For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
The law is one united whole, so to keep it as a whole yet fail at a single point leaves a person guilty of breaking the entire law. It is not the size of the act that makes it sin, but any departure from God's expressed will even in the smallest detail, for the law reaches to thoughts, desires and motives and requires supreme love to God and love to neighbor. No part can be set aside as unimportant or nonessential, so all ten commandments remain binding together, and partial or selective obedience chosen by human judgment falls short of righteousness. That same holy law is the one standard by which character is weighed and the world will be judged, with no excuse for the one who evades it or teaches others to do so. Those who have broken it must recognize guilt, repent, confess and seek pardon through Christ, whose surrender cleanses the mind, writes the law on the heart, and restores freedom from sin under the royal law of liberty.
Law's Unity and Meaning
The law is one united whole, so to keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is to become guilty of all, for deliberately breaking one commandment means none are truly kept. Obedience means keeping every commandment and not merely most of them, just as breaking one link leaves the chain broken, because the commandments work together as a whole that cannot be set aside or altered to suit personal convenience. It is the holy standard by which human character is weighed, and in the scene of contention professed followers weighed against it are found wanting and judged unworthy to join the perfect ones. The principle and spirit behind one transgression would as readily fail under temptation on another, so character is not measured by comparing wrong actions with good ones or by a human standard. Disregarding the fourth commandment by rejecting God's Sabbath therefore places people on Satan's side in the controversy over obedience, and those who love God honor Him by keeping His commandments, including not using the Sabbath hours for their own work.
It is not the greatness of the act that makes it sin, but being at variance with God's expressed will in the least particular, as Adam's transgression shows. Failing in genuine love for neighbor, with supreme overmastering love for self, and assuming jurisdiction and command over fellow men therefore breaks the whole law. Such variance shows that sin reigns in the heart, that communion is still held with the enemy and his attributes are cherished, and that the heart is divided and still serves sin. It is in virtual denial of the Holy Spirit and rebellion against His law and government, in effect denying God.
The law reaches inward to thoughts, desires and motives, and calls for love of God and neighbor as well as outward obedience, so breaking even one commandment whether by neglect or by deliberate transgression is sin that makes the offender guilty before God. Its precepts are bound together in meaning and obligation, and its standard applies to everyone and will be the measure by which the world is judged. A person cannot love God wholeheartedly while putting another god or created thing first, for God requires the heart's supreme and holiest affections. Self-love, love of the world, or excessive affection for anything created turns the heart from God and is idolatry.
The same principle of love runs through all the precepts, which are summed up in love to God and love to neighbor, so a person cannot keep one commandment while breaking another and still claim to have kept the law. Breaking any precept violates the principle of love and cannot be excused as breaking an unimportant commandment, and human destiny is determined by obedience to the whole law. Love for God is shown by obedience to all His commandments, and love for God and for neighbor cannot be separated.
The law is the royal law and the perfect law of liberty that remains the standard by which character and conduct are tested, serving as a mirror that reveals what a person is like. Believers in Jesus are still called to obey it, for breaking even one point makes the person guilty as a transgressor of the law. Hearing the Word without doing it leaves a person self-deceived, while those who continue in it as doers and not hearers only are blessed. Its practical demands include controlling the tongue, caring for the fatherless and widows, and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.
Ten Commandments Still Binding
In the New Testament the phrases the law and the commandments of God mean the whole Decalogue, not only a part of it, so to fail in one commandment brings guilt with respect to all and all ten remain binding together in the gospel. The claim that some commandment is abolished because the New Testament does not separately list every commandment of the Decalogue has no force. God has not changed but holds the same standard in the gospel as in ancient Israel, so no sin can be passed over as small and unimportant, and those who know the truth and hear His word daily cannot be careless toward sin in their midst without being held responsible with the open transgressor. God's law cannot be divided into essential and nonessential parts, and breaking one point makes a person accountable to the law, so no part may be set aside to win the world's favor. No command, from the least to the greatest, can be ignored or treated as unimportant, and selective obedience is not acceptable, for the gospel requires perfect obedience with the law expressing true holiness written on the heart and revealed in the character.
Disregarding the fourth commandment by rejecting God's Sabbath places people on Satan's side in the controversy over obedience to God and in opposition to God's law, even if other commandments are kept. The Sabbath is the memorial of creation, and replacing it with a false sabbath helps lead the world into apostasy. Breaking the Sabbath for personal financial advantage is not a small, isolated fault but Sabbathbreaking that makes one a transgressor of all the commandments. Even a small infringement of the time God has reserved for Himself is not harmless, for it dishonors God and treats His commands lightly, and excusing such transgression can harden the conscience and lead to further disobedience so that a person may claim to keep the Sabbath while breaking God's precepts.
