HAVE GOD'S COMMANDMENTS BEEN ABOLISHED?
By R. F. Cottrell
WHEN God came down upon Mount Sinai, and gave the ten commandments with his own voice, it is said that he gave to the people, "right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments." Neh. 9:13. These commandments, laws, or judgments were given as a rule of righteousness, or right doing. They are primary laws, showing what is right and wrong; and obedience to them is what constitutes righteousness, or a right moral character. Said Moses concerning these laws, "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." Deut. 6:25. Jesus was affirming the perpetuity of these commandments to all then future generations when he said, "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." See Matt. 5:17–20. The apostles also teach that "all unrighteousness is sin," and that "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 5:17; 3:4; Rom. 4:15. If all unrighteousness is transgression of the law, it follows that all righteousness is obedience to the law. In harmony with this is the declaration: "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Since these commandments are the rule of righteousness, Inspiration, by a common figure, has affirmed that they are righteousness. "My tongue shall speak of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. To abolish these laws would be to abolish righteousness. And what is affirmed of one is affirmed of all—all of them are righteousness. There is no evading the truth that this refers to the ten commandments—those known in the days of David as God's commandments. The abolition of any one of them would be the abolition of righteousness. Has God done that? Will he ever do it? Let us hear his own testimony on this point: "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." Isa. 51:6, 7. How similar to this testimony are the words of Jesus: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matt. 5:18. In the face of divine testimonies like these, is it not astonishing that any professing godliness118should teach that this righteous law has been abolished, or changed in a jot or tittle? To every intelligent believer in God as revealed in the Bible, as an all-wise and unchangeable being, the presumptive evidence is all in favor of the perpetuity and immutability of his law. God has said this law of ten commandments is the truth, and is perfect; and that all these commandments are truth and righteousness; and that every one of these righteous judgments endures forever. Ps. 19:7; 119:142, 151, 160, 172. He promised in prophecy that his law should not be abolished, and that the Messiah should magnify it. Isa. 51:6; 42:21. Accordingly Jesus bore testimony to its perpetuity to all generations then future, and to its unchangeability till heaven and earth pass. Matt. 5:17–20. The apostles taught the same doctrine, and that God will judge all men by this law in the day of Jesus Christ. Rom. 3:31; Jas. 2:8–12; Rom. 2:12–16. To me there is only one reason imaginable why good men, Christians, believers in the Bible, should ever entertain the thought for a moment that this law has been abolished or changed in the least iota, by divine authority. That one reason is the influence of the great apostasy, foretold by Daniel, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostles. Dan. 7:20–26; Matt. 24:11, 12, 37–39; 2 Thess. 2:3–8; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1–5; 4:3, 4. In consequence of the great apostasy which resulted in the establishment of the papacy, that power that was to "think to change times and laws,"—the times and laws of God,—most Christians find themselves out of harmony with the law of God as recorded in the Bible, and it being more natural for men to search for an excuse than to correct their customs received by tradition, some have taken the position that the Sabbath law has been changed, others that it has been abolished, and others still that the whole decalogue has been done away. The change of the Sabbath being untenable from the Scriptures, men have claimed that the Sabbath was a Jewish institution, and was nailed to the cross, and failing to make it appear that one commandment of the moral law has been singled out and abolished while the rest stand good, they have gone to the extreme of claiming that the whole law, given by Jehovah in person, has been swept away; and this by Him whom God sent into the world to die for men's transgressions of that law, that sinful man might find pardon, and become reconciled to God! The only way out of this confusion of absurdity and error, is to return to the law of God as originally given. And this Christians are doing all over our land and in almost every nation of Europe. This is because God has sent his last warning to the world; Rev. 14:9–12, and they are heeding his voice. Let all renounce false tradition and return to the truth.