The Law of God by Albert Weeks

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 10, 1872

The Law of God.

By Albert Weeks

How much we need the rule of action God has given us, it being a perfect law. That anarchy would be the result of each individual's following the inclination of his own mind, is evident to all thoughtful minds. The acknowledged necessity of law results in the law of the land; but as none are free from the imperfections of our race, that law that is enacted by man is at best imperfect. The necessity, then, of having a law given by a Being who is not subject to our imperfections, is apparent.

In the ten commandments, given by God's own voice, we have a law in every respect worthy of the expression of the psalmist: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Ps. 19: 7. That the law here referred to, that converts the soul, is the ten commandments, we find by a reference to Rom. 7: 12, where Paul says, The law is holy, and a particular commandment is holy, just, and good. The particular commandment to which our attention is called is the one that says, “Thou shalt not covet.” See verse 7. Then the law which Paul calls “holy” is the one that contains the commandment that converted him.

Our Saviour, when the young man asked him what he should do that he might have eternal life, replied, “Keep the commandments.” When asked, “Which?” our Saviour quoted those that the young man thought he had kept from his youth up. To show him that he had not in reality kept those commandments which point out our duty to our fellows, and when obeyed are but an expression of the love upon which they hang, he says, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.” Matt. 19: 21. He had great possessions. Out of his abundance, he had nothing for the needy. Virtually, he was stealing from the poor. Thus our Saviour disproved his words: “All these things have I kept from my youth up.”

It seems strange that any Bible student should believe the moral law abolished. Nevertheless it is a fact that some, when they are proved to be transgressors of the law, instead of letting the law slay them, make an effort to slay the law.

I am glad that the above is not expressive of the faith of the denominations of our land as a body. The Bible Dictionary of the American Tract Society expresses that faith as follows:—

“The moral law, Deut. 5: 22; Matt. 5: 17, 18; Luke 10: 26, 27, is more important than the others, from its bearings on human salvation. It was written by the Creator, on the conscience of man, and sin has never fully erased it. Rom. 1: 19; 2: 12–15. It was more fully taught to the Hebrews, especially at Mount Sinai, in the ten commandments, and is summed up by Christ as loving God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. Matt. 22: 37–40. It was the offspring of love to man, Rom. 7: 10, 12; required perfect obedience, Gal. 3: 10; Jas. 2: 10; and is of universal and perpetual obligation. Christ confirmed and enforced it, Matt. 5: 17–20, showing its demand of holiness in the heart, applying it to a variety of cases, and supplying new motives to obedience, by revealing Heaven and hell more clearly, and the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit. Some have argued from certain passages of Scripture that this law is no longer binding upon Christians; that they ‘are not under the law, but under grace,’ Rom. 6: 14, 15; 7: 4, 6; Gal. 3: 13, 25; 5: 18; and the perversion of these passages leads men to sin and perish because grace abounds. Rightly understood, they harmonize with the declarations of the Saviour in Matt. 5: 17: [‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.’] To the soul that is in Christ, the law is no longer the arbiter of his doom; yet it still comes to him as the divinely appointed teacher of that will of God in which he now delights.”

May we all use the law of God as a mirror in which to see our sins. If we put away our sins, continuing to look into the perfect law of liberty, we shall be rewarded. In fact, if we keep God’s commandments, it is the best of evidence that we love him. 1 John 5: 2, 3. ALBERT WEEKS.