The Two Laws

Distinction Between the “law of Moses” and the “Law of God”

There are many people who do not understand the fact that the “Ten Commandments” and the “law of Moses” are two separate and distinct laws. In their reading of the New Testament, every time they come upon the word “law,” they immediately jump to the conclusion that the Ten Commandments are meant, and so too, some ministers who have not learned to “rightly divide the word of truth” read that the “law of ordinances” is “taken away” “abolished” “nailed to the cross” etc., and immediately conclude that all of this refers to the Ten Commandments, and that, therefore, the Ten Commandments are abolished when as a matter of fact, these texts refer to the law of Moses.

To abolish the Ten Commandments would be to abolish the very foundation of morality and righteousness; the very foundation of God’s eternal government; and yet, in their blind zeal to get rid of the seventh day Sabbath, they never think of this. It does not fit their scheme and so, like drowning men, they catch at straws to save their traditional practices and pet theories.

They reason thus: “If we can prove that the Ten Commandments are abolished men will be free from the obligation to keep the fourth Commandment,” and yet they seem blind to the fact that the same reasoning would nullify the other nine Commandments as well and release men to disobey their parents, to have other Gods, to worship idols, to kill, steal, commit adultery and lie; for if the entire law of Ten Commandments is abolished and men become free to break one they, of necessity, must be free to break all. If the law of God is abolished there is no obligation resting upon any man to keep any one of its precepts.

To abolish the law, is to abolish sin, “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15, and again, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” I John 3:4. Therefore, if the law is abolished, sin is also abolished, and there is no need of a savior from sin. Thus the men who claim that the law of God is abolished, abolish and repudiate the Savior as well, and make His atoning work of no avail. What was the mission of Jesus to this earth? Let the Bible tell us:

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21.

Now that being true, and as John says: “…sin is the transgression of the law,” then as sure as God is true, it was the mission of Jesus to save His people from transgressing the law. That is the meaning of these texts of Scripture and that is the purest kind of logic. Yet in the face of that, we are told that the law of God is abolished.

To say, therefore, that the law of God is abolished, is in effect to say that men may, with impunity, violate that law. It is to say that there is no need of a Savior. It is blasphemy of the very worst sort.

We have said before that those who teach that the Ten Commandments are abolished are simply mixed up and have not learned to “rightly divide the word of truth,” and it seems that some would rather be confused than to admit the truth.

TWO LAWS IN THE BIBLE

There are two laws in the Bible. One is the Law of God and the other is the law of Moses.

It is certain as day that God spoke the law of Ten Commandments with His own voice amid the thunder of Sinai and wrote His law with His own finger on TWO TABLES OF STONE. None will or can deny this, for the Bible says so.

 
It is also certain that God gave Moses a law to teach the people and that Moses wrote this law IN A BOOK.

Moses’ law written in a book was perishable.

God’s Law written on stone is as eternal as His throne.

Just a few texts of Scripture are enough to prove these points and to prove that the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses are separate and have no connection whatever, for it is written of the Ten Commandments:

“These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.” Deuteronomy 5:22.

That statement forever makes the Ten Commandments a separate law, disassociates and separates it from the law of Moses and every other law or precept, and proves positively that not one word can be added to it: no not even so many words as would make Sunday, the first day of the week, the Sabbath. The man who denies that statement of Holy Writ must first prove that the Bible is not true and that God does not mean what He so plainly says: and if there were no other word about the law in the Bible, that text alone forever makes the Ten Commandments a separate, complete code of law.

LAW OF MOSES A DISTINCT CODE

A careful reading of Exodus 24:1-18  is also enough to convince any rational man that the law of Moses has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments.

The record is as follows:

“And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
“And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
“And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do.
“And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
“And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.
“And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
“And he took the BOOK of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.
“And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.
“Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:
“And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
“And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

"And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

"And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.

"And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

"And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

"And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

"And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights."

In the above Scripture the following facts are plainly set forth:

LAW OF MOSES WAS WRITTEN IN A BOOK

First: God gave Moses a law to teach to the people, which Moses wrote in a book and dedicated with blood.

LAW OF GOD WRITTEN BY GOD HIMSELF ON TABLES OF STONE

Second: After that book of the law of Moses was given to the people and dedicated with blood, then God called Moses alone to the mount and said, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I HAVE WRITTEN; that thou mayest teach them.” Exodus 24:12.

