The Atonement-Part II by J. H. W.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Sep 8, 1863

The Atonement—Part II.

By J. H. W.

THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT.

OUR first inquiry relates to the government of God, and to his law, as this is fundamental: all else must be based on it. And it will be difficult, if not impossible, to receive just ideas of secondary principles, if we have not just ideas of their primaries.

There can be no difference between the attributes of God, and the principles of his government. If God is just, justice must be a principle of his government. If God is love, love must pervade his government. If God is immutable, the principles of his government must be unchangeable. We cannot conceive of his possessing an attribute that does not shine forth in his government. But as law is the basis of government, whatever applies to his government, of course applies to his law. Therefore to understand the attributes of God, is to understand the nature or character of his law, as one necessarily grows out of the other. This is too plainly evident to require further proof; for his law is the expression of his will, and his will must surely be in harmony with his attributes.

It is not necessary to examine at length, though well to notice, the attributes of Deity. Nor need I quote scripture to prove that these attributes belong to God, viz.: Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Truth, Justice, Love, and Mercy. It may be said, however, that most of these qualities are ascribed to man also. Thus the Scriptures speak of man as being holy, true, just, wise, merciful, &c. But such expressions in regard to man, must be taken with the limitations necessarily arising out of man's nature. Now there are three attributes which belong to Deity which may be applied to all of those mentioned above, but which man cannot possess, to wit: Infinity, Immutability, and Eternity. While man is wise, just, merciful, &c., in a degree, God is infinitely, immutably, and eternally wise, powerful, holy, true, just, &c. These three qualify all the others; they are "perfections of perfections;" essential to the divine character, but belonging to it alone. So let it be understood, when I speak of the justice of God, I do not use the word in any ordinary sense, or as I use it in respect to man. The justice of God is infinite, immutable, eternal. These remarks may be necessary to guard us against making God (in our minds) such an one as ourselves, and to elevate our thoughts and views of the divine government. May the Lord help us to write and read with becoming reverence.

I have noticed that the government, or executive, must make a plain revelation of the law to which the subjects are amenable. This the Lord has done. Passing, for the present, the declarations of scripture concerning God's dealings with, and revelations to, his creatures in patriarchal ages, we come to a time when the world had far departed from the Lord; when he chose a people from among the nations to make them the special depositaries of his will to man. And while he made known, through prophets and teachers, civil and circumstantial duties, he taught us to look with peculiar reverence upon the moral code by proclaiming it with his own voice, and writing it with his own finger. That men have been wont to consider the ten commandments a moral code is not strange, considering the teachings of the sacred word on that point.

When God brought Israel out of Egypt he entered into an agreement or covenant with them, promising to regard them as a peculiar treasure above all nations, if they would obey his voice and keep his covenant.

This they readily promised to do. Ex. xix, 5–8. "Obey my voice," and "keep my covenant," are two expressions used by the Lord referring to the same thing: for when they heard his voice, the third day after the covenant was made with them, he declared his covenant which he commanded them to perform. This was the ten commandments. Deut. iv, 12, 13. He said also that if they would obey this they would be a holy nation. Now it is an acknowledged truth that character is formed by our actions in reference to law; and the nature of the character is determined only by the nature of the law. Obedience to a bad law can never make a good character. It is hence evident that the character of the actor is the exact counterpart of the law obeyed. But we have the Lord's own testimony, that if they would keep the ten commandments, they would be holy: that is, they would thereby form holy characters; and as their characters would be but a copy of the law, we have herein the word of the Governor of the Universe that this is a holy law.

As law is the basis of government, and as God's government or law is a certain exposition of his attributes, and as man's character is as the nature of the law obeyed, to obey the law is to attain unto the righteousness of God, or true holiness. This leads to the conclusion that the holiness derived from obedience to the ten commandments is that growing out of the divine attributes, pure and changeless as heaven itself.

