p. 452 | GRACE IN THE LAW by T. H. Starbuck

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 28, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 29.

GRACE IN THE LAW

By T. H. Starbuck

THE PERFECTION OF THE LAW. NO. 5.

BY ELDER T. H. STARBUCK.

GRACE IN THE LAW.

But perhaps some minds would here interpose the objection that if all that has been previously said is true, salvation springs from the operation of the law and not from the mediatorial work of Christ. But this objection will vanish when the case is carefully considered. The Scriptures say truly that grace is the gift of God; but it is nevertheless the gift of God whether it comes in a direct manner or through some agency. He dispenses his blessings through the agency of law, as will be demonstrated hereafter. If the law embraces the principle of mercy, he could bestow the blessings of salvation through that channel, and it would be the gift of God, just as the Scriptures say. It is a recognized fact that the blessings of this natural life come through the operation of natural laws; and it is consistent with nature and revelation that the blessings of grace should spring from the operation of moral law. If he causes his grace to abound through a perfect fulfillment of the moral law, that alone would prove its absolute perfection, for it would manifestly contain within itself the efficacious elements of victory over evil.

But, on the contrary, if the remedy for sin proceeds from some source separate from the morality of the law, its imperfection would be evident. If the constitutional law of a kingdom, legitimately administered in case of civil rebellion, is unable to carry the State safely through such a test, there would be evidence of some defect in the law, and a legal reformation would be called for or else a dissolution of the government would speedily follow. The law of Jehovah was designed for the perfect moral government of the universe. If, when it was put to the test of rebellion, God had to bring into requisition principles ulterior to it, its defects would stand revealed; but inspiration says it has no defects. Hence, it is concluded that in the plan of salvation God has put into operation no moral principles not originally embraced in his perfect law.

Sin was an emergency demanding prompt and decisive action, for two reasons,—the stability of the government and the honor of the Supreme Ruler, and the moral welfare of all the governed; but it called into operation no principles except those previously ordained in God's perfect plan. No event could take the King of heaven by surprise. Many scriptures show that the blessings of grace come through the fulfillment of the moral law. "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Rom. 3: 28. By the "deeds of the law" is meant our obedience to it. If after we have violated the law, our subsequent obedience to it would save us, salvation would spring from our efforts, and not from Christ's mediatorial work. Fulfilling it on our part avails nothing because of the weakness of the flesh; but if God fulfills it toward us in the gift of his Son, there is grace in it for us. The efficacy of the "deeds of the law" depends upon whose deeds are under consideration. Christ has power to put into operation all the principles of God's law in behalf of the lost; but sin has deprived us of any such power.

It will be conceded that the plan of redemption is a part of God's moral government of the universe. But he rules either by law or arbitrarily. Which is it? If his power is exercised arbitrarily, then it is not according to law; but nature and revelation both testify in unmistakable language that he controls all things by law. He is not an arbitrary Ruler. He is eternally the same, and his will is expressed in law. But if the plan of redemption proceeds according to law, what law is it? But one answer is possible:—

IT IS THE MORAL LAW.

It could be no other than that law which sin antagonizes. The controversy between truth and error is peculiar. It hinges upon the law of God. The whole drama of sin is an effort to dethrone God and overthrow his moral government. On the contrary, the plan of salvation is to vindicate the perfection of the law and demonstrate his supreme right to reign, as well as to save the lost. The former is enmity to the law; the latter is the development of its latent powers. Hence, grace is administered to the world through the law. The power is of God, its Author, but he dispenses his grace through the law as his appointed agency for that purpose. The moral law is his holy covenant, or his established rule of moral action. He cannot deny himself. He will do nothing, even in the salvation of man, that is contrary to his holy covenant. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Ps. 89: 34. The theory then that the law is stern, unrelenting justice is not written on the page of inspiration; but it comes rather from the enemy of all righteousness, who has ever sought to make men believe that God is a tyrant instead of a Being of infinite love and compassion.

These considerations lead to the conclusion that the law of Jehovah is absolutely perfect, and as universal in its moral grasp as the law of gravitation is in a physical sense. Its deep and unselfish love was revealed to man in the matchless passion of the Crucified One. It is in the light of Calvary that its perfection appears in its divine fullness. When we stand beside our bleeding, suffering Lord, and from thence survey the law, and grasp the thought that he died that death of shame in fulfillment of the perfect law of love, our eyes are opened to behold wondrous things out of it which could not otherwise be so well understood. The death of Jesus vindicated its claims and revealed the true nature of Satan's designs against the throne of God. On the one hand, obedience to it means eternal life to sinless intelligences above; on the other, it is God's great sin detector to all transgressors. If the element of divine mercy in the law had never been questioned by the introduction of evil, it would never have developed into the gospel of salvation; and yet had sin never existed, God's intelligent creatures would have been perfectly happy and free in the enjoyment of heaven's felicities. Sin was not a necessity in the development of God's plan of the universe, but it was his opportunity to teach two profoundly important lessons to his creatures,—the universal perfection and adaptability of his moral government, and the awful danger of the experiment of sin.

Antinomianism can find no favor in a truly loyal heart, for it is of Satanic mould. It came in with the origin of evil and will be extinguished with it at last. All evil has an antinomian tendency. The theory of the abolition of the law so popular at the present time antagonizes the moral government of heaven, and those who teach it array themselves on the side of the enemy. Such teachers are trampling upon God's love and rejecting his grace, for to oppose the law is to show the heart to be disloyal to God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8: 7. Enmity to its claims reveals the natural carnality of the heart, and shows the need of conversion. The unconverted heart neither loves the law nor its Author, for love to God is loyalty to his law.