p. 8 | The Unity and Breadth of the Law by Milton C. Wilcox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 17, 1916

The Unity and Breadth of the Law

By Milton C. Wilcox

The Law of God—No. 4

The Unity and Breadth of the Law

MILTON C. WILCOX

The unity of the law is proved by the fact that it was given by the one perfect God. He could give no other than a perfect law, one and indivisible, the reflection of his own character, the standard of character for his children. But study it from whatever side we will, the same unity is revealed.

The Underlying Principle

“God is love;” his law is the law of love. Because of love God gave the law.

“Jehovah came from Sinai, And rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones: At his right hand was a fiery law for them. Yea, he loveth the people.” Deut. 33:2, 3.

God gave the law because he loved the people. It can only be observed in love, of which it is the proof: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. God loved, and therefore God gave man laws, and therefore man gives loyal, loving obedience. There is nothing compulsory, coercive in love.

That great principle of love, like a mighty trunk of a tree, divides into two great limbs, love to God and love to man.

From the first of these great limbs, love to God, spring four branches; and from the second limb, love to our fellows, six branches. The four branches represent the first four commandments, the six branches the last six commandments.

As soon as God had created one intelligent, responsible creature, it was the duty of that creature to recognize his Creator as supreme before all others. It was his duty to refrain from belittling his Maker by making an image or representation, and thus limiting God by his own finite ideas. It was his duty to reverence God’s name. It was his duty to observe the day set apart by his Creator for rest and worship. These four precepts grow out of the very nature of things, the vital and essential relations between God and his child.

The last six commandments, connecting man with God, proceed to guard the relationship between man and his fellow man, putting in the first place that highest of all relations, parent and child. The loving child of God who honored his heavenly Father, would honor his earthly father and mother, to whom under God he owed his existence.

He would regard the life of his fellow.

He would guard the chastity of his neighbor.

He would not take the property of another.

He would safeguard the reputation of others.

He would not unlawfully desire that which was another’s. Every phase and principle of life is met in the breadth of the law of God.

The Form of the Law

The normal form of the law is positive, not negative; but man through sin is abnormal. His nature is perverted. The flesh is dominant over spirit, and the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. Rom. 8:7.

To sinful man, with a heart prone to evil, God’s law comes in largely negative form, “Thou shalt not.” All are wholly negative except two, and one of these is largely negative. These two are great and comprehensive precepts, embracing in their scope the fulness of duty. For he who honors the first of these two positive commandments, the fourth, will be a worshiper of the one true God, and will therefore keep the first three precepts; and he who honors his father and mother, will not kill, commit adultery, steal, or lie. Other precepts in the law are equally comprehensive.

But in its negative side the law condemns and reproves all sin. To the thoughtless heart it may not seem so to do, but to the devout man who meditates upon it, it will be seen to be “exceeding broad.” We have before learned that the law or commandments, on their positive side, embrace “the whole duty of man.” Eccl. 12:13. There are no duties then which the law does not embrace. On the negative side, it condemns all sin. The apostle John says: “All unrighteousness is sin;” and, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 5:17; 3:4. And another mighty teacher of God says, “I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7, A. R. V. Therefore, “through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. The holy law, the decalogue, is therefore all-comprehensive in both its positive and negative side.

Principles Not Particulars

The decalogue does not, however, deal with little particulars, but with principles. It does not say, “Thou shalt not hate,” in so many words, but it does say it in principle.

The commandment prohibition strikes against the very highest sin forbidden by the principle, and in that is included all the motives, purposes, steps, which lead to the great transgression. The man covets and lusts before he steals or commits adultery. The commandment condemns all that leads to the ripened transgression. This will be developed more fully in the study of each precept.

God’s holy law is worthy of our study. God pronounces blessings upon the man whose “delight is the law of Jehovah.” Nay, now, the blessing is in the doing of it. It is not an arbitrary act on the man’s part, and an arbitrary act of blessing on God’s part. There is blessing in the meditation of the law. There is blessing in yielding to its claims. It places us in the outflow from the throne of the Eternal, in the channel of life, in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ. And of the soul in such a channel it may well be said, “O the blessedness of the man,” or another rendering, “O happy the man . . . whose delight is in the law of Jehovah.”