The Bible Echo
April 16, 1894
The Law of God Perpetual
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 1
There is a law which was abolished, which Christ “took out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” Paul calls it “the law of commandments contained in ordinances.” This ceremonial law, given by God through Moses, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to be binding upon the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Then all the sacrificial offerings and services were to be abolished. Paul and the other apostles laboured to show this, and resolutely withstood those Judaizing teachers who declared that Christians ought to observe the ceremonial law. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 2
But Christ Himself declares that He came not to destroy the law of ten precepts, which was spoken from Sinai. He says, “Verily I say unto you,”—making the assertion as emphatic as possible,—“Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” Here He teaches not merely what the claims of God's law had been and were then, but that these claims should hold so long as the heavens and the earth remain. This testimony should forever settle the question. The law of God is as immutable as His throne. It will maintain its claims upon all mankind in all ages, unchanged by time or place or circumstances. The ritual system was of altogether a different character, and typified the death of Christ as a sacrifice for the broken precepts of the moral law. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 3
“I am not come to destroy,” Christ says, “but to fulfil,”—“to magnify the law and make it honourable,” as Isaiah, hundreds of years before, had prophesied respecting the Messiah's work. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 4
“To fulfil the law.” In His own life the Saviour gave the children of men an example of perfect obedience. In His teachings He made clear and distinct every precept of the divine law; He swept away the rubbish of erroneous tradition with which the Jews had encumbered it; He illustrated and enforced its principles, and showed in all its particulars the length and breadth and height and depth of the righteousness required by the law of God. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 5
The Pharisees were dissatisfied with the teachings of Christ. The practical godliness which He enjoined condemned them. They desired Him to dwell upon the external observances of the ceremonial law, and the customs and traditions of the fathers. But Jesus taught the spiritual nature of the law, and made clear its far reaching claims. Love to God and to men must live in the heart and control the life, as the spring of every thought and every action. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 6
There is perfect harmony between the law of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. “I and My Father are one,” says the great Teacher. The gospel is the good news of grace, or favour, by which man may be released from the condemnation of sin, and enabled to render acceptable obedience to the law. The gospel points to the moral code as a rule of life. That law, by its demands for undeviating obedience, is continually pointing the sinner to the gospel for pardon and peace. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 7
Says the great apostle, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law.” And again he declares that the “law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Enjoining supreme love to God, and equal love to our fellow-men, it is indispensable alike to human happiness and the glory of God. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 8
The words of Christ are both explicit and comprehensive. “Whosoever”—minister or laymen, wise or ignorant—“shall break one of these least commandments”—wilfully or presumptuously, as did Adam and Eve—is included in the condemnation. Breaking one of the commandments makes man a commandment-breaker. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” No excuse can avail for him who strictly obeys nine of the precepts of God's law, but ventures to break one because it is for his profit or convenience to do so. God demands implicit obedience to all His requirements. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 9
“And shall teach men so.” This is a point worthy of careful consideration. Christ foresaw that men would not only break the commandments of God themselves, but would teach others to break them. Some are not content with doing this by example; they defend sin, and pervert the word of God to justify the transgressor. Such persons will have no part with the people of God. But the greatest guilt rests upon the professed watchmen, who do not hesitate to speak evil of the law, and even to make those who are ignorant of the Bible believe that they are fallen from grace if they keep it. “All we have to do,” say they, “is to believe in Christ, come to Christ.” BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 10
While we point the sinner to Jesus as the one who can take away sin, we must explain to him what sin is, and show him that he can be saved from his sins, but not in them. He must be made to realize that “sin is the transgression of the law.” Paul made the inquiry, many years after the death of Christ, “Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Thus Paul exalts the moral law. When this law is practically carried out in every-day life, it is found indeed to be the wisdom of God. It serves to detect sin. It discovers the defects in the moral character, and shows sin to be exceeding sinful, revealing it in all hideousness. Through obedience to its requirements, Christian character is perfected. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 11
God's law is a copy of His mind and will. The sins forbidden there could never find a place in Heaven. It was love that prompted God to express His will in the ten precepts of the decalogue. Afterward He showed His love for man by sending prophets and teachers to explain and illustrate His holy law. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 12
God has given man a complete rule of life in His law. Obeyed, man shall live by it, through the merits of Christ. Transgressed, it has power to condemn. The law sends men to Christ, and Christ points them back to the law. BEcho April 16, 1894, par. 13