II
“The Two Laws”
In my hand I hold a copy of one of the so-called Bible lessons distributed by the Seventh Day Adventists. The title of this pamphlet is “The Two Laws.” That title implies that God has never given but two laws. That is a mistake. God has given different laws to different people at different times, as the occasion and his eternal purpose required. His law to Adam before the fall was different from his law to Adam after the fall. His law to Cain was not the same as his law to Noah. His law to Abram was not identical with his law to the Jews. His law since Christ died on the cross is quite different from any law he gave before that time.
God does not change (Mal. 3:6) but he changes his laws according to his wisdom. “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Heb. 7:12). God has never had two different laws applying to the same people at the same time. “He taketh away the first that he may establish the second” (Heb. 10:9). The law given the Jews at Sinai was a unit. It was one law, not two laws.
In the lesson last Lord’s day such Scriptures as Romans 7:6; Hebrews 6:8-13; Hebrews 10:9; Colossians 2:13-16; and Galatians 3:17, 24, 25 were quoted to show that the law which God gave to the Jews through Moses at Mt. Sinai was fulfilled and taken out of the way when Christ died. The Seventh Day Adventists admit that all of this law was taken out of the way except Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. They are thus committed to the fact that God sometimes changes his laws. When they teach that God abolished part of that law they admit that he could have abolished all of it; and that is exactly what he did. I want you to read those Scriptures and note that they speak of “the law,” not a “part of the law.” For instance, “But now we are delivered from the law (not ‘part of the law’) ...” (Rom. 7:6). “Wherefore the law (not ‘part of the law’) was our schoolmaster ... but that after faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Gal. 3:24-25).
Where is the Scripture that says that a part of that law was abolished? Every text which teaches that a part of it was taken away teaches that all of it was taken away and a new law, the law of Christ, was given, not to the Jews only but to the whole world.
III
“Ceremonial” and “Moral” Laws
At this point I want to read to you the leading sentence in this Adventist pamphlet we are reviewing:
“The New Testament Scriptures clearly present two different divisions of the Old Testament laws: the moral law as summed up in the Ten Commandments, which is binding on Christians as a rule of life and conduct; the ceremonial law of typical ordinances, which was abolished at the cross and from which Christians are entirely free.”
I want you to carefully note what that quotation says. It says that the New Testament Scriptures clearly present two laws in the Old Testament—the “moral law” and the “ceremonial law.” Now I want to ask you a simple question. How in this world could the New Testament Scriptures clearly present something that is not even mentioned anywhere in the Bible? Friends, think of it! “Moral” law and “ceremonial” law are not mentioned in your Bible. That is not Bible language. In order to prove the sabbath theory by the Bible it will be necessary to find each of these four texts:
1. The text which says that the “ceremonial” law was abolished.
2. The text which says that the “moral” law is still binding.
3. The text which says that Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21 are the “moral law.”
4. The text which says that the rest of the law given through Moses is the “ceremonial” law.