Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
The law Paul calls holy, just and good is the moral law of ten commandments that forbids coveting, and it is itself not sin. It gives knowledge of sin by exposing wrong desire in thought and heart and by making sin appear exceedingly sinful, convicting and condemning the transgressor. Sin, not the law, uses what is good to deceive and bring death, while the law still promises life to obedience and remains holy even as it condemns. Because the law expresses God's own holy, righteous and loving character, it is eternal and unchangeable, and Christ upheld its claims by obeying it and bearing its penalty to maintain it while pardoning the repentant. It cannot save or pardon by itself, but as schoolmaster it sends the convicted sinner to Christ in repentance and faith, whose grace renews the heart to keep it in love to God and neighbor.
Words In Context
The declaration is that the law itself is not sin, but the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. The Holy Spirit uses that holy standard of character to reveal sin, as the commandment against coveting makes the sinner recognize covetous desire and lust. Without the law sin was dead, but when the commandment came sin revived, exploited the commandment to produce all manner of wrong desire, deceived, and brought death. The law itself did not die; it exposed transgression, pronounced death on the transgressor, and promised life to the obedient, yet it has no power in itself to remove a defect, pardon, or save from the consequence of transgression. Its holiness and righteousness remain true even after the crucifixion, and what is good does not cause death but exposes sin as sin and makes it become exceedingly sinful.
The law meant here is the moral law of ten commandments proclaimed from Sinai, proved to be the decalogue because it is the law that says Thou shalt not covet. It is broad and clear in distinction from the ceremonial law of symbols, sacrifices, and ordinances pointing to Christ's sacrifice and priesthood. The ceremonial system of types ended when type met antitype in Christ's death, while the ten-commandment law is immutable as God's throne, maintains its claims upon mankind in all ages, and loses nothing of its obligation by Christ's death. The very fact that Christ had to die to atone for transgression of that law and to bear its penalty rather than abolish it proves it is immutable and makes it possible to take hold of His virtue, keep it, and live. In its light a person sees himself a sinner even when he thought he was keeping it zealously, and that conviction brings death to sin, repentance, faith in Jesus as Saviour, baptism, obedience, and earnest preaching.
Both the ten moral precepts and the ceremonial law connected with them bear the stamp of divinity and express the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God. The law engraved in stone was by itself a ministration of death that left the transgressor under its curse with no hope of pardon. The promised Saviour revealed in types and shadows made it glorious, and when Christ bore its curse and suffered its penalty to complete salvation so that obedient man could keep the law and be accepted through His merits, a halo of glory was shed upon the law revealing its changeless and exalted character. The glory seen when Moses came down from the mount with the tables proves this, and the ministration that was to be abolished at Christ's death as sin-offering was glorious, while the life-giving sanctifying Spirit given through Christ to believers excels it in glory. Therefore neither the moral nor the ceremonial law is to be despised as an old thunder and lightning law.
The law is spiritual, while the person under sin is carnal and sold under sin. Death comes not from the law itself but from sin, which is transgression of the law, taking occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay the carnal mind and working death by that which is good so that sin appears exceeding sinful. The law is not sin, a yoke to be trampled underfoot, or the cause of death; it reveals sin, makes its exceeding sinfulness plain, condemns sin in the flesh, and brings conviction that a person is a transgressor. Even when transgression is confessed there is in the law no power to save, for salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law and live, proving it is not abrogated or made of none effect.
The commandment was ordained unto life, ordained to life for those who obey and whose character is brought into harmony with its holy requirements, yet because of sin it is found unto death. Sin, not the good law, uses the commandment to deceive and bring death, so the law's good purpose is not responsible for that death. For the transgressor it brings condemnation and death unless there is repentance and conversion, reaching thoughts, words, and desires of the heart and showing sin in its full seriousness to bring recognition of guilt. When the law comes to the heart it brings conviction, exposing the malignity and sinfulness of sin including lust, and killing self-satisfaction measured by self and other sinners. That conviction produces humility as a sense of sin and unworthiness leading to repentance, a felt need of a cure, and appreciation of the value of the atonement and the necessity of being cleansed from all sin, in contrast to the purity and holiness of Christ.
Paul describes being alive without the law, then when the commandment came sin revived and he died to self-trust. The sinner naturally measures himself by himself and by other sinners like himself and does not look at the purity and holiness of Christ, so he feels alive without the law. When the commandment comes home to conscience, lust is exposed, sin takes occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay, and the man who was alive dies. That work is humility, the sense of sin and unworthiness that leads to repentance, and only those who realize the sinfulness of sin in this way can appreciate the value of the atonement and feel the necessity of being cleansed. Paul learned this in true conversion, and when the law is allowed to slay the sinful nature and is obeyed in spirit and in truth to honor God it leads to eternal life, as the rich young ruler failed to learn when he did not see his sinfulness by the light of the commandment.
Law Exposes Sin
The law is not sin itself but is holy and just and good, and its office is to give the knowledge of sin and reveal what sin is, for sin is transgression of the law. The Holy Spirit uses the law as God's standard of character to make the sinner recognize guilt, and without the law sin is dead, but when the commandment comes sin revives and brings death. The commandment was ordained unto life, yet sin exploits it to deceive and slay, while the inward person can delight in God's law and honor and obey it, its holiness and righteousness remaining true even after Christ's crucifixion.
The commandment Thou shalt not covet exposes lust and works all manner of wrong desire, making covetous desire recognizable to the conscience. The law in this reaches beyond outward acts alone to thoughts, words, secret purposes, motives, feelings and desires of the heart, showing sin in its full seriousness and bringing recognition of guilt. When the law comes to the heart it kills self-satisfaction measured by self and other sinners, exposing malignity and lust in contrast to the purity and holiness of Christ.
The law is exceedingly broad, perfect and in harmony with God's character, covering the whole matter of character rather than form alone, with prohibitions and requirements in perfect consistency with righteousness. Its claims cannot be evaded, reversed or repealed, and it remains the rule of human conduct and of future judgment, laying men under obligation to God and requiring the soul itself to be pure, the mind holy, and all thoughts and feelings to be in accordance with the law of love and righteousness. Its spiritual power and light of principle must not be narrowed down to the smallest possible claims or to outward acts alone, but given the largest interpretation as far-reaching in will, affections and heart exemplified in righteous actions.
The law acts as detector of sin that shows sin in its hideous deformity and condemns it, for which reason transgressors oppose it, yet it remains holy and right and good in its true bearing. It is a mirror and faithful standard of character and of Christian character, revealing a person's true condition, moral defects, sin and selfishness that may otherwise go unseen even in those professing devotion to God's work. Comparing life and motives with its holy, just and good requirements with earnest and honest searching shows a person fearfully wanting, warns against temptation, and teaches sound judgment and spiritual discernment, while neglecting that mirror leaves deformity and sin in place, apparent to others even when not understood by those at fault.
By what is good the law makes sin appear as sin and become exceedingly sinful, exposing its malignity, hideous deformity and full seriousness. Sin, not the good law, uses the commandment to work death in order to expose sin, because the law is spiritual while man is carnal, sold under sin, and the sinner naturally measures himself by himself and other sinners like himself and does not look at Christ's purity until the commandment comes home. In that light the law is ordained to life, does not cause sin, and brings conviction to the heart, leading the sinner to recognize guilt and feel the necessity of being cleansed from all sin.
When the commandment comes home to the conscience it convicts, holds the transgressor prisoner, condemns, exposes sin and pronounces death on the transgressor, promising life to the obedient while the law itself did not die. Awareness of the law brings deep conviction, showing sin in full seriousness for thoughts, words and desires of the heart, and for the transgressor brings condemnation and death unless there is repentance and conversion. That coming kills self-satisfaction measured by self and others, and ends self-trust, self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-honor and self-security.
