In Defense of the Faith

The Law Dead

When Mr. Canright renounced Adventism he boldly declared that the law of God was dead. His argument for this is based on the following statement by the apostle Paul: DOF 64.1

“Know you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” Romans 7:14. DOF 64.2

Now let us note Mr. Canright’s comments on these verses: DOF 64.3

“No statement could be plainer: we are delivered from the law which is dead.”—Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, p. 388. DOF 64.4

“The apostles say that the law is dead.”—Ibid., p. 390. DOF 64.5

But the text does not “say that the law is dead.” Mr. Canright finds it necessary to misrepresent the meaning of the text in order to read his no-law theory into it. That Mr. Canright himself well understood the fallacy of this argument that the law is dead, is evidenced by a former extended statement published by him concerning the true meaning of this text. Let us note how, in his earlier statements he completely shatters his own later argument: DOF 64.6

“The position of our opponents on this chapter is, that Paul is showing the contrast between the old dispensation and the new-between the law and the gospel. We believe that Paul has no reference whatever to any such thing, but continues the same subject that he considered in the sixth chapter; namely, the change which takes place in every individual at his conversion from sin to holiness. He first shows how the law condemns the sinner, and yet is just and holy in so doing; and then, how the sinner obtains pardon and grace through faith in Christ, and thereby receives strength to keep the law which he previously found himself unable to obey. Thus we read: ‘Know you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law bath dominion over a man as long as he lives?’ Verse 1. He then illustrates what he means by this statement: ‘For the woman which bath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.’ Verse 2. DOF 65.1

“Consider the illustration. Today a woman in Iowa marries Mr. Smith. Now the law of Iowa binds her to Mr. Smith as long as he lives. There are three things in the illustration: 1. The woman; 2. The husband; 3. The law. Paul says, ‘If the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.’ Observe, she is loosed from that law. But what is it that died in this illustration? Is it the law? Suppose that Mr. Smith dies, just as Paul says, does that abolish the law of Iowa which bound her to Mr. Smith? How absurd that would be! No; the law does not die, and yet the death of Mr. Smith does loose the woman from that law; not because the law is dead, but because the person is dead to whom it bound the woman. Paul proceeds: ‘So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.’ Certainly, if while Mr. Smith lives she should marry Mr. Jones, she would be an adulteress; for the law does not allow her to have two husbands at the same time. Paul goes on: ‘But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.’ Yes; if Mr. Smith dies, then she is freed from the law of Iowa, and can now marry Mr. Jones lawfully. Bear it in mind that Paul twice says that if her husband dies she is loosed from the law, freed from the law. But the same law which bound her to Mr. Smith now binds her to Mr. Jones. It will be seen that in all this illustration there is not the slightest reference to the death or abolition of the law; the law remains the same all the time. It is the husband that dies, not the law. Now, did Paul know how to properly use an illustration or not? We think he did.... DOF 65.2

“If this illustration is a proper one, it is a very unfortunate one for the no-law position; for in the illustration, the law never died at all, while he declares that by the death of the husband the woman is freed, loosed from the law, and yet the law lives. Now the only question is, What is represented in the illustration by the two husbands? We answer that the old man, the carnal mind, the body of sin, the unconverted man, is represented by the first husband, and the Lord Jesus Christ by the second husband. The following language of Paul settles this point: ‘Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.’ Verse 4. DOF 66.1

‘Paul plainly says, ‘My brethren, you are become dead. Not that the law is dead; that it was these brethren who died. Then with whom is the second marriage made? This he as plainly states: They should be married to Him who is raised from the dead. In other words, while the old, carnal man lived, the law of God bound them down in condemnation to that old body of sin; but when that was dead, then they were united to Christ. The next verse confirms the fact that Paul is speaking here of their conversion from sin to righteousness. ‘For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.’ Verse 5. ‘When we were in the flesh,’ plainly means when we were unconverted, and has no reference to being under some former dispensation. He continues: ‘But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held.’ Verse 6. The margin says, ‘Being dead to that’ wherein we were held. The American Bible Union translation says, ‘Having died to that wherein we were held; That is, the old man having died which kept us from being united to Christ, we are delivered from the law just as in our illustration the woman was delivered from the law of Iowa when Mr. Smith died. That it was not the law, but the old man, that died, is put beyond controversy by the following language: ‘For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.’ Verses 9-11. Here Paul says, ‘I died;’ the law ‘slew me.’ Now, did the law die, or did Paul die? He says emphatically the law slew him. Then it was not the law that died, but the old man. DOF 66.2

“Then hear his conclusion. If the position of our opponents is true, Paul should have concluded like this: Wherefore the law is dead and abolished, it being a yoke of bondage. But instead of such a conclusion he sums it up thus: DOF 67.1

“‘Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy, and just, and good.’ Verse 12.”—The Two Laws, pp. 36-39. DOF 67.2

This statement was made by Mr. Canright in 1886, just three years before he published his Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, in which he so emphatically declares that “the law is dead.” How one could so quickly and so completely reverse himself on so vital a point of Christian doctrine, we cannot understand. We feel sure that the candid reader will agree with us that in this reversal Mr. Canright was certainly not advancing from darkness into light, but was rather retreating from light into darkness. He had departed from the plain and very evident interpretation of Scriptural teaching, and had espoused a theory which cannot possibly be maintained, since it has no foundation in Scripture. DOF 67.3

In fact, all teaching that tends to lessen reverence for and confidence in God’s great moral standard, the moral law, is altogether subversive of truth. Contrary to Scripture, and harks back to the rebellion of Lucifer in heaven, and his later efforts in Eden when he succeeded in persuading our first parents that the commands of God could be disobeyed with impunity and even profit. For six thousand years Satan has been seeking to break down the restraints which God has placed upon His people through the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the present almost universal reign of lawlessness serves as evidence of how well he has succeeded. Infidels, agnostics, skeptics, and scoffers have joined in sowing the seeds of rebellion and lawlessness, and today the world is reaping the whirlwind. What then may be expected when even the ministry join forces with them, and begin to teach that Christians are under no obligation whatsoever to keep God’s great moral code, urging that it has been thrown into discard by the ushering in of the gospel dispensation? Will not Satan thus greatly exult over us, and will not the kingdom of God thus suffer loss? DOF 68.1