In Defense of the Faith

Protestants and the Law

John Calvin, regarded as the father of Presbyterianism and also indirectly of the Calvinistic Baptists, said: DOF 20.3

“We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must therefore be as unchangeable as, the justice of God, which it embraced, is constant and uniform.”—Calvin’s Comment on Matthew 5:17 and Luke 16:17, in Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels, vol. 1, p. 277. DOF 20.4

In the Methodist Church Discipline, edition of 1904, page 23, we read: “No Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.” DOF 20.5

Investigation will reveal the fact that the Wesleyan Discipline, and also that of the Church of England, read the same as the above. The Rev. Dwight L. Moody, whom Mr. Canright quotes as authority on a number of points, published a book some years before his death, in which is to be found the following clear-cut statement: DOF 21.1

“The commandments of God given to Moses in the mount at Horeb are as binding today as ever they have been since the time when they were proclaimed in the hearing of the people.”—Weighed and Wanting (Fleming H. Revell Co., 1898), p. 15. DOF 21.2

How tragic it is to see ministers like Mr. Canright turn away from this generally accepted doctrine, and help to break down God’s moral barriers against sin and crime. DOF 21.3

Again let us listen to Mr. Moody: DOF 21.4

“Infidels may mock the Lawgiver and reject Him who has delivered us from the curse of the law, but they can’t help admitting that the commandments are right. Renan said that they are for all nations, and will remain the commandments of God during all the centuries. DOF 21.5

“If God created this world, He must make some laws to govern it. In order to make life safe, we must have good laws; there is not a country the sun shines upon that does not possess laws. Now this is God’s law. It has come from on high, and infidels and skeptics have to admit that it is pure.”—Ibid., p. 11. DOF 21.6

In full accord with these declarations of faith are the words of the Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon, the well known Baptist preacher, who, in a sermon preached in London, England, in 1898, and widely published, appearing first in Australia, in the Melbourne Age, said: DOF 21.7

“The law of God must be perpetual. There is no abrogation of it, nor amendment of it. It is not to be toned down or adjusted to our fallen condition; but every one of the Lord’s righteous judgments abides forever.... To show that He never meant to abrogate the law, our Lord Jesus has embodied all its commands in His own life.” DOF 21.8

Dr. Adam Clarke (Methodist commentator) writes: DOF 22.1

“Thus it appears that man cannot have a true notion of sin but by means of the law of God.... And let it be observed, that the law did not answer this end merely among the Jews in the days of the apostle; it is just as necessary to the Gentiles to the present hour. Nor do we find that true repentance takes place where the moral law is not preached and enforced. Those who preach only the gospel to sinners, at best only heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly. The law, therefore, is the grand instrument in the hands of a faithful minister, to alarm and awaken sinners; and he may safely show that every sinner is under the law, and consequently under the curse, who has not fled for refuge to the hope held out by the gospel: for, in this sense also, Jesus Christ is the end of the law for justification to them that believe.”—Adam Clarke, LL.D., A Commentary and Critical Notes (New York: Lane and Scott, 1851), Romans 7:13. DOF 22.2

Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, supports this teaching thus: DOF 22.3

“The law of God, in its great and solemn injunctions, should be distinctly set forth. Our congregations should be gathered as around the base of Mt. Sinai, while from its summit is heard the voice of God in those commandments which are unalterable and eternal in their character.... DOF 22.4

“Some will object to the sternness of the law, and say, ‘Prophesy smooth things;’ but still the law must be preached. It brings the sinner to a recognition of his sins, in having transgressed God’s holy law, and shows him the fearfulness of the doom which is impending over him. The law must be followed by the gospel; the awakened sinner must be pointed to the Savior, that he may see that, deep as are the stains of his transgressions, the blood of Christ can wash them all away.”—Bishop Matthew Simpson, Lectures on Preaching (New York; Eaton and Mains, 1906), Lecture 4, p. 128. DOF 22.5

“There are many preachers who love to dwell on the gospel alone. They talk sweetly and beautifully of the fatherhood of God. This is well. It is more than well, it is essential. But sometimes they go beyond this, and declaim against the preaching of the law,—intimate that it belongs to a past age, a less civilized society.... DOF 23.1

“Such a gospel may rear a beautiful structure; but its foundation is on the sand. No true edifice can be raised without its foundations being dug deep by repentance toward God, and then shall the rock be reached, and the building shall be through faith in Jesus Christ. The law without the gospel is dark and hopeless; the gospel without the law is inefficient and powerless.”—Ibid., p. 129. DOF 23.2