That conviction produces humility as a sense of sin, guilt, peril, unworthiness and self-loathing, leading the soul in its sense of peril to acknowledge sin, loathe it, stop trying to protect personal dignity, and repent while Christ pleads in heaven. Its claims call for reverence and repentance when a person sees transgression and recognizes the law's sentence pressed on the conscience by the Holy Spirit. Only those who realize the sinfulness of sin in this way can appreciate the value of the atonement, feel the need of a cure and cleansing, and lay hold on the blood of the Lamb as the only remedy from the condemning power of sin.
Sin Brings Death
Sin, not the law, takes occasion by the commandment to work all manner of wrong desire, to deceive and to slay the sinner, working death by what is good. The law itself is not sin and does not make sin, but is holy and just and good, used to reveal sin, with the commandment against coveting making covetous desire and lust recognized. Without the law sin is dead, but when the commandment comes sin revives and brings death, though the commandment was ordained unto life and the inward person can delight in it. The law is spiritual while man is carnal, sold under sin, and sin exploits what is good to work death in order to expose sin as sin and make sin become exceeding sinful by the commandment. In practical obedience the law demonstrates its perfection by converting the soul, exposing sin and leading the convicted, repentant, believing soul to acknowledge Christ as the only remedy and to learn from Him in meekness and lowliness. The law condemns sin in the flesh and brings deep conviction that a person is a transgressor, but even when transgression is confessed there is in the law no power to save, and it cannot save a self-righteous person who evades Christ's yoke. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law and live, proving the law is not abrogated or made of none effect and that its holiness and righteousness remain true even after the crucifixion.
What is good does not cause death, and the law's good purpose is not responsible for that death. The law and the commandment remain holy and just and good even though they detect sin and condemn the sinner to death. For that reason there is to be no war against them for their sharp convicting work, and those who wage war against the commandments, berate them, or call them a yoke of bondage show a carnal mind that is enmity against God and not subject to His law. The law is the detector of sin that shows sin in its hideous deformity, exposing its malignity and full sinfulness including lust, and killing self-satisfaction measured by self and other sinners, which is why transgressors oppose it. When the law comes to the heart it brings conviction, producing humility as a sense of sin, guilt, unworthiness and need of a cure, leading to repentance, appreciation of the value of the atonement and the necessity of cleansing from all sin in contrast to the purity and holiness of Christ. The commandment was ordained to life, yet when it comes sin revives and the sinner dies, and its true work is to point the convicted sinner to Christ as Healer and Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for sin repented of and confessed, with the right response being to let the law point out defects of character, acknowledge sin, let self die, and in meekness repent and confess shortcomings.
The law itself did not die; it exposed sin and pronounced death on the transgressor, while promising life to the obedient. It is not the evil that must be destroyed, but reaches thoughts, words, secret desires of the heart, and by showing sin in its full seriousness brings a person to recognize guilt. It is ordained to life for those who obey and whose character is brought into harmony with its holy requirements, but for the transgressor it brings condemnation and death unless there is repentance and conversion.
The commandment reveals sin, and sin takes occasion by it to deceive and bring death, but the law itself is not sinful. By saying Thou shalt not covet it gives knowledge of sin so that lust is exposed, sin revives and takes occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay, and the man who was alive without the law dies, with the commandment ordained to life yet found unto death because of sin. When a person recognizes sin through the commandment and obeys it in spirit and in truth to honor God, the sinful nature is slain and the person can lay hold of eternal life. This is what is learned in true conversion, in contrast to the rich young ruler who did not see his sinfulness by the light of the commandment.
God Character And Permanence
The law is holy and just and good because it expresses the will and character of God Himself. Because God is love, the law is founded on love to God and to humanity, and because God is righteous and true, the law is righteous and true. It is a transcript of divine perfection without blemish, embodying His perfect righteousness and founded on the eternal principle of love. Its nature reflects its unchanging Author, so its principles endure as God endures. Conversion and sanctification bring people back into harmony with God and the principles of His law, renewing the heart by divine grace and restoring the likeness to God that sin damaged.
The law does not create holiness but makes holiness known. It is a code of principles expressing mercy, goodness and love, presenting to fallen humanity the character of God and stating plainly the whole duty of man. Man has not wisdom in himself to frame a perfect rule of right, so God gave His law as a complete standard of righteousness, a safe and comprehensible guide, that man not be left to fallacious reasoning and the imagination of his own heart. It plainly defines duty to God in the first four commandments and duty to fellow human beings in the last six. That whole duty is summed in loving the Lord with all heart, soul, mind and strength and loving neighbor as self, upon which hang all the law and the prophets.
The law is complete in itself, eternal, immutable and unchangeable as its Author and His throne. It is the foundation of God's government in heaven and on earth and the rule of conduct, and it cannot be repealed, altered, weakened or strengthened. It maintains its claims upon mankind in all ages. Those loyal to God do not trample it, while those in darkness and error trample that holy law under foot with bitterness and contempt.
Satan has opposed the law ever since his fall, questioning it and claiming it was changed and amended, throwing his whole might against it and drawing many holy angels to his side, yet not one jot or tittle was moved from its foundation. He works with increasing earnestness and power to make it void and of no effect, hiding that sin is transgression of the law and casting it down as oppression, restriction of rights and a yoke of bondage. He perverts its holy, just and good precepts to give a false impression of God, representing Him throughout rebellion as unjust and tyrannical. He works through human methods and policy to change the Sabbath to the first day, leading men to disbelieve God's declarations, to regard their own ways as exceeding wise and God's expressed commandments as of less force than human tradition. God's whole plan of redemption through the costly death of Jesus magnifies the law and makes it honorable before human intelligences, unfallen worlds and the angelic host, for if the law had to be abolished because none could obey it, God's wisdom would be imperfect and His character as just and merciful impeached.
The ceremonial system of symbols, sacrifices and ordinances pointing to Christ's sacrifice and priesthood ended when type met antitype in Christ's death. The ten-commandment moral law loses nothing of obligation by Christ's death but remains binding, changeless and eternal. Christ came expressly to vindicate His Father's law by word and deed, not to change it or make it of no effect, and His obedient life showed it can be kept in human life to develop excellent character. The very fact that Christ had to die to atone for transgression of that law proves it is immutable.
The Sabbath commandment belongs to that holy, just and good moral law. It was spoken by God and written with His own finger on tables of stone as a perpetual covenant and sign of creation, and no smallest part is to be removed. The command to remember the Creator by keeping the seventh day is therefore immutable because the Lord is unchangeable. Changing its day to the first day does not alter the commandment but breaks the law and makes a breach that God's people are to repair and restore. As people despise and break the law, those who love God value His commandments more deeply, while those who treat them with contempt will recognize their sin when the law's demands bring judgment.
Establishing government independent of God is rebellion founded for self-exaltation, giving God no rule or honor. After the flood men desiring to forget their Creator and cast off restraint separated to the plain of Shinar at Babel in confederacy against God to establish a kingdom not for His glory. Their aim was to substitute selfish and cruel human laws framed from their own hearts for the divine statutes in order to carry out their purposes, urged on by the first great rebel. If unchecked such a power would banish righteousness and knowledge of the holy, just and good law from minds, inaugurate a new religion by mixing religious ideas with erroneous theories, and close the door to peace, happiness and security. God in mercy marks and restrains all devices that resist the authority of His just and holy law.
Christ Vindicates Law
The One who spoke the law at Sinai understood its full meaning, and in His teaching on the mount He revealed its full and far-reaching claims as the enduring standard of righteousness that stands as long as heaven and earth endure. He restored its dignity and light from the distortions of human traditions, correcting those who portrayed it as a cold code of exactions and showing that the grievous burden came not from God's requirements but from human additions woven together with them. The Jewish leaders did not make the law false or bad, but gave it a false obedience by imposing exacting requirements while disobeying it themselves. He magnified the law and expanded its precepts, obeying it as the example for humanity.
