The Law and the Gospel

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Mar 18, 1875

The Law and the Gospel.

THE BEARING OF CHRIST'S WORDS RELATIVE TO TRUTH AND DUTY IN THE CHRISTIAN AGE CONSIDERED.

As we come to the New Testament we should attentively consider the bearing which Christ's public teachings have in respect to truth and duty in the Christian age. The great commission to the eleven, designed to be perpetuated in the Christian ministry to the end of the world, is to the point. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt. 28:19, 20. We briefly comment on this commission.

1. It was given after the Jewish age was ended, just before the Lord was taken up to Heaven. The Jewish age closed with Christ's crucifixion, when the hand-writing of Jewish ordinances was "nailed to the cross." Col. 2:14. The Jewish "sacrifice and oblation" virtually ceased "in the midst of the week," when Messiah was "cut off." Dan. 9:26, 27. The death of Christ was the dividing line between the two ages; or, at least, it terminated the typical dispensation.

2. It was forty-two days at least after the Jewish age had ended when our Lord gave this commission. The Christian age was before him, hence the commission spoken in the hearing of the eleven was designed for the Christian ministry down to the end of the world.

3. By the authority of this commission, the custom of Christian ministers ever has been, still is, and ever should be until the end of the world, to baptize believers in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

4. In this great commission we read the solemn injunction of the Son of God to the Christian ministry to teach to all nations, hence, to perpetuate in the Christian church the doctrines he proclaimed during his public ministry. Therefore his words relative to the law or commandments of his Father have all their force of application to the men of the nineteenth century, that they did to those who first heard them.

In coming to the New Testament we find the first four chapters of Matthew devoted to a sketch of the genealogy of Christ, Joseph and Mary, the birth of Jesus, Herod's slaying the children of Bethlehem, the ministry of John the Baptist, the temptation of Christ, and his entering upon his ministry. The fifth chapter opens with the first record of his public instructions. In that memorable sermon upon the mount Christ warns his disciples against a terrible heresy that would soon press its way into the church.

The Jews boasted of God, of Abraham, and of the law, but despised and rejected Jesus. The great facts connected with his resurrection were soon to be so convincing that many would believe. And as the Jews were to reject and crucify the Son, while boasting in the law, Christians would run to the opposite and equally fatal heresy of trampling upon the authority of the Father, and despising his law, while receiving Christ and glorying in the gospel. It has ever been Satan's object to separate, in the faith of the church, the Father and the Son. With the Jews was the cry, The Father, Abraham, the law; but away with Jesus and his gospel. With Christians, the cry was to arise, Christ, the cross, the gospel; but away with the law of the Father. To meet this heresy ere long to arise in the Christian church, Christ, in his evangelical sermon, appeals to his disciples in the presence of the assembled multitudes in these forcible words:—

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven."

This wonderful declaration of the Son of God needs no comment. The history of the church, showing how loosely great and apparently good men have held the law of God, and the present closing controversy respecting its perpetuity, give the warning words of the Son of God especial force. In no case did Christ intimate, during the entire period of his public ministry, that his Father's law was to be set aside, and that he was to give the church a new moral code to take its place. He disclaims having anything to do with legislating. "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." John 7:16. "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." Chap. 8:28. "The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." Chap. 14:24. And speaking of the Son, the Father says, "He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." Deut. 18:18.

Another remarkable declaration of the Son of God is his statement of one of the conditions of obtaining eternal life. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17. And when the young man inquired, "Which?" Jesus quoted from the second table of his Father's moral code, leaving no doubt as to what he meant by the word "commandments." In this address to the young man, Christ most assuredly gives a practical lesson to his church to be observed during the Christian age. His parting words to the eleven, as he gave to them the great Christian commission, make this point fast, and show it to be the duty of the Christian ministry to repeat in the ears of the people, upon the authority of their high commission, "even unto the end of the world," "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

Many of the teachings of the Son of God pertain to the great principles of moral government which cannot be confined to any one age. As an instance we cite his words to the tempting lawyer who inquired, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. 22:35-40.

In this statement, Christ does not introduce new principles. He quotes the first of the two great commandments from Deut. 6:5; and the second from Lev. 19:18. These two commandments are neither Jewish nor Christian in particular. They belong to all ages. They were given to guard the two principles which reach back in the past, and forward into the eternal future, parallel with God's moral government of created intelligences. On these two commandments, the ten precepts of the moral code, as well as the prophets, had hung since the fall, and ever would hang until the close of human probation. Then let the ministers of Jesus Christ teach all nations, even unto the end of the Christian age, that all ten of the precepts of the divine law hang upon love to God, and love to man. Not even one of them has fallen off.

When it can be shown that these principles may be abolished, changed, and amended, then may it be also shown that the ten precepts of the divine law, which hang upon, or grow out of, these eternal principles can be abolished, changed, and amended. But these principles are as changeless as the throne of Heaven, and will endure and run parallel with the eternity of the divine existence. The Christian ministry cannot too highly exalt supreme love to God and love to man. And let it be proclaimed on the authority of the great commission, even unto the end of the world, that "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

In harmony with the foregoing, the Son of God speaks to the church in Rev. 22:14, in these words: "Blessed are they that do his commandments." We call attention to facts important to this subject as follows:—

1. Christ is the speaker. These are not the words of John, but of Him who declares in verse 12, "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me." It is Christ that is coming to reward the faithful and obedient, and not the prophet of Patmos. The first clause of the inspired book—"The Revelation of Jesus Christ,"—flatly contradicts the title which the compilers of the Bible have placed over the first chapter —"The Revelation of St. John the Divine." This mistake of the compilers has given rise to the erroneous expression, "John the Revelator." Inspiration, however, has given the honor to the Son of God which men have given to the prophet John. Christ is the Revelator, the speaker.

2. The commandments here spoken of are not the commandments of the speaker. Christ does not here say, Blessed are they that do my commandments. Neither does he here declare blessings upon those who should keep the commandments of the apostles. But it is "his commandments," the commandments of his Father, of which the Son of God here speaks. Christians should keep the commandments of Christ, and the commandments of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; but they do not reach the sum of Christian duty until it can also be said of them, "Blessed are they that do his commandments." That Christ here refers to the moral code of ten precepts of Exodus 20, is beyond all conjecture.

3. The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ was written A. D. 96, thirty-five years after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the day of Pentecost. The Christian church was therefore fully established, and every point to which our opponents look and argue for the abolition or change of the divine law, was more than thirty years in the past when we hear from Christ by the way of Patmos declaring blessings upon those who keep his Father's commandments.

It was upon the mount of transfiguration that the voice came from the light cloud that overshadowed the enraptured witnesses, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him." Christ is the highest authority for Christians. Hear him, oh, church of Christ, and you his embassadors, who speak in his stead, and shout his words to the end of the earth, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."