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Is the Law Done Away?

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 16, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 36.

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Is the Law Done Away?

By F. A. Bower

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31.
ACCORDING to this statement, if we exercise faith, we establish the law. But what is faith? In Rom. 5:1 we read, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This being so, we must have faith in Jesus to give us this peace with God; but “there is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” Isa. 48:22. It must be only those who have ceased sinning, therefore, who enjoy this peace. We read that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
But what is sin? This question is very definitely answered in the following scriptures:
“Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4.
“I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7.
“By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.
When a man breaks the law of the land, and is put in prison, he may have his term of imprisonment shortened because of good behavior. Some one reports his good conduct to the authorities, and he is released. He owes his full term to justice, but is pardoned by the grace of the governor, that he may be a better citizen.
Now if we break the law of God, and are sorry, and determine not to do it again, we may, by exercising faith in the saving power of Jesus, who has already met our sentence, find forgiveness; for if we confess our transgression of the law, He is faithful and just to forgive us our transgressions of the law, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is evident, therefore, that every time we come to Jesus for forgiveness, we admit that the law is still binding. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
F. A. BOWER.