He lived in harmony with the changeless moral standard that reflects God's own character, and He Himself kept His Father's commandments to bring people back to allegiance to it after breaking it had brought the race under sentence of death. His obedient life showed that the law can be kept in human life and that obedience develops excellent character, while those who obey as He did affirm its goodness and those who break it support the claim that it is unjust and cannot be obeyed. He honored the law through implicit obedience, and by life and death upheld its sacred claims and justice and established that it is unchanging and complete in itself, eternal and immutable, unable to be repealed or changed. Apart from Him the law condemns sinful people, but understood with Him as substitute and surety it leaves hope, and its demands are met through obedience to every precept as heart-work grounded in knowing God's requirements.
He did not set aside any of its claims or change it to save humanity, but obeyed all its precepts and then bore its curse and suffered its penalty to complete salvation, so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law and live. Death comes not from the law itself, for the law is not itself death or sin to the sinner, but from sin which is transgression of the law, taking occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay the carnal mind sold under sin, working death by that which is good so that sin appears exceeding sinful. The law engraved in stone was by itself a ministration of death that left the transgressor under its curse with no hope of pardon, but the promised Saviour revealed in types and shadows made it glorious, and when He bore its curse a halo of glory was shed upon the law revealing its changeless and exalted character, as seen in the glory on Moses' face when he came down with the tables. The law convicts and condemns by revealing what sin is, but has no power to pardon or save, refuting the claim that grace allows continued transgression or that obedience brings bondage, and proving the law must be obeyed from the heart through repentance toward God for breaking it and faith toward Him as Advocate whose death pays the penalty and vindicates the law rather than repealing or excusing it. Calvary reveals the law's holiness because His death paid the debt caused by transgression, and seeing sin's offense and the cost of redemption awakens love, gratitude, reverence for the law, repentance, and faith that works through love and purifies the soul, so that those who value His sacrifice do not seek permission to keep sinning but turn from transgression. Those who accept Him as personal Saviour are freed from the law's penalty, and keeping His commandments shows they know Him and that God's love is perfected in them, with the test of the Spirit's work being repentance, obedience, and the life lived.
His death testifies to the universe that the law is changeless and cannot be done away, for He came to maintain and exalt it by suffering the penalty of sin to show that God will not clear the guilty, and teaching that the holy law has no claims excuses sin and works against Him. He gave His life to bear the penalty of sin, not to abolish the law, and His sacrifice shows the law is immutable and makes it possible to take hold of His virtue, keep God's law, and regain access to the tree of life. His death upheld the law by bearing the penalty for transgression, maintaining its authority, making sin appear exceedingly sinful, preserving the honor and majesty of God's rule, and showing its enduring character while saving people from the penalty for breaking it. Rejecting God's law is therefore to reject Him and to identify with those who crucified Him.
The object of the atonement, the at-one-ment with God, was that divine law and government might be maintained while the sinner is pardoned through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord and Saviour, so there is forgiveness of sin and yet the law stands immutable. Not even the smallest part of it could be changed to redeem humanity, as shown by the death of God's Son, and in the judgment its full scope and goodness will be revealed with people seen as obedient or disobedient to it. Its condemnation must still be borne either by each sinner individually or by another in whom no taint of sin can be found bearing it in his behalf, leaving no hope of pardon without such a substitute, while the sinner who cannot meet the charge of disloyalty may by faith accept Him as personal Saviour and Surety and be pardoned.
The law is perfect because it is the law of God's own nature, and He puts that perfect law into the mind and heart of every repentant sinner who senses sin, forsakes it, and casts helpless dependence upon Him as the sin-pardoning Saviour. The sinner is helpless to atone for even one sin, and the power to change is His free gift, appreciated only by those who sense their sins and cast their helpless souls upon Him, receiving power to become children of God. By thus partaking of the divine nature they escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. He writes this holy law in the heart, renewing the soul through truth and creating the person anew, and as the sinner learns His meekness and lowliness and receives His life, the law's principles are lived out in loving service and shape a character fit for heaven and able to enter the heavenly courts.
Way To Salvation
The law is perfect for converting the soul, yet there is no power in it to remove a defect, to pardon the transgressor, or to save from the consequence of transgression. Alone it is powerless and condemns apart from Christ, for it holds the transgressor prisoner until repentance and pardon through faith in the promised Redeemer. It was ordained to life, and it is not itself sin or death, but when it comes to the heart it brings conviction, exposes lust and the malignity of sin, kills self-satisfaction measured by self and others, and produces humility, a sense of unworthiness, a felt need of a cure, and appreciation of the atonement. It remains holy and just and good in its true bearing even while it detects sin in its hideous deformity and condemns it, which is why transgressors oppose it.
The law is a schoolmaster that shows the need for Christ and leads the sinner to the remedy in the sin-bearing Saviour. By making sin recognizable and exceedingly sinful it sends the convicted sinner to Christ for pardon and cleansing. Its work is to point the convicted sinner to Christ as the Healer of sin that is repented of and confessed. In practical obedience it demonstrates its perfection by exposing sin and leading sinners to acknowledge Christ as their only remedy, and it cannot save the self-righteous person who evades His yoke but teaches willing obedience and His meekness and lowliness.
When convicted by the law the sinner must repent toward God for breaking it and exercise faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ as substitute, surety, and Advocate, and then pardon and free salvation are available. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law of God and live, proving the law is not abrogated or made of none effect. The law convicts and condemns by revealing what sin is but has no power to pardon or save, refuting the claim that grace allows continued transgression or that obedience brings bondage. Those who accept Him as personal Saviour are freed from the law's penalty, keeping His commandments as evidence that they know Him and that God's love is perfected in them, and those who truly value His salvation show the Spirit's work by repentance and obedience tested in the life lived. Christ will never save anyone who knows the law yet lives in transgression of it, for He came to maintain and exalt it by suffering sin's penalty to show God will not clear the guilty.
The law alone is powerless unless the righteousness of Christ is placed beside it to give glory to the whole royal standard of righteousness. The right quality in religious experience comes only by thorough and complete trust in Jesus as a personal, all-sufficient Saviour, the sinner's only hope. God is not pleased with trust in human ability or good deeds or legal religion, but with trust in the living God, and without living faith in Christ service is nothing, Christless like the offering of Cain. That faith of Jesus belongs in its right place in the third angel's message, and no one can keep the law without accepting Christ's righteousness, yet in His strength all can be wholly obedient and hold up the high standard by precept and example.
Through faith in Christ obedience to every principle of the law is made possible, for what is good does not cause death but sin uses what is good to work death in order to expose sin as sin, because the law is spiritual while man is carnal, sold under sin. Conversion and sanctification bring people back into harmony with God and the principles of His law, through divine grace renewing the heart and restoring the likeness to God that sin damaged. Under the teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit, who gives sufficiency and completeness in Him, seeing the law as holy, just, and good leads to delighting in it and from the heart rendering obedience. That obedience is love to God supremely and to neighbor as self, comprehending the whole duty of man, working no ill to neighbor and fulfilling the law, replacing malice, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness with kindness, patience, benevolence, and love. When the law is seen in its spiritual power and exceeding breadth, covering character and not form alone and forbidding sin in thoughts, feelings, and desires as well as word and deed, sin appears exceedingly sinful and is cleansed from the soul temple, self-righteousness and self-security are gone, and the soul in its sense of peril lays hold on the blood of the Lamb as the only remedy.
