p. 7 | The Nature of the Law

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 28.

The Nature of the Law.

1. "The law is spiritual." Rom. 7:14. It must be, for that is the nature of God. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship in spirit. John 4:24. To look at the law in a carnal sense is to miss its value. So the Jews observed it "after the flesh." If they met its outward, naked prohibition, it was sufficient, whatever the condition of the heart. But God would have us know that the true worshiper (and the highest worship is service, Matt. 4:10) must be a worshiper in heart before he is in deed.

2. The law is truth. So declares the psalmist, "Thy law is the truth." It sums up in itself all morality. The moral precepts of the Bible may be ten thousand in number, yet they all find their origin and root in God's law. See Hosea 8:12, R.V. Being itself truth, it can not be a lie; it is not subject to change of any kind.

3. God's law is eternal righteousness. "All Thy commandments are righteousness," declares the psalmist. Ps. 119:172. And this also must be the case, for it is given of God as the sum of all duty. "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man; for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:13, 14. That which is God's standard of character and the rule by which He will judge men, must be the reflection in words of His own character, for His purpose is that His children shall be like Himself. "Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy;" "be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Lev. 19:2; Matt. 5:48. Therefore as God is eternal and unchangeable, His righteous law is also eternal and unchangeable. Hear His own words of assurance to His people who obey Him: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation unto all generations." Isa. 51:6-8.

Now, it would be absurd and superfluous to say that the personal righteousness of God should not be abolished; for every believer in God knows that righteousness is an essential element in His Deity. But we can see the force of the statement when applied to His law. He would have the world know, and His people assured, that His righteousness, known only by those who have His law in their hearts, can not, and therefore "shall not be abolished." Our Lord's words in Matt. 5:17-20 are but an echo of the above which He spoke through Isaiah:—

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise 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. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

And again: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke 16:17. And all this was stated by the psalmist (111:7, 8) when he said:—

"The works of His hands are verity and judgment; All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, And are done in truth and uprightness." Blessed is the man who is eternally sealed by having them written within his life.

4. God's law is light; for "the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction [which always come by the law] are the way of life." Prov. 6:23. Light is searching. It reveals. So God's law reveals sin. "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. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20. Its penetrating power lights up the darkest recesses of the heart, bringing the hidden sins to the seemingly dead conscience of the sinner, and bringing him face to face with God.

Light is purifying; and so "the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;" "the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;" "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting ["restoring," R.V.] the soul." Ps. 19:7-9. Its light in Jesus Christ burns away the miasma, the bacteria, the poison of sin, and restores healthy tissue by the power of its life.

5. God's law is a living law, a life-giving law. "For the Word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12. It was "ordained to life," sin only makes it death. Rom. 7:10. When the child of faith again receives it, it comes as the "law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:2. It is because of its inherent life and power, that the law becomes death to the sinner. The perverting of the force and life in God's law to selfish, carnal purposes transforms its life-giving power to a death-dealing poison. The electric current, rightly used in its ordained channel, gives light and propels cars; but turn it aside by a short circuit through the human body, and it causes death.

To sum up, we can conceive of no attributes of God which may not properly be applied to His law.

The holy law as spoken from Sinai comes to us in largely negative form, as prohibitions against sin. It is thus given to show the sinner his lost condition in himself, and his need of a Saviour. But if he accept it all, as it is indeed in Christ Jesus, as God's blessed law of love, he will find every command an enabling act, giving power to the receiver to do it. Then will God's commands read, as rendered by Young, "Thou hast no other gods before Me;" "Thou dost not murder;" "Thou dost not commit adultery," etc., etc. To such a man it will be a law of liberty, in which he will continually delight, every part of which will show forth God's wisdom, and power, and love.