The Royal Law

The Perpetuity of the Royal Law    Pt. 1

Or, The Ten Commandments Not Abolished. Advent and Sabbath Tract, No. 4.

By J. N. ANDREWS

IT is painful to witness the various inconsistent and self-contradictory positions resorted to by those who reject the Sabbath of the Lord. But of all the positions adopted, none seem so dangerous, or fraught with such alarming consequences, as the view that the law of God, by which the Sabbath is enforced, has been abolished, and that we are, therefore, under no obligation to remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. The question whether God has abolished his law or not, is, indeed, the main point at issue in the Sabbath controversy; for when it is shown that law still exists, and that its perpetuity is clearly taught in the New Testament, the question is most conclusively settled, that the Sabbath is binding on us, and upon all men. 

The Sabbath of the Lord is embodied in the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. This commandment stands in the midst of nine moral precepts which Jehovah, after uttering with his own voice, wrote with his own finger on the tables of stone. These nine commandments stand around the Sabbath of the Lord, an impregnable bulwark, which all the enemies of that sacred institution in vain attempt to destroy. It is evident that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment cannot be set aside unless the Decalogue can be destroyed. Hence the enemies of the Sabbatic institution have brought their heaviest artillery to bear upon the law of the Most High: calculating that when they had destroyed this strong hold, the Sabbath would fall an easy prey to their attack. We invite attention then to the law and to the testimony. By the unerring word of God we wish to settle this question; and this we believe can be done in the most satisfactory manner. 

That the hand-writing of ordinances containing the feasts, new moons and the associated annual sabbaths of the Jews, has been abolished and taken out of the way, we do not doubt. This was not the moral law of God; but was merely the shadow of good things to come. But the royal law in which are the ten commandments of God is the subject of this investigation, and it is the perpetuity and immutability of this law that we affirm. If the law of God has been destroyed, the act must have been accomplished by one of three things; viz., 1. By the teachings of the Lord Jesus;

or 2. By his death; or 3. By the apostles. We believe that all will agree to this statement. 

1. Was the law of God abolished by the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ? Let us listen to his own 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. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, 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." Matt.

5:17-19. 

Our Lord here testifies that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets. Then it is a fact that he did not destroy either. But what is it to destroy the law? We answer, that it can only signify to abolish, or to annul it. And thus Campbell renders the word:- "Think not that I am come to subvert the law." Whiting renders it:- "Think not that I am come to annul the law." It is therefore certain that our Lord did not come to subvert, annul, or destroy, the law of God. Hence it follows that the law of God was not annulled or abrogated by him. He adds, that instead of coming to destroy, he came to fulfill. If this was the object of the Saviour's mission, did he not by this act do away the law, set is aside, and relieve us from obligation to keep its precepts? Let us see. As Campbell renders the text, it reads, "I am not come to subvert, but to ratify." That is, I am not come to abolish the law, but to confirm, and render still more sacred, its just demands. If that was the object of our Lord's mission, it follows that he did not lessen our obligation to obey the law of his Father. 

But let us return to the word "fulfill." Christ came to fulfill the law, hence he did fulfill it. What is it to fulfill a law? Let the apostle James answer: "If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." James2:8,9. It is evident that James here places the transgression of the law in contrast with, or in opposition to, the fulfillment of the law; therefore it follows that the fulfillment of the law is the reverse of its violation. In other words, it is its observance. To fulfill the law in the manner that James enjoins, is to render complete obedience to its divine requirements. 

But it may be contended that to fulfill the law in the sense of our Lord's declaration, accomplishes its purpose, and takes it out of the way. To show the absurdity of this view, let us take another of Christ's sayings which is of the same character, precisely. When John refused to baptize the Saviour, Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Matt.3:15. Did the Saviour, by fulfilling all righteousness, weaken, take out of the way, or destroy all righteousness? Certainly not. No one will claim that he lessened our obligation to fulfill all righteousness also. 

But how did Christ fulfill the law of his Father? There is but one way in which this could be accomplished, and that is to answer its just demands. What were those demands? We answer: first, the law of God demands perfect obedience. The justice of this, none will deny. But when the law has been violated, it demands the death of the transgressor. Sin is the transgression of the law." 1John3:4. "The wages of sin is death." Rom.6:23. "The soul that sinneth it shall die. Eze.18:4. When Christ came to fulfill the law, he came to do this, not for himself, but in behalf of our race. He came to fulfill the law as the Messiah: an office or character which no other being ever possessed. He came to undertake for fallen men, and in a certain sense placed himself in their situation. What then was the relation which our race sustained to the law of God? We answer: all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. The law of God stopped every mouth, and showed all men sinners in the sight of God. Rom.3. 

