The True Standard by W. W. Prescott

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 29.

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The True Standard

By W. W. Prescott

THE LAW IN CHRIST. NO. 3.

BY PROF. W. W. PRESCOTT, A.M.

(Concluded.)

The True Standard.

But if God’s law has been changed or abolished, there is no longer any standard by which to test the character of the righteousness which men claim to have received by faith. Each one is then at liberty to erect his own standard, to suit his own inclinations. Such teaching as this is now bearing its legitimate fruit in the world. God’s holy law is not brought to bear upon the consciences of men to convince of sin, as in former days; hence the need of the Saviour is not felt to the same degree; and without a standard with which to test their professed righteousness, the counterfeit passes for the genuine, and religion is reproached. It is universally acknowledged that there is need of having a standard in all the transactions between man and man, and so we have the standard of weight, the standard of measure, etc. Without these standards there would be the utmost confusion in the business world. Moreover, these standards must not be variable. A variable standard is no standard at all. But is man wiser than God? “Were men free to depart from the Lord’s requirements, and set up a standard of duty for themselves, there would be a variety of standards to suit different minds, and the government would be taken out of the Lord’s hands. The law of self would be erected, the will of man would be supreme, and the high and holy will of God—his purpose of love toward his creatures—would be dishonored, disrespected.”

God’s Mirror.

The office of the law in making known sin, and in witnessing to the righteousness obtained through faith in Christ, may be illustrated by the way in which a mirror is

used. A man may learn by looking into it that his face is smirched with smut. The mirror did not put the smut there, neither can it take it away. It simply reveals its presence. Some other means must be used to remove the dirt; but when this is done, the same mirror testifies that his face is clean. But suppose the man should destroy or throw away the mirror because it revealed the presence of the dirt, and yet, not fully satisfied with this course, should endeavor to make himself clean, what will now satisfy him of the success of his efforts? He may feel better because he has made some effort to be clean; but at the same time he may have done only an incomplete work, or he may have made matters worse. So we are defiled by sin. The law reveals that fact, yet can not cleanse; but there is “a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness,” in which we may wash and be clean. The law testifies to the character of the work wrought for us by “Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” But if the law is variable or has been abolished, we are left in uncertainty. Then self-righteousness may pass for righteousness, because one feels satisfied in trying to meet the standard which he himself has set up.

The fact that the law of God is not done away, is the pledge of our security in heaven. “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” That law is the standard in the judgment. Harmony with the law of God is the condition of entrance into the kingdom. Every one who applies for admission is tested by it. The law is a transcript of God’s character. Every one must meet this standard in its perfection; and those who do not reach it are shut out of the kingdom. We can not, however, meet the standard except as we receive Christ; but when we have received Christ, we know we have that which will meet the test. If any one could be admitted to the kingdom who was out of harmony with God’s law, sin would be transferred into the world to come. The very fact that the law of God is neither changed nor abolished is our safety in the eternal kingdom, the pledge that “affliction shall not rise up the second time.”

Two Aspects of Law.

Observe the difference between the law of God as a rigid code and the same law coming to us in Christ. A command which out of Christ is a rigid code, in Christ becomes a living promise. The law out of Christ, simply a rigid code, says, “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not.” But the same law in Christ becomes a living promise. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,” “In every command or injunction that God gives, there is a promise, the most positive, underlying the commandment.” When we read, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth,” that is clearly a promise. When we read in the law, “Thou shalt not kill,” we read it out of Christ simply as a command, or we may know it in Christ as a living promise. That is, he in his life promises each one, “Thou shalt not kill.” I can not of myself help hating, which is breaking the sixth commandment. I am trying not to do it, and yet I do it. I turn about, and find that that same command in Christ, written by the Spirit of the living God on the fleshy tables of the heart, has brightened into a promise, and it says: “I have a promise to make to you. You have received me; you shall not kill.”

Outside of Christ, as a code, the law says, “Thou shalt not steal;” but I can not help it. Then I turn about, and find that that law in Christ has brightened into a promise, and it reads to me: “You are the one that has been stealing. I have a promise to make to you. You shall not steal.”

Partial obedience is a very thorny path; full obedience is the easy yoke promised us. When we tell the Lord that we will keep all his commandments, he immediately takes possession of us, and says we shall. We do not abolish the law through faith; on the contrary, “It is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience.” But this is accomplished, not by commanding the believer, “Thou shalt,” but by shedding abroad in his heart the love of God, which gives him the blessed assurance of, “Thou wilt.” Not, “Thou must fulfil the law, else thou canst not live;” but, “Because thou art living in ‘the Living One,’ thou wilt fulfil the law.” This is righteousness by faith. This is the Gospel.

The same standard of righteousness has been set before man in all ages. In olden time the instruction was: “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” And the death of Christ did not make any change in this teaching; for “circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God;” and “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous.” Furthermore, the provision has been the same in all ages for meeting this standard of righteousness. The Lord said of old through the prophet: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” The same ground of hope for success in the Christian life is held out to us in the inspired prayer of the great apostle: “Now the God of peace . . . make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.”

Summary.

We are now prepared to summarize the results of our study upon the relation between the law and the Gospel. We have found that the law reveals sin by defining the standard of righteousness, and that in the Gospel the righteousness required by the law is revealed. We have found that the Gospel is the Gospel of Christ, and that the righteousness which is revealed in it is the righteousness wrought out for us by Christ through a life of perfect obedience to the law of God. Thus the Gospel is God’s provision not merely for fulfilling the requirements of the law for us in Christ, but also for fulfilling the requirements of the same law in us through Christ; and this is accomplished by receiving Christ, the very embodiment of the law, into our hearts by faith, so that “it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.”

The fruit of such a union with Christ is seen in a life which is in harmony with that same law which was the inspiration of his life; and the law which at first revealed sin now bears witness to the genuine character of that righteousness “which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” And thus what the law could not do in that it was weak through our flesh, has been done for us by putting that same law into the flesh in Christ, and through him into our flesh, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

This brings us to the conclusion that the Gospel is simply the law in Christ, and therefore an attempt to abolish the law is an attempt to abolish Christ and the Gospel, and an attempt to change the law is an attempt to change the character of Christ, and to thwart the purpose of the Gospel. A heart filled with love to Christ and the Spirit of truth will seek no such results, but will thankfully say, “Abundant peace have they who love thy law; and it is no stumbling-block to them.”