The exceptions Christ gave for work that saves human or animal life do not make self-serving Sabbath labor acceptable. Keeping the day commonly observed by the world instead of the fourth commandment is still disobedience, and Adam and Eve's single departure from God's command shows that one violation is enough to bring guilt and judgment. Excuses for neglecting the fourth commandment, including business, family, or social demands, will not stand in the judgment, for keeping most of God's law does not excuse disobedience in one point and the transgressor remains accountable to God. Rejecting light about the Sabbath after receiving it brings greater condemnation, while those who break the other nine commandments are already in an awful condition.
God's requirements must be treated as sacred and strictly observed in every requirement He has enjoined, even the least, with cheerful, unhesitating obedience without murmur, question, or reproach, like Abraham when tested in old age to sacrifice his son, because as infinite debtors all faith, service, and affection are owed to God and age excuses no one. His word — not personal opinion, convenience, or the cost of obedience — must set the standard of right and wrong, and what people regard as a minor matter can still be a matter of obedience to God. God's law, not the careless attitude or advice of human instructors, is the guide, and no one should be led to deviate from it in the slightest degree, for treating even one precept lightly brings a person to account before Him.
Perfect Wholehearted Obedience
Partial obedience falls short of righteousness and God is satisfied with none of it. Human judgment is not left to select which part of the law to obey, nor to follow what sinful man suggests, but God's word must be taken and His revealed will walked in as discerned through diligent and prayerful study. Once His will is known nothing may turn the soul from strict obedience, not propriety, expediency, desire for gain, or fear of loss, dishonor, or reproach. To substitute human customs and traditions for His precepts, or to proclaim that the law or any part of it is no longer in force, brings a person under condemnation of the law, and even if honest he will perish as a transgressor. Obedience requires the whole heart wholly conformed to Christ's will, including tastes, appetite, passions, motives, desires and habits, beginning with a pure heart. Anything less cheapens religious life and weakens character, so that failure to overcome every spiritual foe keeps a person from fulfilling Christ's purpose and dishonors Jesus, and under temptation remaining defects, habits and pre-established ideas gain supremacy and evil triumphs.
Keeping the rest of the law does not excuse failure in one tested point, for outward propriety of conduct and claimed belief in truth do not remove guilt. Refusal to obey when tested reveals an unregenerate heart unprepared for the coming of the Lord, as with the rich young ruler who would not deny self and take up the cross and follow Christ. The need is for God's law to be written in mind and heart and brought home to the conscience so sin is seen in its exceeding sinfulness, for a person must die to self and have self crucified, and until self is crucified he cannot know what spiritual holiness is. One indulged sin is not a small matter, and even a person strong in many points of character remains joined to sin through that one weakness. God has given no list of graded sins by which some may be dismissed as harmless, so a fault cannot be excused by pointing to virtues or to worse faults in others. The heart cannot be divided between self and God, so the cherished sin must be searched out and overcome.
A person may otherwise appear virtuous, honorable and noble, yet by willfully fostering one sin or indulging one vice transgresses the law. Then even gifts and good deeds become a lure and an enticing example that encourages others toward sin and leads them toward ruin. Yielding the truth on one point because it condemns wrongful conduct opens the way to further error and can lead to abandoning the whole body of truth. Disregarding one part of God's law has grave consequences, for breaking even one commandment leads toward further sin, and once restraint is removed further sin can seem less sinful, as when the restraint of modesty is removed serious sexual wrongdoing can seem less sinful.
The law surrounds people like a hedge against evil and like a breastplate of righteousness for good and happiness in this life and the life to come. Breaking even one commandment breaks its protective power and opens a way for the enemy to bring harm and ruin, leaving a person like a soldier without a breastplate, unprotected from the assaults of Satan. Keeping the law of the Lord continually before the mind and practicing it gives protection by the breastplate of righteousness, and complete obedience was necessary to secure blessing and protection for the journey to Jerusalem without an armed escort. Even the least transgression brings guilt, for keeping the law means keeping every commandment and not knowingly violating a single precept. Cherished sin without earnest repentance and forsaking leads to apostasy, weakness and ruin. God's people must not only teach the commandments but keep every one, and each person must live as a Christian.
