p. 1 | THE LAW OF GOD by B. F. Snook

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 25, 1860

THE LAW OF GOD

By B. F. Snook

BY B. F. SNOOK.

CHAPTER II.

THE law of God was binding on man in the patriarchal age of the world. This is shown 1. By the righteousness of many. 2. By the reward of the righteous. 3. By the wickedness of many. 4. By the punishment of the wicked. 5. By plain declarations of the Bible. 6. By specifying each commandment.

I. Men are said to have been righteous then.

Proof. "Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous." Paul, speaking of all the patriarchs, says, "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness." Heb. xi, 6, 33. "And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." 2 Pet. ii, 5. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." Gen. vi, 9. "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." Chap. vii, 1. "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him." Chap. v, 24. "For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Heb. xi, 5.

These are all said to have been righteous—to have wrought righteousness—and to have walked with God. Here we will spring an important question. How were they righteous? We answer, By doing righteousness. "He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the Devil." 1 John iii, 7, 8. "Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God." Verse 10. "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of God." Chap. ii, 29.

In the foregoing John states, 1. Who is righteous. 2. Who is of the Devil. 3. Who is not of God. He that doeth righteousness is born of God; is not of the Devil; does not commit sin. But sin is the transgression of the law; therefore he does not transgress, but obeys the law. He that is of the Devil doeth not righteousness; does not obey the law, but committeth sin, i. e., transgresses the law; is not born of God; is not of him; does not love him; argues that the law is abolished, &c.

Having now shown how righteousness is obtained and wrought, we proceed in the next place to show what right is; what righteousness is. David says, "The statutes (laws) of the Lord are right." Ps. xix, 8. "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful; for all thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. cxix, 138, 172. Therefore, according to this divinely inspired witness, the law is the standard of right: of righteousness. Hence those who would do right (work righteousness), must conform to this divine standard. Proof. "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. vi, 25. The patriarchs from Adam to Moses walked with God; were righteous and did right. Therefore God's law existed in their time, and they obeyed it; otherwise they could not have been righteous.

II. God rewarded the righteous with many blessings. Proof. Abel enjoyed the special blessings of heaven. But why so? Because his works were righteous. Heb. xi, 4. 2. Noah and his house were saved from being destroyed by the flood. And why was God so good to them? Ans. "For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." Gen. vii, 1, 3. Enoch was translated to heaven that he should not see death. What an inestimable blessing! This he received because he was righteous and walked with God. Heb. xi, 5. God has promised to reward only those who keep his commandments. "In keeping them there is great reward." Ps. xix, 11. Hence those who received such great rewards kept the law of their heavenly Father.

III. Many were then wicked and sinners.

1. Cain was wicked and slew his brother. Gen. iv, 8. John says, Cain was of that wicked One, the Devil. 1 John iii, 12. Query. Who is of the Devil? Ans. "He that committeth sin is of the Devil." Verse 8. What is sin? "Transgression of the law." Verse 4. Therefore God's law was binding on man as far back as Cain, who broke the sixth commandment—Thou shalt not kill.

2. The antediluvians. Of man in that day God said, "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. vi, 5. "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Verse 12. But could they have been wicked and sinners if there was no law of morals to which they were to conform? They could not; for where no law is there is no transgression. Rom. iv, 15. But they were sinners, and therefore the law was binding upon them, and they broke it.

3. Joseph refused to comply with the immodest request of Potiphar's wife, saying, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Gen. xxxix, 9. But how could he have sinned against God in so-doing, unless God had given a law forbidding that crime? But he would have sinned had he yielded to her wishes. Therefore God's great moral law, the seventh command of which forbids adultery, was binding in the time of Joseph.

4. The inhabitants of Sodom. Of these Peter says, "They vexed righteous Lot with their filthy conversation and unlawful deeds." 2 Pet. ii, 7. This is direct proof that the law was binding in their time, and that Lot was righteous in obeying it, and that they were ungodly and their deeds unlawful because they disobeyed it. But if the law was not binding in their time, how was this possible? It was not possible. For in the absence of moral law there can be no moral character. Hence Lot could not have been righteous. Neither could they have been ungodly; neither could their deeds have been unlawful; for where there is no law a deed can be neither lawful nor unlawful. But their deeds were unlawful. Therefore the law must have existed in their time, and they sinned against it.

