The law of the LORDis perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORDis sure, making wise the simple.
God's law is complete, flawless and dependable, and it restores the soul by turning it back to God toward what is right, while His testimony is firm and trustworthy, giving wisdom, understanding and guidance to the simple and inexperienced so they need not go astray. That law is the ten holy precepts, the moral standard of supreme love to God in the first four and love to neighbor as self in the last six, which expresses God's own holy, just and good character and perfection. Because it shares His perfection it is eternal, immutable and unalterable, unable to be improved, abolished or changed by a jot, a truth Christ proved by living it inviolate, exalting it in the Sermon on the Mount, and giving His life on Calvary rather than seeing it set aside. It converts by acting as a mirror that reveals human guilt and makes sin appear exceedingly sinful, and though it cannot itself pardon, applied by the Holy Spirit it brings conviction, repentance toward God and faith in Christ unto justification. Received into the heart and kept through Christ's power, it writes God's character within, makes the whole person new in love to God and neighbor, and brings great reward, wisdom, peace, freedom, strength and protection more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey.
Words and Psalm Context
The law being perfect means it is complete, flawless and dependable, and its converting work is to restore the soul and turn it back to God toward what is right. The testimony being sure means God's witness and Word are trustworthy and firm, and its making wise the simple means it gives wisdom, understanding and guidance to the inexperienced, unlearned and simple. It is a clear guide that shows the right path and leaves no excuse for going astray, and it serves as a mirror for examining principles and discovering moral lack, so that heeding it brings conformity to God's law and shapes character and conduct like God's when written in the heart by inward grace. Without this knowledge of His law as essential higher education, people perish in their sins, and the Word of the living God stands as the study book and established foundation for education, so no new foundation is to be laid.
The verse stands with right statutes that rejoice the heart, a pure commandment that enlightens the eyes, a clean fear that endures forever, and judgments true and righteous altogether. These are more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey, warning the servant with great reward in keeping them. They lead on to prayer for cleansing from secret and hidden faults, restraint from presumptuous and willful sins so they do not have dominion or rule, uprightness and innocence and freedom from the great transgression and great rebellion, and words of mouth and meditation of heart acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer. Set along the whole way of life God's children must travel, they serve as a guiding light and beacon of warning, a word of praise and adoration and an exhortation to be joyful in the Lord with unceasing thanksgiving for His goodness, and each person must individually take heed to a Thus saith the Lord and know what is truth rather than turning to traditions and maxims of men.
The psalm binds God's law to His works in creation, for the witness of the heavens and the firmament to His glory and handiwork joins the witness of His law. Nature and the written word agree and shed light on each other, teaching about God and His character and the laws through which He works. Together they make God better known, lead to adoration and support intelligent trust in His word.
David affirmed the verse after his grievous wrong against God and fellow men when Nathan reproved him with Thou art the man and faithfully portrayed his true state. Instead of speaking against the law he had transgressed, he confessed his sin, accepted counsel in humility, bowed beneath chastisement, put his sins away, learned wisdom from God's dealing, and declared the law perfect to change the heart. Its light holds the transgressor accountable until repentance, exposing sin and bringing repentance without itself removing guilt or saving from consequences, and being reminded of transgressions and warned of danger is no cause for despair but shows God's love and desire to save, implanting truth that sinners may renounce sin forever, follow His counsel, do His will and inherit eternal life. The words are to be understood and valued, for they teach the way of obedience and help pray intelligently for cleansing from hidden faults and protection from presumptuous sin, and open the eyes to wondrous things in the law. They cannot be understood intelligently while talents are withheld from God, since understanding involves recognizing Christ's infinite sacrifice, humiliation and suffering for humanity and the responsibility to serve Him, which leads to a purer, healthier spiritual life.
What the Law Is
The law is the ten holy precepts, the royal law, the holy moral law of God, not done away in a single precept and not to be bettered or changed, immutable and eternal and binding still with unchangeable conditions of life by obedience. Its two great principles are supreme love to God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and love to one's neighbor as oneself, the first defined and enjoined in the first four commandments of duty to the Creator and the second like unto the first in the last six commandments of love to fellow men, together the whole duty of man and the sum of service, honor and righteousness for everyone seeking eternal life, including the Sabbath as memorial of creation. Converting the soul is genuine conversion that meets those demands, turning from dishonoring truth in works, denying truth, pride and selfishness, and worldly extravagance such as spending the Lord's money for show in dress, toward a changed heart and life by which the law is kept. When the Holy Spirit impresses that perfect law on the heart the soul is convicted of neglect, sees itself weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting for not loving God supremely and therefore not loving neighbor, while professing Christians who set up their own standard hear truth without obeying it. Keeping it through the grace of Christ removes every fiber of selfishness so that oppression of fellow men becomes impossible, escapes corruption through lust in covetousness, desire for position, love of money, false dealings and unjust practices, expresses the divine attributes, molds character after the divine similitude, imparts the Saviour's character, makes partakers of the divine nature, brings the law into the life, reveals its value in character, and shows true charity in Christlikeness. It is to be respected, reverenced, obeyed and taught to children when rising and sitting and going out and coming in, contrary to preaching that God has no law or commandments, for neglect of that home teaching makes drunkards and fills society with theft, robbery, murder, crime and prisons, whereas universal obedience by parents and children as directed through Moses would stop that wickedness.
The law is a transcript and copy and expression of God's character, holy and just and good and sharing His perfection, complete and with power to change the heart, so that obedience to all its commandments is required as proof of love, the way to safety, true greatness and healthy spiritual experience, and the foundation of the plan of salvation, Christ's commandments being the same as the precepts of the moral law. To know God as He is revealed in His marvelous works is the science of all goodness and truth and righteousness, requiring obedience to every expression of His character revealed in His law, for wisdom and intellect and power are not God Himself though God is author and giver of all wisdom, grace and power, and knowing Him in this way makes one with Him, formed after His likeness with every faculty made spiritual. It reflects His character and sets the standard of character in duty to love God supremely and neighbor as self, right and pure and true and righteous altogether to gladden the heart, enlighten the eyes, warn against sin, bring great reward when obeyed, reveal hidden faults, and call for cleansing from secret sins and protection from presumptuous sins unto uprightness and acceptance with God.
The same perfect law is the great moral standard of righteousness and rule of life and guide and foundation to build upon, given for the government of all human intelligences and all intelligences, the perfect law of liberty and foundation of God's government firm as His throne, on which the only hope of the human family rests with prosperity in this life and eternal interests depending on obedience, human happiness and God's glory depending on respecting and obeying it. It was given to humanity in the beginning in Eden as the standard and rule of obedience, lost sight of in succeeding ages, to be exalted by Abraham's descendants after Abraham's call, then given a second time at Sinai after God delivered Israel from nearly four hundred years of grievous Egyptian slavery by wonderful manifestation of His power as Ruler of the universe greater than all heathen deities, when in awful grandeur the Lord spoke His precepts and with His own finger engraved the ten commandments on tables of stone. That law engraved on stone and kept in the ark was a symbol of God's presence with Israel, so that when the ark went before the people or their armies it marked God's presence and favor, and when Israel transgressed the law they forfeited divine protection and were given into their enemies' hands. Only in obedience to it as Christ taught by His life and death can safety and true greatness be found, for it is flawless to change the heart because it is a transcript of His character, perfect and changeless and unchangeable, holy and just and good, converting the soul and making wise the simple.
By it character is weighed and every case decided when the books of heaven are opened and all deeds come in review before the Judge of the universe, for God requires obedience from every human being and the eternal future hangs on it. The holy law is written in living characters on one side of the scales with human characters placed against it while Christ stands as the perfection of holiness, and one after another is found wanting by that standard and pronounced unworthy of place among the perfect ones, since to keep the whole law yet offend in one point is to be guilty of all, the weighing being done by the Judge of all the earth who decides who shall be found wanting. It cannot be improved, abolished, changed or remodeled without causing imperfection, and God has neither abolished nor changed it, but it stands forever as the immutable, unalterable standard all must reach to be saved, testing every motive and requiring perfect obedience, dividing the two classes in the world between those who love and fear God and obey His law and those who do not wish to retain Him in knowledge but disregard and disobey His requirements, determining admittance to heaven. Claims that it is done away are false and contempt poured on it is folly, for the wise in heart receive commandments while the prating fool shall fall, and the whole life and character must be shaped according to Christ rather than divided between Christ and Satan. Obeying that complete law forms a beautiful character and transforms character by changing the heart, and parents must magnify its commands before children by obeying it themselves and living under God's control, for when a sense of its sacredness takes hold of parents it will surely bring this inner change, and children are to be taught respect for everything God has spoken with reasons for obeying and honoring it impressed as soon as they can understand its nature, so they will know what to do and what to abstain from doing. Believing the Word and appropriating it to the soul gives the witness of the Spirit that one's ways please God and delineates the life of a true Christian, for loving Christ is keeping His commandments from the heart and bringing His requirements into practical life, abiding in Him and letting His words abide, bearing much fruit as His disciples, continuing in His love as He kept His Father's commandments, bringing the joy of Christ in the soul, full assurance of hope, and freedom from condemnation so that the obedient are no longer under the law because the law no longer condemns their course.