Merely recognizing the law's goodness gives no power to attain its purity and righteousness, and the sinner remains in need of deliverance from sin. Meditating upon its precepts reveals the reasonableness, perfection, and beauty of the divine requirements, standing at variance with selfishness, deception, and unchaste thoughts and actions. Seeing its holiness exposes lack of self-sufficiency and creates dependence upon Christ for strength to receive and to fulfill what God requires. Receiving the law in love builds life upon the solid Rock, Christ Jesus, so the soul stands the test, is transformed, and develops a pure character like the Master's, fitted for an eternal home.
The right response is not to wage war against the commandments for their sharp convicting work, for those who do show their minds are carnal, at enmity against God and not subject to His law. It is not to berate them or call them a yoke of bondage, for the grievous burden comes from human additions woven with God's requirements. It is to let the law as a mirror point out defects of character and reveal true condition, to acknowledge sin, to let self die, and in meekness to repent and confess shortcomings, knowing that if any sin there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for sin. Treating the law as dead does not free from sin but leaves the carnal mind in control and spiritual powers benumbed, while breaking or rejecting it does not remove guilt or penalty, for God sees and records what is hidden and transgressors will be exposed and condemned.
The cross reveals both God's abhorrence of evil and His love for fallen people, and the law's justice. When sinners see Christ as substitute, surety, and Advocate bearing sin's penalty, they are led to repent for breaking this good law and to trust Him, and forgiveness becomes possible. Calvary reveals the law's holiness because Christ's death paid the debt caused by transgression, and seeing sin's offense and the cost of redemption awakens love, gratitude, reverence for the law, repentance, and faith that works through love and purifies the soul. Those who value His sacrifice do not seek permission to keep sinning but turn from transgression.
Rejecting God's changeless moral standard is rejecting Christ and identifying with those who crucified Him. Christ lived in harmony with this law and His death showed its enduring character while saving people from the penalty for breaking it, and His obedient life showed the law can be kept and develops excellent character. Those who break the commandments support the claim that the law is unjust and cannot be obeyed, dishonor God, and foster rebellion, siding with the first rebel. Its sacred, righteous, and beneficial nature exposes as false Satan's claim that man cannot keep it, and willful disregard of even one principle brings discord and bars entrance to heaven, for it would bring rebellion into the universe and proves unfit for the kingdom.
Obedient Life And Judgment
Obedience to the holy, just, and good law is required, and such obedience is the righteousness of God's people, for God still requires perfect obedience and unblemished righteousness in harmony with the Sinai law even under the covenant of grace. That requirement was not lessened by grace but remains as it was for Adam before the fall, referring to the law given at Sinai including the second table summed in loving one's neighbor as oneself. Coming into harmony with its precepts ordained unto life is in humanity's highest interest, giving wisdom and understanding, elevating character, and making the obedient resemble Jesus who kept His Father's commandments and came to bring the race back to allegiance after breaking it brought sentence of death. This obedience is love to God supremely and to neighbor as self, comprehending the whole duty of man, working no ill to neighbor and fulfilling the law, and it comes when one submits to the control of the Holy Spirit, works out salvation with fear and trembling in humiliation and self-distrust, depends on God's power to will and to do, and through grace finds completeness in Him, delighting in the law, loving its requirements, and from the heart rendering obedience while putting on Christ.
A character formed by obedience to its principles is holy, because the law embodies perfect righteousness and is a transcript of divine perfection. Becoming like Christ by God's grace, through faith in Christ and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in harmony with the law's principles, is Bible sanctification, with Christ as the perfect example. A sanctified heart is in harmony with its precepts and loves all God's commandments, and cannot deliberately disobey any commandment, so the law is not opposed to genuine sanctification nor a grievous yoke from which faith releases believers. Claiming sanctification does not make disobedience sinless or remove its consequences, and the fourth commandment including the seventh-day Sabbath remains binding.
For those united to Christ by living faith and obeying from the heart, the law no longer condemns their course but becomes strength, protection, and refuge. The law is perfect and converts the soul, guiding the life of those who love Him, and those who delight in it and live in harmony with it are not under its condemnation. Sin, not the law, is what must be abolished, and taught and enabled by the Holy Spirit believers delight in its sacred and unchanging requirements, obey from the heart, and through Christ's grace are justified and sanctified as its righteousness is fulfilled in them, with love for God and neighbor replacing malice, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness with kindness, patience, benevolence, and love.
Its principles apply to every part of life, as a loving rule for parents and children forbidding parental oppression and children's disobedience, to be obeyed by both and exalted in the home to prepare the way for holiness and true religion in households guided by mercy and justice walking in the Lord's way. Its principles are to be obeyed in every business transaction, with God's people honoring and magnifying the law by showing its true character in their lives, and obedience to its holy, just, good, and profitable commandments honors God. Honoring God in body belongs to that obedience, so poisonous drugs need not be used in treating the sick and alcohol or tobacco in any form must not be recommended lest a soul imbibe a taste for those evils, leaving liquor dealers without excuse when every man receives according to his works and those who destroyed life pay by their own life. That representation requires ceasing to depart from Jehovah's principles, receiving reformatory influence through consecrated agencies, bringing heaven's atmosphere into families and dealings, representing God's character, dealing with evils as the Lord directed without covenant with the world, and putting away coarseness and harshness.
Loyalty to the holy commandments calls for moral courage even when people oppose, scorn, defame, and trample the law, for opposition does not make its path of righteousness wrong. Its commandments call for careful obedience and earnest prayer, and must be obeyed even when doing so brings inconvenience, expense, or loss, including keeping the Sabbath according to God's directions such as not sending children to school on that day. Given to Israel as a protective boundary for their highest good, it was to make them pure and wise in justice, mercy, and humility and to show the nations the goodness of God's kingdom.
Its words remain God's word for every age and must be read and understood by all on earth, taught faithfully from generation to generation rather than replaced by human standards, since disregarding its precepts dishonors it and contributes to widespread iniquity. The law of the Lord is pure and sensible direction for regulating life, without even the shadow of a blemish, a transcript of the divine character, and obeyed and received in the right spirit it gives insight into divine things and foresight into things to come, sanctifying mind and heart and thoroughly converting the soul to the Lord's plans. Coming down the line to the present as God's pledged word, its ten commandments should be printed on cards and hung in prominent places in houses, where falling under the eye they arrest attention, exert powerful influence for good, and impress hearts and minds.
At the judgment the law will stand forth in its true light as part of the vindication of God's government and honor, unlike the confused view caused by deception. Its holy, just, and good authority will be recognized, and transgressors must answer to God whose claims are decisive, with the moral law distinguishing acts such as theft, burglary, and murder. Those who treat its Sabbath command with contempt and deride the law will recognize their sin when its demands bring judgment during the plagues and confront them, and all must ultimately acknowledge its authority as God vindicates His supreme authority against disregard and as judgments teach reverence. Christ bore human sin so those accepting Him as personal Saviour are freed from its penalty, and keeping His commandments shows they know Him and that God's love is perfected in them.
Proclaiming duty to obey this holy, just, and good law is the burden of the last message of mercy to the world, for it is not a new thing nor holiness created but holiness made known, a code of principles expressing mercy, goodness, and love that presents God's character and states the whole duty of man summed in loving the Lord with all heart, soul, mind, and strength containing the first four precepts and loving neighbor as self upon which hang all the law and the prophets. God's people are called to vindicate the unchanging, eternal, immutable law, complete in itself and unrepealable and unchangeable in any principle, declaring it has not changed and holding up its high standard by precept and example as learners sitting at Christ's feet, wholly obedient in His strength through grace showing a character like His. The law alone is powerless and trust in human ability, good deeds, and legal religion does not please God, so the righteousness of Christ must be placed beside the law to give glory to the whole royal standard and bring the faith of Jesus into its right place in the third angel's message, while faithful sentinels vindicate God's honor against Satan's work to make the law void by hiding that sin is transgression and casting it as oppression, restriction, and bondage.
