“THE SABBATH; IS THE LAW DEAD, OR AM I?”
By Wm. Penniman
The above is the title of a pamphlet of fifty-one pages. As this work seems to be much circulated, it may not be amiss to notice it. It is one of the leading works of a sect called the Brethren, or Darbyites. The first part of the argument (if argument it may be called) is a sort of sentimentalism like the following:— “A new creation, being born again, is not reclaiming the old thing, it is substituting a new.” The author seems to think that the birth of this new creation has something to do with man’s death to the law. Again, referring to the new creation, he says, “Is the law set aside or made void? No; both the principle of law and the authority of the law are established. Am I then under it? In no sense. Why? Because I have died, and the law has authority over a man as long as he lives.” This is certainly a singular position. Many of the opponents of the Sabbath abolish the law, and therefore they are not under it; but here we see not a particle abolished, and yet one is not under it because dead to it. This is an anomaly, a strange kind of death which releases a person from the duty of obeying God’s law. Again, “I believe the law to be a perfect rule for man in the flesh.” The idea here is that the law is perfectly good for man in his carnal condition, or in the “old man of sin” state; yet when he puts on the new man, or puts on Christ, he is free from it. Where is the point here? In what sense is a man free from the law against profanity? When he was a sinner, or in the flesh, the law which says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” was a perfect rule; but now that he is a new creature in Christ, he is dead to it. Dead to it in the sense of not being obliged to keep it? By no means. If being dead to the law frees one from obligation to observe the Sabbath, it must also release him from obligation to keep any other part of the law. We read further, “I do not say the authority of the law is weakened or done away, but that I am dead to it.” There seem to be many kinds of death, but this must be a moral death, as it is a death to a moral law, and frees one from its binding force; yet its “authority is not weakened.” On page 28 of the above-named pamphlet we find the following question: “What is the rule of the Christian? To walk as Christ walked.” How did Christ walk? He kept his Father’s commandments. John 15:10. He plainly recognized the law, and taught its perpetuity in his sermon on the mount. To say that the Christian should walk as Christ walked, and then undertake to prove that he did not keep the Sabbath, is wrestling and perverting the meaning of the Scriptures. There is abundance of Scripture evidence showing that Christ did keep the Sabbath. He was “Lord of the Sabbath day.” His disciples also kept it; for they would not engage in the work of embalming the Lord of the Sabbath on that holy day, but deferred this work, and “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. Let us see how some of the scriptures would need to be changed in order to harmonize with the theory that we are dead to the law. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to make one dead to it. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all become dead to it.” How does this sentiment compare with the following? “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the115kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 5:19. Certainly the Sabbath is not the “least” of the precepts of the decalogue, placed as it is in the center of the law, as the memorial of the great God. Ps. 135:13. According to this “dead” system, Rom. 3:31 should read, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law by making one dead to it.” Again, let us see what is substituted in this “new creation.” “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you that ye are dead to that law.” This age has rightly been called the “age of murder.” The people act as though they thought the law was dead, or that they were dead to it. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that ye are free from that law, ye are dead to it.” This is truly a “sinful and adulterous generation,” and it is not strange it should be so when such sentiments are taught. If Christ had only said in his sermon on the mount, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; but I say unto you that ye need not remember it, ye are dead to it; I am greater than the Sabbath, and after my resurrection ye shall keep the first day of the week,”—then our opponents would have the case. But our Saviour taught no such thing; he plainly taught that the “least” of the commandments should be observed. Obedience to the Sabbath commandment is a part of our duty to God; and can we suppose that this duty is of less importance than our obligations to our fellow-men? In Mark 10:19, six-tenths of the law, or six of the ten precepts are plainly set forth; and shall we think that the remaining four-tenths are not binding, since Christ did not refer to them? or even that the Sabbath, or one-tenth, should be left out? Again the author says: “The least commandment had its place; God’s authority attached to it. But I am not under it for quite another reason; I am dead to the law by the body of Christ, that I might be alive to another—wholly, entirely dead to it; the bond is dissolved.” A queer way of getting out from under the law, when, according to Isa. 42:21, Christ came to “magnify the law, and make it honorable.” What is it to be dead to anything? What does Paul mean when he says (Romans 6:2), “How shall they who are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Mr. Barnes, in commenting upon this verse, says: “When it is said, therefore, that a Christian is dead to sin, the sense is, that it has lost its influence over him; he is not subject to it: he is in regard to that as a man in the grave is to the busy scenes and cares of this life.” Is the Christian dead to the moral law in the sense that he is dead to sin? Has the moral law no influence over a person after becoming a Christian? or is he not subject to it? If these questions cannot be answered, fearing a death to the law, then the “bond is dissolved” not quite so easily. In Rom. 7:4, Paul says, “Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” Gal. 2:19, “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God,” is also quoted to prove this moral death. Gal. 2:16 and other texts plainly show that Paul is speaking of the moral law as a plan of justification. “For I through the law [the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8:2.] am dead to the law [the moral law as a plan of justification].” One more quotation in regard to death to the law: “I do not abate one jot or tittle. I do not raise the question of Gentiles not being under it, though historically true, because if not they are lawless; and I admit the law to be a perfect rule for man in the flesh, yet I do not say the authority of the law is weakened or done away, but that I am dead to it.” According to the author’s own admission the law is good for the Gentiles, and hence it must be good for all. Here is another anomaly in that the authority of the law is not weakened, yet a person is not bound to obey it.