What are
unjust statutes and oppressive decrees?By
Jack Kettler
This study is not an in-depth
study
on the source of the law and the application
of the law for society. This is a brief
primer setting forth basic ideas about
righteous and unrighteous laws. How do
we determine what is a good law? As in
previous studies, we will look at
definitions, scriptures, and commentary
evidence for the purpose to glorify God
in how we live.
Contemporary
definitions and synonyms:
A statute
is a formal written enactment of a
legislative authority that governs a city,
state, or country.
A decree is an edict,
command, commandment, mandate, and
proclamation.
Unjust: not based
on or behaving according to what is morally
right and fair.
“The statutes of the covenant
range
from apodictic law (thou shalt not under any
circumstances), to casuistic law
(if this is the case, then do this), to
detailed descriptions of ritual
regulations to be observed by the priests
and the community. For Israel,
everything required by the covenant was a
matter of life and blessing, if
properly observed, or of death and cursing,
if ignored or forsaken. There are
no circumstances that allow for the
antisocial act of one human being killing
another human being with no legal sanction:
thou shalt not commit murder.
Ignorance of a given statute
was no
excuse. Any failure to obey a statute,
ordinance, or judgment of the law was a
sin. The statutes related to sacrifices for
the unwitting sin are a good
example of case law. If someone was guilty
of an unwitting sin, the sinner
performed the sacrifice when he learned of
his sin (Lev 4).
Leviticus 10 provides a good
example
of ritual law based on a specific case that
results in an apodictic statute:
Nadab and Abihu had been drinking before
they entered the tabernacle to perform
their duties. Because they were unable to
distinguish “between the holy and the
common, and between the unclean and the
clean,” they died in a blaze of fire
before Yahweh. Thus, the everlasting statute
through all generation is given.
Priests are to drink no wine or strong drink
when performing their duties lest
they die (vv. 1-11).
Israel understood that the
statutes
applied to everyone equally, whether native
born or resident alien. Uriah the
Hittite is a good example of an alien who
had joined himself to Yahweh and
Israel. His faithful adherence to the
statutes related to holy war resulted in
his “murder” by David. This incident also
illustrates another important point.
When an Israelite sinned against another
human being, he also sinned against
the community and Yahweh. There was no
distinction between public and private
morality (Deut. 29:18-21).
A theological problem that
continues
to haunt us today is taking the promise of
God's blessing for observance of all
the statutes as an almost magical formula.
One tries to evaluate his or her
relationship with God in terms of outward
circumstances. If everything is fine,
one is basking in God's favor. If one is ill
or oppressed or poor, one is under
God's curse and needs to repent of sin or
lack of faith. The Book of Job deals
with this issue. The parable of Lazarus and
the rich man speaks to it as well.
Often our faith in God is in spite of
circumstances, not because of them (Luke
6:19-31; cf. Jer. 44).” Mark D. McLean (1)
The biblical
description of decrees:
Decrees
“Decrees issued by rulers,
written
commands having the effect of law, and the
metaphor of God as King of the world
provide the imagery behind the Bible's
references to God's "decrees."
Terms translated “decree” in
Hebrew
and/or Aramaic include dat
[t'D]
(a loanword from Persian) used in
Daniel, Ezra, and Esther for decrees of God
and human (especially Persian)
monarchs, taam
[[;f] for the orders of high
officials including kings, hoq/huqqaa
[q,qej] used especially of
God's laws, esar [r's\a]
(lit. “something
binding”), and gezeraa
[h'rzG]
(“something decided”); and in
Greek dogma [dovgma]
(“a [public]
decree, decision”). The idea of “decree” may
be present even where a specific
technical term for “decree” does not occur.
God and Human Decrees. Even in
decrees by human monarchs God shows his own
decrees or purposes to be
sovereign.
