MAN AT CREATION by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 15, 1875

MAN AT CREATION

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

THE LAW OF GOD.—NO. 1.

BY J. H. WAGGONER.

MAN AT CREATION.

Were the history of the creation of the world written out as fully as modern histories are written, it would furnish a volume of absorbing interest. But it would, doubtless, have less of the grandeur and sublimity which attaches to the brief account given in Genesis. While the superficial reader gathers comparatively little from the brief record in Genesis 1 and 2, the careful, the studious, and above all the reverent, reader is awe-struck with the majesty of the events passing before his view. The style is so simple that a child is interested in the recital; yet it seems as if eternity were needed to so unfold our powers that we may be able to comprehend the facts set forth. The world was made to be inhabited; Isa. 45:18; and to man was given the dominion of the earth. He was formed in the image of his Maker; he was designed to be the crowning glory of the glorious work. And in considering this, man has almost exhausted the vocabulary to describe his own dignity and importance.

But the word of God, whether in brief or particular, is always truthful. With all his powers for good, for high and noble purposes, man soon fell from his state of innocence and happiness. The record of his creation is very soon followed by the record of his sin. Turning his back on his privileges, his happy home, and his Creator and Benefactor, he suffered himself to be led by his worst enemy. He refused the favor of Heaven, the society of angels, and sacrificed life itself, without any assurance of any benefit. A sigh of regret escapes us at the thought. But the story is repeated every day, and even, to some extent, in our own lives. Here we leave the history of events to examine the principles involved in man's rebellion, and to consider how we stand related to those principles.

Though the record in Genesis is very brief, giving us but little idea of man's knowledge of the will of God, or of God's revelation to man at that time, there are certain declarations elsewhere made which are confessedly, of universal application, whenever and wherever obligation and responsibility exist. These apply to man in his first state as certainly as they apply to us at this time. Thus an inspired writer has said, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Therefore where sin existed, law existed; and in harmony with this necessary conclusion another inspired one has said, “Where no law is there is no transgression,” and, “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

Some have contended that the law was not necessary for man in his unfallen condition, but was first made known after he became a sinner. But, according to the texts quoted from John and Paul, that cannot be true. Had the law not existed, man could not have been a transgressor; and whatever his actions might have been, there could have been no imputation of sin had there been no law. So far as the existence of law is concerned, man, at his creation, sustained the same relation to the government of God which we do now. Men, and among them some who are reputed to be wise, have speculated over the supposed ignorance of man in his primeval state, before he had the sad experience of sin. That he was ignorant they conclude solely from the fact that he was without life's experience. But experience is not always necessary to knowledge; nor is it the best means of knowledge in matters of wrong, where guilt must attend the experience. A revelation from God concerning the nature and result of sin is far better than experience; and this revelation man received. Unfortunately for the race he was not content with this, but ventured on a forbidden path, and to his sorrow proved what he could not trust, that the word of God is truth.

As there can be no transgression where there is no law, even so also in the absence of law there can be no obedience. Hence, had not God revealed his law to man he could not have developed a character, either bad or good.

The silence of the first chapter of Genesis in regard to God's making known the several precepts of his law to man, has been taken as evidence that they were not then made known. But this conclusion is altogether unreasonable. That God held converse with man is a revealed truth; though, in the very brief record of Genesis we have but little said concerning that truth. But in revelations afterward given we learn all that is necessary to instruct us on the subject. Cain exhibited a consciousness of guilt, and God dealt with him as with a guilty person. This is all in harmony with the application of Paul's declarations concerning sin and the law, in his letter to the Romans; but not in harmony with the idea that the law which forbids murder had not then been revealed. Abel presented an offering to the Lord which looked to redemption in the plan of the gospel. But, assuming that the gospel plan had not then been revealed to man, his offering is only a mystery.

