# Second Helvetic Confession
## Chapter 12 - Of the Law of God
We teach that the will of God is set down unto us in the law of God; to wit, what he would have us to do, or not to do, what is good and just, or what is evil and unjust. We therefore confess that ‘The law is good and holy’ ([Romans 7:12](/get-passage/Romans+7:12)); and that this law is, by the finger of God, either ‘written in the hearts of men’ ([Romans 2:15](/get-passage/Romans+2:15)), and so is called the law of nature, or engraven in the two tables of stone, and more largely expounded in the books of Moses ([Exodus 20:1-17](/get-passage/Exodus+20:1-17); [Deuteronomy 5:22](/get-passage/Deuteronomy+5:22)). For plainness’ sake we divide it into the moral law, which is contained in the commandments, or the two tables expounded in the books of Moses; into the ceremonial, which does appoint ceremonies and the worship of God; and into the judicial law, which is occupied about political and domestic affairs.

We believe that the whole will of God, and all necessary precepts, for every part of this life, are fully delivered in this law. For otherwise the Lord would not have forbidden that ‘any thing should be either added to or taken away from this law’ ([Deuteronomy 4:2](/get-passage/Deuteronomy+4:2), and [12:32](/get-passage/Deuteronomy+12:32)); neither would he have commanded us to go straight forward in this, and ‘not to decline out of the way, either to the right hand or to the left’ ([Joshua 1:7](/get-passage/Joshua+1:7)).

We teach that this law was not given to men, that we should be justified by keeping it; but that, by the knowledge thereof, we might rather acknowledge our infirmity, sin, and condemnation; and so, despairing of our strength, might turn unto Christ by faith. For the apostle says plainly, ‘The law worketh wrath’ ([Romans 4:15](/get-passage/Romans+4:15)); and ‘by the law cometh the knowledge of sin’ ([Romans 3:20](/get-passage/Romans+3:20)); and, ‘If there had been a law given which would have justified and given us life, surely righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture (to wit, of the law) has concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ should be given to them which believe’ ([Galatians 3:21-22](/get-passage/Galatians+3:21-22)). ‘Therefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith’ ([Galatians 3:24](/get-passage/Galatians+3:24)). For neither could there ever, neither at this day can any flesh satisfy the law of God, and fulfill it, by reason of the weakness in our flesh, which remains and sticks fast in us, even to our last breath. For the apostle says again, ‘That which the law could not perform, inasmuch as it was weak through the flesh, that did God perform, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh’ ([Romans 8:3](/get-passage/Romans+8:3)). Therefore, Christ is the perfecting of the law, and our fulfilling of it; who, as he took away the curse of the law, when he was made a curse for us ([Galatians 3:13](/get-passage/Galatians+3:13)), so does he communicate unto us by faith his fulfilling thereof, and his righteousness and obedience are imputed unto us.

The law of God, therefore, is thus far abrogated; that is, it does not henceforth condemn us, neither work wrath in us; ‘for we are under grace, and not under the law’ ([Romans 6:14](/get-passage/Romans+6:14)). Moreover, Christ did fulfill all the figures of the law; wherefore the shadow ceased when the body came, so that, in Christ, we have now all truth and fullness. Yet we do not therefore disdain or reject the law. We remember the words of the Lord, saying, ‘I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them’ ([Matthew 5:17](/get-passage/Matthew+5:17)). We know that in the law are described unto us the kinds of virtues and vices. We know that the Scripture of the law, if it be expounded by the Gospel, is very profitable to the Church, and that therefore the reading of it is not to be banished out of the Church. For although the countenance of Moses was covered with a veil, yet the apostle affirms that ‘the veil is taken away and abolished by Christ’ ([2 Corinthians 3:14](/get-passage/2+Corinthians+3:14)). We condemn all things which the old or new heretics have taught against the law of God.