In Exodus 7-14 God shows his
decrees
to be sovereign over Pharaoh's by
“hardening” Pharaoh's heart. This
“hardening”
involves the creation of an irrational
mind-set. Despite the miraculous
plagues, Pharaoh refuses to do the
reasonable thing (decreeing Israel's release
from bondage), thereby bringing further
disaster on himself and his land. In
the early stages of the story Pharaoh
appears to be a free agent, hardening his
own heart (Exod. 8:15), but as the story
develops God is increasingly portrayed
as the direct cause of Pharaoh's stupidity.
Pharaoh is ultimately reduced to a
mere puppet of Yahweh (Exodus 14:4 Exodus
14:8).
The decrees of Cyrus (Ezra
5:13-15;
6:3-5; 1:2-4) to allow the Jews to return
from Babylonian exile and rebuild
Jerusalem was prophesied beforehand (Isaiah
44:26-45:4 Isaiah 44:13) and
providentially prompted by God, who “stirred
up” Cyrus's spirit to issue it
(2Chron 36:22; Ezra 1:1). Nonetheless,
Ezra-Nehemiah sees a cooperation of
heaven and earth in which human initiative
(via Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and
Nehemiah) and divine control are both
prominent. Hence, the rebuilding of
Jerusalem is said to be both “by the command
of God” and “by the decrees” of
several Persian monarchs (Ezr. 7:13).
God delivers Daniel and his
friends
from various human decrees — one by
Nebuchadnezzar to kill the sages of Babylon
(Dan 2:13), another to cremate anyone not
worshiping the image of
Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:10-11), a third
“immutable” decree to cast to lions anyone
praying to a god or person besides Darius
the Mede (Dan 6:7-9). Providence
reverses Ahasuerus/Xerxes' decree to
exterminate the Jews (Es 3:7-15) so that
the enemies of the Jews are destroyed by
royal decree instead (Est 8:8-9:16).
The decree of Caesar Augustus for a census
(Luke 2:1) is providentially used to
ensure the fulfillment of the prophecy that
the Messiah would be born in
Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; cf. Matt 2:4-6).
God's Decrees and the Law. The
terms
hoq/huqqaa
[q,qej] ordinarily translated
“statue,” “prescription,” or “ordinance”
in reference to God's laws, are from the
root (hqq [q; 'j]),
meaning to “engrave,
carve; write; fix, determine.” This root
always involves an action of a
superior that affects an inferior, and in
some contexts refers to human decrees
(Isa 10:1 “Woe to those who decree
iniquitous decrees”). Use of hoq/huqqaa
[q,qej] seemingly
conceptualizes God's “laws” as “decrees” (so
NIV
cf. Deuteronomy 4:1 Deuteronomy 4:5-6
Deuteronomy 4:8).
Colossians 2:14 (cf. Eph. 2:15)
states that Christ by the cross canceled the
certificate of debt consisting of “decrees”
(NASB; Gk. dogmata
[dovgma])
against us. Evidently this is
in reference to God's laws that we have
violated and which, apart from the
cross, condemn us.
Prophetic Decrees. Predictive
prophecies resemble decrees by God
determining the course of history: “The Son
of Man will go as it has been decreed (lit.
“written”)” in the prophets ( Luke
22:22 ; cf. Matthew 26:53-54 Matthew 26:56
). God decrees Ahab's doom (1Kings
22:23) and destruction on Israel (Isa
10:23); “Seventy sevens” (often
understood as “weeks of years”) have been
decreed for the history of Daniel's
people (Dan 9:24). The scroll sealed with
seven seals in Revelation 5:1 perhaps
represents a divine decree determining the
destiny of the world.
Sometimes predictive “decrees”
can
be abrogated, repentance averting punishment
and disobedience annulling
blessing (Jer. 18:7-10 Jonah 3:10). Hence,
despite the “decree” of the
destruction, Zephaniah can call the people
to seek God “before the decree takes
effect Perhaps you will be hidden in the day
of the Lord's anger” (2:1-3 NASB).
Political and Cosmic Order.
Poetic
texts describe God's decrees as having
established political and cosmic order.