As there cannot be diverse or unlike attributes of Deity, so there can be only one rule of holiness growing out of these attributes—one moral law for his government. And upon obedience or disobedience to this law must all good and evil, life and death, be suspended. Therefore the following declarations apply to these commandments, or this law, and to no other.

Lev. xviii, 5. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them."

Deut. xxx, 15, 16. "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil: in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes and his judgments." See verses 19, 20; chap. ix, 26–28.

Isa. li, 7. "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law."

Ps. xix, 7. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."

Ps. xl, 8. "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my soul." Also Ps. cxix.

Eccl. xii, 13. "Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man."

Matt. xix, 17. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

Rom. ii, 13. "The doers of the law shall be justified."

Gal. iii, 12. "The law is not of faith; but the man that doth them shall live in them."

1 John iii, 4. "Sin is the transgression of the law."

Rom. vi, 23. "The wages of sin is death."

Rom. vii, 13. "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."

Verse 13. "For we know that the law is spiritual."

This law is also referred to in certain scriptures, wherein it is called God's holy covenant, and the covenant commanded.

Deut. iv, 13. "He declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."

1 Chron. xvi, 15–17. "Be ye mindful always of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; which he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant."

Gen. xxvi, 3–5. "I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham. . . . . Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

For breaking this "everlasting covenant," the inhabitants of the earth will be desolated with a curse, and burned up. Isa. xxiv, 5, 6.

By indignation against the "holy covenant," was the man of sin, the abomination that maketh desolate, set up. Dan. xi, 28, 30.

As this law has sometimes been confounded with other laws to which the above declarations of scripture will not apply, I will briefly notice the distinction of laws.

The system (not the law) under which the people of God lived in the past dispensation was complex; its elements were moral, civil, and ceremonial. The moral was the basis of all, existing prior to, and independent of the others;* and was from the beginning the standard of duty to God and to our fellow men. The civil enforced the moral, especially in their relations to their fellow men, making application of its principles to every day life. The ceremonial expiated the violations of the moral, and had especial reference to their relations to God. But both the ceremonial and civil were merely typical, looking forward to the priesthood of Christ and to his kingdom; and therefore illustrate the true relation we sustain under Christ to the law of God, the moral rules in this and the future dispensation.

This distinction of the two laws, moral and ceremonial, is shown in the following scriptures.

Jer. vi, 19, 20. "Hear, O earth; behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me." Here one was kept and the other rejected; but the observance of the ceremonial was not acceptable when the moral was disregarded. That this was illustrative of our position in this age is proved by Matt. vii, 21–23, and John vii, 16, 17, where the efficacy of faith in the Son, and of the knowledge of his doctrine, is dependent on obedience to the will or law of the Father.

Jer. vii, 22, 23. "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, obey my voice." We have seen that to obey his voice was to keep his covenant, the ten commandments; and this shows that when God gave his law, which himself declared to be the rule of holiness, the ceremonial law of burnt offerings and sacrifices was not included.

The Saviour himself explicitly declares that he came not to destroy the law: yet we know he did set aside the ceremonial law by introducing its antitype.

The same is proved by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, and Romans. In one he speaks of a law which Christ abolished, (Gr. katargeo,) Eph. ii, 15, and in the other he speaks of a law which is not made void, (Gr. katargeo,) by faith, but rather established. Rom. iii, 31.

I have noticed in another place that it is not consistent with justice to relax the claims of a just law, neither can the acts of abolishing the law and pardoning the transgressor be united. Hence if the law of God had been abolished by the gospel, justice would be trampled under foot. But the Bible is not thus inconsistent with reason. God is infinitely just, and his law must be satisfied; Christ, a voluntary substitute, is set forth as our Saviour, that God might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. Rom. iii, 26.

Though many other scriptures might be given to the same intent, those I have quoted are sufficient to show that the Bible truly harmonizes with the great principles of government examined in the light of reason.

J. H. W.

(To be Continued.)