present this scripture as evidence that Christ gave a new code to
take the place of his Father's law, labor under a serious mistake. The question
related to the original law of God; what is the great commandment in that?
Christ answered this question by pointing out the two great immutable first
principles on which hang all the law and the prophets: "Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." This is the
sum of our duty to God: on this hang all those precepts which define our duty to
him. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." On this precept hang all those
commandments which contain our duty to our fellow men. This is the sum of
them, and out of this they all grow.
The Saviour did not abolish the law of his Father by these two precepts; for
they were as ancient as any part of the law of God. Deut.6:5; Lev.19:18. He did
not then hang the law and the prophets upon them; for they had ever hung there;
nor did Christ teach that on these two precepts all the law and the prophets were
abolished. Nay, he showed by this the immutable basis on which the law of
Jehovah rests. These two great precepts are, as all admit, unabolished. And the
law of God which hangs upon them is like them, immutable, and, must abide as
long as they endure.
"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass
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than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke16:17. Then it is easier for heaven and earth
to pass than for one of the commandments of God. How hard then must it be for
every precept of the law of God to be abolished and a new law of God enacted to
take its place. Easier could heaven and earth be destroyed and new heavens
and a new earth be created! Should God abolish his great constitution and
establish another in its stead, that event would not only be marked as distinctly
as the establishment of the original constitution by himself at Sinai, in person, but
it would present even a more extraordinary spectacle than for heaven and earth
to flee from the presence of him that sits upon the throne!
It is an important fact that our Lord in presenting portions of the law of God,
always brought them forward as such; that is, he appealed to the law of his
Father, as a living authority, and quoted from it, not as giving authority to what he
quoted, but presenting those quotations as the authority for his statements. This
fact evinces that Christ was not engaged in re-enacting a part of his Father's law,
as some are ready to affirm. Our Lord did not act in the capacity of legislator with
his Father's law. He was its expositor; and as such he laid open its length and
breadth and spirituality. Even the golden rule, "Whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them," our Saviour bases
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on the fact that this was the law and the prophets. Matt.7:12. So that this most
admirable saying was not given to take the place of the law of God and the
prophets, but as a precious truth resting on their authority.
The scriptures which we have quoted must suffice to show the nature of
Christ's teachings respecting the law of God. It shows that by his teaching he did
not abolish the commandments of God. It also evinces that Christ not only taught
that it was easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of the law to fail,
but that he also taught, until heaven and earth pass a single tittle shall not pass
from the law of God; and that whosoever would enter into everlasting life must
keep the commandments of God, even the least of them. We will now consider
the second question.
2. Was the law of God abolished by the death of Christ?
That we may answer this question in a proper manner, let us carefully
consider Rom.3. We will first examine that portion of the chapter which presents
the human family as condemned by the law of God and speechless in his sight.
"Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds
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of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. Rom.3:19,20.
This portion of scripture presents in a striking light the state of mankind
without a Saviour. The Apostle had been presenting in the previous verses
numerous quotations from the Old Testament, showing the fearful state of fallen
man. The verses which we have quoted, present us with the holy standard of
rectitude by which the unrighteousness of men is made manifest, and their fearful
crimes left without excuse. "What things so ever the law saith