Psalm 2, an enthronement psalm,
states that it was by the Lord's decree (hoq
[qoj])
that each Davidic king was
adopted as a son of God at his coronation
(cf. 2 Sam 7:14). The language of
this psalm was never literally fulfilled by
any Davidic king during the
monarchy, but rather finds its ultimate
fulfillment in Christ. Romans 1:4,
which says Jesus Christ was “declared [or
possibly decreed] with power to be
the Son of God by his resurrection from the
dead,” may well allude to the
"decree" of Psalm 2:7.
The psalmist describes God's
gift of
the land as a decree (Psalm 105:10). Job
felt his suffering was by divine
decree (Job 23:14). Lamentations 3:37 states
that all things, good or bad, have
been decreed by God. God gave a lasting
decree that fixed heavenly bodies in
their places (Psalm 148:3-6).
God's Decrees and Election.
Calvin
understood God's choosing us in Christ
before creation and predestinating us to
adoption “in accord with his pleasure and
will” (Eph. 1:3-5) as an immutable,
divine decree.
Church Decrees. Paul and
Timothy
disseminated the Jerusalem church's decrees
(the decision of Acts 15),
presumably providentially guided, concerning
relations between Jewish and
Gentile Christians (Acts 16:4). Paul in his
epistles never utilized this decree
of Acts 15 as church “law,” however, even
where he could have. Ultimately in
the postapostolic church this term for
decree (dogma [dovgma])
comes to
refer to authoritative teachings of church
councils.” Joel M. Sprinkle (2)
How do we
know if a statute or decree is righteous?
As seen
in the two above biblically based
citations, for the Christian, the only
place
we can find the truth is the Scriptures.
The
Scriptures define right and wrong:
The Ten
Commandment listed in (Exodus 20:1-17):
1.You shall have no other Gods
before
me
2.You shall not make for
yourselves an
idol
3.You shall not misuse the name
of the
LORD your God
4.Remember the Sabbath day by
keeping
it holy
5.Honor your father and your
mother
6.You shall not murder
7.You shall not commit adultery
8.You shall not steal
9.You shall not give false
testimony
10.You shall not
covet
“Now these are the
commands, decrees,
and ordinances that the LORD commanded
me to teach you. Obey them in the
land you are entering to possess.”
(Deuteronomy 6:1 ISV)
“The statutes of the LORD
are
right, rejoicing the heart: the
commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:8 KJV)
“Your word is a lamp to
my
feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm
119:105 ESV)
“For truly, I say to you, until
heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not
a dot, will pass from the Law
until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18
ESV)
“For by works of the law no
human
being will be justified in his sight, since
through the law comes knowledge
of sin.” (Romans 3:20 ESV)
“What then shall we say? That
the
law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had
not been for the law, I would not
have known sin. For I would not have known
what it is to covet if the law had
not said, “You shall not covet.”
(Romans 7:7 ESV)
“All Scripture is
breathed
out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness.” (2Timothy 3:16
ESV)
The
Scriptures on unjust and oppressive laws:
“Woe to those who enact unjust
statutes and issue oppressive decrees”
(Isaiah 10:1 BSB)
“Those who bear false testimony
against a person, who entrap the one who
arbitrates at the city gate and
deprive the innocent of justice by making
false charges.” (Isaiah 29:21 Net
Bible)
“Shall the throne of iniquity
have
fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief
by a law?” (Psalm 94:20 KJV)
From Ellicott's
Commentary
for English Readers Psalm 94:20:
“(20) Throne of iniquity.--This
is
an apt expression for an oppressive and
unjust government. The word rendered
“iniquity”
might mean “calamity” or “destruction” (see
Psalm 57:1, and comp. Psalm 91:3:
“noisome”),
but in Proverbs 10:3 it seems to mean
“lawless desire,” which best suits this
passage.
Have fellowship--i.e., be
associated
in the government. Could the theocracy admit
to a share in it, not merely
imperfect instruments of justice, but even
those who perverted justice to evil
ends?
Which frameth mischief by a
law?--i.e., making legislation a means of
wrong. Others, however, render, “against
the law.” But the former explanation best
suits the next verse.” (3)
In Isaiah’s day, the rulers
enacted
statutes and decrees, which legitimatized
sin. In Romans chapter 13, we learn
that the real power of government is to
punish evildoers. Today, just as in the
days of Isaiah, evil leaders use unjust
statues.