We find that offerings to the Lord were common in the early history of mankind. Only one, that of Abraham as recorded in Gen. 15, was by divine direction given in the history. But we have an account of his building an altar to the Lord several years before this.

God is no respecter of persons. It is true that he had respect to Abel and to his offering rather than to Cain and to his offering; but it was because Abel offered his by faith. Heb. 11:4. Cain was also told that he should be accepted if he did well; and if not, sin was at his door. It is true that of that generation Enoch only was translated; but he walked with God as the others did not. True that to Noah was revealed the coming of the flood and the means of escape; but the reason is found in the declaration of the Lord that only Noah was “found righteous in this generation.” Abraham also was called to an eminent place, as the father of the faithful; but he was “the friend of God,” and God said he knew him, that he could command his works. So it was and so it ever will be. “In every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S LAW.

A law, to be of force, or to be enforced on just grounds, must be given by proper authority, and the author, and his right to govern, must be known to the individuals amenable thereto. The fact that men, in the patriarchal age, were treated as sinners, is sufficient evidence that they had a knowledge of God as Law-giver and Governor, and that they so far understood the claims of his law as to incur guilt in its violation. But the main point of inquiry is this: Was the law of God known by the patriarchs the same that was afterward proclaimed to Israel? This we answer in the affirmative, and shall endeavor to maintain the affirmation by Scripture evidences.

That the law of ten commandments have ever been considered the moral law, and pre-eminently the law of God, is by no means accidental. It alone was spoken by the voice of God in the hearing of all the people. It alone was written by the finger of God on the tables of stone. It alone was placed in the ark beneath the mercy-seat, upon which the priest sprinkled the blood of the sin offering, thus showing that their sins were violations of that law, and that their violations of that law must be blotted out in order that they might be accepted with God. The objection that the present wording of the ten commandments is not suited to the condition of an unfallen or sinless race does not present any real difficulty, as it is not the present wording on which we insist. But we do insist that the ten commandments contain substantially all moral obligation, covering, as they certainly do, all moral relations. And we claim that all of these, substantially, were known to the patriarchs and to those living in that age. Though we have no direct declaration that they were given to the people in that age, we have direct evidence of their knowledge of them, and of their being held responsible as sinners for their violation of them. We will briefly notice them in order.

1. When God spake from Sinai, he first commanded, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This commandment not only forbids the holding of gods in preference to him, but also having them before him or in his presence: this would exclude the worship of false gods from all parts of the universe, all parts being present, or “naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” In considering this commandment, we can appreciate the remark of the psalmist, “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” Ps. 119:96. As every individual is continually a transgressor who does not love God with all his heart, and has not chosen him as his chief good, every object of his pursuit is an idol preferred to God, whom he has rejected.

When Abraham’s servant came to the house of Laban, he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord. Gen. 24:31. Afterward, when Jacob had served his appointed time for his wives, and desired to return to his own country, Laban requested him to remain because he had learned by experience that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob’s sake. Chap. 30:27. Notwithstanding this acknowledgment of the true God, and that blessings proceeded from him, we find that he transgressed the first of God’s commandments, and had other gods. When Jacob fled from Laban, he pursued him, but God appeared to Laban, and warned him not to touch Jacob; yet immediately after God had thus manifested himself to him, he accused Jacob of having stolen his gods. Jacob denied the charge, and said, with whomsoever thou findest the gods let him not live. Chap. 31:24, 29, 30, 32. When the two sons of Jacob had slain the Shechemites, Jacob was told to go to Bethel and build an altar unto God, who appeared unto him. And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, “Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean . . . and I will make an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress.” Chap. 35:1–4. Here it is not only evident that the first commandment was broken, but they understood that they were unclean in the sight of God, and not fit to approach the altar of God, while the strange gods were

2. Idolatry is manifested in various ways, and the gods anciently worshiped were of various kinds; while some worshiped the sun and the host of heaven (Deut. 4:19; 17:3), others made to themselves images “fashioned with a graving tool.” Ex. 32:4; Isa. 40:19, 20. Against this latter practice the second commandment was given: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . . thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.” The gods that Laban had were of this kind: “And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.” Gen. 31:19, 34, 35. The gods also that Jacob required his household to put away, were “among them, and in their hands.” Chap. 35:1–5.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. No mention is made of this commandment or its transgression in the book of Genesis.