Perfect and Unchanging Law
Because the law is perfect it cannot be improved, abolished, changed or remodeled, and not one precept, jot or tittle of it can be done away, reversed, repealed, marred, dishonored, made void or shorn of its authority, while any attempt to remodel it only causes imperfection. Its perfection is light that exposes transgression, explains past darkness and uncertainty, turns the heart back to obedience, and calls for keeping the commandments and living by them, since obedience to that perfect standard is life and true wisdom for time and eternity. It is the ten holy precepts, the royal law, the expression of His character holy, just and good, the foundation of His government and His great standard of righteousness, to stand forever as the immutable, unalterable standard all must reach to be saved, the rock to build upon so that false philosophy and science falsely so-called cannot deceive, enduring even though heaven and earth pass away. By it every case will be decided when the books of heaven are opened and all deeds come in review, dividing the two classes in the world into those who love and fear God and obey and those who do not wish to retain Him in knowledge and disregard and disobey, and claims that it is done away or that only belief is needed are false, with contempt poured on it being folly. To abolish even one command would give Satan all he asked, contrary to preaching that God has no law or commandments, and it is to be respected, reverenced, obeyed and taught to children when they rise up and sit down and go out and come in.
Its perfection means it is immutable, eternal and unalterable as God Himself, sharing His absolute, invariable independence without variableness, settled forever in heaven, very sure and to be loved, firm as His throne and requiring perfect obedience today just as was required of Adam. To admit it was so imperfect it needed change would stamp God as changeable and imperfect, for perfect means unalterable so no event can require a law of contrary nature. Even the slightest variance in its precepts, one jot or tittle, would mar its perfection, imply all of it may be faulty, and give heavenly hosts and unfallen worlds reason to think God's counsels are faulty, unreliable and need remodeling. It stands against all making it void when religious teachers set aside the Sabbath and lose sight of the power and love of God, and when men teach human commandments as doctrine and change the ordinance and break the everlasting covenant. Unlike the system of types that pointed to Jesus and ended at His death, its precepts are immutable and eternal, faultless and not arbitrary, with restrictions that protect from the harm disobedience brings, and every departure from it is evil.
Christ's life and death prove its immutability, for He lived it inviolate and brought the true and perfect character of the law to view, showing it can be kept in humanity and revealing the excellent character obedience develops. In the Sermon on the Mount He answered the charge that He came to do away with it by declaring He came not to destroy but to fulfill and that not one jot or tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled, till heaven and earth pass, and He came to take back the lie that it cannot be kept and to remove the rubbish of tradition, misinterpretation, misconstruction and maxims and customs of men that had covered it and hidden the character of God, setting it on its own eternal basis of virtue and purity. Rather than change one jot or tittle of the law God's only Son died on Calvary, and the cross reveals its binding claims, for God did not change it to accommodate humanity's fallen condition, and its force and dignity are measured by the offering made to redeem man. It is to be accepted as the rule of life, not set aside to excuse sin, carrying binding claims and solemn injunctions spoken at Sinai amid awful grandeur, as changeless and eternal as the throne, and Christ gave His life to redeem transgressors from Satan's power to enable them by obedience to vindicate its immutability. When ministers clearly set it forth and repeat the Monarch's claims before large congregations of rulers and subjects, many are impressed and aroused, sinners tremble, and those awake to duty prove by experience that it turns the heart, while others refuse and turn away, and in the last great day it triumphs with immeasurable compass as large as eternity.
Satan instituted the controversy over whether the law is perfect or faulty, seeking to cast contempt on it, fasten reproach on God, make men believe it must be modified to meet human needs, and gain victory by a change, and his constant work is to make it of none effect. He seeks to make it void through unsanctified commandments of men taught as doctrine, Sunday teaching and a spurious Sabbath, gaining the professed Christian world and joining world and church together, which does not prove it changed, neither by all his exalted influence and glory before his fall nor as apostate and traitor afterward. Taking its side is the right side, Christ's side of keeping the Father's commandments, while the wrong side is Satan's side who rebelled with sympathizers and was expelled, so that no matter how high his position anyone disloyal who accepts human laws instead of Jehovah's lives in direct opposition to God, can never enter heaven, will be punished according to the influence placed on Satan's side with greater talents bringing greater punishment, and will answer for souls turned from truth to falsehood. Making it void brings prevailing wickedness in high places and in low, corrupt cities like Sodom, and perilous times like the days of Noah and Lot when flood and fire came for sin, with universal scorn for it in an age when true followers are distinguished by loving the commandments above gold and fine gold, keeping the wonderful testimonies, receiving light and understanding, and longing for them. But God is truth itself with no flaw in will or character, and Satan himself will finally confess before the fallen world, unfallen worlds and hosts of heaven that his charges were unjust and that God has spoken immutable, eternal truths that cannot be altered.
Its perfection does not mean mercy leaves the transgressor unpunished, lowers its far-reaching claims to meet wicked men, or permits continued transgression after pardon, for its requirements cannot be lowered and man cannot in his own power meet its demands. It remains pure, broad and exceeding broad so it cannot be measured or evaded, in force as the rule of human conduct as long as time lasts and the rule of future judgment, and teaching that it is no longer in force leads into false security in disobedience while genuine love leads to hearty obedience and deep repentance for breaking or teaching others to break even the least commandment. Its claims extend to the deep secrets of moral nature and throw light on what is concealed, judging not only what hands do or tongue utters but searching thoughts, motives and purposes, and condemning hidden jealousy, hatred, lust, ambition and evil meditated in the soul even when never carried out for lack of opportunity. It requires a life of sobriety and temperance with passions under control of reason and physical and mental powers kept healthy, in preparation for the day when all are rewarded according to deeds and wealth, position or titles cannot gain favor or deliver from sin, and only by faith in Christ the one great Sacrifice to whom all shadows pointed can the sinner be cleansed and enabled to render obedience.
Conviction and Conversion
The law converts by holding up God's purity and holiness against human guilt, uncleanness and defects of character, acting as a mirror, a moral looking-glass and a schoolmaster. It exposes everything out of harmony with God in thought, word, deed, temper, affection, habit and disposition, making sin appear as sin and exceedingly sinful. Its light gives enlightenment to the understanding, enabling people to recognize sin, distinguish right from wrong, understand God's requirements, gain true conviction and wisdom, and be turned back toward what is right and a straight path for faithful service.
Without the law people gain no just sense of God's purity and holiness or of their own guilt and uncleanness, feel no true conviction of sin and no need of repentance, and do not see their lost condition as violators or their need of atoning blood. Where the law is neglected salvation is accepted without radical change of heart or reformation of life, so superficial conversions abound and multitudes join the church who are never united to Christ.
The law itself cannot in any way remove guilt, pardon the transgressor, or save from the consequences of sin, as seen when the transgressor remains accountable under it until repentance and pardon through faith in the promised Redeemer, with no permission to keep transgressing after pardon. Its light convicts and warns the servant and brings him to Christ by showing the need for repentance toward God and faith in the sin-bearing Saviour dying on Calvary under the weight of the sins of the whole world. Applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, with its principles made plain in Christ's life and Christ's light revealing the need for cleansing blood and justifying righteousness, it acts as agent to bring people to Christ so they may be justified by faith.
Conversion is genuine conversion doing a broad and deep work, meeting the law's demands by loving God supremely with all heart, soul, strength and mind and loving neighbor as self, which is the whole duty for eternal life and keeps the first four commandments toward God and the last six toward neighbor. When the Holy Spirit impresses the law on the heart the person is convicted of neglect and sees himself weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting for not loving God supremely and therefore not loving neighbor, while the conditions of eternal life by obedience remain unchangeable and eternal. When the affections are given to God and His law is written in the heart through inward grace, shaping character into conduct like God's, the whole man becomes a new creature born again of the Spirit, with faith increased by exercise and sustained by works of righteousness, since sin darkens reason and clouds understanding. That transforming work is done not by human power but by the power of the Holy Spirit, who works in the renewed heart to implant truth and divine virtues and change the whole life rather than correcting some evils while leaving others untouched, with faith working through love to purify the soul.