The law Paul calls holy, just and good is the moral law of ten commandments that forbids coveting, and it is itself not sin.
It gives knowledge of sin by exposing wrong desire in thought and heart and by making sin appear exceedingly sinful, convicting and condemning the transgressor.
Sin, not the law, uses what is good to deceive and bring death, while the law still promises life to obedience and remains holy even as it condemns.
Because the law expresses God's own holy, righteous and loving character, it is eternal and unchangeable, and Christ upheld its claims by obeying it and bearing its penalty to maintain it while pardoning the repentant.
It cannot save or pardon by itself, but as schoolmaster it sends the convicted sinner to Christ in repentance and faith, whose grace renews the heart to keep it in love to God and neighbor.
Words In Context
The declaration is that the law itself is not sin, but the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. The Holy Spirit uses that holy standard of character to reveal sin, as the commandment against coveting makes the sinner recognize covetous desire and lust. Without the law sin was dead, but when the commandment came sin revived, exploited the commandment to produce all manner of wrong desire, deceived, and brought death. The law itself did not die; it exposed transgression, pronounced death on the transgressor, and promised life to the obedient, yet it has no power in itself to remove a defect, pardon, or save from the consequence of transgression. Its holiness and righteousness remain true even after the crucifixion, and what is good does not cause death but exposes sin as sin and makes it become exceedingly sinful.
The law meant here is the moral law of ten commandments proclaimed from Sinai, proved to be the decalogue because it is the law that says Thou shalt not covet. It is broad and clear in distinction from the ceremonial law of symbols, sacrifices, and ordinances pointing to Christ's sacrifice and priesthood. The ceremonial system of types ended when type met antitype in Christ's death, while the ten-commandment law is immutable as God's throne, maintains its claims upon mankind in all ages, and loses nothing of its obligation by Christ's death. The very fact that Christ had to die to atone for transgression of that law and to bear its penalty rather than abolish it proves it is immutable and makes it possible to take hold of His virtue, keep it, and live. In its light a person sees himself a sinner even when he thought he was keeping it zealously, and that conviction brings death to sin, repentance, faith in Jesus as Saviour, baptism, obedience, and earnest preaching.
Both the ten moral precepts and the ceremonial law connected with them bear the stamp of divinity and express the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God. The law engraved in stone was by itself a ministration of death that left the transgressor under its curse with no hope of pardon. The promised Saviour revealed in types and shadows made it glorious, and when Christ bore its curse and suffered its penalty to complete salvation so that obedient man could keep the law and be accepted through His merits, a halo of glory was shed upon the law revealing its changeless and exalted character. The glory seen when Moses came down from the mount with the tables proves this, and the ministration that was to be abolished at Christ's death as sin-offering was glorious, while the life-giving sanctifying Spirit given through Christ to believers excels it in glory. Therefore neither the moral nor the ceremonial law is to be despised as an old thunder and lightning law.
The law is spiritual, while the person under sin is carnal and sold under sin. Death comes not from the law itself but from sin, which is transgression of the law, taking occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay the carnal mind and working death by that which is good so that sin appears exceeding sinful. The law is not sin, a yoke to be trampled underfoot, or the cause of death; it reveals sin, makes its exceeding sinfulness plain, condemns sin in the flesh, and brings conviction that a person is a transgressor. Even when transgression is confessed there is in the law no power to save, for salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law and live, proving it is not abrogated or made of none effect.
The commandment was ordained unto life, ordained to life for those who obey and whose character is brought into harmony with its holy requirements, yet because of sin it is found unto death. Sin, not the good law, uses the commandment to deceive and bring death, so the law's good purpose is not responsible for that death. For the transgressor it brings condemnation and death unless there is repentance and conversion, reaching thoughts, words, and desires of the heart and showing sin in its full seriousness to bring recognition of guilt. When the law comes to the heart it brings conviction, exposing the malignity and sinfulness of sin including lust, and killing self-satisfaction measured by self and other sinners. That conviction produces humility as a sense of sin and unworthiness leading to repentance, a felt need of a cure, and appreciation of the value of the atonement and the necessity of being cleansed from all sin, in contrast to the purity and holiness of Christ.
Paul describes being alive without the law, then when the commandment came sin revived and he died to self-trust. The sinner naturally measures himself by himself and by other sinners like himself and does not look at the purity and holiness of Christ, so he feels alive without the law. When the commandment comes home to conscience, lust is exposed, sin takes occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay, and the man who was alive dies. That work is humility, the sense of sin and unworthiness that leads to repentance, and only those who realize the sinfulness of sin in this way can appreciate the value of the atonement and feel the necessity of being cleansed. Paul learned this in true conversion, and when the law is allowed to slay the sinful nature and is obeyed in spirit and in truth to honor God it leads to eternal life, as the rich young ruler failed to learn when he did not see his sinfulness by the light of the commandment.
Law Exposes Sin
The law is not sin itself but is holy and just and good, and its office is to give the knowledge of sin and reveal what sin is, for sin is transgression of the law. The Holy Spirit uses the law as God's standard of character to make the sinner recognize guilt, and without the law sin is dead, but when the commandment comes sin revives and brings death. The commandment was ordained unto life, yet sin exploits it to deceive and slay, while the inward person can delight in God's law and honor and obey it, its holiness and righteousness remaining true even after Christ's crucifixion.
The commandment Thou shalt not covet exposes lust and works all manner of wrong desire, making covetous desire recognizable to the conscience. The law in this reaches beyond outward acts alone to thoughts, words, secret purposes, motives, feelings and desires of the heart, showing sin in its full seriousness and bringing recognition of guilt. When the law comes to the heart it kills self-satisfaction measured by self and other sinners, exposing malignity and lust in contrast to the purity and holiness of Christ.
The law is exceedingly broad, perfect and in harmony with God's character, covering the whole matter of character rather than form alone, with prohibitions and requirements in perfect consistency with righteousness. Its claims cannot be evaded, reversed or repealed, and it remains the rule of human conduct and of future judgment, laying men under obligation to God and requiring the soul itself to be pure, the mind holy, and all thoughts and feelings to be in accordance with the law of love and righteousness. Its spiritual power and light of principle must not be narrowed down to the smallest possible claims or to outward acts alone, but given the largest interpretation as far-reaching in will, affections and heart exemplified in righteous actions.
The law acts as detector of sin that shows sin in its hideous deformity and condemns it, for which reason transgressors oppose it, yet it remains holy and right and good in its true bearing. It is a mirror and faithful standard of character and of Christian character, revealing a person's true condition, moral defects, sin and selfishness that may otherwise go unseen even in those professing devotion to God's work. Comparing life and motives with its holy, just and good requirements with earnest and honest searching shows a person fearfully wanting, warns against temptation, and teaches sound judgment and spiritual discernment, while neglecting that mirror leaves deformity and sin in place, apparent to others even when not understood by those at fault.
By what is good the law makes sin appear as sin and become exceedingly sinful, exposing its malignity, hideous deformity and full seriousness. Sin, not the good law, uses the commandment to work death in order to expose sin, because the law is spiritual while man is carnal, sold under sin, and the sinner naturally measures himself by himself and other sinners like himself and does not look at Christ's purity until the commandment comes home. In that light the law is ordained to life, does not cause sin, and brings conviction to the heart, leading the sinner to recognize guilt and feel the necessity of being cleansed from all sin.
When the commandment comes home to the conscience it convicts, holds the transgressor prisoner, condemns, exposes sin and pronounces death on the transgressor, promising life to the obedient while the law itself did not die. Awareness of the law brings deep conviction, showing sin in full seriousness for thoughts, words and desires of the heart, and for the transgressor brings condemnation and death unless there is repentance and conversion. That coming kills self-satisfaction measured by self and others, and ends self-trust, self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-honor and self-security.