Disregarding even one word of God or acting against His expressed will leaves a person guilty and accountable in the judgment. Breaking one point of His holy law makes a person a transgressor of the whole law with full guilt, and partial obedience does not excuse violation in one respect. Practices opposed to the law must be seen as evil, repented of and confessed before it is forever too late, because at the judgment all works will be revealed from the books and judged according to what is written in them. Anyone who willingly disobeys even one commandment cannot truly keep the law in spirit and truth and is guilty of breaking the whole law. No single instruction may be safely disregarded because it seems small, for keeping God's word means obeying every word He has spoken.
Judgment by the Law
God's holy law is one whole standard by which character is weighed and by which the world will be judged. Breaking even one commandment, whether through neglect or deliberate transgression, is sin and makes the offender guilty and condemned before God as a lawbreaker. The law reaches inward to thoughts, desires, motives and purposes as well as outward obedience, calling for love of God and neighbor, and its standard applies to everyone with every ray of light to be received and cherished without treating any command as unimportant or making excuses for disobedience. Those who honor the law will be honored by it, and those who treat it with contempt will be condemned. The principle bears especially on those who lead others, including their own families, into disobedience, for they bear responsibility for the harm their influence causes.
In the scene of contention, professed followers caught in strife are weighed against that holy standard, found wanting, and judged unworthy to join the perfect ones. Character in that weighing is not measured by comparing wrong actions with good ones, by a human standard, or by comparing oneself with wrongdoers who do wrong. Keeping some principles does not excuse breaking others, for the principle and spirit behind one transgression would lead the person to fail under temptation on another commandment just as readily. God's law gives principles for Christian conduct, including the duty to care for one's fellow human beings.
God sees and records every action, purpose and word, so a person must not evade obedience to even one precept through assertions or falsehoods nor teach others to transgress, for the transgressor faces the Judge without excuse. Every actual transgression brings the soul into condemnation under the full justice expressed in God's warnings. The wrong act is the cause with its consequence the fitting effect established by God's will, and knowing those consequences should restrain from transgression rather than merely lead to avoiding its results.
The cross demonstrates the severity of sin's penalty, for Christ though innocent bore the sinner's punishment as Substitute, and those not healed of transgression by faith in Christ who do not repent and forsake sin will receive its punishment. Great light does not excuse disobedience, and resisting truth hardens the conscience and makes a person less responsive to the Holy Spirit. The world is soon to meet Jehovah over His broken law, for breaking even one point makes a person guilty before Him. Pardon is available only to those who turn from transgression to obedience, for the law remains binding and the world will face the Lawgiver over its violations.
To refuse to conform to God's great standard of character, to erect a different standard to suit self, and to compel all others to conform to it by human authority is to break God's law. Rome did this, putting its own will in place of God's law and enforcing it by persecution and slaughter without mercy. When God's law is held up as the standard everyone is guilty because no one is free from defects of character, and fault-finders who condemn others are themselves also answerable to the law. Keeping the law outwardly in most respects does not make a person guiltless when one point is broken, and changed circumstances can reveal hidden traits of character that need to be recognized and corrected.
Pardon and Restoration in Christ
To break the law at even one point is to stand as a transgressor of the law, and those whose practices oppose it must recognize their guilt, repent and confess their sins before it is too late. When the fourth commandment is brought home to the conscience, the one who has violated it sees himself a sinner condemned by the law and should repent and seek pardon through Christ.
Transgressing even one precept brings the sinner under the full justice expressed in God's warnings, and the cross shows how severe the penalty of sin is. Christ, though innocent, bore the sinner's punishment as Substitute, and those who are not healed of transgression by faith in Christ, who do not repent and forsake sin, will receive its punishment.
God's holy law is the royal law, the only standard of righteousness that measures life and character and detects sin like a mirror, so to fail at one point is to be guilty. Deliberately disregarding a known command cannot be reconciled with receiving God's pardon and blessing, because such disregard separates the soul from God and silences the witness of the Spirit. Meeting the law's requirements calls for seeing sin in its light and exercising practical faith in Jesus as the sin-pardoning Saviour, whose precious blood alone cleanses from every spot and stain of sin.
Surrender to Christ brings the mind, cleansed from sin, under that royal law of liberty, whose rule proclaims liberty to those held captive by sin. Becoming one with Christ makes a person free, and submission to Christ's will restores perfect manhood. At the cost of infinite sacrifice and suffering Christ provided every essential for success in the Christian warfare, and the Holy Spirit gives power to overcome, convinces of sin, subdues the government of Satan, and with the consent of the person expels sin from the heart.