That change is known by experience and not by theory, for its perfection is known when its holy precepts are brought into practical life and obedience gives personal experience, as with Paul alive without the law until then. Salvation is an individual experience of having Christ abiding in the soul by faith and daily practicing Christlikeness, so living out its principles transforms character, speech and habits. Sharp speeches, quick temper, unadvised and unsanctified words that misrepresent Christ, put Him to shame, dishonor the Christian name and corrupt speaker and hearers must be cut away, along with wrongs to fellow beings, dishonest practices, selfishness and extortion, with habits and appetite guarded, since unsanctified character cannot enter heaven but faith can claim complete cleansing and growth into the likeness and beauty of Christ's character. The converted believer then keeps savor like salt and diffuses penetrating vital energy imparting new moral power, with a living connection with God through living faith, the atmosphere of heaven, and Christlike saving qualities working for transformation around him, as shown in the moral worth of Joseph and Daniel who had the Spirit of God and had power with God and men.
The law searches the life daily as food for the mind, for it is safe to judge the self by its light in daily self-examination and self-criticism so no mistake is made and no strange path is walked. When the whole being and life are brought into harmony with God and with the life of Christ, that is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, and the spiritual life is built up from the food given to the mind. Taken as food, the Word gives spiritual life and strength and produces spiritual and mental and physical health, seen in kind, affectionate, pure words and wholesome experience speaking the truth, keeps the soul alive and changed only by rightly using the mind in doing duty with affections turned toward heaven, guards the mind against Satan's efforts to draw it from God to the world, and opens eyes from the world to God. It is the foundation teachers must learn instead of fables, bringing gold, silver and precious stones, and received as clear pure truth like a deep wellspring freely drunk from, it awakens thoughts that sanctify the soul into perfect obedience.
Its reproof and chastening purify rather than destroy when meekly accepted, serving as a mirror for examining principles and discovering moral lack, with conformity following heeding. When the Holy Spirit reveals transgressions and flaws, with rules for guidance forming a standard from which there can be no sinless swerving, this correction and enlightened acceptance of reproof with true repentance is no cause for despair, for God can save every repentant soul and shows love. Conversion means giving to God all He has redeemed — heart, conscience and undivided affections — being purified from all dross and refined, elevated and ennobled to become members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, an exaltation higher than earthly ambition and not cheap spurious spirituality, testifying loyalty before heavenly intelligences, with sincere belief made manifest because works testify to belief. Making God's will paramount as the first principle of holiness, only God's grace gives a perfected character and walking before Him with a perfect heart, requiring Scripture as guide through study, practice and humble seeking of the Spirit, breaking every yoke of sin and Satan's deceptions in order to choose God's will with delight.
Christ and Salvation
The perfect law carries out its converting work by bringing sinners to Christ, for its principles are made plain in His life and, when applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, it reveals God's holiness, exposes human sin, and shows the need for cleansing blood and justifying righteousness so that people may be justified by faith. Grace alone gives the experience of a perfected character, and God alone enables a person to walk before Him with a perfect heart, for His rules guide finite, erring people and set a standard from which there can be no sinless departure, and making His will paramount is a first principle of holiness. Love for God is keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous but binding, and Christ gives power to keep from transgression. Those who profess to know and love Him must let light shine not by pretension and assertion but by good works and simple, elevated piety that reveals the binding claims of the law, while those who claim love while disobeying dishonor God and fall short of doing His will. The perfect converting law must therefore be received with meekness as the engrafted word able to save souls, and obeyed as doers and not hearers only, looking into the perfect law of liberty and continuing therein instead of forgetting, so that the doer shall be blessed in deed. Because the law sets a perfect and changeless standard that sinful people cannot meet by themselves, Christ came as Redeemer to make them partakers of the divine nature and bring them into harmony with it, so that when they forsake sin and receive Him as Saviour the law is upheld, not set aside.
Jesus came to bring the character of God before men because the law is that character, and He lived it in this world and brought to view the true and perfect character of the law, and every specification He gave is life. In the Sermon on the Mount He answered the charge that He came to do away with the law by declaring He came not to destroy but to fulfill, and that not one jot or tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled, till heaven and earth pass. He came to take back the lie that the law cannot be kept, to remove the rubbish of tradition, misinterpretation, misconstruction, and maxims and customs of men that had covered it and hidden God's character, and to set it on its own eternal basis of virtue and purity. Its precepts are immutable and eternal, unlike the system of types that pointed to Him and ended at His death, and every departure from it is evil. His obedient life showed that the law can be kept inviolate in humanity and revealed the excellent character that obedience develops, and those who obey as He did affirm that it is holy, just, and good. It is faultless, not arbitrary, and its restrictions protect people from the harm that disobedience brings. Christ exalted and honored it through His obedience, and those who keep the commandments testify through lives of unspotted integrity that it is perfect and turns the soul toward God.
Obedience through Him gives reality to practice by making Christ the Redeemer and stronghold, taking hold of His righteousness provided by His death to supply all power and riches of grace so that daily conduct shows conversion. This requires believing in Him as complete Saviour, giving up selfish ways and ambitious projects, changing human ways for God's ways, and choosing the narrow path of holiness that, followed on to know the Lord, leads to broad perfect freedom in following Him wherever He goes. By His own wisdom and example of obedience He shows that this obedience is the sum of all science and the excellent knowledge of Christ, for which all other things are to be counted loss. The law is the transcript of God's character, and obeying it means obeying His character and imitating His glory. This obedience is how love for Christ is proved, and it is required in order to live with Him in the kingdom of glory, so believers must search the Scriptures to know what the commandments require and then obey them, not shaping obedience to personal convenience, as much taught in the Psalms about obedience to God.
This changing work is mercy held out to all through Christ, who knows bodily and mental suffering and endured the agonies of crucifixion so that souls might be saved, because God loved the world and gave His Son so that whoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life. Though He sought to save all, many will not come to Him for life and few receive His offer of mercy, yet those in severe affliction can keep faith fixed on the Redeemer and remember they are in the hands of a merciful God. The cross of Calvary reveals the law's binding claims, for God did not change the law to accommodate humanity's fallen condition, and those who disregard its claims face condemnation, while obedience to the commandments distinguishes His people from others. The complete law that brings conversion of heart stands together with God's love in giving His Son, with God as light in whom is no darkness, with walking in the light bringing fellowship and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus, and with confession bringing faithful and just forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness, as the message to be carried to make desert places as the garden of God. The law in the Decalogue carries binding claims and solemn injunctions, spoken by God at Sinai amid awful grandeur, and is as changeless and eternal as the throne of Jehovah. When ministers clearly set it forth and repeat the words of the Monarch of the universe with His claims on the human family before large congregations of rulers and subjects, many are impressed and aroused, sinners tremble, and those who awake to a sense of duty prove by experience that it turns the heart, while others refuse to listen and turn away. Christ gave His life to redeem transgressors from Satan's power to enable them by obedience to vindicate the immutability of the law, and He designed them to declare by lives of consecrated service that it is perfect and converting. He died to make it possible for them to be partakers of the divine nature, to be sons and daughters of God and joint-heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance, pledging to conform fallen human nature to the laws and authority of the kingdom of God. When a person submits to Him in faith and love, He fills the heart with His divine life and makes him one with Himself so that thoughts and aims are identical with the Saviour's, the person is born again not of flesh but of the Spirit, and to obey is to carry out his own will.
Gift and Blessing
The perfect law brings great reward even in this life, for keeping the commandments gives a clear conscience and peace with God. Obeying its pure and sensible directions gives insight into divine things and foresight of things to come, and received in the right spirit the messages of the word sanctify mind and heart unto thorough conversion. Obedience strengthens the mind and discernment to understand God's purposes and plans more deeply, an advancement in ordering the life and shaping the character after the divine Model that can continue through eternal ages, and it is clear enough to be within the grasp of even the weakest intellect. The law is holy and just and good without blemish as a transcript of the divine character, right and pure and true to rejoice the heart and enlighten the eyes, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey, warning the servant so that in keeping it there is great reward. Sharing in the divine nature enables demonstration of obedience to that holy, just and perfect law.
