The Law and the Gospel by John O. Corliss

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1885

The Law and the Gospel.

By John O. Corliss

BISHOP FOSTER says that "there is to-day a vast amount of aimless and spiritless preaching. The greatest need is a revival of the pulpit in all Protestantism, and, more than all, in the Methodist Church." The Christian at Work endorses the sentiment, and then adds: "The people want a gospel of red-hot enthusiasm, overflowing in direct and personal appeals." "They want, also," the same writer says, "the words of truth and soberness."

The above statement, relative to the moral situation, cannot well be denied. But where is the remedy? Certainly not in "red-hot enthusiasm" alone. That is good in its place, but can never be successfully substituted for proper means and methods. There certainly must be a cause for this failure in gospel work, lying back of a lack of enthusiasm. We cannot for a moment think the power of the gospel has diminished by use. If it had, enthusiasm on the part of preachers would not entirely mend the matter.

Would it not be well for those who make these complaints to begin to inquire after the cause of this state of things? Is not sin the same now in its nature and results that it has ever been? If so, then the same remedies that once proved so potent to remove sin should produce like results now. Surely He who originally compounded the remedy knew the nature of the disease, and did not err in the directions he left for his followers to trace. It is barely possible that the poor returns from ministerial labor, now so much complained of, may result from administering only a portion of the ingredients in the original prescription. If, upon examination, this should prove to be true, then the failures complained of above should cease to be a matter of surprise until a change of practice is established.

So also words of "truth and soberness" are well as far as they go, but who of all those called to administer the gospel is ready to admit for a moment that his words are not of this nature? It would indeed be strange to find a religious teacher who had no "truth," incorporated in his code of theories. No one now can be found who is insane enough to proclaim a doctrine that does not have in it one or more fundamental points of Christian faith. Indeed, Satan himself is willing that such points should be incorporated in a false doctrine, that he may the more easily deceive those whom he would destroy. The prince of mischief knows very well that points of religious truth can do no one any good, if he can but succeed in obtruding error that will entirely neutralize the truth.

Neither is it a hard matter to compass this end. The inclination of all to comfort and convenience, readily adapts them to receive such substitutes in their religious faith as will, in a measure, change the strict requirements of the gospel to those which are more agreeable to their surroundings. But the adoption of these neutralizes the remedy just in proportion to the amount of error received. In view of this, the duty of every spiritual adviser is plain. Men should be made to feel that they are sinners, condemned by the law of a holy and just God, and that Christ will become their Saviour only on condition of sincere repentance on their part. The constant aim should be to strike at the very root of iniquity.

To inaugurate the reform demanded by Bishop Foster and the Christian at Work, will call for men with moral courage; men who can, if need be, endure estrangement from those to whom, from their profession, the cause of truth has a right to look for moral support. The true basis of the reform needed is well expressed, as follows, in a late number of the Watchman:-

"The background of the gospel is, and must ever lie, in the severe moralities enjoined in the ten commandments. The law is, and ever will be, the schoolmaster to bring men to Christ; and to the very end that they may be saved by faith. . . . Why should not the pulpit everywhere preach righteousness and condemn its opposites, at the same time that it lifts, high and supreme, Christ as the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit as the renewer and regenerator of fallen men? Brethren, let us in no wise divorce what God hath joined together."

The gospel, to be effective, must go hand in hand with the law. The necessity of the gospel can only be fully realized by those who stand convicted of sin. It follows, then, that before one can truly accept Christ as a Saviour, he must be convinced of sin. But "sin," says the apostle (1 John 3:4), "is the transgression of the law." This being true, the sinner should be cited before the law to learn his true standing before God. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20. There is, in fact, no other instrument by which sin can be shown. In reference to himself, the apostle said: "I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known sin, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7.

The principles inculcated in the foregoing texts apply to all of the ten commandments in detail. Therefore, he who violates any one of them stands convicted as a sinner, and must answer for his transgression, in the Judgment. It becomes then the duty of a minister to examine those commandments singly, and enforce in his teaching the exact requirements of each one of them. A reform brought about through this process would be as thorough as the most ultra reformer could demand.

But only sincere repentance on the part of the sinner can work such a change. Yet this is just as much a prerequisite to salvation now as it was in apostolic days. Upon being asked by the convicted multitude on the day of Pentecost what to do, the answer was returned by Peter, "Repent, and be baptized." Acts 2:38. In preaching repentance as the first necessary step in moral reform, the apostle was but following the instruction of the Author of salvation. In the commission he delivered to his disciples before ascending on high, he assured them of the necessity for his sufferings, death, and resurrection, in order that repentance and remission of sins might be preached in his name among all nations. Luke 24:47.

Repentance must therefore be exercised by the sinner before he can secure the remission of his sins. A mere feeling of spasmodic sorrow does not meet the requirement. One may experience this and receive no real benefit. Too many are satisfied with such superficial exhibitions, which are invariably followed by a relapse. This is the sorrow of the world that the apostle says works death. 2 Cor. 7:10. Genuine, or "godly sorrow," says the same verse, "worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of."

Even godly sorrow, then, is not repentance, but it works repentance unto salvation. Thus, reasoning from a scriptural standpoint, we are led to infer that the only evidence of the possession of genuine sorrow is thorough repentance, which means a radical reform in the daily life. But this can be accomplished only by putting away sins that have been revealed by the law of God. Thus the prophet exclaims: "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Eze. 18:30.

The Judgment will deal with every one according to his ways, and not according to his profession. Iniquity cherished in the heart will ruin him who maintains it. The Lord pays no respect to such an one. David says: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Ps. 66:18. It is very plain from these scriptures that so long as one knowingly practices what God forbids, he has no valid claim upon the mercy offered by the terms of the gospel.

It is true that man is justified through faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. This is very evident from reading Rom. 3:20, also Gal. 3:16. Yet the apostle, after giving the latter text, adds: "But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid." Then, to be found a sinner, that is, violating God's law, we cannot be justified by Christ, because, in that case, the apostle says, it would make Christ the minister of sin. In other words, he would uphold the sinner in violating the Father's commandments.

It is certainly unreasonable to suppose that God would send his Son to earth to die, purposely to uphold man in the very course that made him a rebel. If the transgression of God's law once made man a rebel in the universe, would not a transgression of that law now have the same effect? Certainly. Then it is reasonable to suppose that in order to receive pardon, we must stop violating his law, and take an opposite course, that is, keep his law. Then the Saviour will apply his cleansing blood to wash away the sins of the past.

Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, was the burden of the message heralded by the great apostle to the Gentiles. Acts 20:20, 21. These were the words of truth and soberness for which he gave his life. The Jews rejected the gospel that Paul preached while accepting the law that could not save them. Men now accept Christ, but reject the law, the only instrument that will reveal their true condition morally. One error is no more fatal than the other. Who cannot see in both of these a studied plan of Satan to defeat God's arrangement by which man may be saved?

Not one jot or tittle of the law has been abated by the death of Christ. Matt. 5:17-19. His suffering was for the purpose of upholding the majesty of every principle it contains. If one point in that law can be disregarded, why may not all of them be thus slighted at our convenience? Although "man has sought out many inventions," yet the Lord's way is the best way, and the safest way, because it is the right way. J. O. CORLISS.