Continuing to transgress in even one precept leaves a person a transgressor of the law with no place in the royal family and no welcome into the city of God. To escape this guilt the heart must be humbled before God, closed against all sin and selfishness, and body, soul and spirit surrendered to Him, cleansing all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, and following the example of Christ. Obedience to the law of heaven must be complete in every particular with no excuse for failure, and individual reformation revealing Christlikeness in all dealings with fellow men is required, for a person will never enter the city of God without it. Christ's character stands before all for study and imitation as the standard, and when men manifest good will toward men like Christ the truth sanctifies the soul, but preaching the truth while practice is corrupt makes the truth of none effect and dishonors God, who is then honored in theory only.
Love Neighbor and Influence
To break one point of the law is to show contempt for the whole law, and to reject one precept has the same ultimate result as casting aside the law altogether, since the offender's influence and example support transgression. One rejected precept is enough to undermine obedience, for by leading a person to reject even one the adversary brings that person under his power. Disregard of even one precept makes a person guilty before the law as a whole.
The law cannot be treated as optional requirements to be kept or set aside by personal opinion or convenience. To keep one precept while rejecting another because it is inconvenient or costly lowers the standard of right and leads others to disregard the law and treat it lightly. What people regard as unimportant may still be an express requirement, so every command is to be sacredly obeyed and the word alone must govern every choice as the rule of right and wrong.
To dissolve, loose, or untie the obligation of even one commandment, whether least or greatest, is to break all at a stroke. Those who openly judge the law itself and speak evil of it stand in the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel. No one escapes that charge who preaches faith in a manner that directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedience, or who preaches Christ so as to disannul or weaken in any way the least of the commandments. To magnify His office while destroying His doctrine, to talk of His blood while taking away His crown, and to set light by any part of His law under pretense of advancing His gospel, is to honor Him as Judas did when he said Hail, Master, and kissed Him, betraying the Son of man with a kiss.
Breaking one point makes a person guilty as a lawbreaker, and neglecting needy and suffering people violates the command to love one's neighbor on which the last six commandments depend. Such neglect leaves a person without assurance of eternal life, reveals a heart that will not answer the claims of the first four commandments, and shows idols holding the affections instead of God. Neglect of mercy and care for the afflicted, widows, and fatherless is failure to keep the commandments, for to neglect the needy is to neglect duty to Christ. Keeping the whole law is demonstrated by tender regard and mercy to a neighbor in need, as the Samaritan showed, and such mercy is evidence that a person keeps the principles of the law.
Neglecting even one commandment makes a person guilty of violating the law as a whole, so apparent obedience to another commandment has no value. Respect for the fourth commandment cannot be genuine while a person fails to love fellow believers who differ. The law of love must dwell in a heart where Christ abides, and its fruits lead to eternal life. True religion puts away everything that hinders coming together in unity, makes right every wrong between brethren, and leaves no sins unconfessed.
Displeasure rests on those who act as critics, discourage and tear down the appointed work in Nashville and the South, withhold means and turn means into other channels, and they are called to immediate reformation to examine themselves and do the work they need to do for themselves instead of hindering rather than helping. Breaking several commandments makes a person guilty of all, as shown with Sardis, whose disregard for parental authority is presented as a serious breach requiring humble confession and thorough reform. For a long time he did not regard parental authority but insisted on having his own will and carrying out his own way, and gave way to his own passions until they obtained the victory and bound him. His breaking of a number of commandments, shown in dishonesty, deception, covetousness, and vileness, put him in a fearful, dreadful condition under a heavy mist grown to a black cloud and made him a reproach to the cause, and unless he makes thorough work, humbly confesses his wicked course, and submits to his father's judgment and will, he will lose everlasting life and be separated from his people forever.
Offending in even one point makes a person guilty of the whole, and the principle applies to avoiding conduct that gives others cause for reproach, since one offense can bring discredit on an institution. Claiming to keep all the commandments does not excuse breaking one, as with those who profess obedience yet commit adultery and are guilty of transgression. Violating one point makes a person guilty of breaking the whole law, and one who departs from just and merciful principles to serve selfish interests thereby transgresses the commandments, with the wrong reflected in actions and recorded before God.
Continuing to break even one precept makes a person a transgressor, and anyone who continues in that transgression cannot have a place in the royal family of God. The holy law is the standard by which people are judged, so breaking its commands makes the transgressor guilty and condemned. Those who lead others, including their own families, into disobedience bear responsibility for the harm their influence causes. Indulging even one known sin brings weakness and darkness and leaves a person exposed to fierce temptation. Obedience to the commandments must be taught to children, for sin is an offense against God and the commandments are a test of obedience or disobedience, especially in the last days.