Loving and keeping the law is not a burden that robs freedom, but brings peace, joy, moral insight, warning and reward, so that service to God is a pleasure and expression of love. It gives great peace that nothing can break to those who love it, while those who throw off its restraint to gain freedom have no peace and make the world corrupt as in the days of Noah and as Sodom and Gomorrah. Glad, willing obedience does not restrict liberty but preserves it, for its source is divine love and love for God and others makes obedience willing and brings freedom, sanctification and knowledge of Christ, whereas breaking it brings loss of liberty. Those whose features, temper, words, conduct and character testify that serving the Lord is good proclaim by cheerful lives that His requirements do not restrict liberty. Obedience is not irksome service, for the perfect law changes the inner life and willing obedience is always followed by the sure experience of peace and rest, with truth set in contrast to error.
Only in obedience can safety and true greatness be found, a truth taught by Christ's life and death, for the flawless law that changes the heart is a transcript of His character. For those who delight in it and live in harmony with it, the law gives strength and protection and does not condemn them, so the obedient are not under the law. It was given to humanity in the beginning as the standard of obedience, was lost sight of in succeeding ages, was to be exalted by Abraham's descendants after his call, and was given a second time at Sinai after deliverance from nearly four hundred years of grievous Egyptian slavery by a wonderful manifestation of power as Ruler of the universe greater than all heathen deities, when in awful grandeur the Lord spoke His precepts and with His own finger engraved the ten commandments on tables of stone. Those who obey are controlled by right principles whose purity yields a precious harvest, becoming a waymark of unsullied purity with imagination uncorrupted by dishonest practices and pure heaven-born principles as a safeguard to youth, before whom light springs up, for a man's value is proportionate to his fear and love for God as Sovereign Ruler, and right overcomes might and money power. Truly loving and fearing God means not continuing to break the law in any point, for breaking it places a person under its condemnation as a yoke of bondage without justification or pardon whatever the profession, while obedience brings sanctification of body, soul and spirit as a progressive work advancing from one stage of perfection to another.
Its requirements are necessary to bind humanity to God and restore what sin degraded, for hardship, toil and poverty do not degrade people but sin, the breaking of the law, does, so rescuing the fallen requires impressing its claims and the need for loyalty to God. God's life in His children produces Christlike character and works bringing them into harmony with every precept, and through love its righteousness is fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit. Its work in the heart uproots selfishness and covetousness and plants righteousness, for the law is to be lived not merely believed in theory, with obedience appearing in love for God and others and in words and deeds of mercy that reveal Christ's character. Its principle is love of neighbor illustrated by the good Samaritan and made clear in Jesus' life, so that showing mercy, kindness and love to all bears testimony to the character of heaven's law while failing to show such love breaks the law professed to revere. Both natural and moral laws give wisdom and healing to all, the ever-varying scenes of the seasons displaying glory, power and love, so older students should seek divine wisdom and learn His laws while acquiring human arts and learning, for obedience brings life and happiness in this world and in the world to come.
Obedience in Life
The perfect law that turns the soul is not a dead letter but a rule for all of life, including business dealings, and obedience to it belongs to serving God and honoring His glory in every transaction. It is what God has spoken and the standard He has set up, to be carefully meditated upon as It is written and made the constant counselor instead of worldly policy, what ungodly men do, or what men think and say. Its living principles are to be carried into every dealing as the decisive question of strict rectitude, binding the conscience once known, cleansing from all evil devising and scheming and crookedness, and refusing even a tinge of selfish artifice or any gain obtained in an unfair way. Disregarding its precepts expresses disregard for the authority of the Supreme Ruler over every earthly kingdom, strengthens wickedness, leaves the disobedient condemned by it, and fixes the future, for the way a person keeps it determines destiny.
Profession is worthless without daily practice, for the commandments must be received into life with willing obedience that honors God in actions, thoughts, and words, and God knows whether they are truly kept. Keeping them means carrying out their principles in daily life and not merely professing to keep them, for the law remains unchanged, pure, perfect, and eternal. It must be studied, cherished in the heart, and exalted as the transcript of character and the standard for close self-examination, especially by those called out from fallen churches and the world in the last days, since its truth continues to unfold and its sacred claims are to be impressed on young and old. God's testimony is sure, plainly laying down the conditions for salvation and marking the way to heaven so clearly that service is not vague and ignorance is no excuse, and those who have light yet turn away from hearing the law cannot enter the kingdom because they are not clothed with righteousness. Those who obey must therefore declare it openly regardless of neighbors who call such advocacy foolish and singular, showing by precept and example what it requires, letting good works shine, and keeping the commandments as the test of discipleship that keeps the soul pure and holy.
Obedience is required of every human being, with the eternal future hanging upon it, and obeying the complete law forms a beautiful character by changing the heart. Parents must magnify its commands before children by obeying it themselves and living under God's control, for when its sacredness takes hold of parents it will surely bring this inner change. It remains the parents' guide and the standard of righteousness and character, showing God's righteous claims and giving the pattern to which character is shaped, so that without it there is no standard for the solemn responsibilities of family life and training in dealing with others. It is the daily monitor for educating children so parents need not err, admitting no indifference or negligence but kept before children's minds as the great moral standard and great rule of life, taught when they rise up and sit down and when they go out and come in. Its principles interwoven with all their experience make them honest, truthful, temperate, economical, industrious, and loving God with the whole heart, bringing them up in nurture and admonition, setting their feet in duty and safety, and securing blessing against wickedness, crime, and curse. Reasons for obeying and honoring it are to be impressed as soon as children can understand its nature so they know what to do and what to abstain from, with proper education in babyhood, childhood, and youth and Christ's instruction kept continually before them, for parents who know truth have no excuse for neglect but are to treat training as a sacred trust instead of training children to be like the world in disobedience. Neglect of this home Christian education in obedience can thwart God's purpose to prepare the young for His service.
The same complete and life-changing law supplies the rules and regulations to be followed, including duty to fellow men, so that every worker and every institution is to be held, guided, and controlled by God's hand through studying the Bible to learn that duty. Men are not to make rules for their fellows, and God's servants are not to submit to human rules made at Battle Creek. Teachers must hold the conviction that the law converts the soul, and choosing teachers who honor it gives the soul right food to nourish spiritual life and make Christ their own. That conviction upholds discipline and order, keeps minds under influences of the choicest order, leads students to wear Christ's yoke and lift His burdens, keeps them sound in doctrine, guards against a cheap shallow experience, and moves them to show known truth by practice. The law is also to guide sanitarium work as its motto and standard, calling people to understand and obey duty rather than follow their own plans, standing as the standard raised against Satan and protecting those who conscientiously work in harmony with God. Heeding it keeps dishonesty and extortion out of a physician's work, for success as a Christian physician depends on wisdom and righteousness from the Lord and faithfulness in doing what the law commands, dealing righteously with patients as the Lord's property and making honest charges instead of following worldly custom and dishonest scheming, while failure brings unchristian acts, unclean hands, and separation from God who will not approve dishonesty or unfair charges anywhere.
Its changing power is proved when God's people display His character as made known to Moses, revealing the Lord as merciful and gracious, patient, full of goodness and truth, keeping mercy and forgiving wrong. The fruit desired is purity of character and holiness of life marked by mercy, loving-kindness, compassion, and patience toward one another. Those converted live ordered, unselfish, sanctified lives, seeking to heal divisions and draw God's people into unity. Its principle is love of neighbor, illustrated by the good Samaritan and made clear in the life of Jesus, so that showing mercy, kindness, and love to all bears testimony to heaven's law while failing in such love breaks the law professed. This witness includes Israel's calling and the third angel's message, lifting the law as honorable before opposers through courtesy, justice, and integrity that draw souls.
Its claims are binding and must be clearly proclaimed so that transgressors are pointed to the Lawgiver through teaching that exalts His statutes and strengthens faith. As those claims are proclaimed sinners are awakened to duty and may discover its power to turn the soul back to God. Ministers are to repeat the Monarch's claims until sinners tremble and prove conversion, with united truth and with tracts and books in soul-saving work. The inspired words warn and encourage God's people to wake to their condition, humble themselves, surrender to God, seek guidance in Scripture, and live out its truths as it educates and guides them. Its perfection is reason to obey faithfully rather than disregard its principles because other professed Christians do so. The humble who walk with God and look to Jesus as Leader and source of strength rather than receiving light secondhand from men receive precious light for self and others, and living in humility and unity, following Christ's example and esteeming others above self, testifies to its transforming power while giving wisdom to the untaught. Its excellence is to be made known to others by careful reading that cuts away hereditary evil and by heeding enlightened understanding.
Those converted to truth learn through the Word, which is like the leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations and is to be received as God's word, how to work to seek and save the lost. From it they learn that every man and every woman is given his or her own useful work, that none are to be idle or busy merely to please and amuse self, and that the useful works to be done require diligence and perseverance.
