Bullinger’s Understanding of the Law

To ascertain Bullinger’s understanding of the Law we would need to carefully study a range of his works covering several decades. It does appear that Bullinger considered that the giving of the law at the time of Moses was precipitated by the idolatry which arose during the time the Israelites spent in Egypt and which was reflected in several events of flagrant idolatry in the wilderness wandering. Bullinger’s view was that there was nothing new in the giving of the law at the time of Moses but, rather, the enscripturating of the ‘conditions’ of the covenant that were in place beginning with Adam. For Bullinger there was no place for synergism and the covenant was based on the grace of God who accommodated Himself with mankind and entered into a covenant relationship with mankind. A subsequent post will look at the ‘conditions’ of the covenant that Bullinger refers to.

Bullinger, thus, wrote that many years prior to the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 that God’s law was written on the hearts of the holy fathers.

For example, in chapter 5 of The Old Faith (der alt gloub/Der Alte Glaube) Bullinger writes:

“Besides this, the Lord gave unto Noe certain laws; but none other than even such as he had given to his forefathers, and written on their hearts”
(translation by Miles Coverdale)

“Darüber hinaus gab der Herr Noah einige Gesetze, jedoch keine anderen als jene, die er seinen Vorfahren gegeben und in die Herzen geschrieben hatte”
(translation by Roland Diethelm)