The law is one united whole, so to keep it as a whole yet fail at a single point leaves a person guilty of breaking the entire law. It is not the size of the act that makes it sin, but any departure from God's expressed will even in the smallest detail, for the law reaches to thoughts, desires and motives and requires supreme love to God and love to neighbor. No part can be set aside as unimportant or nonessential, so all ten commandments remain binding together, and partial or selective obedience chosen by human judgment falls short of righteousness. That same holy law is the one standard by which character is weighed and the world will be judged, with no excuse for the one who evades it or teaches others to do so. Those who have broken it must recognize guilt, repent, confess and seek pardon through Christ, whose surrender cleanses the mind, writes the law on the heart, and restores freedom from sin under the royal law of liberty.
Law's Unity and Meaning
The law is one united whole, so to keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is to become guilty of all, for deliberately breaking one commandment means none are truly kept. Obedience means keeping every commandment and not merely most of them, just as breaking one link leaves the chain broken, because the commandments work together as a whole that cannot be set aside or altered to suit personal convenience. It is the holy standard by which human character is weighed, and in the scene of contention professed followers weighed against it are found wanting and judged unworthy to join the perfect ones. The principle and spirit behind one transgression would as readily fail under temptation on another, so character is not measured by comparing wrong actions with good ones or by a human standard. Disregarding the fourth commandment by rejecting God's Sabbath therefore places people on Satan's side in the controversy over obedience, and those who love God honor Him by keeping His commandments, including not using the Sabbath hours for their own work.
It is not the greatness of the act that makes it sin, but being at variance with God's expressed will in the least particular, as Adam's transgression shows. Failing in genuine love for neighbor, with supreme overmastering love for self, and assuming jurisdiction and command over fellow men therefore breaks the whole law. Such variance shows that sin reigns in the heart, that communion is still held with the enemy and his attributes are cherished, and that the heart is divided and still serves sin. It is in virtual denial of the Holy Spirit and rebellion against His law and government, in effect denying God.
The law reaches inward to thoughts, desires and motives, and calls for love of God and neighbor as well as outward obedience, so breaking even one commandment whether by neglect or by deliberate transgression is sin that makes the offender guilty before God. Its precepts are bound together in meaning and obligation, and its standard applies to everyone and will be the measure by which the world is judged. A person cannot love God wholeheartedly while putting another god or created thing first, for God requires the heart's supreme and holiest affections. Self-love, love of the world, or excessive affection for anything created turns the heart from God and is idolatry.
The same principle of love runs through all the precepts, which are summed up in love to God and love to neighbor, so a person cannot keep one commandment while breaking another and still claim to have kept the law. Breaking any precept violates the principle of love and cannot be excused as breaking an unimportant commandment, and human destiny is determined by obedience to the whole law. Love for God is shown by obedience to all His commandments, and love for God and for neighbor cannot be separated.
The law is the royal law and the perfect law of liberty that remains the standard by which character and conduct are tested, serving as a mirror that reveals what a person is like. Believers in Jesus are still called to obey it, for breaking even one point makes the person guilty as a transgressor of the law. Hearing the Word without doing it leaves a person self-deceived, while those who continue in it as doers and not hearers only are blessed. Its practical demands include controlling the tongue, caring for the fatherless and widows, and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.
Ten Commandments Still Binding
In the New Testament the phrases the law and the commandments of God mean the whole Decalogue, not only a part of it, so to fail in one commandment brings guilt with respect to all and all ten remain binding together in the gospel. The claim that some commandment is abolished because the New Testament does not separately list every commandment of the Decalogue has no force. God has not changed but holds the same standard in the gospel as in ancient Israel, so no sin can be passed over as small and unimportant, and those who know the truth and hear His word daily cannot be careless toward sin in their midst without being held responsible with the open transgressor. God's law cannot be divided into essential and nonessential parts, and breaking one point makes a person accountable to the law, so no part may be set aside to win the world's favor. No command, from the least to the greatest, can be ignored or treated as unimportant, and selective obedience is not acceptable, for the gospel requires perfect obedience with the law expressing true holiness written on the heart and revealed in the character.
Disregarding the fourth commandment by rejecting God's Sabbath places people on Satan's side in the controversy over obedience to God and in opposition to God's law, even if other commandments are kept. The Sabbath is the memorial of creation, and replacing it with a false sabbath helps lead the world into apostasy. Breaking the Sabbath for personal financial advantage is not a small, isolated fault but Sabbathbreaking that makes one a transgressor of all the commandments. Even a small infringement of the time God has reserved for Himself is not harmless, for it dishonors God and treats His commands lightly, and excusing such transgression can harden the conscience and lead to further disobedience so that a person may claim to keep the Sabbath while breaking God's precepts.
