The Law of God—for Whom Made.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
LAST week, under the head of "Principles and Precepts," we showed that not simply the great principles of love, but the embodiment of those principles in the ten commandments, are the rule of life for all men in all ages; that the law is adapted to pure and holy beings, and is kept even by the angels in Heaven. After one additional thought on this point, we shall proceed to notice in detail some things that are offered as objections to this view. The difference between sinful man and the law of God, is shown by Paul in the following words: "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom 7:14. Between things spiritual and things carnal there is no possibility for the slightest union, as is proved by Gal. 5:17: "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." And therefore, as a consequence of this implacable enmity, the words of Paul follow very naturally: "So that ye cannot do the things that ye would." This last statement is made more emphatic in Rom. 8:7: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." That by the term "law" Paul refers to the ten commandments, and not to certain abstract principles, is easily seen from Rom. 7:7 and 2:17-23. The fact, then, is made plain that men cannot meet the requirements of the ten commandments, because the commandments are spiritual, and men are carnal. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:8. Now it is required of all men that they please God, and therefore the apostle proceeds to show how it may be done: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Rom. 8:9. A man in whom the Spirit of God dwells is certainly spiritual, and therefore just in harmony with the law of God, which is also spiritual. And so we see that instead of the law being adapted only to sinful beings, it is especially adapted to the righteous; for they are the only ones who can continue in its requirements. It is the keeping of the ten commandments (which can be done only by those who are "in Christ") that makes men spiritual; when they cease to keep the law, they cease to be spiritual. In supposed opposition to the position which we have taken, is 1 Tim. 1:9, 10: "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." Whoever imagines that this text means that a righteous man is not under obligations to keep the law, has never given it a second thought. He cannot have read more than the first clause. Since the law is "made for" those who steal, lie, kill, commit adultery, blaspheme, etc., we should gather that it forbids all those things, and so it does. Then according to the common supposition, the righteous, for whom the law is not "made," are not prohibited from these practices! A necessary conclusion which is so absurd, shows plainly that the premises are wrong. But if it is the duty of Christians to keep the law, how shall we understand Paul's statement that the law is "made" for the wicked, and not for the righteous? We can answer this question in no better way than by quoting a portion of Dr. Clarke's comment on 1 Tim. 1:9:— "He [the apostle] does not say that the law was not MADE for a righteous man; but ou keitai, it does not LIE against a righteous man; because he does not transgress against it; but it lies against the wicked; for such, as the apostle mentions, have broken it, and grievously too, and are condemned by it. The word keitai, lies, refers to the custom of writing laws on boards, and hanging them up in public places, within reach of every man, that they might be read by all; thus all would see against whom the law lay." This is exactly in harmony with the primal meaning of the word law,—"something laid,"—as given in the article last week. The law is "laid" for the benefit of all; it lies against the man who violates it, and crushes him if he persists in his disobedience; but it does not lie against the righteous, because they "walk in the law of the Lord." There is no opposition between them and the law; to them the law is indeed "the way of peace," because they delight in it. But let one of the righteous ones step out of this way, and that step will bring the law against him. And now to the statement that Christians are in duty bound to keep the ten commandments, and that, in fact, that is the badge of their discipleship, we must add another statement which necessarily follows, namely, that this delightful duty will be theirs throughout eternity, just as it has been that of the angels ever since they were created. "Angels that excel in strength" do the commandments of God, "hearkening unto the voice of his word." Ps. 103:20. And when the kingdom of God is established upon earth, God's will (the ten commandments) will be done on earth even as it is now done in Heaven. Matt. 6:10. As long as the throne of God endures, the ten commandments will be the law by which God rules his vast Government, because they are the very basis of that Government, the foundation of his throne.