Jesus did not come to legislate. In no case did he intimate that he would give a new law to take the place of that of his Father. Speaking of the Son, the Father says, “He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Deut. xviii, 18. Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” John vii, 16. “I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” Chap. viii, 28. “The word which ye hear, is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” Chap. xiv, 24.
Let us consider the grave question of the great apostle to the Gentiles, relative to the law of God and the faith of Jesus: “Do we then make void the law through faith?” Rom. iii, 31. This question points directly to the true issue between us, and the men of this day who teach that the gospel of the Son makes void the law of the Father. Paul decides the question in these emphatic words: “God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
The gospel is a necessity in consequence of law transgressed. Where there is no law, there is no transgression, no sin, no need of the blood of Christ, no need of the gospel. But the gospel teaches that Christ died for sinners, on account of their sins. Sin is the transgression of the law. He came, therefore, as the great sacrifice for those who transgress the law. The gospel holds him up as the bleeding sacrifice for the sins of those who transgress the law. This fact establishes the existence of the law of God. Remove the law, and we have no further need of Christ and his gospel.
In the gospel arrangement for the salvation of man, there are three parties concerned; the Lawgiver, the Advocate, and the sinner. The words of the apostle are to the point: “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John ii, 1. Sin is the transgression of the law of the Father; hence the sinner offends the Father, is in trouble with the Father, and needs Jesus to plead his cause with the Father. But if the Father’s law has been abolished, and Christ sustains to the sinner the relation of lawgiver, who is his advocate? “Mother Mary,” or “father Joseph,” or some other one of the multitude of canonized saints will answer for the Papist; but what will the Protestant do in this case? If he urges that Christ, and not the Father, is the lawgiver, and that in the present dispensation, sin is the transgression of the law of Jesus Christ, then I press him to tell me who the sinner’s advocate is. And I ask him to harmonize his position with the words of the beloved John, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Paul addresses the elders of the church at Miletus, relative to the fundamental principles of the plan of salvation, thus: “I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts xx, 20, 21. The apostle has here set before the men of the present dispensation two distinct duties. First, the exercise of repentance toward God, for his law is binding upon them, and it is his law that they have transgressed. Second, the exercise of faith toward Christ as the great sacrifice for their sins, and their advocate with the Father. These are both indispensable. Paul presented both. He kept back nothing pertaining to the plan of salvation, that was profitable.
The closing words of the third angel point directly to a body of Christian commandment-keepers. “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. xiv, 12. The Jew takes no stock in this text, because he sees in it the despised Jesus of Nazareth. Many professed Christians find it as objectionable as the Jew, for the reason that they find in it the equally-despised commandments of God. But said the adorable Jesus, “I and my Father are one.” So the law of the Father and the gospel of the Son pass through all dispensations of man’s fallen state, in perfect harmony. Oh! that both the blind Jew and the blind Christian might see this, and embracing the whole truth, instead of each a part, might keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and be saved.
But here let it be distinctly understood that there is no salvation in the law, that is, there is no redeeming quality in law. Redemption is through the blood of Christ. The sinner may cease to break the commandments of God, and strive with all his powers to keep them, but this will not atone for his sins, and redeem him from his present condition in consequence of past transgression. Notwithstanding all his efforts to keep the law of God, he must be lost without faith in the atoning blood of Jesus. And this was as true in the time of Adam, of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Jews, as since Jesus died upon the cross. No man can be saved without Christ.
On the other hand, faith in Jesus Christ, while refusing obedience to the law of the Father, is presumption. An effort to obtain friendship with the Son, while living in rebellion against the Father, is Heaven-daring. No greater insult can be offered to either the Father or the Son. What! Separate the Father and the Son, by trampling on the authority of the one, and making a friend of the other? “I and my Father are one.” The Jew insults the Father, in his rejection of the Son; and the Christian flings in the face of Heaven equal insult, in all his acts of worship in which he vainly thinks to make Jesus his friend while, with light upon the subject, he breaks the commandments of God.
The oneness of the Father and the Son is seen at the transfiguration. That voice which is the highest authority in the universe, is there heard saying, “This is my beloved Son; hear him.” It is also seen in the closing benediction of the Son, in the last chapter of the Bible, which presents before those who are loyal, the glories of the reward in reserve for the obedient. “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
I briefly call attention to three grand events, which have taken place in connection with the sad history of fallen man, either one of which is sufficient to establish the perpetuity of the law of God.