Having described the content of the Law, the Catechism turns to the purposes of the Law. Far from being a religion in which we are freed from the Law, the Catechism makes clear, in line with the mainstream early Protestant position, that we are in fact freed for the Law.

The Commandments themselves are considered along with their connection to Jesus’ exposition of the Greatest Commandment. Rather than being the basis of a universal ethic that can be gleaned from any of the major religions or philosophies, the particularity inherent in the prologue to these Commandments brings our focus to the God who specifically acted in history to bring Israel out of bondage.