Magnifying the Law by James White

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 11, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 43.

Magnifying the Law.

By James White

No ONE who loves the truth of God's word can fail to regret that there is such diversity of faith concerning it. For where so great diversity exists, error must exist. Opposite faiths cannot be equally true. "God is not the author of confusion." The Romanists, and all who favor an "established church," who seek to place Christian principles "on a legal basis" before human laws, find in this variety of belief their argument against the "right of private judgment." They might with equal show of reason cry out against the freedom of the human will, or free agency, as through this came the fall of man "and all our woe." The abuse of the freedom of the will cursed man and the earth upon which he dwells; but without that freedom no moral character could be formed, for there can be no virtue in an action which is of necessity or by compulsion; a mere machine, moved by an irresistible power, can have no character. Even so, these diverse religious views are the result of an abuse of the right of private judgment; but without this right no genuine religion or acceptable worship of God can exist.

The "doctrine of the atonement" is not merely a part of the gospel system—it is the gospel itself. It is the sum total of the plan of redemption. An error in regard to this is fundamental. It is not among the "non-essentials" of religion—if any such exist.

We hold that the first great object of the atonement, or of the gospel, is to glorify God; to roll from his government the deep reproach which sin had brought upon it; to vindicate the integrity, the authority, and the majesty of that law which sinful man had trampled under his feet. Antinomianism is as far from the gospel as the west is from the east; as different from it as midnight is from noon.

Dr. Barnes was a good man and an able writer; and we can only express our astonishment that he professed to see no justice—nothing but mercy—in the scenes on Calvary. True, there is mercy to the sinner; but who can overlook the groans and agony of the divine Son of God while viewing Calvary? Never did this world—never will the universe see another such display of unbending justice as was presented in our dear Saviour's sufferings and death. Had man been left to perish in his sins, the Saviour would not have suffered. Or could the law have been abolished which condemned man as a transgressor, then the sacrifice of the cross would not have been necessary. But man was to be saved, and the authority of the King of Heaven must be vindicated; the law which was disregarded by sinners must be honored, therefore God devised a plan whereby "he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Rom. 3:23-26.

The following beautiful and impressive remarks on this subject are from Maclaurin's sermon on "Glorying in the Cross," pages 152, 153:—

"Here shines spotless justice, incomprehensible wisdom, and infinite love, all at once. None of them darkens or eclipses the other; every one of them gives a luster to the rest. They mingle their beams and shine with united eternal splendor; the just Judge, the merciful Father, and the wise Governor. No other object gives such a display of all these perfections; yea, all the objects we know give not such a display of any one of them. Nowhere does justice appear so awful, mercy so amiable, or wisdom so profound.

"By the infinite dignity of Christ's person, his cross gives more honor and glory to the law and justice of God than all the other sufferings that ever were or will be endured in the world. When the apostle is speaking to the Romans of the gospel, he does not tell them of God's mercy only, but also of his justice revealed by it. God's wrath against the unrighteousness of men is chiefly revealed by the righteousness and sufferings of Christ. "The Lord is pleased for his righteousness' sake." Rom. 1:17; Isa. 42:21. Both by requiring and appointing that righteousness, he magnified the law and made it honorable. And though that righteousness consists in obedience and sufferings which continue for a time, yet since the remembrance of them will continue forever, the cross of Christ may be said to give eternal majesty and honor to that law which it satisfied—that awful law by which the universe (which is God's kingdom) is governed, to which the principalities and powers of heaven are subject—that law which, in condemning sin, banished the devil and his angels from Heaven, our first parents from Paradise, and peace from the earth. Considering, therefore, that God is the Judge and Lawgiver of the world, it is plain that his glory shines with unspeakable brightness in the cross of Christ as the punishment of sin. But this is the very thing that hinders the lovers of sin from acknowledging the glory of the cross, because it shows so much of God's hatred of what they love."