God's law is complete, flawless and dependable, and it restores the soul by turning it back to God toward what is right, while His testimony is firm and trustworthy, giving wisdom, understanding and guidance to the simple and inexperienced so they need not go astray. That law is the ten holy precepts, the moral standard of supreme love to God in the first four and love to neighbor as self in the last six, which expresses God's own holy, just and good character and perfection. Because it shares His perfection it is eternal, immutable and unalterable, unable to be improved, abolished or changed by a jot, a truth Christ proved by living it inviolate, exalting it in the Sermon on the Mount, and giving His life on Calvary rather than seeing it set aside. It converts by acting as a mirror that reveals human guilt and makes sin appear exceedingly sinful, and though it cannot itself pardon, applied by the Holy Spirit it brings conviction, repentance toward God and faith in Christ unto justification. Received into the heart and kept through Christ's power, it writes God's character within, makes the whole person new in love to God and neighbor, and brings great reward, wisdom, peace, freedom, strength and protection more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey.
Words and Psalm Context
The law being perfect means it is complete, flawless and dependable, and its converting work is to restore the soul and turn it back to God toward what is right. The testimony being sure means God's witness and Word are trustworthy and firm, and its making wise the simple means it gives wisdom, understanding and guidance to the inexperienced, unlearned and simple. It is a clear guide that shows the right path and leaves no excuse for going astray, and it serves as a mirror for examining principles and discovering moral lack, so that heeding it brings conformity to God's law and shapes character and conduct like God's when written in the heart by inward grace. Without this knowledge of His law as essential higher education, people perish in their sins, and the Word of the living God stands as the study book and established foundation for education, so no new foundation is to be laid.
The verse stands with right statutes that rejoice the heart, a pure commandment that enlightens the eyes, a clean fear that endures forever, and judgments true and righteous altogether. These are more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey, warning the servant with great reward in keeping them. They lead on to prayer for cleansing from secret and hidden faults, restraint from presumptuous and willful sins so they do not have dominion or rule, uprightness and innocence and freedom from the great transgression and great rebellion, and words of mouth and meditation of heart acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer. Set along the whole way of life God's children must travel, they serve as a guiding light and beacon of warning, a word of praise and adoration and an exhortation to be joyful in the Lord with unceasing thanksgiving for His goodness, and each person must individually take heed to a Thus saith the Lord and know what is truth rather than turning to traditions and maxims of men.
The psalm binds God's law to His works in creation, for the witness of the heavens and the firmament to His glory and handiwork joins the witness of His law. Nature and the written word agree and shed light on each other, teaching about God and His character and the laws through which He works. Together they make God better known, lead to adoration and support intelligent trust in His word.
David affirmed the verse after his grievous wrong against God and fellow men when Nathan reproved him with Thou art the man and faithfully portrayed his true state. Instead of speaking against the law he had transgressed, he confessed his sin, accepted counsel in humility, bowed beneath chastisement, put his sins away, learned wisdom from God's dealing, and declared the law perfect to change the heart. Its light holds the transgressor accountable until repentance, exposing sin and bringing repentance without itself removing guilt or saving from consequences, and being reminded of transgressions and warned of danger is no cause for despair but shows God's love and desire to save, implanting truth that sinners may renounce sin forever, follow His counsel, do His will and inherit eternal life. The words are to be understood and valued, for they teach the way of obedience and help pray intelligently for cleansing from hidden faults and protection from presumptuous sin, and open the eyes to wondrous things in the law. They cannot be understood intelligently while talents are withheld from God, since understanding involves recognizing Christ's infinite sacrifice, humiliation and suffering for humanity and the responsibility to serve Him, which leads to a purer, healthier spiritual life.
What the Law Is
The law is the ten holy precepts, the royal law, the holy moral law of God, not done away in a single precept and not to be bettered or changed, immutable and eternal and binding still with unchangeable conditions of life by obedience. Its two great principles are supreme love to God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and love to one's neighbor as oneself, the first defined and enjoined in the first four commandments of duty to the Creator and the second like unto the first in the last six commandments of love to fellow men, together the whole duty of man and the sum of service, honor and righteousness for everyone seeking eternal life, including the Sabbath as memorial of creation. Converting the soul is genuine conversion that meets those demands, turning from dishonoring truth in works, denying truth, pride and selfishness, and worldly extravagance such as spending the Lord's money for show in dress, toward a changed heart and life by which the law is kept. When the Holy Spirit impresses that perfect law on the heart the soul is convicted of neglect, sees itself weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting for not loving God supremely and therefore not loving neighbor, while professing Christians who set up their own standard hear truth without obeying it. Keeping it through the grace of Christ removes every fiber of selfishness so that oppression of fellow men becomes impossible, escapes corruption through lust in covetousness, desire for position, love of money, false dealings and unjust practices, expresses the divine attributes, molds character after the divine similitude, imparts the Saviour's character, makes partakers of the divine nature, brings the law into the life, reveals its value in character, and shows true charity in Christlikeness. It is to be respected, reverenced, obeyed and taught to children when rising and sitting and going out and coming in, contrary to preaching that God has no law or commandments, for neglect of that home teaching makes drunkards and fills society with theft, robbery, murder, crime and prisons, whereas universal obedience by parents and children as directed through Moses would stop that wickedness.
The law is a transcript and copy and expression of God's character, holy and just and good and sharing His perfection, complete and with power to change the heart, so that obedience to all its commandments is required as proof of love, the way to safety, true greatness and healthy spiritual experience, and the foundation of the plan of salvation, Christ's commandments being the same as the precepts of the moral law. To know God as He is revealed in His marvelous works is the science of all goodness and truth and righteousness, requiring obedience to every expression of His character revealed in His law, for wisdom and intellect and power are not God Himself though God is author and giver of all wisdom, grace and power, and knowing Him in this way makes one with Him, formed after His likeness with every faculty made spiritual. It reflects His character and sets the standard of character in duty to love God supremely and neighbor as self, right and pure and true and righteous altogether to gladden the heart, enlighten the eyes, warn against sin, bring great reward when obeyed, reveal hidden faults, and call for cleansing from secret sins and protection from presumptuous sins unto uprightness and acceptance with God.
The same perfect law is the great moral standard of righteousness and rule of life and guide and foundation to build upon, given for the government of all human intelligences and all intelligences, the perfect law of liberty and foundation of God's government firm as His throne, on which the only hope of the human family rests with prosperity in this life and eternal interests depending on obedience, human happiness and God's glory depending on respecting and obeying it. It was given to humanity in the beginning in Eden as the standard and rule of obedience, lost sight of in succeeding ages, to be exalted by Abraham's descendants after Abraham's call, then given a second time at Sinai after God delivered Israel from nearly four hundred years of grievous Egyptian slavery by wonderful manifestation of His power as Ruler of the universe greater than all heathen deities, when in awful grandeur the Lord spoke His precepts and with His own finger engraved the ten commandments on tables of stone. That law engraved on stone and kept in the ark was a symbol of God's presence with Israel, so that when the ark went before the people or their armies it marked God's presence and favor, and when Israel transgressed the law they forfeited divine protection and were given into their enemies' hands. Only in obedience to it as Christ taught by His life and death can safety and true greatness be found, for it is flawless to change the heart because it is a transcript of His character, perfect and changeless and unchangeable, holy and just and good, converting the soul and making wise the simple.
By it character is weighed and every case decided when the books of heaven are opened and all deeds come in review before the Judge of the universe, for God requires obedience from every human being and the eternal future hangs on it. The holy law is written in living characters on one side of the scales with human characters placed against it while Christ stands as the perfection of holiness, and one after another is found wanting by that standard and pronounced unworthy of place among the perfect ones, since to keep the whole law yet offend in one point is to be guilty of all, the weighing being done by the Judge of all the earth who decides who shall be found wanting. It cannot be improved, abolished, changed or remodeled without causing imperfection, and God has neither abolished nor changed it, but it stands forever as the immutable, unalterable standard all must reach to be saved, testing every motive and requiring perfect obedience, dividing the two classes in the world between those who love and fear God and obey His law and those who do not wish to retain Him in knowledge but disregard and disobey His requirements, determining admittance to heaven. Claims that it is done away are false and contempt poured on it is folly, for the wise in heart receive commandments while the prating fool shall fall, and the whole life and character must be shaped according to Christ rather than divided between Christ and Satan. Obeying that complete law forms a beautiful character and transforms character by changing the heart, and parents must magnify its commands before children by obeying it themselves and living under God's control, for when a sense of its sacredness takes hold of parents it will surely bring this inner change, and children are to be taught respect for everything God has spoken with reasons for obeying and honoring it impressed as soon as they can understand its nature, so they will know what to do and what to abstain from doing. Believing the Word and appropriating it to the soul gives the witness of the Spirit that one's ways please God and delineates the life of a true Christian, for loving Christ is keeping His commandments from the heart and bringing His requirements into practical life, abiding in Him and letting His words abide, bearing much fruit as His disciples, continuing in His love as He kept His Father's commandments, bringing the joy of Christ in the soul, full assurance of hope, and freedom from condemnation so that the obedient are no longer under the law because the law no longer condemns their course.
