“Is Christ a Minister of Sin?”
THIS is not a new question. It was asked over eighteen hundred years ago. We can not answer in the affirmative, reader; can you? We are satisfied with the apostle’s answer: “God forbid.” Nay, Christ can not be a minister of sin. If anything is made plain in the Scriptures of truth, these facts are: 1. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. There is therefore no hope for the sinner in himself. He is literally “without strength,” and being “without God,” is “without hope.” 2. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. That law is the Decalogue; “for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7. It was the law in which, possessing it outwardly only, the Jews had “the form of knowledge and of the truth,” which declares, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal.” Rom. 2:17-23. The same thing is taught by James, in his second chapter, verses 8-12. 3. That law is the expression in words of the character of God. “All Thy commandments are righteousness.” Ps. 119:172. He demands that His children shall be of the same character as Himself: “Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.” Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16. The requirement is the same in all dispensations and ages. The God who is “righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works” (Ps. 145:17), could not give for the conduct of His children an imperfect or unholy or unrighteous law. 4. God is unchangeable: “I am the Lord, I change not.” Mal. 3:6. “With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17. God’s law is, therefore, as unchangeable as Himself. It reflects the character of His unchangeable government. It can not pass or change without a reflection upon His government; more, without the destruction of His government. Therefore it is divinely declared: “All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Ps. 111:7, 8. God through His prophet calls our attention to the most constant and stable things we know,—the bending, star-gemmed, or sun-burnished heavens, and the solid earth, and declares His righteousness to be His law, and that it “shall not be abolished,” that it “shall be forever.” Verse 8. And Jesus but condenses all this in Matt. 5:17-20 and Luke 16:17, in which He declares: “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” 5. Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived the life God requires of man,—the life of obedient faith to all the commandments of God,—and died upon the cross to save man, not in sin, but from his sins. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus,” said the angel, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from ALL INIQUITY [lawlessness, law-breaking], and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak . . . with all authority.” Titus 2:14, 15. He Himself declares: “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” John 6:38. “I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin [“sin is the transgression of the law”], neither was guile found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:21, 22. These are plain, simple, great Gospel truths. And yet when we try to tell this blessed Gospel to the sin-sick, wandering, discouraged souls, hopelessly stranded on the rocks, or helplessly drifting on the great, restless sea of iniquity, doubt, and despair, there are those professing to be followers of Christ who tell us that we are not preaching Christ but the law; that the law is abolished; that it is Jewish; that we are proclaiming Judaism; that we ought to leave the law and preach Christ. Some of these erroneously earnest souls, in their anxiety to get rid of the law, tell us that it was abolished at the cross, and a few sentences further on declare that the law and the prophets were only till John the Baptist. That is, the law passed away when John began his ministry, and two or three years later was abolished at the cross! And we wonder, in sad, amazed wonder, at the kind of mind which could take such conceptions of God—at the kind of Redeemer they lift up before mankind! They represent the great, immutable God to be as changeable as the fashions in man’s religions; His righteousness, like that of many, as accommodating as a jellyfish, shaping itself to rebellious man’s desires, paining the righteous and justifying the wicked. They tell us that Christ came to save the sinner, and that He does this by abolishing the law, which defines the sin! that He honors (?) the unchangeable Father who sent Him by making of no effect the law of God’s government! Instead of making Christ the minister of righteousness, delivering souls from sin that they may, by the endless life of His Spirit, live above sin, be righteous, and do righteousness, Christ forgives that men may continue in sin; He redeems that man may transgress; and like Israel of old, they say: “We are delivered to do all these abominations;” that is, transgress God’s law. Jer. 7:8-10. Why will men so deceive themselves, or permit themselves to be so deceived? Why will they so dishonor the Father and Son, who are one? Why will they so pervert Christ’s teaching? Why will they so disgrace His name? Why so utterly ignore the example of the only Perfect Man, of whom it is said: “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” 1 John 2:6. Why come up to the great day of God with the deceived plea, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works!” and hear the dread words from the lips of Him who died to save from iniquity, “I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity”! Why not now be undeceived by His words, “Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46. Dear soul, astray in sin, come to Jesus, and find One mighty to save from sin and sinning; from transgression and transgressing. He is able to save to the uttermost. He will give to the adulterer a clean heart. He will give to the disobedient child a heart to honor his parents. He will give to the covetous a generous heart. He will make the Sabbath-breaker to know God’s rest from sin. And to Him be all the glory.