DID IT REQUIRE LOVE TO FULFILL THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 19, 1869

DID IT REQUIRE LOVE TO FULFILL THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?

By Dudley Marvin Canright

To those who love the law of God it seems strange that any one should say that there is no love in the ten commandments; yet this is asserted by those who would have the law abolished. I have heard ministers say that a man might keep all the ten commandments and yet neither love God nor his neighbor. Some go further, and declare that a man might have hatred, adultery, &c., in his heart, and yet not break the ten commandments under the old covenant. Proof of this is supposed to be found in Christ’s language in Matt. v, 27, 28, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Here, they say, in Christ’s new law, to have adultery, or murder, or theft, in the heart, is breaking the law; but before that, the act must be actually committed in order to break the law. Hence, the law did not reach to the thoughts and to the intents of the heart, it only required a strict outward obedience. Then I reply that under the old covenant, men could have adultery, theft, and murder, in their hearts, and there was no law to condemn it, and if they did not outwardly break the law, they could not be condemned; hence, God must take them to Heaven with murder, adultery, &c., in their hearts! The mere statement of the case is enough to condemn it. This would make God unjust; for he would damn a man in this dispensation for the very thing that he would allow in the old. Thus men, in trying to get rid of that old yoke of bondage, as they call the law, have only bound more heavy burdens upon themselves by the gospel!

We do not think that Jesus added anything to the commandments, or made them extend any further than they did before, but simply explained what their real intent and meaning was and always had been. As evidence of this, we refer to the prophecy concerning what he would do to the law, found in Isa. xlii, 21: “He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” To magnify a thing is not to abolish it, but to make it appear larger than it did before; not because it is larger, but because we see it more plainly. This is what Christ was to do to the law, and what he did really do—he showed how exceeding broad the commandments were, even extending to the thoughts and intents of the heart.

But I will now offer proof that the ten commandments did require love to fulfill them, and that they could be broken by simply cherishing wrong desires in the heart, without any open transgression. The second commandment requires love to God, and threatens those who hate him: “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Ex. xx, 5, 6. With this language before them, it is hard to imagine how men can say that the commandments do not teach love to God. In Deut. vi, 5, we read: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” and in Lev. xix, 18, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” After quoting these two commandments, Jesus says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. xxii, 40. He did not give these two commandments himself, and say that his new law hung on them, but he quoted them from the old law, and then stated a fact, which had always been a fact, that all the law and the prophets hung on these two great commandments. When was the law hung there? When God first gave that law. Look a moment: The first one of these two great commandments requires supreme love to God; on this the first four of the ten commandments all hang. If we love God, we cannot have other gods, nor can we make, and bow down to, images; nor can we take God’s name in vain; neither can we break his Sabbath. Hence these four commandments are based upon the principle of love to God, and require us to love God in order to keep them.

The second of the two great commandments requires equal love to our neighbor. If we love our neighbor, we cannot kill him, nor bear false witness against him, nor steal from him, &c. Hence these six commandments are built upon the principle of love to our neighbor, and require us to love him in order to fulfill them. This fact Paul has stated in very clear terms. “Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” What law, Paul? Ans. “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; THEREFORE LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW.” Rom. xiii, 8–10. This is a good testimony, and to the point. He quotes five of the ten commandments, showing beyond a doubt what law he refers to; then he sums up by saying that “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Yet men who profess to be Christians have the presumption to affirm that there never was any love required by the ten commandments! John agrees with Paul; for he says, “This is the love of God that we keep his commandments.” 1 John v, 3. These testimonies I think are sufficient to settle the fact that it did require love to fulfill the commandments.

Now it will be in order for us to inquire whether the ten commandments reached to the thoughts and intents of the heart. A man must be willingly ignorant who thinks they did not. What does the last commandment say? “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife,” &c.

Is it not a mental act, as evil desires of the heart alone, which breaks this commandment? This fact alone is enough to settle this point. But, as I have shown above, it requires love to fulfill the law; hence it follows that the law did reach to the secret feelings and emotions of the heart. Again, the wise man says, “The thought of foolishness is sin.” Prov. xxiv, 9. Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John iii, 4. Here, again, the law is shown to reach to the thoughts. The Psalmist intimates the same thing when he says, “I hate vain thoughts; but thy law do I love.” Ps. cxix, 113. The same truth is shown by the fact that the law of God was in the hearts of the righteous. Ps. xi, 8; Isa. li, 7.

But Paul sets this matter at rest when he says, “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Rom. vii, 14. This is the law of ten commandments, for he calls it the law of God, verse 22, and quotes the last commandment. Verse 7. That which is spiritual must reach beyond a mere outward form, even to the thoughts and desires of the mind. But, as if to put it beyond all doubt, he says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Chap. viii, 7. So then the law of God reaches to the carnal mind and condemns it. Did not the carnal mind exist before the coming of Christ? Most assuredly. And it was no more subject to the law of God then than now. Christ himself has shown that the commandments reach to the evil thoughts and desires of the mind. He said that whoever was angry with his brother without a cause had broken the sixth commandment. So of the seventh. Matt. v, 21–28.

What answer then shall we return to the question, Did it require love to fulfill the ten commandments? Judge ye. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Richmond, Me., Jan. 4, 1869.