The exceptions Christ gave for work that saves human or animal life do not make self-serving Sabbath labor acceptable. Keeping the day commonly observed by the world instead of the fourth commandment is still disobedience, and Adam and Eve's single departure from God's command shows that one violation is enough to bring guilt and judgment. Excuses for neglecting the fourth commandment, including business, family, or social demands, will not stand in the judgment, for keeping most of God's law does not excuse disobedience in one point and the transgressor remains accountable to God. Rejecting light about the Sabbath after receiving it brings greater condemnation, while those who break the other nine commandments are already in an awful condition.
God's requirements must be treated as sacred and strictly observed in every requirement He has enjoined, even the least, with cheerful, unhesitating obedience without murmur, question, or reproach, like Abraham when tested in old age to sacrifice his son, because as infinite debtors all faith, service, and affection are owed to God and age excuses no one. His word — not personal opinion, convenience, or the cost of obedience — must set the standard of right and wrong, and what people regard as a minor matter can still be a matter of obedience to God. God's law, not the careless attitude or advice of human instructors, is the guide, and no one should be led to deviate from it in the slightest degree, for treating even one precept lightly brings a person to account before Him.
Perfect Wholehearted Obedience
Partial obedience falls short of righteousness and God is satisfied with none of it. Human judgment is not left to select which part of the law to obey, nor to follow what sinful man suggests, but God's word must be taken and His revealed will walked in as discerned through diligent and prayerful study. Once His will is known nothing may turn the soul from strict obedience, not propriety, expediency, desire for gain, or fear of loss, dishonor, or reproach. To substitute human customs and traditions for His precepts, or to proclaim that the law or any part of it is no longer in force, brings a person under condemnation of the law, and even if honest he will perish as a transgressor. Obedience requires the whole heart wholly conformed to Christ's will, including tastes, appetite, passions, motives, desires and habits, beginning with a pure heart. Anything less cheapens religious life and weakens character, so that failure to overcome every spiritual foe keeps a person from fulfilling Christ's purpose and dishonors Jesus, and under temptation remaining defects, habits and pre-established ideas gain supremacy and evil triumphs.
Keeping the rest of the law does not excuse failure in one tested point, for outward propriety of conduct and claimed belief in truth do not remove guilt. Refusal to obey when tested reveals an unregenerate heart unprepared for the coming of the Lord, as with the rich young ruler who would not deny self and take up the cross and follow Christ. The need is for God's law to be written in mind and heart and brought home to the conscience so sin is seen in its exceeding sinfulness, for a person must die to self and have self crucified, and until self is crucified he cannot know what spiritual holiness is. One indulged sin is not a small matter, and even a person strong in many points of character remains joined to sin through that one weakness. God has given no list of graded sins by which some may be dismissed as harmless, so a fault cannot be excused by pointing to virtues or to worse faults in others. The heart cannot be divided between self and God, so the cherished sin must be searched out and overcome.
A person may otherwise appear virtuous, honorable and noble, yet by willfully fostering one sin or indulging one vice transgresses the law. Then even gifts and good deeds become a lure and an enticing example that encourages others toward sin and leads them toward ruin. Yielding the truth on one point because it condemns wrongful conduct opens the way to further error and can lead to abandoning the whole body of truth. Disregarding one part of God's law has grave consequences, for breaking even one commandment leads toward further sin, and once restraint is removed further sin can seem less sinful, as when the restraint of modesty is removed serious sexual wrongdoing can seem less sinful.
The law surrounds people like a hedge against evil and like a breastplate of righteousness for good and happiness in this life and the life to come. Breaking even one commandment breaks its protective power and opens a way for the enemy to bring harm and ruin, leaving a person like a soldier without a breastplate, unprotected from the assaults of Satan. Keeping the law of the Lord continually before the mind and practicing it gives protection by the breastplate of righteousness, and complete obedience was necessary to secure blessing and protection for the journey to Jerusalem without an armed escort. Even the least transgression brings guilt, for keeping the law means keeping every commandment and not knowingly violating a single precept. Cherished sin without earnest repentance and forsaking leads to apostasy, weakness and ruin. God's people must not only teach the commandments but keep every one, and each person must live as a Christian.
