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.