Perfect and Unchanging Law
Because the law is perfect it cannot be improved, abolished, changed or remodeled, and not one precept, jot or tittle of it can be done away, reversed, repealed, marred, dishonored, made void or shorn of its authority, while any attempt to remodel it only causes imperfection. Its perfection is light that exposes transgression, explains past darkness and uncertainty, turns the heart back to obedience, and calls for keeping the commandments and living by them, since obedience to that perfect standard is life and true wisdom for time and eternity. It is the ten holy precepts, the royal law, the expression of His character holy, just and good, the foundation of His government and His great standard of righteousness, to stand forever as the immutable, unalterable standard all must reach to be saved, the rock to build upon so that false philosophy and science falsely so-called cannot deceive, enduring even though heaven and earth pass away. By it every case will be decided when the books of heaven are opened and all deeds come in review, dividing the two classes in the world into those who love and fear God and obey and those who do not wish to retain Him in knowledge and disregard and disobey, and claims that it is done away or that only belief is needed are false, with contempt poured on it being folly. To abolish even one command would give Satan all he asked, contrary to preaching that God has no law or commandments, and it is to be respected, reverenced, obeyed and taught to children when they rise up and sit down and go out and come in.
Its perfection means it is immutable, eternal and unalterable as God Himself, sharing His absolute, invariable independence without variableness, settled forever in heaven, very sure and to be loved, firm as His throne and requiring perfect obedience today just as was required of Adam. To admit it was so imperfect it needed change would stamp God as changeable and imperfect, for perfect means unalterable so no event can require a law of contrary nature. Even the slightest variance in its precepts, one jot or tittle, would mar its perfection, imply all of it may be faulty, and give heavenly hosts and unfallen worlds reason to think God's counsels are faulty, unreliable and need remodeling. It stands against all making it void when religious teachers set aside the Sabbath and lose sight of the power and love of God, and when men teach human commandments as doctrine and change the ordinance and break the everlasting covenant. Unlike the system of types that pointed to Jesus and ended at His death, its precepts are immutable and eternal, faultless and not arbitrary, with restrictions that protect from the harm disobedience brings, and every departure from it is evil.
Christ's life and death prove its immutability, for He lived it inviolate and brought the true and perfect character of the law to view, showing it can be kept in humanity and revealing the excellent character obedience develops. In the Sermon on the Mount He answered the charge that He came to do away with it by declaring He came not to destroy but to fulfill and that not one jot or tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled, till heaven and earth pass, and He came to take back the lie that it cannot be kept and to remove the rubbish of tradition, misinterpretation, misconstruction and maxims and customs of men that had covered it and hidden the character of God, setting it on its own eternal basis of virtue and purity. Rather than change one jot or tittle of the law God's only Son died on Calvary, and the cross reveals its binding claims, for God did not change it to accommodate humanity's fallen condition, and its force and dignity are measured by the offering made to redeem man. It is to be accepted as the rule of life, not set aside to excuse sin, carrying binding claims and solemn injunctions spoken at Sinai amid awful grandeur, as changeless and eternal as the throne, and Christ gave His life to redeem transgressors from Satan's power to enable them by obedience to vindicate its immutability. When ministers clearly set it forth and repeat the Monarch's claims before large congregations of rulers and subjects, many are impressed and aroused, sinners tremble, and those awake to duty prove by experience that it turns the heart, while others refuse and turn away, and in the last great day it triumphs with immeasurable compass as large as eternity.
Satan instituted the controversy over whether the law is perfect or faulty, seeking to cast contempt on it, fasten reproach on God, make men believe it must be modified to meet human needs, and gain victory by a change, and his constant work is to make it of none effect. He seeks to make it void through unsanctified commandments of men taught as doctrine, Sunday teaching and a spurious Sabbath, gaining the professed Christian world and joining world and church together, which does not prove it changed, neither by all his exalted influence and glory before his fall nor as apostate and traitor afterward. Taking its side is the right side, Christ's side of keeping the Father's commandments, while the wrong side is Satan's side who rebelled with sympathizers and was expelled, so that no matter how high his position anyone disloyal who accepts human laws instead of Jehovah's lives in direct opposition to God, can never enter heaven, will be punished according to the influence placed on Satan's side with greater talents bringing greater punishment, and will answer for souls turned from truth to falsehood. Making it void brings prevailing wickedness in high places and in low, corrupt cities like Sodom, and perilous times like the days of Noah and Lot when flood and fire came for sin, with universal scorn for it in an age when true followers are distinguished by loving the commandments above gold and fine gold, keeping the wonderful testimonies, receiving light and understanding, and longing for them. But God is truth itself with no flaw in will or character, and Satan himself will finally confess before the fallen world, unfallen worlds and hosts of heaven that his charges were unjust and that God has spoken immutable, eternal truths that cannot be altered.
Its perfection does not mean mercy leaves the transgressor unpunished, lowers its far-reaching claims to meet wicked men, or permits continued transgression after pardon, for its requirements cannot be lowered and man cannot in his own power meet its demands. It remains pure, broad and exceeding broad so it cannot be measured or evaded, in force as the rule of human conduct as long as time lasts and the rule of future judgment, and teaching that it is no longer in force leads into false security in disobedience while genuine love leads to hearty obedience and deep repentance for breaking or teaching others to break even the least commandment. Its claims extend to the deep secrets of moral nature and throw light on what is concealed, judging not only what hands do or tongue utters but searching thoughts, motives and purposes, and condemning hidden jealousy, hatred, lust, ambition and evil meditated in the soul even when never carried out for lack of opportunity. It requires a life of sobriety and temperance with passions under control of reason and physical and mental powers kept healthy, in preparation for the day when all are rewarded according to deeds and wealth, position or titles cannot gain favor or deliver from sin, and only by faith in Christ the one great Sacrifice to whom all shadows pointed can the sinner be cleansed and enabled to render obedience.
Conviction and Conversion
The law converts by holding up God's purity and holiness against human guilt, uncleanness and defects of character, acting as a mirror, a moral looking-glass and a schoolmaster. It exposes everything out of harmony with God in thought, word, deed, temper, affection, habit and disposition, making sin appear as sin and exceedingly sinful. Its light gives enlightenment to the understanding, enabling people to recognize sin, distinguish right from wrong, understand God's requirements, gain true conviction and wisdom, and be turned back toward what is right and a straight path for faithful service.
Without the law people gain no just sense of God's purity and holiness or of their own guilt and uncleanness, feel no true conviction of sin and no need of repentance, and do not see their lost condition as violators or their need of atoning blood. Where the law is neglected salvation is accepted without radical change of heart or reformation of life, so superficial conversions abound and multitudes join the church who are never united to Christ.
The law itself cannot in any way remove guilt, pardon the transgressor, or save from the consequences of sin, as seen when the transgressor remains accountable under it until repentance and pardon through faith in the promised Redeemer, with no permission to keep transgressing after pardon. Its light convicts and warns the servant and brings him to Christ by showing the need for repentance toward God and faith in the sin-bearing Saviour dying on Calvary under the weight of the sins of the whole world. Applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, with its principles made plain in Christ's life and Christ's light revealing the need for cleansing blood and justifying righteousness, it acts as agent to bring people to Christ so they may be justified by faith.
Conversion is genuine conversion doing a broad and deep work, meeting the law's demands by loving God supremely with all heart, soul, strength and mind and loving neighbor as self, which is the whole duty for eternal life and keeps the first four commandments toward God and the last six toward neighbor. When the Holy Spirit impresses the law on the heart the person is convicted of neglect and sees himself weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting for not loving God supremely and therefore not loving neighbor, while the conditions of eternal life by obedience remain unchangeable and eternal. When the affections are given to God and His law is written in the heart through inward grace, shaping character into conduct like God's, the whole man becomes a new creature born again of the Spirit, with faith increased by exercise and sustained by works of righteousness, since sin darkens reason and clouds understanding. That transforming work is done not by human power but by the power of the Holy Spirit, who works in the renewed heart to implant truth and divine virtues and change the whole life rather than correcting some evils while leaving others untouched, with faith working through love to purify the soul.