That conviction produces humility as a sense of sin, guilt, peril, unworthiness and self-loathing, leading the soul in its sense of peril to acknowledge sin, loathe it, stop trying to protect personal dignity, and repent while Christ pleads in heaven. Its claims call for reverence and repentance when a person sees transgression and recognizes the law's sentence pressed on the conscience by the Holy Spirit. Only those who realize the sinfulness of sin in this way can appreciate the value of the atonement, feel the need of a cure and cleansing, and lay hold on the blood of the Lamb as the only remedy from the condemning power of sin.
Sin Brings Death
Sin, not the law, takes occasion by the commandment to work all manner of wrong desire, to deceive and to slay the sinner, working death by what is good. The law itself is not sin and does not make sin, but is holy and just and good, used to reveal sin, with the commandment against coveting making covetous desire and lust recognized. Without the law sin is dead, but when the commandment comes sin revives and brings death, though the commandment was ordained unto life and the inward person can delight in it. The law is spiritual while man is carnal, sold under sin, and sin exploits what is good to work death in order to expose sin as sin and make sin become exceeding sinful by the commandment. In practical obedience the law demonstrates its perfection by converting the soul, exposing sin and leading the convicted, repentant, believing soul to acknowledge Christ as the only remedy and to learn from Him in meekness and lowliness. The law condemns sin in the flesh and brings deep conviction that a person is a transgressor, but even when transgression is confessed there is in the law no power to save, and it cannot save a self-righteous person who evades Christ's yoke. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law and live, proving the law is not abrogated or made of none effect and that its holiness and righteousness remain true even after the crucifixion.
What is good does not cause death, and the law's good purpose is not responsible for that death. The law and the commandment remain holy and just and good even though they detect sin and condemn the sinner to death. For that reason there is to be no war against them for their sharp convicting work, and those who wage war against the commandments, berate them, or call them a yoke of bondage show a carnal mind that is enmity against God and not subject to His law. The law is the detector of sin that shows sin in its hideous deformity, exposing its malignity and full sinfulness including lust, and killing self-satisfaction measured by self and other sinners, which is why transgressors oppose it. When the law comes to the heart it brings conviction, producing humility as a sense of sin, guilt, unworthiness and need of a cure, leading to repentance, appreciation of the value of the atonement and the necessity of cleansing from all sin in contrast to the purity and holiness of Christ. The commandment was ordained to life, yet when it comes sin revives and the sinner dies, and its true work is to point the convicted sinner to Christ as Healer and Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for sin repented of and confessed, with the right response being to let the law point out defects of character, acknowledge sin, let self die, and in meekness repent and confess shortcomings.
The law itself did not die; it exposed sin and pronounced death on the transgressor, while promising life to the obedient. It is not the evil that must be destroyed, but reaches thoughts, words, secret desires of the heart, and by showing sin in its full seriousness brings a person to recognize guilt. It is ordained to life for those who obey and whose character is brought into harmony with its holy requirements, but for the transgressor it brings condemnation and death unless there is repentance and conversion.
The commandment reveals sin, and sin takes occasion by it to deceive and bring death, but the law itself is not sinful. By saying Thou shalt not covet it gives knowledge of sin so that lust is exposed, sin revives and takes occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay, and the man who was alive without the law dies, with the commandment ordained to life yet found unto death because of sin. When a person recognizes sin through the commandment and obeys it in spirit and in truth to honor God, the sinful nature is slain and the person can lay hold of eternal life. This is what is learned in true conversion, in contrast to the rich young ruler who did not see his sinfulness by the light of the commandment.
God Character And Permanence
The law is holy and just and good because it expresses the will and character of God Himself. Because God is love, the law is founded on love to God and to humanity, and because God is righteous and true, the law is righteous and true. It is a transcript of divine perfection without blemish, embodying His perfect righteousness and founded on the eternal principle of love. Its nature reflects its unchanging Author, so its principles endure as God endures. Conversion and sanctification bring people back into harmony with God and the principles of His law, renewing the heart by divine grace and restoring the likeness to God that sin damaged.
The law does not create holiness but makes holiness known. It is a code of principles expressing mercy, goodness and love, presenting to fallen humanity the character of God and stating plainly the whole duty of man. Man has not wisdom in himself to frame a perfect rule of right, so God gave His law as a complete standard of righteousness, a safe and comprehensible guide, that man not be left to fallacious reasoning and the imagination of his own heart. It plainly defines duty to God in the first four commandments and duty to fellow human beings in the last six. That whole duty is summed in loving the Lord with all heart, soul, mind and strength and loving neighbor as self, upon which hang all the law and the prophets.
The law is complete in itself, eternal, immutable and unchangeable as its Author and His throne. It is the foundation of God's government in heaven and on earth and the rule of conduct, and it cannot be repealed, altered, weakened or strengthened. It maintains its claims upon mankind in all ages. Those loyal to God do not trample it, while those in darkness and error trample that holy law under foot with bitterness and contempt.
Satan has opposed the law ever since his fall, questioning it and claiming it was changed and amended, throwing his whole might against it and drawing many holy angels to his side, yet not one jot or tittle was moved from its foundation. He works with increasing earnestness and power to make it void and of no effect, hiding that sin is transgression of the law and casting it down as oppression, restriction of rights and a yoke of bondage. He perverts its holy, just and good precepts to give a false impression of God, representing Him throughout rebellion as unjust and tyrannical. He works through human methods and policy to change the Sabbath to the first day, leading men to disbelieve God's declarations, to regard their own ways as exceeding wise and God's expressed commandments as of less force than human tradition. God's whole plan of redemption through the costly death of Jesus magnifies the law and makes it honorable before human intelligences, unfallen worlds and the angelic host, for if the law had to be abolished because none could obey it, God's wisdom would be imperfect and His character as just and merciful impeached.
The ceremonial system of symbols, sacrifices and ordinances pointing to Christ's sacrifice and priesthood ended when type met antitype in Christ's death. The ten-commandment moral law loses nothing of obligation by Christ's death but remains binding, changeless and eternal. Christ came expressly to vindicate His Father's law by word and deed, not to change it or make it of no effect, and His obedient life showed it can be kept in human life to develop excellent character. The very fact that Christ had to die to atone for transgression of that law proves it is immutable.
The Sabbath commandment belongs to that holy, just and good moral law. It was spoken by God and written with His own finger on tables of stone as a perpetual covenant and sign of creation, and no smallest part is to be removed. The command to remember the Creator by keeping the seventh day is therefore immutable because the Lord is unchangeable. Changing its day to the first day does not alter the commandment but breaks the law and makes a breach that God's people are to repair and restore. As people despise and break the law, those who love God value His commandments more deeply, while those who treat them with contempt will recognize their sin when the law's demands bring judgment.
Establishing government independent of God is rebellion founded for self-exaltation, giving God no rule or honor. After the flood men desiring to forget their Creator and cast off restraint separated to the plain of Shinar at Babel in confederacy against God to establish a kingdom not for His glory. Their aim was to substitute selfish and cruel human laws framed from their own hearts for the divine statutes in order to carry out their purposes, urged on by the first great rebel. If unchecked such a power would banish righteousness and knowledge of the holy, just and good law from minds, inaugurate a new religion by mixing religious ideas with erroneous theories, and close the door to peace, happiness and security. God in mercy marks and restrains all devices that resist the authority of His just and holy law.
Christ Vindicates Law
The One who spoke the law at Sinai understood its full meaning, and in His teaching on the mount He revealed its full and far-reaching claims as the enduring standard of righteousness that stands as long as heaven and earth endure. He restored its dignity and light from the distortions of human traditions, correcting those who portrayed it as a cold code of exactions and showing that the grievous burden came not from God's requirements but from human additions woven together with them. The Jewish leaders did not make the law false or bad, but gave it a false obedience by imposing exacting requirements while disobeying it themselves. He magnified the law and expanded its precepts, obeying it as the example for humanity.
