Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 11 (1896)
Ms 79, 1896
The Moral Law
NP
February 1, 1896
Previously unpublished.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily, I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” [Matthew 5:17, 18.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 1
A government, of whatever character, supposes a governor. This world has a governor—the God of the universe. His guardian care is universal, extending to man and beast, reaching even to the little sparrow; for Christ declares, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” [Matthew 10:29, 30.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 2
God has special regard for righteousness of character. In his word we are told that “he delighteth not in the strength of the horse; he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy.” [Psalm 147:10, 11.] He calls on the earth to fear him, and commands all the inhabitants of the world to stand in awe of him, and yet he invites the most simple to seek him, “if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.” [Acts 17:27.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 3
In God’s moral government, which is a government based upon a distinction between right and wrong, laws are essential to secure right actions. But Lucifer took the position that wrong existed in heaven and in this world as the result of the law, and that it need not have been had there been no law. This brought against God’s government the charge of being arbitrary, and made God responsible for all moral deficiencies. But right and wrong are not based upon God’s moral government; God’s moral government is based upon a distinction between right and wrong. The erroneous view which many have of this subject cause them to rebel against God’s law of government as arbitrary; but moral law is a necessity where free moral agents exist. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 4
The law of God is the expression of his character, and in his holy word it is pronounced holy, just, and good. David says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” [Psalm 19:7.] With all the exalted influence and glory he possessed before his fall, Satan could not change the smallest letter of the law; and as an apostate and a traitor, he has still been unable to alter it. If he has succeeded in his purpose of gaining the professed Christian world to his side, and if the world and the church have formed a bond of fellowship to make void the law of God, that does not prove that it has been changed. To admit that God instituted a law so imperfect in character that it needed to be changed, would be to stamp God as changeable and imperfect. But God has spoken on this point; let us heed what he says. “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that this is gone out of my lips.” [Psalm 89:34.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 5
As Creator of heaven and earth and thousands of world that have never fallen, God is governor over all, and bound to exercise a moral government throughout the universe. To exact less than obedience to his law from moral agents, would be to abandon them to ruin. Should he not enforce his law by the penalty of death, the whole universe would be in confusion. The moral law is God’s barrier between the moral agent and sin. Infinite wisdom places before man the distinction between right and wrong, between sin and holiness; but God’s government is a government of free will, and there is no act of rebellion or obedience which is not a free will act. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 6
God is supreme, and finite man must not question his right to govern the universe, and rule the moral agents which he has created. God asserted his right to rule when he declared, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me;” “for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is.” [Exodus 20:3, 11.] He is Creator and preserver of the worlds, upholding the universe by the word of his power. Nature and science bear witness that he has a right to govern his own creation; angels are subject to God’s moral government; therefore let man bow in adoration before him. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 7
While the Scriptures present the fact that God is a moral governor, they also make it plain that man is under the highest moral obligation to acknowledge him as ruler, and to obey his laws with heart and soul, trusting in his power for help and protection. This law which man is called upon to obey, as the standard of right for the moral universe, is the most wise and holy counsel of God. It is a moral law, and has its foundation in the difference of the quality of moral agents. Positive law is the expression of the will of the law-giver. Moral law is universal; positive law is not necessarily universal, but may be restricted or extended according to the will of the law-giver. Moral law must be immutable, while positive law may be enacted, changed, or abolished, as the lawgiver may determine. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 8
The Decalogue, or moral code of God, consists of two tables of stone, upon which God engraved with his own finger the foundation principles of our entire duty as his subjects. The first table contains the four commandments defining the duty of man to God; the second table contains six commandments, defining the duty of man to his fellow-man. These arms of the law were recognized by our Saviour when he declared that the whole law hung upon the two great principles of love to God and love to man. Other commands may be found in the Scriptures, but only as a specification of that which is contained in the ten commandments of the Decalogue. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 9
The moral code of the Old Testament is found in full force in the New Testament. At the opening of his ministry, Christ, in his sermon on the Mount, gave an exposition of important portions of the law, the sense of which had been buried under human customs and traditions. He brought out the pure principles of God’s law, freeing it from the spurious and burdensome exactions placed upon it by man. As he showed the far-reaching claims of the law upon human hearts, the Pharisees saw that their pet theories, customs, and practices were being swept away his plain statements. Jealousy took possession of their hearts; for they felt that their teaching and influence over the people was becoming of none effect. In their hearts they had so long mingled human customs and practices with divine commands that when Christ did not recognize these customs and traditions, they thought he was making of none effect the law of God. But Christ read their thoughts, and suddenly they were startled by the words, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” [Matthew 5:17, 18.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 10
When asked by the lawyer, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40.] Christ urged home upon his hearer that it was not enough for him to believe, but that he must be a doer of the law. In the claims of these two great principles, is the binding force of the whole law and of all the moral precepts found in the prophets. If these two commandments are brought into the gospel, all that hangs upon them is also brought into the gospel. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” [Romans 3:31.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 11
The objection sometimes brought against the law—that nowhere in the New Testament are all the commandments of the Decalogue specified—has no force; for the expressions so oft repeated—“the law” “The commandments of God”—mean the whole, not a part. And are we not told that whosoever “shall offend in one point, he is guilty of all?” [James 2:10.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 12
Christ’s work was to rid the commandments of the traditions and customs placed upon it by the Jews, which made it impossible to be kept. This work of covering the law with exactions, had been planned by the adversary of God’s law and the enemy of Jesus Christ, in order that Christ’s pure ministry should not harmonize with the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. They had yielded to temptation in departing from the Lord, and though presenting to the people the law, which, with the annexed rigorous exactions was a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear, they did not keep it themselves. This led to the declaration of Christ, “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:20.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 13
In his teaching Christ fully developed the genuine principles of the law, making it plain that it does not merely concern the outward actions, but has to do with the heart, reaching even to the unspoken thoughts. While stripping from the law the burdensome minutiae which only belittle, Christ exalted the law, holding it forth in its original purity as a perfect system of morality, far deeper and broader than the law as presented to the people by the Jews. His life, by precept and example, was a living illustration of the law of god. He made it honorable by his perfect conformity to its requirements. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 14
This moral code, taught in the Old and New Testaments, is an exclusive rule of duty, admitting no other law of any kind or from any source, and allowing no exception in obedience. The Lord has given this rule of righteousness—the only foundation of true religion—and it must be obeyed. Sooner than disobey the least of God’s commandments we had better sacrifice all our temporal interests—houses, lands, riches, liberty, even life itself. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” [Matthew 16:25.] Adam and Eve found this to be so in their experience, and every son and daughter of Adam will see it verified if they venture to transgress because it is convenient for them to do so. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 15
In loyalty to the law, we have many noble examples in the prophets and apostles, who endured imprisonment, torture, death itself, rather than break one of God’s commands, when they might have escaped by a single act of disobedience. Peter and John have left a record as heroic as any in the gospel dispensation. When called before the high priest, and commanded not to speak at all nor to preach in the name of Jesus, they answered, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.” [Acts 4:19-21.] Called once more before the council, the high priest asked them, saying “Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and behold ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. And Peter and the other apostles answered, and said, We ought to obey God rather than man.” [Acts 5:28, 29.] In this answer we have evidence that no human authority has a right to place us under obligation to claims which will cause us to disobey our rightful Sovereign, whose subjects we claim to be. 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 16
By willing obedience to all God’s commandments, we will show our supreme love for him, and will be among that class of whom it is said, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” [Revelation 22:14.] 11LtMs, Ms 79, 1896, par. 17