The Christian and God's Law
By C. M. S.
THE law is the foundation of God's government and the expression of his character. The gospel is God's message of peace and reconciliation to those who have broken the law of his realm. He who breaks God's law does, by that act, defy God's rule and put his own purpose against the purpose of God. When that is done, there is a gulf between man and his Maker. They are at cross-purposes; and as there cannot be two systems of government in one universal realm, one must give way to the other; one must go down before the other. Otherwise there would be anarchy, with every being a law unto himself—no head, no government, no protection of individual rights. The result would be7absolute ruin to the entire universe. There must be law, universally applicable, and that law the fundamental principle of a government of equal universal jurisdiction. God could thrust out of his universe, as fast as they arose, all transgressors of his law, all opponents of his government; and none could question the justice of his course. He does not do it. Therein his mercy and his love mingle with his justice; and the proclamation of that mercy and the invitation into the arms of that love constitute the gospel. God's work is not self-destructive. Free salvation does not give a license to sin. The gospel does not abolish the law. The law of God came into the world for a definite purpose,—that man might know the real character of God and the principles that underlie his government. There must be the utmost harmony between the character of God, the law of God, and those who are finally accounted worthy of eternal life. ‘We shall be like him,’ says the apostle John, ‘for we shall see him as he is.’ When the universe is freed from the disease of sin, there will be one unbroken harmony of life and character throughout all the realm of God. The apostle says: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation.’ Sin made salvation necessary. ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’ That salvation which the gospel brings to light is salvation from sin and its consequence—eternal death. The necessity of salvation proves the existence of sin; and the existence of sin proves the existence of the law, for ‘where no law is, there is no transgression.’ If, then, we assert the abolition of the law because of the existence of the gospel, we take away the very necessity for the existence of the gospel. If the law is abolished, there is no sin; for ‘sin is not imputed where there is no law.’ If there is no sin, there is no need of salvation, no need of a Saviour, no necessity for the gospel. Take the law of God out of this world, and God could not condemn any man for anything he might do. There would be no sin then; for we cannot transgress a law that does not exist. There would be no salvation then; for we cannot be saved from a condition that does not exist. There would be no gospel then; for God will never proclaim the ‘good news’ of a salvation for which there is no need. The Word declares, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ Again: ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’ The Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New, recognizes the presence of sin in this earth. It must, therefore, recognize the existence of the law, of which sin is the transgression. As the forgiveness of our sins depends upon the confession of our sins, and as the fact of our being sinners proves the existence of the law of God, we see at once that the forgiveness of our sins depends upon our recognition of the existence of the law of God. If that law were abrogated by the death of Christ while we still live in him, then we should be driven to the conclusion that the trouble was with the law rather than with us who had broken it. It would mean that the law was imperfect or unjust, or both, and that the only way to get rid of it and save our lives was for Christ to be slain under its condemnation that he might, in some unexplainable way, remove the faulty code from the realm of God. But what is the word of Inspiration in reference thereto? ‘So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.’ Rom. 7:12. James calls it ‘the perfect law, the law of liberty.’ James 1:25. Did Christ come to the world to abolish that which is holy and righteous and perfect?—Nay, verily; for those are the very qualities of his own character. Because his character was in perfect harmony with that law, he was holy and righteous and good and perfect. The law of God being the expression of his character, God could not abolish it without abolishing his own attributes. The conflict in heaven was never between righteousness and righteousness, between perfection and perfection, but between righteousness and unrighteousness, between perfection and imperfection. So Christ says: ‘Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill.’ Matt. 5:17. On the other hand we read, ‘To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.’ If he abolished the law, the inevitable conclusion would be that the law was of iniquitous origin, a part of the works of the devil. Thus we see what dishonor it brings upon God to claim the abolition of his law through the mediatorial work of Christ. The devil had sinned and caused many others of the angels to sin. When the angels sinned, they transgressed the law of God. ‘For if God spared not angels when they sinned, . . . the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment.’ 2 Peter 2:4-9. For God to abolish the law which they transgressed would be to acknowledge that the law and the Giver of the law were in the wrong, and Satan and all his angels were in the right. It would palliate the sin, excuse the sinner, and declare the law imperfect and unjust. Satan would indeed have cause to exult if that were done. It would be the proof of all his accusations against God and his government. As long as men are being adjudged righteous or unrighteous, worthy of eternal life or meriting eternal death, God cannot abolish the law; for that is his supreme and only standard of righteousness. Jesus Christ declares of himself: ‘I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.’ John 15:10. Because he did that, the Word calls him ‘Jesus Christ the righteous.’ Again: ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’ What is the test of holiness?—The law; there is no other. ‘Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.’ Matt. 5:48. The standard of perfection is the law—‘Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty.’ Looking into that law, we see revealed the defects of our characters. If we are faulty, it reflects our faults; if righteous, it witnesses to that righteousness. But that law, perfect as perfection itself, cannot confer perfection upon us. It can reveal it or the lack of it in us. The very test of its perfection is that it can reveal our every imperfection. The remedy for our imperfection is not in the law but in something outside the law. It is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot be saved in our sins; but we can be saved from our sins. Jesus Christ was ‘manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.’ Heb. 9:26. ‘The blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ 1 John 1:7. That righteousness, that perfection in the eye of the law, comes to us through Christ; and the ‘good news’ of that fact is the gospel of Jesus Christ. When there was no power in ourselves to keep us from sin, no power in ourselves to save us from the consequences of sins already committed, no power in us to achieve righteousness by the deeds we might do, then came the gospel of Christ, ‘the power of God unto salvation.’ Then came Christ, bearing ‘our sins in his own body upon the tree,’ ‘made to be sin on our behalf,’ that he might pay the penalty of the broken law in our stead, and then confer upon us an inheritance in the kingdom of righteousness. Thus we see that there is no conflict between the law and the gospel. The one reveals sin in the individual; the other brings him the remedy. The one reveals to man the character of God; the other reveals the only arrangement whereby we can have bestowed upon us a likeness of that character. The one reveals Heaven's rule of government; the other reveals the only arrangement8God has made to counteract the effect of Satan's rebellion against that government. What, then, should be the Christian's attitude toward the law of God, which is the foundation of the government of God? The attitude of the true Christian toward that law must be the same as the attitude of Christ himself—loyalty, obedience. An attitude different from that of Christ would make one a rebel against the government of God. Christ said, ‘Thy law is within my heart;’ and he who would be a true follower of Christ must learn to say the same, and say it in glad loyalty. C. M. S.