Two Ways to Eternal Life.
By R. F. Cottrell
ARE there two ways? Did Jesus teach two ways? There is a class of teachers in these days who say the ten commandments have been abolished, blotted out, being nailed to the cross of Christ; that the decalogue was the old covenant, which has passed away, being superseded by the new. They tell us that instead of the ten commandments, we have the two great commandments given by Christ; namely, to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself. These, they say, comprehend man's whole duty; and to this we say, Amen. They were not new, however, when spoken by Jesus, but were quoted from the books of Moses. Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18. Had they superseded the ten in the days of Moses? If not, if the ten were then binding, why not now? What proves our love to be genuine? "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments," not as a burden grievous to be borne, but in so hearty a manner that "his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3. Four of the ten teach our duty directly to God, and the other six, our duty to our fellow men. Can we break one of these six, and still love our neighbor as ourself? Impossible. And can we love God with all the heart, and still break one of the four that are given expressly to teach us how he would have us honor him? Is it not evident that the ten are all comprehended in the two? No one will deny that nine of them are? Why not the other? To the young man who asked the Saviour, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus answered, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." He then quoted five of the ten, so that we are sure that he meant the ten. See Matt. 19:16-19. The term, the commandments, includes the whole code of which he quoted a part. Therefore, Jesus did teach the keeping of these commandments as the way to life. Again, a certain lawyer demanded of Jesus, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right; this do and thou shalt live." Luke 10:25-28. Now the question is, Did Jesus teach two ways to eternal life? If he did not, then to keep the ten commandments truly, and to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself, is one and the same. If there is but one way to eternal life taught by Christ, whoever truly and heartily keeps the ten commandments loves God with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself, and whoever loves God and his neighbor as he ought, will not willingly break one of the ten commandments. In mathematics two quantities, or lines of extension, that are each precisely equal to a third, are precisely equal to each other. Therefore, if our Saviour did not teach two different ways to eternal life, the two great commandments "in the law" and the ten of the decalogue are precisely equal. On the two hangs all the law; if these are kept, the whole moral law of God is kept. There is no way of pardon of our transgressions but by faith in Christ; and the only way to life is the way of the commandments. The parting blessing to his church pronounced by Jesus to his beloved servant on the lonely isle is, "Blessed are they that do his [the Father's, not my] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life." Disobedience drove man from the tree of life; obedience is the only way back. R. F. COTTRELL.