That change is known by experience and not by theory, for its perfection is known when its holy precepts are brought into practical life and obedience gives personal experience, as with Paul alive without the law until then. Salvation is an individual experience of having Christ abiding in the soul by faith and daily practicing Christlikeness, so living out its principles transforms character, speech and habits. Sharp speeches, quick temper, unadvised and unsanctified words that misrepresent Christ, put Him to shame, dishonor the Christian name and corrupt speaker and hearers must be cut away, along with wrongs to fellow beings, dishonest practices, selfishness and extortion, with habits and appetite guarded, since unsanctified character cannot enter heaven but faith can claim complete cleansing and growth into the likeness and beauty of Christ's character. The converted believer then keeps savor like salt and diffuses penetrating vital energy imparting new moral power, with a living connection with God through living faith, the atmosphere of heaven, and Christlike saving qualities working for transformation around him, as shown in the moral worth of Joseph and Daniel who had the Spirit of God and had power with God and men.
The law searches the life daily as food for the mind, for it is safe to judge the self by its light in daily self-examination and self-criticism so no mistake is made and no strange path is walked. When the whole being and life are brought into harmony with God and with the life of Christ, that is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, and the spiritual life is built up from the food given to the mind. Taken as food, the Word gives spiritual life and strength and produces spiritual and mental and physical health, seen in kind, affectionate, pure words and wholesome experience speaking the truth, keeps the soul alive and changed only by rightly using the mind in doing duty with affections turned toward heaven, guards the mind against Satan's efforts to draw it from God to the world, and opens eyes from the world to God. It is the foundation teachers must learn instead of fables, bringing gold, silver and precious stones, and received as clear pure truth like a deep wellspring freely drunk from, it awakens thoughts that sanctify the soul into perfect obedience.
Its reproof and chastening purify rather than destroy when meekly accepted, serving as a mirror for examining principles and discovering moral lack, with conformity following heeding. When the Holy Spirit reveals transgressions and flaws, with rules for guidance forming a standard from which there can be no sinless swerving, this correction and enlightened acceptance of reproof with true repentance is no cause for despair, for God can save every repentant soul and shows love. Conversion means giving to God all He has redeemed — heart, conscience and undivided affections — being purified from all dross and refined, elevated and ennobled to become members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, an exaltation higher than earthly ambition and not cheap spurious spirituality, testifying loyalty before heavenly intelligences, with sincere belief made manifest because works testify to belief. Making God's will paramount as the first principle of holiness, only God's grace gives a perfected character and walking before Him with a perfect heart, requiring Scripture as guide through study, practice and humble seeking of the Spirit, breaking every yoke of sin and Satan's deceptions in order to choose God's will with delight.
Christ and Salvation
The perfect law carries out its converting work by bringing sinners to Christ, for its principles are made plain in His life and, when applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, it reveals God's holiness, exposes human sin, and shows the need for cleansing blood and justifying righteousness so that people may be justified by faith. Grace alone gives the experience of a perfected character, and God alone enables a person to walk before Him with a perfect heart, for His rules guide finite, erring people and set a standard from which there can be no sinless departure, and making His will paramount is a first principle of holiness. Love for God is keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous but binding, and Christ gives power to keep from transgression. Those who profess to know and love Him must let light shine not by pretension and assertion but by good works and simple, elevated piety that reveals the binding claims of the law, while those who claim love while disobeying dishonor God and fall short of doing His will. The perfect converting law must therefore be received with meekness as the engrafted word able to save souls, and obeyed as doers and not hearers only, looking into the perfect law of liberty and continuing therein instead of forgetting, so that the doer shall be blessed in deed. Because the law sets a perfect and changeless standard that sinful people cannot meet by themselves, Christ came as Redeemer to make them partakers of the divine nature and bring them into harmony with it, so that when they forsake sin and receive Him as Saviour the law is upheld, not set aside.
Jesus came to bring the character of God before men because the law is that character, and He lived it in this world and brought to view the true and perfect character of the law, and every specification He gave is life. In the Sermon on the Mount He answered the charge that He came to do away with the law by declaring He came not to destroy but to fulfill, and that not one jot or tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled, till heaven and earth pass. He came to take back the lie that the law cannot be kept, to remove the rubbish of tradition, misinterpretation, misconstruction, and maxims and customs of men that had covered it and hidden God's character, and to set it on its own eternal basis of virtue and purity. Its precepts are immutable and eternal, unlike the system of types that pointed to Him and ended at His death, and every departure from it is evil. His obedient life showed that the law can be kept inviolate in humanity and revealed the excellent character that obedience develops, and those who obey as He did affirm that it is holy, just, and good. It is faultless, not arbitrary, and its restrictions protect people from the harm that disobedience brings. Christ exalted and honored it through His obedience, and those who keep the commandments testify through lives of unspotted integrity that it is perfect and turns the soul toward God.
Obedience through Him gives reality to practice by making Christ the Redeemer and stronghold, taking hold of His righteousness provided by His death to supply all power and riches of grace so that daily conduct shows conversion. This requires believing in Him as complete Saviour, giving up selfish ways and ambitious projects, changing human ways for God's ways, and choosing the narrow path of holiness that, followed on to know the Lord, leads to broad perfect freedom in following Him wherever He goes. By His own wisdom and example of obedience He shows that this obedience is the sum of all science and the excellent knowledge of Christ, for which all other things are to be counted loss. The law is the transcript of God's character, and obeying it means obeying His character and imitating His glory. This obedience is how love for Christ is proved, and it is required in order to live with Him in the kingdom of glory, so believers must search the Scriptures to know what the commandments require and then obey them, not shaping obedience to personal convenience, as much taught in the Psalms about obedience to God.
This changing work is mercy held out to all through Christ, who knows bodily and mental suffering and endured the agonies of crucifixion so that souls might be saved, because God loved the world and gave His Son so that whoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life. Though He sought to save all, many will not come to Him for life and few receive His offer of mercy, yet those in severe affliction can keep faith fixed on the Redeemer and remember they are in the hands of a merciful God. The cross of Calvary reveals the law's binding claims, for God did not change the law to accommodate humanity's fallen condition, and those who disregard its claims face condemnation, while obedience to the commandments distinguishes His people from others. The complete law that brings conversion of heart stands together with God's love in giving His Son, with God as light in whom is no darkness, with walking in the light bringing fellowship and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus, and with confession bringing faithful and just forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness, as the message to be carried to make desert places as the garden of God. The law in the Decalogue carries binding claims and solemn injunctions, spoken by God at Sinai amid awful grandeur, and is as changeless and eternal as the throne of Jehovah. When ministers clearly set it forth and repeat the words of the Monarch of the universe with His claims on the human family before large congregations of rulers and subjects, many are impressed and aroused, sinners tremble, and those who awake to a sense of duty prove by experience that it turns the heart, while others refuse to listen and turn away. Christ gave His life to redeem transgressors from Satan's power to enable them by obedience to vindicate the immutability of the law, and He designed them to declare by lives of consecrated service that it is perfect and converting. He died to make it possible for them to be partakers of the divine nature, to be sons and daughters of God and joint-heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance, pledging to conform fallen human nature to the laws and authority of the kingdom of God. When a person submits to Him in faith and love, He fills the heart with His divine life and makes him one with Himself so that thoughts and aims are identical with the Saviour's, the person is born again not of flesh but of the Spirit, and to obey is to carry out his own will.
Gift and Blessing
The perfect law brings great reward even in this life, for keeping the commandments gives a clear conscience and peace with God. Obeying its pure and sensible directions gives insight into divine things and foresight of things to come, and received in the right spirit the messages of the word sanctify mind and heart unto thorough conversion. Obedience strengthens the mind and discernment to understand God's purposes and plans more deeply, an advancement in ordering the life and shaping the character after the divine Model that can continue through eternal ages, and it is clear enough to be within the grasp of even the weakest intellect. The law is holy and just and good without blemish as a transcript of the divine character, right and pure and true to rejoice the heart and enlighten the eyes, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey, warning the servant so that in keeping it there is great reward. Sharing in the divine nature enables demonstration of obedience to that holy, just and perfect law.
