]
Christ is the rule, the law has gone,
The schoolmaster is done,
The standard of the saint today
Is Jesus Christ alone.
[Verse 3]
The love of Christ constrains us now,
That's all the rule we need,
We do not live by stone-cut codes,
But by the Spirit's seed.
[Chorus]
Christ is the rule, the law has gone,
The schoolmaster is done,
The standard of the saint today
Is Jesus Christ alone.
[Verse 4]
So if a man would lay the law
Upon a Christian's brow,
Tell him the schoolmaster has gone,
And Christ has bought us now.
[Chorus]
Christ is the rule, the law has gone,
The schoolmaster is done,
The standard of the saint today
Is Jesus Christ alone.
Commentary