ABSTRACT
Calvin's understanding and use of the Old Testament law was very different from that of Luther, and it was his more affirmative approach that shaped the Reformed tradition down to conservative evangelicals of today. Calvin used the term 'law' in several ways. Calvin's expositions of the moral law are contained in his Institutes of the Christian Religion and his commentary on Exodus, the Mosaica, which was written or dictated beginning in 1559. Luther gave short shrift to the idea that the Ten Commandments might make a claim upon Christians. Luther holds that the need for humans and animals to have a rest day from time to time is a dictate primarily of nature. Moses expressed this in terms of the Sabbath, which Christ also observed. The present work was attempting a comprehensive history of the use of the Bible in social and moral questions this would be an inexcusable procedure.
