Ever since the Reformation, knowingly or not, the overwhelming majority of evangelicals have held a view of the Mosaic law (if they have had any view at all) which has been formed largely by John Calvin’s doctrine of its threefold use; namely, that the law (that is, the law reduced to the ten commandments, the so-called ‘moral law’) restrains sin, prepares sinners for Christ, and serves as both the whip and the perfect rule for the believer’s progressive sanctification.