Disregarding even one word of God or acting against His expressed will leaves a person guilty and accountable in the judgment. Breaking one point of His holy law makes a person a transgressor of the whole law with full guilt, and partial obedience does not excuse violation in one respect. Practices opposed to the law must be seen as evil, repented of and confessed before it is forever too late, because at the judgment all works will be revealed from the books and judged according to what is written in them. Anyone who willingly disobeys even one commandment cannot truly keep the law in spirit and truth and is guilty of breaking the whole law. No single instruction may be safely disregarded because it seems small, for keeping God's word means obeying every word He has spoken.
Judgment by the Law
God's holy law is one whole standard by which character is weighed and by which the world will be judged. Breaking even one commandment, whether through neglect or deliberate transgression, is sin and makes the offender guilty and condemned before God as a lawbreaker. The law reaches inward to thoughts, desires, motives and purposes as well as outward obedience, calling for love of God and neighbor, and its standard applies to everyone with every ray of light to be received and cherished without treating any command as unimportant or making excuses for disobedience. Those who honor the law will be honored by it, and those who treat it with contempt will be condemned. The principle bears especially on those who lead others, including their own families, into disobedience, for they bear responsibility for the harm their influence causes.
In the scene of contention, professed followers caught in strife are weighed against that holy standard, found wanting, and judged unworthy to join the perfect ones. Character in that weighing is not measured by comparing wrong actions with good ones, by a human standard, or by comparing oneself with wrongdoers who do wrong. Keeping some principles does not excuse breaking others, for the principle and spirit behind one transgression would lead the person to fail under temptation on another commandment just as readily. God's law gives principles for Christian conduct, including the duty to care for one's fellow human beings.
God sees and records every action, purpose and word, so a person must not evade obedience to even one precept through assertions or falsehoods nor teach others to transgress, for the transgressor faces the Judge without excuse. Every actual transgression brings the soul into condemnation under the full justice expressed in God's warnings. The wrong act is the cause with its consequence the fitting effect established by God's will, and knowing those consequences should restrain from transgression rather than merely lead to avoiding its results.
The cross demonstrates the severity of sin's penalty, for Christ though innocent bore the sinner's punishment as Substitute, and those not healed of transgression by faith in Christ who do not repent and forsake sin will receive its punishment. Great light does not excuse disobedience, and resisting truth hardens the conscience and makes a person less responsive to the Holy Spirit. The world is soon to meet Jehovah over His broken law, for breaking even one point makes a person guilty before Him. Pardon is available only to those who turn from transgression to obedience, for the law remains binding and the world will face the Lawgiver over its violations.
To refuse to conform to God's great standard of character, to erect a different standard to suit self, and to compel all others to conform to it by human authority is to break God's law. Rome did this, putting its own will in place of God's law and enforcing it by persecution and slaughter without mercy. When God's law is held up as the standard everyone is guilty because no one is free from defects of character, and fault-finders who condemn others are themselves also answerable to the law. Keeping the law outwardly in most respects does not make a person guiltless when one point is broken, and changed circumstances can reveal hidden traits of character that need to be recognized and corrected.
Pardon and Restoration in Christ
To break the law at even one point is to stand as a transgressor of the law, and those whose practices oppose it must recognize their guilt, repent and confess their sins before it is too late. When the fourth commandment is brought home to the conscience, the one who has violated it sees himself a sinner condemned by the law and should repent and seek pardon through Christ.
Transgressing even one precept brings the sinner under the full justice expressed in God's warnings, and the cross shows how severe the penalty of sin is. Christ, though innocent, bore the sinner's punishment as Substitute, and those who are not healed of transgression by faith in Christ, who do not repent and forsake sin, will receive its punishment.
God's holy law is the royal law, the only standard of righteousness that measures life and character and detects sin like a mirror, so to fail at one point is to be guilty. Deliberately disregarding a known command cannot be reconciled with receiving God's pardon and blessing, because such disregard separates the soul from God and silences the witness of the Spirit. Meeting the law's requirements calls for seeing sin in its light and exercising practical faith in Jesus as the sin-pardoning Saviour, whose precious blood alone cleanses from every spot and stain of sin.
Surrender to Christ brings the mind, cleansed from sin, under that royal law of liberty, whose rule proclaims liberty to those held captive by sin. Becoming one with Christ makes a person free, and submission to Christ's will restores perfect manhood. At the cost of infinite sacrifice and suffering Christ provided every essential for success in the Christian warfare, and the Holy Spirit gives power to overcome, convinces of sin, subdues the government of Satan, and with the consent of the person expels sin from the heart.
