THE K I NG ' S BUS I NE S S
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and say w hether or not th is is true. Adventists make g rea t use of th e term s “m oral” and “ ceremonial” . laws as though th is was a S cripture idea. Where does Scripture speak of one law as moral and ano th er as ceremonial? W hat New T estam ent w riter makes any such distinctions? Why does no t P aul say “we establish th e ceremonial law ” or “ th e moral law was our schoolmas te r ” ? He ju st says law, and by law he means nothing sho rt of it. N either Christ nor any Apostle make the dis tinctions you do in speaking of th e abo lition of th e law. W hat you call th e ceremonial law contains scores of pre cepts as purely m oral as those in th e decalogue. F o r instance, Exodus 22: 21, 22; 2 3 :2 ; Lev. 19:2, 16, 18; Deut. 16:18, 19. Are these classed as cere monial because God did no t see fit to w rite them on a stone? Now notice Matt. 22:36-40. These are th e two g rea test commandments and they are said to have been in th e law, b u t n eith er of them is in th e deca logue. They are in w hat you call the ceremonial law. N either of them was spoken or w ritten by God nor engraved on stones nor p u t into th e ark , and these two are the greatest. W hile th e word “ law” occurs over four hundred times, yet not in one in stance is the decalogue as a whole and alone called th e law. If we tak e th e Bible definition of the term therefore, all th e ta lk of th e Seventh Day Advent ists about keeping th e law am ounts to nothing for none of them th ink of doing it. The fact is th a t it is said of many of the ceremonies, such as circumcision, th a t they were to be “ perpetual.” In the attem p t to keep p a rt of it Advent ists bring themselves under obligation to keep all of it (Gal. 5 :3 ), and failing to do th is they come under th e curse of all of it (Gal. 3 :1 0 ). The law is intended as a m irro r to show us our lost condition a p a rt from
Seventh Day Adventists
A nd Mosaic Laws
An elder of the Seventh Day Advent ist sect w rites us concerning th e classi fication of th a t sect in th e ch a rt “The Spirit of T ru th ” recently published by th e Bible In stitu te, th a t some of th e quotations are un tru e. He specifies hu t one of th e quotations however, namely, “The law of Moses was never abro gated.” He m aintains th a t th is sect does n o t so teach, yet in his la st p arag raph says th a t while th e “ ceremonial law ” was abrogated, th e “m o ral” decalog never was. We publish our reply, be lieving it will help many of our read ers who have been puzzled on some of these questions. Dear S ir:— Received your le tte r, and note w hat you charge is an erro r in th e ch art “The Spirit of T ru th and Spirit of E rro r” , namely th e statem en t th a t the law of Moses was never abrogated. I notice in the last p arag raph of your le tte r th a t you qualify th is somewhat by saying th a t “ th e ceremonial law” was fulfilled. I note w h at you say also in regard to th e necessity of good works. Most Christians believe in the necessity of good works ju st as strongly as you do. The commandments spoken from Sinai embrace th e whole law—moral, civil and ceremonial. You adm it (for you could no t do otherw ise) th a t th e ceremonial law was abrogated. Why distinguish from th e balance? The S cripture term “ the law” in practically all cases refers to th e Mosaic law as a whole, no t a m ere p art. Why do Ad ventists hang up a ch a rt of th e deca logue and point to it as “ th e law” when th e law included th e whole system— th e five books of Moses? Look up all references to it in th e New Testam ent
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