p. 16 | In the Law Itself

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 6, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 40.

In the Law Itself

In the Law Itself.—It is said that a law without a penalty has no force, and that the Decalog has no penalty attached to it, and is therefore without force in this dispensation. This might be true if God was man, and the royal law of heaven was man’s law. But God is the living God, and His law is a living law; for “the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” It was ordained to life (Rom. 7 : 10), and if observed perfectly would have given life (Prov. 12 : 28); but transgressed or perverted, it becomes death (Rom. 7 : 10). Not simply is its penalty of transgression death, but its transgression is itself death; for “sin is the transgression of the law,” “and sin, when it is finished [full-grown], bringeth forth death.” 1 John 3 : 4; James 1 : 15. Be not deceived; sin, however beautiful it may appear, is death.