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whosoever shall do and teach tbem,
the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven" (verse 19).
Which of the commandments do
.YOU
look upon as being the "least"?
Is it the
fourth
commandment? The
second? T he third?
Christ did not do away with the
law of God- rather He magnified it
and made it glorious: "He [Christ]
will
magnify the law,
and make it
honourable" (Jsa. 42:21) .
But how did He
magnify
the law
of God? Notice how Christ enlarged
the sixth commandment: "Ye have
heard," said Christ , "that it was said
by them of old time, T hou shalt not
kili .
...
But
T
say unto you, T hat
whosoever is
angry
with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment . . ." (Matt. 5:2 1, 22).
"Whosoever
hateth
his brother," said
John, "is a murderer . .." (I John
3: 15.).
Here is how Christ magnified the
seventh commandment: "Ye bave
heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not commit
adul–
tery:
But
r
say unto you, That whoso–
ever looketh on a woman to lust after
her hath committed adultery with
her already
in his heart"
(verses
27, 28).
Now what "law" or "laws" was it
that Christ carne to
magnify?
Did He
come to enlarge or magnify the "cer–
emonial," "sacrificial" or "ritualis–
tic" laws- as are found in the law of
Moses? Or did He come to magnify
the "spiritual" law-commonly
called the "moral" law-the Ten
Commandments (Rom. 7: 14)?
The Law of Moses
lt is tru·e that the entire "Jaw of
Moses" as given in the Old Testa–
ment is
not
totally applicable to
Christians today. But this doesn ' t
mean that all of the laws contained in
the books which Moses wrote are
meaningless today. Christ made the
two great commandments of Leviti–
cus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5 just
as binding on New Testament Chris–
tians as they were for those under the
law of Moses: " Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with
all thy strength, and with all thy
mind; and [you shalllove] thy neigh-
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1979
bou r as thyself" ( L uke 10:27).
God's law is upheld all the way
from Genesis to Revelation.
"Abra–
ham
obeyed my voice, and kept my
charge,
my commandments,
my
statutes, and my laws" (Gen. 26:5).
Abraham mixed
hisfaith
(his belief)
with
works-with
active obedience:
"Was not Abraham our father justi–
fied by works, when he had offered
Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest
thou how faith wrought with his
works, and by works was faith made
perfect?" (James 2:21, 22.)
And yet there are those who think
Christians only need "faith" or "be–
lief"-with noworks. God's Wordsays
we need to have both faith and works
mixed together (J ames 2: 14-22).
T he New Testament reveals that it
is not necessary for a believer to ob–
serve the entire "law of Moses." But
this does not mean tha t none of
Moses' commands are binding on the
Christian!
A counci l of the New Testament
Church
(A.D.
49) concluded (among
other things) that it was no longer
necessary to keep the whole law of
Moses. At that time certain men were
teaching that Christians must be "cir–
cumcised after the manner of Moses"
in order to be saved (Acts 15:1 ). .
They taught that the "law of
Moses" in its entirety must be kept:
"But there rose up certain of the sect
of the Pharisees which
believed,
say–
ing, T hat it was needful
to circum–
cise them,
and to command them to
keep the [entire] law of Moses"
(verse 5).
The apostles, under divine inspira–
tion, decided it was no longer neces–
sary t<;> practice circumcision, which
was part of the Mosaic law.
T hey then wrote letters ro all the
churches explaining this matter:
"Forasmuch as we have heard, that
certain which went out from us have
troubled you
with words,
subverting
your souls,
sayi.ng, Ye must be
cir–
cumcised,
and
keep the law
[of
Moses-verse 5): to whom we gave
no sucb commandment" (verse 24).
The Gentile converts were informed
what they should do to picase God
(verses 28, 29).
The question of obedience to God's
Teñ Commandments was not even
brought up at this council. Rather,
they disputed about keeping the law
of Moses with all its ablutions, ri–
tuals, carnal ordinances, sacrifices,
etc.
Later, Paul explained that "gifts
and sacrifices" could not make the
practitioner "perfect, as pertaining to
the conscience; which stood only in
meats and drinks, and divers wash–
ings, and
carnal ordinances,
imposed
on them until the time of reforma–
tion' ' (Heb. 9:9, 10).
J esus taught men to worship God
from the heart: "God is a Spirit: and
they that worship him must worship
him in
spirit
and in
truth"
(John
4:24).
Meaning of " the Law"
Many people get confused concern–
ing the meaning of the word "law."
The Hebrew word for law is
torah,
and the Greek word is
nomos.
The word "law"
(torah
or
nomos)
is very broad and can mean many
different things. It can refer to the
Word of God, to the five books of
Moses (the Pentateuch), to the Ten
Commandments; or it can refer to
sacrificial, ceremonial, ritualistic or
carnal "law(s)"-all depending on
its context.
When Christ said He did not come
to "destroy the law," He was refer–
ring to the eterna! "spiritual" (or mor–
al) law of God- not to the ceremon–
ial, sacrificial, ritualistic or carnal
laws contained in the "law of
Moses."
Likewise, when Paul spoke of the
"law" he sometimes referred to the
Ten Commandments, and at other
times he plainly pointed to the "less–
er" laws contained in the law of
Moses.
Notice how Paul refers to the Ten
Commandments in the context of
Romans 7:1-25. Paul commented:
" 1
had not known
sin,
but by
the law:
for I had not known lust, except the
law had said, Thou shalt not covet"
(verse 7).
' T he law" here mentioned clearly
refers to the Ten Commandments.
Of this law, Paul says: "Wherefore
the law is holy, and the command–
ment holy, and just, and good" (verse
12). Furthermore, he plainly says:
"For we know that the law is
spiri–
tual ..
.
"(verse 14) .
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