Also Dr. Albert Barnes (Presbyterian) agrees that Christians are bound by the Ten Commandments: DOF 23.3

“We learn hence: 1. That all the law of God is binding on Christians. Compare James 2:10. 2. That all the commands of God should be preached in their proper place, by, Christian ministers. 3. That they who pretend that there are any laws of God so small that they need not obey them, are unworthy of His kingdom. And 4. That true piety has respect to all the commandments of God. Compare Psalm 119:6.”—Rev. Albert Barnes, Commentary (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1868), note on Matthew 5:19. DOF 23.4

The editor of the Sunday School Times agrees: DOF 23.5

“While God remains God, His moral law will be binding upon all who would have any part in His life. God’s moral law is eternal; it is an expression of His very being. As such it can no more be abrogated than can God Himself.”—Editorial in Sunday School Times, Jan. 3, 1914. DOF 23.6

Let us turn also to the official statement of Presbyterianism (Cumberland) regarding the binding claims of the Ten Commandments. Note the following emphatic declaration: DOF 23.7

“The moral law is the rule of duty growing immediately out of the relations of rational creatures to their Creator and to each other .... This law is of universal and perpetual obligation .... This law is not set aside but rather established by the gospel .... It accordingly remains in full force as the rule of conduct.”—Presbyterian Confession of Faith, pp. 43-45. DOF 24.1

Again, let us turn to the teachings of John Wesley: DOF 24.2

“The ritual or ceremonial law, delivered by Moses to the children of Israel, containing all the injunctions and ordinances which related to the old sacrifices and service of the temple, our Lord indeed did come to destroy, to dissolve, and utterly abolish. To this bear all the apostles witness.... This ‘handwriting of ordinances’ our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross. [Colossians 2:14.1 DOF 24.3

“But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which ‘stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.’ The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law.... Every part of His law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending either on time, or place, or any other circumstance liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.”—Sermons on Several Occasions (New York: Waugh & Mason, 1836), vol. 1, pp. 221, 222. DOF 24.4

“In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, are they who, openly and explicitly, ‘judge the law,’ itself, and ‘speak evil of the law.’ Who teach men to break law, to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of not one only, whether of the least or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke; who teach, without any cover, in so many words, ‘What did our Lord do with the law? DOF 24.5

He abolished it. There is but one duty, which is that of believing....’ This is indeed carrying matters with a high hand; this is withstanding our Lord to the face, and telling Him that He understood not how to deliver the message on which He was sent. O Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!

“The most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion is, that they who are given up to it really believe that they honor Christ by overthrowing His law, and that they are magnifying His office while they are destroying His doctrine! Yea, they honor Him just as Judas did, when he said, ‘Hail, Master,’ and kissed Him. And He may as justly say to every one of them, ‘Betray thou the Son of man with a kiss?’ It is no other than betraying Him with a kiss to talk of His blood and take away His crown; to set light by any part of His law, under pretense of advancing His gospel. Nor indeed can any one escape this charge who preaches faith in any such a manner as either directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedience; who preaches Christ so as to disannul, or weaken in any wise, the least of the commandments of God.”—Works of Wesley (New York: Waugh & Mason, 1833), vol. 1, pp. 225, 226. DOF 25.1

Let us very carefully note again the category in which Mr. Wesley placed those who thus openly attack the law of God and teach men to disregard its precepts: DOF 25.2

“In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, are they who, openly and explicitly, ‘judge the law,’ itself, and ‘speak evil of the law;’ who teach men to break ... not one only ... but all the commandments at a stroke.... This is indeed carrying matters with a high hand; this is withstanding our Lord to the face.”—Ibid. DOF 25.3

And yet this denial of the claims of the moral law is just what Mr. Canright taught after he broke his connection with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was accepted by the Baptist denomination in Michigan, and ordained to preach his no-law doctrine to communicants of the Baptist faith! Would early Baptists have thus accepted him and endorsed his new teaching? DOF 25.4

It was not, therefore, Seventh-day Adventism merely that Mr. Canright renounced, but the eternal law of God. Of this law Jesus said: DOF 26.1

“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. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men to he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:18, 19. DOF 26.2

Or, as Weymouth in his translation puts it: DOF 26.3

“Solemnly I tell you” that until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or smallest detail will pass away from the law until all has taken place. Whoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to break them, will be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens.”—The New Testament in Modern Speech. DOF 26.4