Does not Eze. 20:24, 25 show that the ceremonial law was added (Gal. 3:19) because of transgression of the moral law? If the added law was the moral law, and the coming of the Seed refers to the second advent, does not “added until the Seed should come” not only imply, but expressly demand, the abrogation of the moral law at the second advent?
If our querist will read the context he will see that the “statutes that were not good” and the judgments by which they should not live were not Gospel ordinances, of which the ceremonial law was an expression, but were perversions of the law, heathen laws and customs that came in among Israel. God “gave them up” to those very things. See Ps. 81:11, 12: “But My people would not harken to My voice; and Israel would none of Me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust; and they walked in their own counsels.” Eze. 20:39: “As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols.” See also verse 26. We read that the time God spoke the Ten Commandments “in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice,” “He added no more; and He wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.” Deut. 5:22; “Which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more;” literally, “added to them any more.” Heb. 12:19. Now that law was not a new law, but it was given in a new form. Why it was given in that form is expressly stated in both Romans and Galatians. Rom. 5:20 declares, “Moreover, the law entered that the OFFENSE MIGHT ABOUND.” Man had so departed from God that he needed the written law to show to him what sin was, “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Rom. 7:13. Gal. 3:19 gives the same thought: “Wherefore then the law? It was added BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made;” in order that man might see and know what sin was; show him his misery that he might lay hold of God’s mercy; show him his sin that he might lay hold of God’s righteousness; the schoolmaster—pedagog—to drive him to Christ; and when Christ comes, the law will no longer be a reprover of sin. Then all shall know the Lord, and the law will be written in the hearts of all. As a negative code, a reprover of sin, a threatener of wrath, it will be no more. As a positive force of love in God’s children, it will and must exist, in the very nature of the case to all eternity, because it is the simple expression of God’s character.
What do you understand the first-fruits of the Spirit to be, as spoken of in Rom. 8:23?
The “first-fruits” of the Spirit of Rom. 8:23, is identical with “the earnest of the Spirit” in 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5, “the earnest of our inheritance” in Eph. 1:14, and the sealing of the Spirit in Eph. 4:30. When the child of sin fully yields himself to God and accepts of Christ Jesus, God bestows upon that child His Spirit. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His,” but when a man believes, he receives the Spirit of God; a new life, a new power, comes into his being and enables him to do what he could not before do, love God and be obedient to His law. That is the first-fruits of the Spirit; that is God’s pledge to him that He will abide with him all the way thru his life, even to the glorious consummation when that same Spirit will quicken his mortal body and fit him for eternal glory.
1986.—The Former Estate.
Will you please explain Eze. 16:55, 56? Is there any shadow of proof in the text for probation to come? What is the “former estate”?
The text and the context are a comparison of character between Judah and Israel on one hand, and Sodom on the other. The Lord points out that according to the light that they had had, they had done worse than Sodom; and in the great day of judgment, when they should come before God, this will be clearly seen. All that can be indicated by a former estate is that they will be raised from the dead, and, of course, raised in their sins, and then punished as indicated in Revelation 20. Then it will be seen that those who have sinned against great light are more guilty than those who had less light. The same thought is expressed by our Saviour in Matt. 11:21, 22: “Wo unto thee, Chorazin! wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.” The next two verses draw the comparison between Capernaum and Sodom, and say in regard to Capernaum that “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” The text gives no ground whatever for probation in the age to come. Every man shall give account of himself to God for the deeds done in the body, and the resurrection is the returning to that estate.
1987.—The Righteousness of the Law or of Faith. Rom. 10:5, 6.
Read the context and note the contrast between Israel as they ought to be and what Israel were seeking after. They had a “zeal for God, but not according to knowledge;” they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and hoped to establish their own righteousness; consequently they had not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. They had failed to see the end, or object, of God in giving the law; that it was to lead them to the righteousness which is of God by faith, showing them that they had no righteousness of their own; that all their righteousness must be of Him. The law demands that absolute and perfect obedience of a perfect man, and, of course, the man that would do those things would live by them; but the apostle has pointed out, as other Scriptures do abundantly, that “there is none that doeth good, no not one,” for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. Therefore, the only righteousness which can be acceptable to God is the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ, unto and upon all them that believe. See Rom. 3:20-22. The righteousness of the law looks to one’s actions for justification, and consequently gives glory to one’s self for a seeming righteousness which always comes short, and puts Christ far away; but righteousness which is of faith lays hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and brings Him down into our own hearts so that Christ shall dwell in our hearts by faith. Eph. 3:17. This is the “faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6), and the love which keeps all the commandments of God (1 John 5:3).
1988.—Let Every Man Be Persuaded in His Own Mind.
What is to be understood, in the editor’s judgment, by the expression in Rom. 14:5: “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind”?
Just this, that God wants us to live by our own faith, our own convictions, our own judgment. We can not live by rules which others lay down with no convictions on our own part. “One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.” Connect that with verses 22 and 23, “The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth. But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Now it seems very clear to us, and may be also clearly shown, that the apostle was talking to Christians, and not speaking of the Sabbath day which God has set apart to Himself separate from all the other days. There were those among the Romans who kept the Passover and Pentecost and Day of Atonement and other holy days of the Jews. To some these amounted to nothing, to others they ought to be kept faithfully. No man is governed by another man’s conscience in this respect; let every one be fully assured in his own mind. This principle is just as true in regard to the Sabbath or any duty which God asks of His children. He wants no one to do His will unless he has faith in Him; but faith is based on His word. Let us be careful to follow our own convictions; let us be careful to know that our convictions are based on the eternal truth of God.