There we have a plain and clear distinction between the “law of Moses” and the “Law of God” and who dares to unite them and make them one? It should never be forgotten that after God gave the Ten Commandments, Moses said: “HE ADDED NO MORE.” How can these no-law preachers read the record of the giving of the law and still contend that it was the law of God that was abolished on the cross?

“LAW OF MOSES” ABOLISHED BUT “LAW OF GOD” IS ETERNAL

Of course the law of Moses was abolished. It expired by limitation, for it was only given as a teacher until the Christ should come, but shall men be so ignorant that they cannot discern between the law that thus expired and the eternal, unchangeable law of the everlasting God who says: “I am the Lord I change not.”?

To show that there is a distinction between the Law of God and the law of Moses and that the mistake of our misbeliever or no-law advocates is that they cannot perceive, or do not wish to recognize this difference, we will give in parallel columns a few passages that should forever silence the absurd cant of the ones who say the Ten Commandments are abolished. The following will explain itself:

Thus we see that when we rightly divide the Word of Truth and deal honestly with God’s Word, all is clear, and we see two distinct codes of laws. One which is purposely called the law of Moses and was purposely written in a book to show that it was no more enduring than humanity and would finally be blotted out as the writing in a book. The other law is distinctly called the law of God, spoken by God and written by the finger of God on tables of stone, thus showing its Divinity, and that it is as enduring as God, its author, and could no more be nailed to a cross and abolished than could nails be driven into stone, but like the eternal rock of ages it will endure while Heaven and earth stand.

Jesus said of the Law of God:

“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17.

The Greek word translated ‘fail’ is pipto, and is defined thus: “To fail, to become null and void.” A ‘tittle’ is a point or end of a letter; hence Jesus, in that text, tells us that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for a point of a letter of the law to become null or void.” That is what Jesus had to say about God’s Ten Commandments, and we believe it and are therefore unwilling to lay our hands on that law or refuse to keep any part of it. That law says, “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and we keep it, and are unwilling, in view of what Christ said, to transfer the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.”

DOES ‘FULFILL’ MEAN ABOLISH?

The oft-repeated statement by those who ought to know better, concerning Christ’s relations to the law of God, that “Christ abolished the law,” seems almost unworthy of a reply, but for the sake of those who depend on the “blind leaders,” perhaps it would be well to examine a text so often quoted in support of their contention. The text is the language of Christ, as follows:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17.

The argument is that Christ fulfilled the law, or as they are pleased to state it, “filled it full and abolished it.” That is precisely the kind of twisting of Scripture that men are compelled to resort to, in order to get rid of God’s law; but every Bible student ought to know that the world “fulfill” means nothing of the sort.

As it was Christ Himself who said, “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill,” we must understand what He meant by “fulfill,” and we can best understand this by His use of the word “fulfill” elsewhere. Now Jesus used that same word when John reluctantly baptized Him, saying, “I am not worthy,” etc. Jesus answered thus:

“Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Matthew 3:15.

Question: Did Jesus, when He said, “…thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness,” mean that He came to abolish all righteousness, or “fill it full” and do away with it? Nonsense! He meant that He came to carry out, or perform, or do all righteousness, and His use of the word “fulfill” in that text, determines His meaning when He said, “I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.” He came to fulfill, to carry out, to perform and do the law and the things written therein. Christ kept the law and He said so in these words:

“…I have kept my Father’s commandments…” John 15:10.

We prefer to believe Christ and have no axe to grind that would compel us to twist Scripture to try to get rid of God’s law.

A THEOLOGICAL BUBBLE

A religious paper giving a missionary’s experience in foreign lands says:

“Strange questions arise in the minds of the Japanese in regard to the Christian religion. 'Is Moses God?’ Asked a leper. ‘No, why do you think so?’ ‘Because you speak of the Ten Commandments of Moses, and the first one says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’”

We cannot see anything very strange in the above question. The strangeness appears in the statement of the missionary that the Ten Commandments are the commandments of Moses. If this missionary is a specimen in Scriptural knowledge of those who are sent to foreign lands, we shall no longer wonder at the meager results of their labors. Would it not be well for such missionaries, and all who call the Ten Commandments the “law of Moses,” now and then to read this simple sentence from the Bible: “And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me”? Exodus 20:1-3. Law of Moses indeed! How quickly the astute Japanese punctured his little anti-scriptural bubble.

Written by Elmer E. Franke