Then, when the Saviour took upon himself our nature, and came to fulfill the law of his Father, that law not only demanded perfect obedience; but it also justly demanded the death of our race; for all were its transgressors. The work of the Saviour, therefore, in fulfilling the law of his Father, was of a twofold character. He must first render perfect obedience to all its precepts, and then offer up his own life as a ransom for guilty man. To fulfill the law as the Messiah, Christ must perform all this. Did he thus do? He kept his Father's commandments. John15:10. In him there was no transgression of the law. 1John3:4,5. He was the Lamb of God without spot, [1Pet.1:19.] in whom the Father was well pleased. Matt.3:17. And this was not all; he took upon himself the sin of the world. Isa.3:6; John1:29. He bore our sin in his own body upon the tree. 1Pet.2:24. He died the just for the unjust, giving his own life a ransom for many. 1Pet.3:18; Matt.20:28. God can now be just, and yet justify him that believeth in Jesus. Rom.3:25,26. Thus Christ lived our example and died our sacrifice. 

Did this work of the Messiah, in rendering perfect obedience to all the law of God, and then offering up himself as a ransom for its transgressors, weaken that law, or lessen our obligation to obey it? Never. It shows in the most striking light, its perpetuity and immutability. The law of God condemned our race. Jehovah would open the way for man's salvation. He could not destroy his own moral law; but he could give his own beloved and only Son to die for its transgressors. This evinces the estimate which the Father placed upon his own law. Isaiah predicted that Christ should magnify the law, and make it honorable. Isa.42:21. The record of Christ's life and death shows the fulfillment of this prediction. 

But Christ adds a solemn affirmation. "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. What is a jot and a tittle? A jot is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. A tittle is a small point by which some of those letters are distinguished from others. Our Lord therefore solemnly affirms that the minutest point shall not pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Then it is certain that a part will not be destroyed and the remainder of the law be left in force. Consequently as long as a part of the original precepts continue, all of them abide without one jot or tittle being destroyed. Further than this, Christ has plainly marked the point of time before which no part of the law of God shall pass. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Has heaven and earth passed away? Let those answer who teach the abolition of the law of God. When will heaven and earth pass? Let the beloved disciple answer: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." If the fulfillment of the law of God destroys it, that destruction cannot take place before the final conflagration of the heavens and the earth. 2.Pet.3. Prior to that time the minutest point shall not be destroyed. If therefore one jot or one tittle shall on no account pass from the law, till all be fulfilled; and if the point before which this shall not be accomplished is the passing of the heavens and the earth, it follows that the Lord Jesus not only designed that the law should be fulfilled by himself for the brief period of his sojourn on earth, but also, that the righteousness of the law should be fulfilled in his church; or as Whiting renders Rom.8:4, "that the precept of the law might be fulfilled by us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." The next verse establishes this view. 

"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, 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." Let us carefully consider this verse. The word "whosoever" takes up all persons through all coming time. The word "therefore" shows that this verse is the conclusion drawn from the premises which the Saviour had just laid down, which were these: 1. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law." 2. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." As not a single particle of this holy law was to be destroyed, it was fitting that the Lord Jesus should speak with distinctness respecting its observance and its violation. This is what he now utters. 

"Shall break one of these least commandments." Then we have here the opposite of fulfilling the law; viz. the breaking of the commandments. We may also learn that the law in verses 17,18, means the commandments. 

"One of these least." Christ had said that not one jot or one tittle should pass from the law till all be fulfilled, so that there could be no excuse for those who teach that a part of the law has been destroyed, and that the remainder is yet in force. But Christ did not leave the subject thus. He now tells what shall be the fate of those who violate the least of the commandments. Those who select nine of them, and omit one of the commandments, which they think not worth their notice, are the very persons that Christ here reproves. 

"And shall teach men so." Who are they that teach men to violate the commandments? Those who teach men that they have all been abolished go far beyond the crime that Christ has here noted. The Saviour spoke of those who should violate the least one. Some at the present day teach men that all of them are abolished. This is the grand and effectual method to teach men to violate the law of God. But those who make any one of the commandments void, that they may keep in its place a tradition of the elders, are doing exactly the work that our Lord has here solemnly warned men against. 

"He shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven;" or, as Campbell renders, "shall be of no esteem in the reign of heaven." This is, doubtless, the idea of the Saviour. This is the penalty of a violation of the least precept of the law of God. But how much more fearful must it be to break the commandments and to teach men that they have all been abolished! 

"But whosoever shall do and teach them." Here we may learn what it is to fulfill the law of God. It is to do and to teach the commandments. "The same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Or, as rendered by Campbell, "shall be highly esteemed in the reign of heaven." Here is the ample commission; here is the vast reward of those who teach and keep the commandments of God. Surely, no man ever enjoined obedience to the law of God with such force as did our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us hear his words again:- 

"But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded saying, Honor thy father and mother; and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." Matt.15:3-6. 

These words disclose to us the sacredness of God's commandments in the mind of the Lord Jesus. He did not deny that he violated the traditions of the Jews, but he boldly arraigned their traditions, and condemned them as worthless in the sight of God. And not only as worthless, but also as sinful, inasmuch as they contradict and make void the commandments of God. The tradition in question was very venerable with the Jews, inasmuch as they supposed that it had been handed down from Moses; thus being equally ancient and sacred in their estimation with the commandment which it so effectually made void. On such authority the Jews thought themselves fully justified in an open violation of the fifth commandment. Nay, they even supposed that the observance of this tradition was more acceptable to God then the observance of the commandment itself. 

To be continued…..