The Perpetuity of the Law
By J. H. Rogers
"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 righteousness." Ps. 111: 7, 8. IT is not simply for the consciousness of being in agreement with all of our Biblical expositors and reformers of evangelical Christianity that I would vindicate the claim for the perpetuity of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments; but the word of the Lord which liveth and abideth forever is a sure foundation for us if all the world were on the antinomian side of this question. He that said it is "easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail," guards against even thinking that He had "come to destroy the law or the prophets." Doctor Scott, in his comments on Matthew 5, says, "As long as the world endured, not the least word or letter or point or comma of the whole law should lose its authority or fail. . . . The moral law, till the end of time, would continue to be the standard of sin and holiness to all men, and the believer's rule of duty." Now it is clear this is in harmony with the teaching of Jesus. When asked which was the great commandment in the law, He answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and "thy neighbor as thyself," then concludes by saying, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." These two great principles are the standard to determine our love to God and man. If we love God with all our heart and soul, we will not violate one of these precepts that relate to our duty to Him, found in the first table; and so if we love our neighbor as ourself, we will keep inviolate all those commands regulating our duty to Him. Thus we see the Ten Commandments are immutable in the very nature of things and perpetual in their force of binding obligation; for they came into existence by reason of those relations existing between ourselves and God, and also with one another. That the principles of the Ten Commandments were in existence and understood in the earlier period of our world's history is manifest, for example, in the case of Cain killing Abel, the licentiousness of the Sodomites, the sin of false gods, that of dishonoring parents, stealing, lying, and even desecrating the Sabbath, all before the giving of the law at Sinai. So the violation of those principles was understood to be sin, all the way thru the history of the world, for sin is the transgression of the law; and "where there is no law, there is no transgression," or sin. Rom. 4: 15. It is said of Abraham that he will command his children after him to keep the way of the Lord. Gen. 18: 19. We find it to be the general consensus and sentiment of all our most learned and Biblical expositors, that the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, was the eternal, unchangeable and universal law of God, and that all the evangelistic workers and writers till recent years have taken the unvarying course, claiming the perpetuity of the moral law. So that this sentiment is incorporated in, and runs like, a silver thread thru all the catechisms, confessions of faith, disciplines, and church manuals of all denominations in Christendom. Now permit me, in all kindness, to submit that no other view would have been invented or resorted to but for the fact that one or two Christian bodies in building on the faith of our predecessors, as regards the Decalogue, are urging the obedience of the fourth commandment, which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," not of the Jews but of the Lord—not has been, but is now, and for all time. It points back to creation for its origin and the reason for its being established—a memorial of God in His creative work and final redemption. For in the new earth state of the redeemed, all shall come from Sabbath to Sabbath to worship the Lord (see Isa. 66: 23), and to eat the fruit of the tree of life, and drink of the river of life. Rev. 22: 1, 2. So let us come back to the former landmarks established on the "foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ the chief Corner-stone." Every evangelical reform has pointed to apostolic faith and practise, exposing the traditions and doctrines of men as innovations leading away from God's word and will. And, last tho not least in importance, a reform is going forward, calling the attention of all to the "commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14: 9-12. This message is finding its way to every nation, kindred, and people to prepare them for the soon-coming King in glory.