He lived in harmony with the changeless moral standard that reflects God's own character, and He Himself kept His Father's commandments to bring people back to allegiance to it after breaking it had brought the race under sentence of death. His obedient life showed that the law can be kept in human life and that obedience develops excellent character, while those who obey as He did affirm its goodness and those who break it support the claim that it is unjust and cannot be obeyed. He honored the law through implicit obedience, and by life and death upheld its sacred claims and justice and established that it is unchanging and complete in itself, eternal and immutable, unable to be repealed or changed. Apart from Him the law condemns sinful people, but understood with Him as substitute and surety it leaves hope, and its demands are met through obedience to every precept as heart-work grounded in knowing God's requirements.
He did not set aside any of its claims or change it to save humanity, but obeyed all its precepts and then bore its curse and suffered its penalty to complete salvation, so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law and live. Death comes not from the law itself, for the law is not itself death or sin to the sinner, but from sin which is transgression of the law, taking occasion by the commandment to deceive and slay the carnal mind sold under sin, working death by that which is good so that sin appears exceeding sinful. The law engraved in stone was by itself a ministration of death that left the transgressor under its curse with no hope of pardon, but the promised Saviour revealed in types and shadows made it glorious, and when He bore its curse a halo of glory was shed upon the law revealing its changeless and exalted character, as seen in the glory on Moses' face when he came down with the tables. The law convicts and condemns by revealing what sin is, but has no power to pardon or save, refuting the claim that grace allows continued transgression or that obedience brings bondage, and proving the law must be obeyed from the heart through repentance toward God for breaking it and faith toward Him as Advocate whose death pays the penalty and vindicates the law rather than repealing or excusing it. Calvary reveals the law's holiness because His death paid the debt caused by transgression, and seeing sin's offense and the cost of redemption awakens love, gratitude, reverence for the law, repentance, and faith that works through love and purifies the soul, so that those who value His sacrifice do not seek permission to keep sinning but turn from transgression. Those who accept Him as personal Saviour are freed from the law's penalty, and keeping His commandments shows they know Him and that God's love is perfected in them, with the test of the Spirit's work being repentance, obedience, and the life lived.
His death testifies to the universe that the law is changeless and cannot be done away, for He came to maintain and exalt it by suffering the penalty of sin to show that God will not clear the guilty, and teaching that the holy law has no claims excuses sin and works against Him. He gave His life to bear the penalty of sin, not to abolish the law, and His sacrifice shows the law is immutable and makes it possible to take hold of His virtue, keep God's law, and regain access to the tree of life. His death upheld the law by bearing the penalty for transgression, maintaining its authority, making sin appear exceedingly sinful, preserving the honor and majesty of God's rule, and showing its enduring character while saving people from the penalty for breaking it. Rejecting God's law is therefore to reject Him and to identify with those who crucified Him.
The object of the atonement, the at-one-ment with God, was that divine law and government might be maintained while the sinner is pardoned through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord and Saviour, so there is forgiveness of sin and yet the law stands immutable. Not even the smallest part of it could be changed to redeem humanity, as shown by the death of God's Son, and in the judgment its full scope and goodness will be revealed with people seen as obedient or disobedient to it. Its condemnation must still be borne either by each sinner individually or by another in whom no taint of sin can be found bearing it in his behalf, leaving no hope of pardon without such a substitute, while the sinner who cannot meet the charge of disloyalty may by faith accept Him as personal Saviour and Surety and be pardoned.
The law is perfect because it is the law of God's own nature, and He puts that perfect law into the mind and heart of every repentant sinner who senses sin, forsakes it, and casts helpless dependence upon Him as the sin-pardoning Saviour. The sinner is helpless to atone for even one sin, and the power to change is His free gift, appreciated only by those who sense their sins and cast their helpless souls upon Him, receiving power to become children of God. By thus partaking of the divine nature they escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. He writes this holy law in the heart, renewing the soul through truth and creating the person anew, and as the sinner learns His meekness and lowliness and receives His life, the law's principles are lived out in loving service and shape a character fit for heaven and able to enter the heavenly courts.
Way To Salvation
The law is perfect for converting the soul, yet there is no power in it to remove a defect, to pardon the transgressor, or to save from the consequence of transgression. Alone it is powerless and condemns apart from Christ, for it holds the transgressor prisoner until repentance and pardon through faith in the promised Redeemer. It was ordained to life, and it is not itself sin or death, but when it comes to the heart it brings conviction, exposes lust and the malignity of sin, kills self-satisfaction measured by self and others, and produces humility, a sense of unworthiness, a felt need of a cure, and appreciation of the atonement. It remains holy and just and good in its true bearing even while it detects sin in its hideous deformity and condemns it, which is why transgressors oppose it.
The law is a schoolmaster that shows the need for Christ and leads the sinner to the remedy in the sin-bearing Saviour. By making sin recognizable and exceedingly sinful it sends the convicted sinner to Christ for pardon and cleansing. Its work is to point the convicted sinner to Christ as the Healer of sin that is repented of and confessed. In practical obedience it demonstrates its perfection by exposing sin and leading sinners to acknowledge Christ as their only remedy, and it cannot save the self-righteous person who evades His yoke but teaches willing obedience and His meekness and lowliness.
When convicted by the law the sinner must repent toward God for breaking it and exercise faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ as substitute, surety, and Advocate, and then pardon and free salvation are available. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness the fallen race can keep the law of God and live, proving the law is not abrogated or made of none effect. The law convicts and condemns by revealing what sin is but has no power to pardon or save, refuting the claim that grace allows continued transgression or that obedience brings bondage. Those who accept Him as personal Saviour are freed from the law's penalty, keeping His commandments as evidence that they know Him and that God's love is perfected in them, and those who truly value His salvation show the Spirit's work by repentance and obedience tested in the life lived. Christ will never save anyone who knows the law yet lives in transgression of it, for He came to maintain and exalt it by suffering sin's penalty to show God will not clear the guilty.
The law alone is powerless unless the righteousness of Christ is placed beside it to give glory to the whole royal standard of righteousness. The right quality in religious experience comes only by thorough and complete trust in Jesus as a personal, all-sufficient Saviour, the sinner's only hope. God is not pleased with trust in human ability or good deeds or legal religion, but with trust in the living God, and without living faith in Christ service is nothing, Christless like the offering of Cain. That faith of Jesus belongs in its right place in the third angel's message, and no one can keep the law without accepting Christ's righteousness, yet in His strength all can be wholly obedient and hold up the high standard by precept and example.
Through faith in Christ obedience to every principle of the law is made possible, for what is good does not cause death but sin uses what is good to work death in order to expose sin as sin, because the law is spiritual while man is carnal, sold under sin. Conversion and sanctification bring people back into harmony with God and the principles of His law, through divine grace renewing the heart and restoring the likeness to God that sin damaged. Under the teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit, who gives sufficiency and completeness in Him, seeing the law as holy, just, and good leads to delighting in it and from the heart rendering obedience. That obedience is love to God supremely and to neighbor as self, comprehending the whole duty of man, working no ill to neighbor and fulfilling the law, replacing malice, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness with kindness, patience, benevolence, and love. When the law is seen in its spiritual power and exceeding breadth, covering character and not form alone and forbidding sin in thoughts, feelings, and desires as well as word and deed, sin appears exceedingly sinful and is cleansed from the soul temple, self-righteousness and self-security are gone, and the soul in its sense of peril lays hold on the blood of the Lamb as the only remedy.
