The Bible Class

LESSON XVII

Questions to Lesson 17^*

It has been already proved (Lesson 3) that the apostle James teaches the keeping of the whole law. That law we have found to consist of ten commandments, therefore we need not examine his testimony farther. BIC 39.1

We now inquire, Did Paul teach that the law is abolished? In Romans 7:12, he says, The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. This was written twenty-nine years after the hand-writing of ordinances was nailed to the cross. A law that is abolished is not a law, therefore it is evident that he speaks of a law that is not abolished. The holy, just and good commandment connected with this law is one of the ten, for it is quoted in verse 7. He says, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I bad not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet Thus the Apostle to the Gentiles teaches the ten commandments, 29 years this side of the cross. BIC 39.2

But, says the objector, the law is abolished, and no part of it is binding unless it be re-enacted in the New Testament; but the precept, Thou shalt not covet, is re-enacted. BIC 40.1

We ask, by whom was this precept re-enacted? It could not have been, by Jesus; for the New Testament does not inform us that he ever repeated it. How can a law be re-enacted, without being repeated or even named? As Paul is the only New Testament writer that mentions this precept, he must be the one that re-enacted it. His first words respecting it have been already quoted. Read it again as a re-enactment. I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. A singular re-enactment indeed! Paul had not known himself a sinner had not the Holy Spirit re-enacted this law by him! But he had been a Christian many years when he wrote this. He was converted to Christ, however, some years after the new dispensation had fully begun, and he found no freedom from the condemnation of the law, till he found it “in Christ Jesus.” Then, if the law was abolished at the cross, it certainly follows, that Paul was convinced of sin by the tenth commandment after it was abolished, and before it was re-enacted; or, that he had been a Christian more than twenty years before he knew that he was a sinner!—till, while he was writing this letter to the Romans, the Holy Spirit dictated the re-enactment of the tenth commandment, in these words: “I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet! BIC 40.2

But Paul positively decides the question before us in another place. He says, Do we then make void (abolish) the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law. Romans 3:31. BIC 41.1