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Principles
Of Divine Law
Laws are of two
kinds. First, there is arbitrary law, or law based on the
will of the lawmaker, or upon his caprice or whim. Such
laws are not based on considerations of right or justice;
they are based on authority. They may be just or unjust,
or partly just and partly unjust. Such laws as these have
characterized tyrants in all ages of history. In making
them men have consulted only their own wills or their own
pleasure. There is another kind of law, that is,
reasonable law, which is based upon the principles of
reason and justice. Such laws embody the principles of
right; they are based upon right, not upon authority.
God being a God of justice, his laws embody the true
principles of justice and righteousness. They are not
arbitrary in their nature. God does not command things
just because he has the authority; back of every
requirement is a just and adequate reason. In speaking of
God's law in the New Testament, Paul says, "For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power
of God unto salvation ... for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed" (Romans 1:16, 17). From this
scripture we see that in giving his law (the gospel) God
had no selfish purpose. He did not give it as the result
of a mere whim or caprice. He has no desire to command
things just to show his authority. His law reveals his
righteousness. It can do so only if it is truly just and
reasonable. Some people seem to think that God is a tyrant
and that he requires of us some very unreasonable things,
even impossible things. He does command things that are
not acceptable to us in our sinful state, but when we are
once saved, we can say with him of old, "O how love I
thy law!" (Psalms 119:97). John said, "His
commandments are not grievous" (I John 5:3). This is
the testimony of every one who is of a willing heart to
serve him. Micah puts it in this way: "He hath showed
thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8). God's laws seem
extreme and harsh and rigid only to those who have not the
spirit of obedience in their hearts.
God is a being of the greatest benevolence. God is
love. His highest happiness, like ours, must come from
unselfish purposes. There is a sort of selfish happiness,
or a happiness that we may have and still be selfish or
that may flow from selfish purposes, but that happiness is
a very low form of happiness. The higher and truer form of
happiness can come only through unselfishness; therefore
it must come largely from the happiness of others. Our
truest happiness comes from making others happy and having
their happiness reflected in our own life. This is true of
God as well as of man. He finds his happiness most truly
in making others happy. Any laws, therefore, that he has
given his creatures are for the purpose of making them
happy. Every law that he has made for us is for our good
and is necessary for our safety and wellbeing.
His laws are not intended merely to restrict us nor to
prevent in any measure our happiness. On the contrary, all
restrictions are wholly with a purpose to increase our
happiness by preventing that which would be fatal to our
highest happiness. He requires us to give up nothing but
what is harmful to us. He never requires anything from
arbitrary selfishness. He requires us to give up sin and
the follies of this world because they work destruction to
our own happiness, to the happiness and good of others,
and to our eternal interests. Selfish happiness is the
lowest type of happiness; so he forbids it that we may be
more happy. He does not place a single restriction upon us
unless that restriction is necessary in its very nature.
To secure felicity for us is the chief object and purpose
of all his laws, and all his working for us, and all
things that he requires of us. He knows that in order for
us to be happy we must be holy; so he requires us to be
holy and to give up all that would prevent our being so.
True happiness can come only from correspondence with God,
so he requires this of us. So long as our own happiness is
the end in view in our lives, we can never be truly happy.
If our own happiness is the thing we seek, our purpose is
purely selfish and can never result in real happiness. God
never seeks his own happiness as an end. He would be
selfish if he did, and so could not be truly happy. True
happiness always results from unselfish and pure purposes
and acts. If we are righteous for righteousness' sake,
happiness is the result.
The New Testament is not a book of rules, but a
revelation of principles. God deals not with
technicalities, but with principles. In the Old Testament
most of the laws were specific, as was necessary for the
time, and revealed the principle only through some special
application. In the New Testament the principle is usually
revealed and the application of it to the details of life
left to us. In every case we are to endeavor to get a
correct understanding of the principle involved. "The
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2
Corinthians 3:6). As already stated, the New Testament is
not a book of rules, though many persons have looked upon
it as such. This has led to many and serious errors. This
view is a prolific source of fanaticism and extremism.
Every command of the New Testament is based on some broad
principle of righteousness. We need to go back of the
letter of command; we need to get the principle. If we are
technical in our interpretations, we shall almost
invariably miss the principle involved, and when we miss
the principle, we have only the empty shell without the
kernel. There is a "why" back of every
requirement, and until we learn what this is, our
fulfillment of the requirement will be only a blind
submission to authority.