Merely recognizing the law's goodness gives no power to attain its purity and righteousness, and the sinner remains in need of deliverance from sin. Meditating upon its precepts reveals the reasonableness, perfection, and beauty of the divine requirements, standing at variance with selfishness, deception, and unchaste thoughts and actions. Seeing its holiness exposes lack of self-sufficiency and creates dependence upon Christ for strength to receive and to fulfill what God requires. Receiving the law in love builds life upon the solid Rock, Christ Jesus, so the soul stands the test, is transformed, and develops a pure character like the Master's, fitted for an eternal home.
The right response is not to wage war against the commandments for their sharp convicting work, for those who do show their minds are carnal, at enmity against God and not subject to His law. It is not to berate them or call them a yoke of bondage, for the grievous burden comes from human additions woven with God's requirements. It is to let the law as a mirror point out defects of character and reveal true condition, to acknowledge sin, to let self die, and in meekness to repent and confess shortcomings, knowing that if any sin there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for sin. Treating the law as dead does not free from sin but leaves the carnal mind in control and spiritual powers benumbed, while breaking or rejecting it does not remove guilt or penalty, for God sees and records what is hidden and transgressors will be exposed and condemned.
The cross reveals both God's abhorrence of evil and His love for fallen people, and the law's justice. When sinners see Christ as substitute, surety, and Advocate bearing sin's penalty, they are led to repent for breaking this good law and to trust Him, and forgiveness becomes possible. Calvary reveals the law's holiness because Christ's death paid the debt caused by transgression, and seeing sin's offense and the cost of redemption awakens love, gratitude, reverence for the law, repentance, and faith that works through love and purifies the soul. Those who value His sacrifice do not seek permission to keep sinning but turn from transgression.
Rejecting God's changeless moral standard is rejecting Christ and identifying with those who crucified Him. Christ lived in harmony with this law and His death showed its enduring character while saving people from the penalty for breaking it, and His obedient life showed the law can be kept and develops excellent character. Those who break the commandments support the claim that the law is unjust and cannot be obeyed, dishonor God, and foster rebellion, siding with the first rebel. Its sacred, righteous, and beneficial nature exposes as false Satan's claim that man cannot keep it, and willful disregard of even one principle brings discord and bars entrance to heaven, for it would bring rebellion into the universe and proves unfit for the kingdom.
Obedient Life And Judgment
Obedience to the holy, just, and good law is required, and such obedience is the righteousness of God's people, for God still requires perfect obedience and unblemished righteousness in harmony with the Sinai law even under the covenant of grace. That requirement was not lessened by grace but remains as it was for Adam before the fall, referring to the law given at Sinai including the second table summed in loving one's neighbor as oneself. Coming into harmony with its precepts ordained unto life is in humanity's highest interest, giving wisdom and understanding, elevating character, and making the obedient resemble Jesus who kept His Father's commandments and came to bring the race back to allegiance after breaking it brought sentence of death. This obedience is love to God supremely and to neighbor as self, comprehending the whole duty of man, working no ill to neighbor and fulfilling the law, and it comes when one submits to the control of the Holy Spirit, works out salvation with fear and trembling in humiliation and self-distrust, depends on God's power to will and to do, and through grace finds completeness in Him, delighting in the law, loving its requirements, and from the heart rendering obedience while putting on Christ.
A character formed by obedience to its principles is holy, because the law embodies perfect righteousness and is a transcript of divine perfection. Becoming like Christ by God's grace, through faith in Christ and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in harmony with the law's principles, is Bible sanctification, with Christ as the perfect example. A sanctified heart is in harmony with its precepts and loves all God's commandments, and cannot deliberately disobey any commandment, so the law is not opposed to genuine sanctification nor a grievous yoke from which faith releases believers. Claiming sanctification does not make disobedience sinless or remove its consequences, and the fourth commandment including the seventh-day Sabbath remains binding.
For those united to Christ by living faith and obeying from the heart, the law no longer condemns their course but becomes strength, protection, and refuge. The law is perfect and converts the soul, guiding the life of those who love Him, and those who delight in it and live in harmony with it are not under its condemnation. Sin, not the law, is what must be abolished, and taught and enabled by the Holy Spirit believers delight in its sacred and unchanging requirements, obey from the heart, and through Christ's grace are justified and sanctified as its righteousness is fulfilled in them, with love for God and neighbor replacing malice, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness with kindness, patience, benevolence, and love.
Its principles apply to every part of life, as a loving rule for parents and children forbidding parental oppression and children's disobedience, to be obeyed by both and exalted in the home to prepare the way for holiness and true religion in households guided by mercy and justice walking in the Lord's way. Its principles are to be obeyed in every business transaction, with God's people honoring and magnifying the law by showing its true character in their lives, and obedience to its holy, just, good, and profitable commandments honors God. Honoring God in body belongs to that obedience, so poisonous drugs need not be used in treating the sick and alcohol or tobacco in any form must not be recommended lest a soul imbibe a taste for those evils, leaving liquor dealers without excuse when every man receives according to his works and those who destroyed life pay by their own life. That representation requires ceasing to depart from Jehovah's principles, receiving reformatory influence through consecrated agencies, bringing heaven's atmosphere into families and dealings, representing God's character, dealing with evils as the Lord directed without covenant with the world, and putting away coarseness and harshness.
Loyalty to the holy commandments calls for moral courage even when people oppose, scorn, defame, and trample the law, for opposition does not make its path of righteousness wrong. Its commandments call for careful obedience and earnest prayer, and must be obeyed even when doing so brings inconvenience, expense, or loss, including keeping the Sabbath according to God's directions such as not sending children to school on that day. Given to Israel as a protective boundary for their highest good, it was to make them pure and wise in justice, mercy, and humility and to show the nations the goodness of God's kingdom.
Its words remain God's word for every age and must be read and understood by all on earth, taught faithfully from generation to generation rather than replaced by human standards, since disregarding its precepts dishonors it and contributes to widespread iniquity. The law of the Lord is pure and sensible direction for regulating life, without even the shadow of a blemish, a transcript of the divine character, and obeyed and received in the right spirit it gives insight into divine things and foresight into things to come, sanctifying mind and heart and thoroughly converting the soul to the Lord's plans. Coming down the line to the present as God's pledged word, its ten commandments should be printed on cards and hung in prominent places in houses, where falling under the eye they arrest attention, exert powerful influence for good, and impress hearts and minds.
At the judgment the law will stand forth in its true light as part of the vindication of God's government and honor, unlike the confused view caused by deception. Its holy, just, and good authority will be recognized, and transgressors must answer to God whose claims are decisive, with the moral law distinguishing acts such as theft, burglary, and murder. Those who treat its Sabbath command with contempt and deride the law will recognize their sin when its demands bring judgment during the plagues and confront them, and all must ultimately acknowledge its authority as God vindicates His supreme authority against disregard and as judgments teach reverence. Christ bore human sin so those accepting Him as personal Saviour are freed from its penalty, and keeping His commandments shows they know Him and that God's love is perfected in them.
Proclaiming duty to obey this holy, just, and good law is the burden of the last message of mercy to the world, for it is not a new thing nor holiness created but holiness made known, a code of principles expressing mercy, goodness, and love that presents God's character and states the whole duty of man summed in loving the Lord with all heart, soul, mind, and strength containing the first four precepts and loving neighbor as self upon which hang all the law and the prophets. God's people are called to vindicate the unchanging, eternal, immutable law, complete in itself and unrepealable and unchangeable in any principle, declaring it has not changed and holding up its high standard by precept and example as learners sitting at Christ's feet, wholly obedient in His strength through grace showing a character like His. The law alone is powerless and trust in human ability, good deeds, and legal religion does not please God, so the righteousness of Christ must be placed beside the law to give glory to the whole royal standard and bring the faith of Jesus into its right place in the third angel's message, while faithful sentinels vindicate God's honor against Satan's work to make the law void by hiding that sin is transgression and casting it as oppression, restriction, and bondage.