p. 5 | Objections Considered by T. H. Starbuck

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 29, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 34.

Objections Considered

By T. H. Starbuck

THE INTERRELATION OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. NO. 10.

BY T. H. STARBUCK.

Objections Considered.

1. Can a holy and sinless God be the source of laws that work out sin and death? The answer to this question will not be speculative in any sense if we are willing to accept what Inspiration says about it. It gives an unequivocal reply: “The law worketh wrath.” Rom. 4:15. There can be no transgression where there is no law. “The strength of sin [the sinful nature] is the law.” There is strength to the carnal nature, but it is the strength of the law working through that nature. Sin works death in man by that which is good, or by the law. Rom. 7:13. God’s word plainly says that his law worketh wrath. If the law works wrath for the punishment of sin, then he can be holy and sinless and yet be the source of such laws. He could not be holy if there were no penal force to his laws; for that would make him partner in transgression, inasmuch as the lack of penal force to his laws would perpetuate sin instead of bringing it to an end. He can not be called unholy because sin arises under his moral government; but if for want of executive force to his laws sin were perpetuated, that would show him to be unholy. Natural laws violated bring evil upon the transgressor, and the evil springs from the force of the violated law. Moral laws are of the very same nature. When transgressed they become laws that are not good; and whereby man shall not live; and all the evil comes through the operation of the law.

2. Does not this theory make the punishment for sin spring from the operation of law rather than as a curse direct from God?—It certainly does. The curse pertains to the law; and wrath comes through its instrumentality. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.” Gal. 3:13. The charge of Satan against God’s government, in the origin of sin, was that it is arbitrary. But if wrath comes without the intervention of law, that would show Satan’s accusation to be just; for to send curses through any other channel than that of law would be an arbitrary act. God is not arbitrary in anything that he does, for all that he inflicts for sin is according to constitutional law. This drama of evil, together with the plan of redemption, is developing the fact that Satan’s accusation is untrue. The moral government of heaven is not of the nature of tyranny, but it springs from right principles eternally existing in God. It is so perfect and justly balanced that its operation refutes every charge that evil can bring against it. God is not compelled to set a watch to apprehend transgressors, because the law is his agent for that purpose. It is made for sinners. 1 Tim. 1:9.

3. Does not this view of law make it appear that the forces of nature are God?—It does not. God is a personal being, from whom the forces of nature emanate. They are the revelation of his power. The invisible things of him, even his eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen in the forces of nature. Rom. 1:20. If he did not manifest his power in such ways, he could not be seen in the light of natural things, and men would have some excuse for their darkness of heart; but through his natural revelations of power they are without excuse for their sin. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men, and that through the operation of his laws. Rom. 1:18. In such manifestations of his wrath he reveals to all intelligences that sin is not in harmony with his nature.

Application of Principle.

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isa. 1:18. Thus the merciful Lord invites us to reason with him about cleansing from sin. But right here an important question arises. How can God dispose of sin in such manner that the integrity of his laws will be maintained, and the sinner stand before him as if he never had been a transgressor? From a few principles of divine law which have previously been elucidated, we shall proceed to make an application to several scriptures which speak of the law in connection with salvation through Christ. In order to enter upon the study of these passages comprehensively it will be well to recall some of those principles:—

1. The laws of God are the living word of his power, and are his agencies to execute his will.

2. There are two phases to their operations, the normal and the abnormal, known in the Bible as the “ministration of the Spirit” and the “ministration of death.”

3. Their normal operation is that which pertains to righteousness.

4. Their abnormal operation pertains to sin only, and all the race of mankind is naturally under this phase of their action.

5. Salvation from sin through Jesus Christ is the act of reclaiming man by removing him from under the abnormal action of divine law and placing him under its normal action.

6. Divine law is itself an instrumentality to bring about this change in man’s condition.

7. The law operated normally through Christ in sinful flesh, to illustrate to the lost world God’s instrumentalities for salvation from sin.

In scriptural exegesis it has been the custom to divide the Mosaic system of laws into two parts, which have been designated as moral and ceremonial. While there are, perhaps, no objections to this general division, the minds of Bible students have been led into many grievous errors by a wrong application of it. To collect those passages which speak of the law, dividing them into two classes, and saying that this class refers to the moral and that class to the ceremonial law

has given rise to much unprofitable controversy, and blinded the minds of men relative to the true nature of the laws of God. And as certain passages seem to speak of the abolition of law, conclusions wholly unscriptural are often drawn relative to the abolition of divine law, which would never have been made were it not for this unsound exegesis.

As a rule these controverted scriptures, while they speak of the law, teach the profoundest and most precious principles of the Gospel of salvation. In our remaining space in this series of articles some of these scriptures will be considered, for the sake of a better knowledge of the principles of law and Gospel which they contain.

“Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death; but now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Rom. 7:1–6.

The principles of divine law elucidated in this series of articles are clearly indicated in this scripture. There are four things considered in the apostle’s illustration,—the law, the woman, the first and the second husbands. Reference is made to the law of God, for it is that which binds a woman to her husband, and its binding force ceases when the husband dies. The woman allegorically represents any sinner who is “under the law.” The first husband is the carnal nature; and so long as it is alive, the law binds the sinner to that nature, and sin is the fruit of the union. The second husband is Jesus Christ, and the same law which bound the sinner to the carnal nature now binds him to Christ after the death of the carnal nature; for the same law which binds a woman to her first husband also binds her to the second. When the individual becomes united to the Saviour, to restrain self, that union is righteousness. As long as that nature survives, the law holds dominion over it, and the bond is unbroken, and sin is the natural result. Union with Christ is not legitimate till the sinful nature dies. The fruit of the union in either case will correspond to the nature of the husband. While the first husband (carnality) survives, the fruit is unto death. Verse 5. The object of the second union is that the dominion of sin may be broken, so that the life may be fruit unto God. Verse 4; chapter 6:14. Deliverance from the law comes through the death of the carnal nature; but it has before been shown that the law slays the carnal nature.

If farther study upon this point is desired, the reader will find it stated four different times, in verses 9, 10, 11, and 13, and also in Heb. 4:12. In slaying the carnality the law makes the individual free from sin and death, just as stated in Rom. 8:2. Thus it is made clear in Paul’s reasoning that the law converts the soul. It also works wrath, that is, it works sin and death, when it operates through the carnal nature. Verse 6. This is a logical result, for the law is vital, moral force from God, but the carnality in man turns that force out of its legitimate channel into the ways of sin and death. Sin can work out no other results but death, but the law is the force by which it holds dominion over its subjects and destroys them. 1 Cor. 15:56. Under the second union, or marriage to Christ, it is also the force which constrains the individual to live for God. The law is love, and love is the fulfilling of the law; but the love of Christ constraineth us. 2 Cor. 5:14.