People often adhere very rigidly and literally to some
precept or teaching while they freely violate the
principle in other things. This is well illustrated in the
case of certain monks in a monastery in Europe. They are
said to have had a prolonged controversy among themselves
as to who could obey in the most Christian way Christ's
command, "Whosoever shall smite thee on they right
cheek, turn to him the other also." So one would
smite another on the cheek, and the one smitten would bear
it with all the equanimity possible. Then he in turn would
smite the other upon the cheek with all his might, and
that one would bear it as well as he was able. After much
contests of stoicism they would fall to quarreling most
violently as to which one had shown the most Christian
spirit. While they were doing literally what Christ
commanded, they were really violating its principle in the
most open manner. How careful some people are to keep the
Sabbath holy (?) who during the week can lie, steal,
cheat, or do almost anything of the sort without troubling
their conscience! Only when we learn the principles
involved and then apply them in all the activities of our
lives are we truly Christ-like, truly obedient.
To illustrate what I mean by the principle and the
precept, or the difference between them, I call attention
to Matthew 6:17, 18. In warning the disciples against the
hypocrisy of the Pharisees in their fastings, Jesus gave
directions how a person should fast. Here is the precept:
"But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and
wash thy face." But here is the principle: "That
thou appear not unto men to fast." Today, under
changed conditions, we must either violate the precept or
the principle. At the time and in that country it was
common for people to anoint their heads every day; at this
time and in this country there is no such custom. If,
therefore, we should carry out the precept now, anointing
our heads when we fasted, it would appear to all men that
we were fasting; if we would not appear unto men to fast,
we must not anoint our heads on that special occasion. The
principle is the thing of importance; and if we have
learned that and apply it in our lives, it will fit all
occasions and all customs. If we cling to the letter of
the law, we shall oftentimes find ourselves missing the
real intent and purpose; we shall have the shadow without
the substance, the letter without the spirit.
God's laws are flexible in their nature, except where
moral principles require rigidity. They are adapted by
infinite wisdom to man's state and need in all ages,
climates, states of society, and stages of enlightenment.
The sacred books of other religions are adapted only to
the nations, the geographical location, and the state of
society existing where they were given. The New Testament
is different. It is a revelation of broad principles;
therefore it is applicable to every time and in every
place and to every condition. It says that we shall love
one another, but it does not mention all the variety of
ways in which that love will manifest itself. It does not
enumerate all the things that love will lead us to do, nor
describe all the feelings that love will cause us to have.
It says, "Do good to all men," but it does not
explain fully to us what this means; it leaves us to make
the application ourselves when we once learn the
principle. It teaches us that we should dress in modest
apparel, but it does not tell us all about what modest
apparel is. It does not give us a list of all the things
that may be worn and say, "This is modest" and
"This is immodest"; in fact, it has very little
to say as to what is and what is not modest. It leaves to
each age and time and place the formation of a definition
of modesty. The principle, however, applies in all ages
and to all people from the king upon his throne to the
ordinary citizen and even down to the slave. It teaches us
that we should not steal nor swear nor lie, but it leaves
to us to formulate a definition of these things; and if we
are willing to regulate our lives according to his will,
he will help us to find a definition that is satisfactory
both to himself and to us.
God's law is flexible. An absolute rigid code would
defeat its own end. If God had required men to measure up
to an absolutely perfect moral standard, the result would
have been that no one could have been saved. For that
reason, his law must be flexible. It must fit all
conditions, all times and views and circumstances. Under
the Mosaic law God permitted divorce for many causes, even
though it was contrary to the true principles of marriage.
Under the New Testament he tolerated polygamy, also
slavery and the moderate use of intoxicating liquors.
These were evils that could not be extirpated immediately.
The leaven of Christianity must work until the people were
raised to a height of understanding where they could see
the evil of these things and lay them aside. This
flexibility of the law is shown in the case of Naaman.
Though he promised to serve the true God only, he was
permitted to return and to go with his king to worship in
the idol's house and even bow down with the king. He was
required by his position to do this, and the prophet did
not ask him to surrender his position. See 2 Kings 5:18,
19.
As nations or individuals become more enlightened, they
become able to apply the law in a more perfect way. Things
are wrong to some that are not wrong to others, since some
are more enlightened and can better apply the principles.
We are never justified in doing a thing just because
others have done it or are doing it. Each of us is
required to live to his own highest standard. Slavery,
once esteemed all right, is now considered a great evil.
Society has come to see a higher standard of human rights.
Science has taught us the evils of the use of alcohol and
narcotics, and so a higher standard has come to prevail in
regard to their use. God overlooked what he could not at
the time prevent, and his law by its flexibility was
adapted to the needs of the age. Its flexibility now makes
provision for our failure to understand and apply it
perfectly to our own lives, but that accommodativeness can
never cover willful disregard of duty. The Bible, not the
fathers, is our standard. It may pass over our ignorance,
but never over willful wrongdoing. God is ever as lenient
as he ought to be, but never more so. His law was made to
be kept, not to be broken.
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