p. 411 | The Law and Sin

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 8, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 26.

The Law and Sin

MAN, in the beginning, was made perfect, and was placed under the jurisdiction of a perfect law. So long as he continued perfect, the law was safety to him; but just as soon as man sinned, the very thing which had been designed for his preservation became the means of his destruction. It was originally God’s design that men should walk in harmony with his law, and thus be in harmony with himself, for his law is but the reflection of his own pure principles. It was only because the law was violated that it condemned man, the transgressor. This is why sin appears so exceedingly sinful to us to-day, when we look at it from the standpoint of God’s broken law. This is the light in which God himself looks at it. The law itself is not sin; it is as perfect as it ever was. Man is the sinner; he is the imperfect one. The commandment which was ordained to life he has found to be unto death, because he failed to walk in obedience. The sword of death poised over his head ready to fall upon him, hangs from that very law which might have been his bulwark of safety.