IV. The punishment of the wicked. 1. The punishment of Cain. Cain was severely chastised. This, however, was perfectly just; for he had broken a just law, and had deprived his brother of that which he could not restore to him. God said to him, "Thou art cursed from the earth." "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear." Gen. iv, 11-13.

2. The antediluvians. Of their punishment it was said, "And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth." Gen. vi, 7. This was truly a great punishment. Such however is the unhappy end of the sinner [Phil. iii, 19], and the wages of his disobedience to God's law. Rom. vi, 23.

3. The people of Sodom. Their punishment was awfully severe. They were destroyed by fire and brimstone, and thus set forth as an example

to those who should afterward live ungodly (unlawfully). Gen. xix, 12, 13; 2 Pet. ii, 6; Jude 7.

Corollary: God punishes none but sinners, the wicked who transgress his law. No one can be a sinner where there is no law to sin against. Hence if there had been no law binding in the age of the patriarchs, there would have been no sinners, and therefore nobody punished. But there were many sinners, and God punished them for their sins, which he could not in justice have done had there been no law binding upon them. Therefore we conclude that the law was then binding.

V. Plain declarations of Scripture. 1. "Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Gen. xxvi, 5. Who with such a declaration before him as this can deny the pre-Sinaic obligations of the law of God? We respond, No one but the infidel or atheist. This testimony is right to the point, and proves the binding obligation of the law of the Most High in Abraham's time, not less than four hundred years before God spoke from Sinai.

2. "And (God) said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians." Ex. xv, 26. This was spoken at least thirty-three days before the proclamation of the law on the Mount, and therefore is unanswerable proof that the law existed and was binding in the patriarchal age.

3. "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" Ex. xvi, 28. If this text does not prove the existence and obligation of the law before Israel came to Sinai, we confess that Bible evidence is worth nothing. The man who can evade such plain Scriptures as the above, can evade the Bible.

VI. Each commandment specified. (1.) Gen. xxxv, 1-4. (2.) Gen. xxxi, 19, 34, 35; xxxv, 2, 4. (3.) Lev. xviii, 3, 21-27. (4.) Gen. ii, 1-4; Mark ii, 27; Gen. viii, 10-12; xxix, 27, 28; Ex. xvi, 4, 22-30. (5.) Gen. ix, 20-25. (6.) Gen. iv, 8-11, 23, 24; ix, 5, 6. (7.) Gen. xx, 5-9; xxxviii, 24; xxxix, 7-9. (8.) Gen. xxx, 35; xxxi, 19-39; xliv, 8. (9.) Gen. xxxix, 7-20. (10.) The fact that the transgression of the tenth must precede the violation of the eighth, and that the eighth was known and its violation considered worthy of death, is sufficient evidence that the principle of the tenth commandment was known before the law was given at Sinai.—Bible Student's Assistant.

The foregoing scriptures specify the principle of the ten commandments and show that the patriarchs had knowledge of them which they could not have had if the law had not then existed. From the above scriptures we draw the following logical conclusions.

1. If the law did not exist before its public proclamation from the mount, there was no sin in the world up to that time.

2. As death is the wages of sin, no one who lived prior to the giving of the law will die the second death; for sin is not imputed when there is no law. Hence all of this class will be saved, including Cain, all who were drowned by the flood, the vile inhabitants of Sodom, and Pharaoh's satanic host.

3. That seeing we have shown that the law did not begin to exist on Sinai, it is not Jewish; for it existed before there ever was a Jew.

4. All of its obligations are general, applying alike to all men.

5. As it is not Jewish, but existed before the distinction of Jew was recognized, it can exist after such distinction ceases.

6. Those who reject this law and call it Jewish because it was once given to the Jews, might as well reject the God who is the author of it, and call him Jewish, because he was once the God of the Jews.

7. Those who reject this law and call it Jewish might as well carry out their inward principle and reject Christ, who was a Jew, ministered to the Jews, and magnified and made [honorable no-lawism? No, but] honorable his Father's law.

8. They should for the same reason reject salvation, for it is of the Jews.

9. They should destroy their Bibles, for most truly was that blessed book given to the Jews. They do not remember this if they ever knew it.

10. They should also remember that if the law is binding on the Jew only, then he only will receive the blessing for keeping it; for the blessing is only to the commandment-keepers.