Continuing to transgress in even one precept leaves a person a transgressor of the law with no place in the royal family and no welcome into the city of God. To escape this guilt the heart must be humbled before God, closed against all sin and selfishness, and body, soul and spirit surrendered to Him, cleansing all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, and following the example of Christ. Obedience to the law of heaven must be complete in every particular with no excuse for failure, and individual reformation revealing Christlikeness in all dealings with fellow men is required, for a person will never enter the city of God without it. Christ's character stands before all for study and imitation as the standard, and when men manifest good will toward men like Christ the truth sanctifies the soul, but preaching the truth while practice is corrupt makes the truth of none effect and dishonors God, who is then honored in theory only.
Love Neighbor and Influence
To break one point of the law is to show contempt for the whole law, and to reject one precept has the same ultimate result as casting aside the law altogether, since the offender's influence and example support transgression. One rejected precept is enough to undermine obedience, for by leading a person to reject even one the adversary brings that person under his power. Disregard of even one precept makes a person guilty before the law as a whole.
The law cannot be treated as optional requirements to be kept or set aside by personal opinion or convenience. To keep one precept while rejecting another because it is inconvenient or costly lowers the standard of right and leads others to disregard the law and treat it lightly. What people regard as unimportant may still be an express requirement, so every command is to be sacredly obeyed and the word alone must govern every choice as the rule of right and wrong.
To dissolve, loose, or untie the obligation of even one commandment, whether least or greatest, is to break all at a stroke. Those who openly judge the law itself and speak evil of it stand in the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel. No one escapes that charge who preaches faith in a manner that directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedience, or who preaches Christ so as to disannul or weaken in any way the least of the commandments. To magnify His office while destroying His doctrine, to talk of His blood while taking away His crown, and to set light by any part of His law under pretense of advancing His gospel, is to honor Him as Judas did when he said Hail, Master, and kissed Him, betraying the Son of man with a kiss.
Breaking one point makes a person guilty as a lawbreaker, and neglecting needy and suffering people violates the command to love one's neighbor on which the last six commandments depend. Such neglect leaves a person without assurance of eternal life, reveals a heart that will not answer the claims of the first four commandments, and shows idols holding the affections instead of God. Neglect of mercy and care for the afflicted, widows, and fatherless is failure to keep the commandments, for to neglect the needy is to neglect duty to Christ. Keeping the whole law is demonstrated by tender regard and mercy to a neighbor in need, as the Samaritan showed, and such mercy is evidence that a person keeps the principles of the law.
Neglecting even one commandment makes a person guilty of violating the law as a whole, so apparent obedience to another commandment has no value. Respect for the fourth commandment cannot be genuine while a person fails to love fellow believers who differ. The law of love must dwell in a heart where Christ abides, and its fruits lead to eternal life. True religion puts away everything that hinders coming together in unity, makes right every wrong between brethren, and leaves no sins unconfessed.
Displeasure rests on those who act as critics, discourage and tear down the appointed work in Nashville and the South, withhold means and turn means into other channels, and they are called to immediate reformation to examine themselves and do the work they need to do for themselves instead of hindering rather than helping. Breaking several commandments makes a person guilty of all, as shown with Sardis, whose disregard for parental authority is presented as a serious breach requiring humble confession and thorough reform. For a long time he did not regard parental authority but insisted on having his own will and carrying out his own way, and gave way to his own passions until they obtained the victory and bound him. His breaking of a number of commandments, shown in dishonesty, deception, covetousness, and vileness, put him in a fearful, dreadful condition under a heavy mist grown to a black cloud and made him a reproach to the cause, and unless he makes thorough work, humbly confesses his wicked course, and submits to his father's judgment and will, he will lose everlasting life and be separated from his people forever.
Offending in even one point makes a person guilty of the whole, and the principle applies to avoiding conduct that gives others cause for reproach, since one offense can bring discredit on an institution. Claiming to keep all the commandments does not excuse breaking one, as with those who profess obedience yet commit adultery and are guilty of transgression. Violating one point makes a person guilty of breaking the whole law, and one who departs from just and merciful principles to serve selfish interests thereby transgresses the commandments, with the wrong reflected in actions and recorded before God.
Continuing to break even one precept makes a person a transgressor, and anyone who continues in that transgression cannot have a place in the royal family of God. The holy law is the standard by which people are judged, so breaking its commands makes the transgressor guilty and condemned. Those who lead others, including their own families, into disobedience bear responsibility for the harm their influence causes. Indulging even one known sin brings weakness and darkness and leaves a person exposed to fierce temptation. Obedience to the commandments must be taught to children, for sin is an offense against God and the commandments are a test of obedience or disobedience, especially in the last days.