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THE LAW OF GOD

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 3, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 21.

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THE LAW OF GOD.

Christ the End of the Law.

(Lesson 9.—Sabbath, June 19.)
1. What does Paul say that Christ is to every one that believeth? “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Rom. 10:4.
2. Does this mean that Christ came to abolish the law? “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matt. 5:17. “The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21.
3. In what sense besides “termination” is the word “end” frequently used? Design, object, or purpose. See Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, definition 4.
4. Quote a text from the Bible where it evidently has this meaning. “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” James 5:11; or any of the following: Rom. 14:9; John 18:37; Amos 5:18; Luke 18:1; Heb. 13:7; 1 Peter 1:9.
5. What does Paul elsewhere say is the end of the law? “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” 1 Tim. 1:5.
6. What is the meaning of “charity”? Love; see rendering of this text, also of 1 Cor. 13, in Revised Version.
7. And what is love? “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10.
8. Then to what is Paul's statement in 1 Tim. 1:5 equivalent? Now the design of the commandment (or law) is that it should be kept.
9. If a man kept the law how would he stand before God? “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Rom. 2:13.
10. Then what may be said to be the end or design of the law? To justify men before God. This may truly be said to be its object, for it will justify only the obedient, and it is the design that the law should be obeyed.
11. What would be necessary in order that a man could be called a “doer of the law”? It would be necessary that he should have kept the law in every particular during every moment of his life.
12. Has anybody ever kept the law thus perfectly? “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Rom. 3:10-12.
13. Then must not the law fail of its object in securing the justification of men? “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.
14. How, then, is it possible for a man to secure justification? “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Rom. 3:24, 25.
15. Then in what sense may Christ be called the end of the law? He secures the justification of men, a thing which the law can no longer do.
16. What have we learned was a primary design of the law? See answer to question 8.
17. Is it possible for any man to meet this requirement? “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Gal. 5:17.
18. How is it possible for any one to do what is required? “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5.
19. For what express purpose did Christ suffer for man? “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.
20. Then how again is Christ the end of the law? He enables those who are “in him” to keep the law, thus fulfilling its design.
(To be continued.)