Loving and keeping the law is not a burden that robs freedom, but brings peace, joy, moral insight, warning and reward, so that service to God is a pleasure and expression of love. It gives great peace that nothing can break to those who love it, while those who throw off its restraint to gain freedom have no peace and make the world corrupt as in the days of Noah and as Sodom and Gomorrah. Glad, willing obedience does not restrict liberty but preserves it, for its source is divine love and love for God and others makes obedience willing and brings freedom, sanctification and knowledge of Christ, whereas breaking it brings loss of liberty. Those whose features, temper, words, conduct and character testify that serving the Lord is good proclaim by cheerful lives that His requirements do not restrict liberty. Obedience is not irksome service, for the perfect law changes the inner life and willing obedience is always followed by the sure experience of peace and rest, with truth set in contrast to error.
Only in obedience can safety and true greatness be found, a truth taught by Christ's life and death, for the flawless law that changes the heart is a transcript of His character. For those who delight in it and live in harmony with it, the law gives strength and protection and does not condemn them, so the obedient are not under the law. It was given to humanity in the beginning as the standard of obedience, was lost sight of in succeeding ages, was to be exalted by Abraham's descendants after his call, and was given a second time at Sinai after deliverance from nearly four hundred years of grievous Egyptian slavery by a wonderful manifestation of power as Ruler of the universe greater than all heathen deities, when in awful grandeur the Lord spoke His precepts and with His own finger engraved the ten commandments on tables of stone. Those who obey are controlled by right principles whose purity yields a precious harvest, becoming a waymark of unsullied purity with imagination uncorrupted by dishonest practices and pure heaven-born principles as a safeguard to youth, before whom light springs up, for a man's value is proportionate to his fear and love for God as Sovereign Ruler, and right overcomes might and money power. Truly loving and fearing God means not continuing to break the law in any point, for breaking it places a person under its condemnation as a yoke of bondage without justification or pardon whatever the profession, while obedience brings sanctification of body, soul and spirit as a progressive work advancing from one stage of perfection to another.
Its requirements are necessary to bind humanity to God and restore what sin degraded, for hardship, toil and poverty do not degrade people but sin, the breaking of the law, does, so rescuing the fallen requires impressing its claims and the need for loyalty to God. God's life in His children produces Christlike character and works bringing them into harmony with every precept, and through love its righteousness is fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit. Its work in the heart uproots selfishness and covetousness and plants righteousness, for the law is to be lived not merely believed in theory, with obedience appearing in love for God and others and in words and deeds of mercy that reveal Christ's character. Its principle is love of neighbor illustrated by the good Samaritan and made clear in Jesus' life, so that showing mercy, kindness and love to all bears testimony to the character of heaven's law while failing to show such love breaks the law professed to revere. Both natural and moral laws give wisdom and healing to all, the ever-varying scenes of the seasons displaying glory, power and love, so older students should seek divine wisdom and learn His laws while acquiring human arts and learning, for obedience brings life and happiness in this world and in the world to come.
Obedience in Life
The perfect law that turns the soul is not a dead letter but a rule for all of life, including business dealings, and obedience to it belongs to serving God and honoring His glory in every transaction. It is what God has spoken and the standard He has set up, to be carefully meditated upon as It is written and made the constant counselor instead of worldly policy, what ungodly men do, or what men think and say. Its living principles are to be carried into every dealing as the decisive question of strict rectitude, binding the conscience once known, cleansing from all evil devising and scheming and crookedness, and refusing even a tinge of selfish artifice or any gain obtained in an unfair way. Disregarding its precepts expresses disregard for the authority of the Supreme Ruler over every earthly kingdom, strengthens wickedness, leaves the disobedient condemned by it, and fixes the future, for the way a person keeps it determines destiny.
Profession is worthless without daily practice, for the commandments must be received into life with willing obedience that honors God in actions, thoughts, and words, and God knows whether they are truly kept. Keeping them means carrying out their principles in daily life and not merely professing to keep them, for the law remains unchanged, pure, perfect, and eternal. It must be studied, cherished in the heart, and exalted as the transcript of character and the standard for close self-examination, especially by those called out from fallen churches and the world in the last days, since its truth continues to unfold and its sacred claims are to be impressed on young and old. God's testimony is sure, plainly laying down the conditions for salvation and marking the way to heaven so clearly that service is not vague and ignorance is no excuse, and those who have light yet turn away from hearing the law cannot enter the kingdom because they are not clothed with righteousness. Those who obey must therefore declare it openly regardless of neighbors who call such advocacy foolish and singular, showing by precept and example what it requires, letting good works shine, and keeping the commandments as the test of discipleship that keeps the soul pure and holy.
Obedience is required of every human being, with the eternal future hanging upon it, and obeying the complete law forms a beautiful character by changing the heart. Parents must magnify its commands before children by obeying it themselves and living under God's control, for when its sacredness takes hold of parents it will surely bring this inner change. It remains the parents' guide and the standard of righteousness and character, showing God's righteous claims and giving the pattern to which character is shaped, so that without it there is no standard for the solemn responsibilities of family life and training in dealing with others. It is the daily monitor for educating children so parents need not err, admitting no indifference or negligence but kept before children's minds as the great moral standard and great rule of life, taught when they rise up and sit down and when they go out and come in. Its principles interwoven with all their experience make them honest, truthful, temperate, economical, industrious, and loving God with the whole heart, bringing them up in nurture and admonition, setting their feet in duty and safety, and securing blessing against wickedness, crime, and curse. Reasons for obeying and honoring it are to be impressed as soon as children can understand its nature so they know what to do and what to abstain from, with proper education in babyhood, childhood, and youth and Christ's instruction kept continually before them, for parents who know truth have no excuse for neglect but are to treat training as a sacred trust instead of training children to be like the world in disobedience. Neglect of this home Christian education in obedience can thwart God's purpose to prepare the young for His service.
The same complete and life-changing law supplies the rules and regulations to be followed, including duty to fellow men, so that every worker and every institution is to be held, guided, and controlled by God's hand through studying the Bible to learn that duty. Men are not to make rules for their fellows, and God's servants are not to submit to human rules made at Battle Creek. Teachers must hold the conviction that the law converts the soul, and choosing teachers who honor it gives the soul right food to nourish spiritual life and make Christ their own. That conviction upholds discipline and order, keeps minds under influences of the choicest order, leads students to wear Christ's yoke and lift His burdens, keeps them sound in doctrine, guards against a cheap shallow experience, and moves them to show known truth by practice. The law is also to guide sanitarium work as its motto and standard, calling people to understand and obey duty rather than follow their own plans, standing as the standard raised against Satan and protecting those who conscientiously work in harmony with God. Heeding it keeps dishonesty and extortion out of a physician's work, for success as a Christian physician depends on wisdom and righteousness from the Lord and faithfulness in doing what the law commands, dealing righteously with patients as the Lord's property and making honest charges instead of following worldly custom and dishonest scheming, while failure brings unchristian acts, unclean hands, and separation from God who will not approve dishonesty or unfair charges anywhere.
Its changing power is proved when God's people display His character as made known to Moses, revealing the Lord as merciful and gracious, patient, full of goodness and truth, keeping mercy and forgiving wrong. The fruit desired is purity of character and holiness of life marked by mercy, loving-kindness, compassion, and patience toward one another. Those converted live ordered, unselfish, sanctified lives, seeking to heal divisions and draw God's people into unity. Its principle is love of neighbor, illustrated by the good Samaritan and made clear in the life of Jesus, so that showing mercy, kindness, and love to all bears testimony to heaven's law while failing in such love breaks the law professed. This witness includes Israel's calling and the third angel's message, lifting the law as honorable before opposers through courtesy, justice, and integrity that draw souls.
Its claims are binding and must be clearly proclaimed so that transgressors are pointed to the Lawgiver through teaching that exalts His statutes and strengthens faith. As those claims are proclaimed sinners are awakened to duty and may discover its power to turn the soul back to God. Ministers are to repeat the Monarch's claims until sinners tremble and prove conversion, with united truth and with tracts and books in soul-saving work. The inspired words warn and encourage God's people to wake to their condition, humble themselves, surrender to God, seek guidance in Scripture, and live out its truths as it educates and guides them. Its perfection is reason to obey faithfully rather than disregard its principles because other professed Christians do so. The humble who walk with God and look to Jesus as Leader and source of strength rather than receiving light secondhand from men receive precious light for self and others, and living in humility and unity, following Christ's example and esteeming others above self, testifies to its transforming power while giving wisdom to the untaught. Its excellence is to be made known to others by careful reading that cuts away hereditary evil and by heeding enlightened understanding.
Those converted to truth learn through the Word, which is like the leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations and is to be received as God's word, how to work to seek and save the lost. From it they learn that every man and every woman is given his or her own useful work, that none are to be idle or busy merely to please and amuse self, and that the useful works to be done require diligence and perseverance.