They Were All Moral—Two Conspicuous Examples Considered
ALL LAWS instituted before the fall of man were moral laws. Ceremonial laws were not instituted until after the fall. The laws introduced before the fall had to do only with man's moral relations to God and his fellow man. The relations required by the moral law of God's government were therefore designed to inaugurate perfect relations between man and God and between man and his fellow man, and these relations were designed to be perpetual. If sin had not entered, all of the laws introduced before the fall would have continued as laws of God's moral government eternally. Unless they continue since the fall, that which was originally immoral has ceased to be immoral, or God has weakened in demanding as the standard for His kingdom a moral government.
THE MARRIAGE LAW
The marriage law as given in the second chapter of Genesis is, therefore, a moral law, and it is of perpetual obligation. In stating the principle upon which the marriage institution rests, the Lord places the marriage relation upon an unalterable moral basis. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. . . . And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Gen. 2:18, 21-24.
It must ever remain a fact, therefore, that the marriage of one woman to one man, both, by that relation, being so completely blended in their lives that they become one flesh, is for the highest good of the race of mankind. Plural marriages, introduced as the result of apostasy, have always been a source of trouble. They were disapproved of God in the days of Abraham. Gen. 21:9-14.
THE PHARISEES CHALLENGED CHRIST
Christ was challenged by the Pharisees of His time on the question of His teaching the perpetuity of this moral precept. Their question, and His most lucid exposition of the perpetuity of the morality of the marriage law as originally given, are recorded in Matt. 19:3-9: "The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him, and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto Him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
Christ's declaration is that the marriage law unites two and no more than two in the marriage relation until death or immoral conduct dissolves the marriage bond. There is therefore no room for misunderstanding the moral character of the marriage law.
THE SABBATH A MORAL INSTITUTION
The Sabbath was instituted in Eden before the fall. It was made for man before sin entered. Its institution was based upon the fact that God rested upon the first seventh day, and blessed and hallowed it. Gen. 2:1-3. The basis of the Sabbatic rest is therefore an unalterable and eternal fact of the moral obligation of the creature to remember his Creator. Had sin never entered, the Sabbath would have been kept eternally. Either the original creation Sabbath must still be kept eternally, or Satan, through the fall, has defeated God's purpose to perpetuate this moral institution.
That the Lord still required the continual observance of this moral precept after the fall, as a perpetual covenant for the purpose of remembering God as Creator, is most clearly stated in Ex. 31:15-17: "Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed."
THE FALL COULD NOT RELEASE
Since the fall can never release the binding obligation of any moral precept, and all institutions and laws introduced before the fall are moral obligations, designed to endure eternally, the Sabbath institution founded as a weekly memorial of the Creator's rest at the close of creation week is a moral institution, and unchanged must endure eternally.
This is further shown in that after the restoration of all things to their original Edenic conditions, the original creation Sabbath is perpetuated in Eden restored. "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:22, 23.
CAN NOT DISPENSE WITH EVEN ONE
What moral precept can be dispensed with, and subjects of a moral government remain perfect? Can they have other gods, make and worship images, profane the name of God, or disregard the Sabbath, and be blameless? Can they dishonor parents, kill, commit adultery, bear false witness, or covet, and remain morally pure?
No one who is pure in heart will wish to be released from the obligation to observe every precept of God's perfect code of morals. One who would wish a single precept of His law abrogated, is defective in moral character, and is unfitted to dwell in a perfect Paradise, as were Adam and Eve in Eden after they had committed one act of transgression. Perfect conformity to God's perfect moral law is therefore required of all subjects of God's moral government.
