Grace versus Law by Editor

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1878

Grace versus Law.

By Editor

It is surprising to what inventions people resort in order to evade obligation to God's law. Everywhere in the Old Testament they find the law of Moses, but never the law of God. Obedience to law is made synonymous with transgression; at least it is treated as a kind of violence offered to the grace of Christ, to make the ten commandments the rule of life. The pardoned criminal is expected to obey the laws of his country, to love and not to hate, nor to sneer at those laws, and by obedience to show thankfulness to the sovereign who pardoned him. In fact his after conduct is expected to reflect honor upon the laws which he once violated.

Just so it should be with the pardoned sinner. He has not been pardoned that he may defy the law of God, but that he may honor it when the condemnation is removed, by obeying it, and thereby showing that he loves God with all the heart. But many seem in one way or another to cast opprobrium upon the ten commandments. They are called Mosaic, and therefore are not the Christian's rule of life. The changes are rung upon the words: "Ye are not under the law, but under grace;" as though an ellipsis of the word condemnation were impossible in that sentence, and wholesome law were obnoxious, and grace a license. Starting with the assertion that the ten commandments are Mosaic, they are declared not to be moral.

Then the Sabbath is attacked, for this class think the Sunday to be of Christ, while the Sabbath is of Moses only! They say it was not commanded before the flood, and hence it must be Jewish; but why do they not tell us that idolatry, blasphemy, dishonoring parents, adultery, and lying, were not, so far as the record goes, forbidden before the flood, and hence are Mosaic inhibitions only, and have been done away by the death of Christ? The antinomian spirit manages to publish itself abroad, much to the inconvenience of many in the churches. Rather than be drawn into this wordy cant of "grace and no law," we should think that brethren would vastly prefer the Sabbath and the harmonious relations of law and gospel.

Recently we heard a Baptist deacon express himself on this wise: "I wish the teachers of the Sunday-school and the brethren would join me in a pledge not to use the word grace for the next twelve months." Of course there were some to protest against the proposal, but we wish it success—for as used it is meaningless, or it is used to parry obligation, and to disown the eternal law which Christ came to magnify and make honorable. The sophistry of their reasoning is apparent: "Take the decalogue for your rule and you must take as your atonement Aaron's priesthood and sacrifices." This reminds us of Christian Sabbath-keepers in Austria and Russia who are not allowed to call themselves Christians because they keep the Sabbath, but are obliged to be denominated Jews!! For ourselves, we choose the decalogue—the ten words, written in the heart by the favor of the Lord Jesus. This is our preference, and to this end Sabbath-keepers live and preach, and will contend earnestly till the glorious appearing of their Lord.—Sabbath Memorial.