We will further notice this in connection with the fourth commandment, which we pass for the present.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother. There is no express mention of this precept in the book of Genesis. Ham was cursed for dishonoring his father. Gen. 9:21–25. Here we may properly apply the rule quoted from Paul, found in Rom. 5:13.

6. Thou shalt not kill. Whatever excuses may have been framed for others on the ground of ignorance, Cain has been universally considered a murderer. God dealt with him as a transgressor of a known law; and an inspired writer has declared that he was “of the wicked one, and his works were evil.” 1 John 3:12. Lamech transgressed the same commandment, and judged himself more guilty than Cain. Gen. 4:8–11, 23, 24. God made known to Noah his disapprobation of this sin. Chap. 9:5, 6. Beyond this it might be urged that the principle of self-preservation would lead to human enactments, as safeguards for human life, and that mere regard for such laws, deterred from the commission of this crime; but this reasoning will not hold good in the case of the Hebrew midwives, recorded in Ex. 1:16, 17. Here the command was to kill all the male children; but the midwives would not obey this human law; for “they feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them.” Then they must have known that the law of man was contrary to the law of God. Though we have no formal giving of the law recorded in the history of Genesis, we have, as above, the most positive evidence that it was given and well known before it was spoken on Sinai.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Numerous passages in the book of Genesis show that this was known to be sinful by mankind in general. When Abraham denied his wife, and she was taken by the king of Gerar, the Lord suffered him not to touch her, and Abimelech said he had taken her in the integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands; and plead that Abraham had told him she was his sister; showing that he knew before that it would have been sinful to have taken another man’s wife; and he said to Abraham, “Thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin.” Gen. 20:5–9; 12:12, 13, 18, 19; 26:6–10. When Judah was made acquainted with the trespass of Tamar in this respect, he said, “Bring her forth and let her be burnt.” Chap. 38:24. In the absence of any revelation on this subject, it truly might be regarded as a singular fact that Judah had the same idea of the desert of this crime that the Lord revealed to Moses more than two centuries afterwards. See Lev. 21:9. Abimelech, king of Gerar, also took the wife of Isaac, supposing her to be his sister, and afterward said to Isaac, “One of the people might lightly have lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.” Chap. 26:9, 10. Positive testimony is afforded on this point by the case of Joseph. Refusing to comply with the immodest request of his mistress, he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Chap. 39:7–9.

8. Thou shalt not steal. By reference to

Gen. 30:33, it will be seen that Jacob and Laban understood the matter of this commandment. Laban reproved Jacob for stealing his gods. Chap. 31:19, 30.

Now Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them, and gave sentence that whosoever the gods were found with should not live. Verse 32; see also verse 39. When Joseph’s messenger accused his brethren of having stolen his silver cup, they declared their honesty in that they had brought again the money which they had found in their sacks’ mouths, and said, “How then should we steal out of our lord’s house silver or gold?” They made the same decision in this case that their father had made before them, namely: “With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die and we also will be my lord’s bondsmen.” Chap. 44:4–9.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Nothing positive can be found in the book of Genesis relative to this particular commandment, but Joseph was wickedly imprisoned because his mistress bore false witness against him. Gen. 39:7–20.

10. Thou shalt not covet. The transgression of this commandment is also rather implied than plainly brought to view; but the fact that the transgression of the tenth must precede the violation of the eighth, and that the eighth was known and its violation considered worthy of death, is sufficient evidence on this point for the present, as we intend to offer proof that the whole ten were known and observed before the days of Moses.