p. 2 | Commandments Before Moses by A. F. H.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 18, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 16.

Commandments Before Moses

By A. F. H.

—★— # 3417.— Commandments Before Moses

Is there evidence which certainly shows that God gave His law to the people before the time of Moses? or that any kept the law or the commandments before that time? A. F. H.

Surely there is, plenty of evidence, of which we briefly give a part.

1. God is ever the same, of unchangeable, righteous character. Mal. 3:6; James 1:17. His law, His requirements, must therefore be the same in all ages.

2. He asks men in all dispensations to be like Himself. When He said to Israel of old, "Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2), He meant the same kind of holiness, of the same standard, as He did when He said through Peter, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15, 16).

When God said to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1); when His Word said, "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Gen. 6:9); when it was said to Israel, "Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God" (Deut. 18:13); when Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48); when Paul said, "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind" (2 Cor. 13:11),—all must have meant the same perfection, the same standard, the same kind of walking, the same mind; for how "can two walk together, except they be agreed?" All were therefore required to keep God's perfect, holy law. See Ps. 18:30; 19:7; Rom. 7:12. These scriptures clearly show that God's requirements are the same in all dispensations.

3. The negative side proves the same. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. "Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. Therefore, wherever there is death there is sin, and wherever there is sin there is law. "And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," all have transgressed the law. Rom. 5:12. "Until the law" in the next verse means until it was given at Sinai. Paul proves that the law existed before it was there given, by the very fact that men were counted sinners, and died; for "sin is not imputed when there is no law."

4. Every commandment of the Decalogue can be traced before Sinai, either by its observance or transgression. Note them in order: (1) Joshua