LAW AND GOSPEL by G. A. Snyder

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 23, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 50.

LAW AND GOSPEL.

By G. A. Snyder

BY G. A. SNYDER.

"He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments." Deut. 4:13. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of My lips." Ps. 89:34. "For I am the Lord, I change not." Mal. 3:6. From these three texts it is evident that before the Lord could alter any part of his law, he must deny himself. See 2 Tim. 2:13.

Of Christ the prophet says: "Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps. 40:7, 8. This agrees with the prophecy of Isa. 42:21: "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable." And says Christ, "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. He magnified the law by sweeping away the rubbish of Jewish tradition, which had well nigh made the commandment of none effect, and taught that the commandment was exceeding broad, being a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. See Mark 7:9, 13; Matt. 5:21-28. He fulfilled the law by living in harmony with its every requirement. See John 15:10. And we are told that if we fulfill the royal law, we do well, but that if we offend in one point, we are guilty of all. James 2:8-12. Christ is our great pattern. He fulfilled the law, and if we would copy him, we must fulfill it too; for "he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 John 2:6.

The Psalmist says: "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." "All thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:142, 172. God's law, being the transcript of his righteous character, is called his righteousness. "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments." Deut. 6:25. All laws reflect the character of the power which made them, and the subjects of all governments are law abiding or lawless according as they fulfill or violate the laws. God is a righteous Governor; his law is a righteous law; and we, his subjects, are righteous or unrighteous according to the relation we sustain to that law. In Deut. 6:24 we find that the Lord commanded us to do these statutes for our good, that he might preserve us alive. Thus we see that the object in giving a righteous law was that man by obeying it might attain unto life.

But says Paul, "The commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." Rom. 7:10. Then for some reason the law failed of its object in Paul's case. The reason for this failure is given in verse 14: "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." See chapter 5:12. Thus it appears that the law which was ordained unto life through obedience, can of itself bring only death to the human family, because of inability to render that obedience. So we hear Paul crying in the bitterness of despair, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:24. But God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, must have shined in Paul's heart just then, to give him the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, for immediately he thanks God for deliverance through Jesus Christ. "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. "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. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ." Rom. 3:20-22. "For Christ is the end [or object] of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Rom. 10:4.

To illustrate, suppose I have a piece of gold ore which I think has some dross in it. I subject it to a chemical test which at once reveals the dross; then I put it in a crucible, and burn out all the dross, and again subject it to the same test. You will observe that the same test which before condemned the base metal, now witnesses to the purity of the unalloyed gold. Thus the human heart, by nature sinful, when subjected to the test of God's law is shown to be full of dross; but after having all the dross washed out in the blood of Jesus, then the crucial test can reveal nothing but the righteousness of Christ. You will observe that the same law which condemns the sinner remains as a witness to the righteousness of the new creature in Christ Jesus. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. 3:31.

Grass Valley, Cal.