A short list
of examples of contemporary unjust
statutes:
·Statutes that favor sexual
deviants
·Pro-abortion or child killing
statutes
·Preferential standing for the
pagan
religion of Mohammedism by decree
·Statutes and banning biblical
truth
and practice from the public square
·Indoctrination of children in
government schools by decree
·Statutes banning the execution
of
criminals for death penalty crimes
Some
explanation of what constitutes a decree
or statute in
the above bullet list:
The First Amendment to the
Constitution protects the rights of citizens
to criticize the religion of
Mohammad. Despite this, politicians,
politically correct media pronouncers, the
owners of social media and other Internet
platforms have taken it on themselves
by decree to ban critiques of Islam rather
than have an actual statute passed
by Congress to this end.
Indoctrination of children in
the
fed gov schools and banning expressions of
Christianity in the public square is
by the decree of unelected people who wear
black robes.
Statutes supporting child
killing,
promotion of sexual deviancy, and laws
against the death penalty start with
decrees of the black robe people and then
rootless, foundationless politicians
enact ungodly statutes under the cover of
these decrees.
The prophet
Isaiah pronounces woe upon wicked rulers
who
have made unjust statutes and issued
oppressive decrees:
“Woe unto them that call evil
good,
and good evil; that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness; that put
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
(Isaiah 5:20)
From John
Gill's Exposition
of
the Entire Bible on Isaiah 5:20:
“Woe unto them that call evil
good,
and good evil, that call evil actions good,
and good actions evil; that excuse
the one, and reproach the other; or that
call evil men good, and good men evil;
to which the Targum agrees. Some understand
this of false prophets rejecting
the true worship of God, and recommending
false worship; others of wicked
judges, pronouncing the causes of bad men
good, and of good men evil; others of
sensualists, that speak in praise of
drunkenness, gluttony, and all carnal
pleasures, and fleshly lusts, and treat with
contempt fear, worship, and
service of God. It may very well be applied
to the Scribes and Pharisees in
Christ's time, who preferred the evil
traditions of their elders, both to the
law of God, that is holy, just, and good,
and to the Gospel, the good word of
God, preached by John the Baptist, Christ
and his apostles, and to the
ordinances of the Gospel dispensation:
That put darkness for light,
and
light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter; for calling
good evil, and evil good, is all one as
putting these things one for another;
there being as great a difference between
good and evil, as between light and
darkness, sweet and bitter; and it suggests,
as if the perversion of these
things was not merely through ignorance and
mistake, but purposely and wilfully
against light and knowledge; so the Jews
acted when they preferred the darkness
of their rites and ceremonies, and human
traditions, before the light of the
glorious Gospel of Christ; which showed they
loved darkness rather than light,
John 3:19 and chose that which would be
bitter to them in the end, than the
sweet doctrines of the grace of God; the
bitter root of error, rather than the
words of Christ's mouth, which are sweeter
than the honey, or the honeycomb.
The Targum is,
Woe to them that say to the
wicked
who prosper in this world, ye are good; and
say to the meek, ye are wicked:
when light cometh to the righteous, shall it
not be dark with the wicked? And
sweet shall be the words of the law to them
that do them; but bitterness (some
read “rebellion”) shall come to the wicked;
and they shall know, that in the
end sin is bitter to them that commit it.” (4)
How do we establish just
statues and
non-oppressive decrees in modern society? In
the Old Testament, Israel had the
Mosaic Law. What is the foundation today?
The basis today is inescapably the
same. We would say today, all of Scripture
governs us. As said earlier, the
Christian must go to the whole of Scripture
where God speaks.
For a brief
introduction to the concept of using
Scriptures
in their entirety as a source for just
statues, consider the following entry
from the Institutes
of Biblical Law Vol.
1:
“The biblical
concept of law is broader than the legal
codes
of the Mosaic formulation. It applies to
the divine word and instruction in its
totality:
‘...theearlierprophetsalsouse torah forthedivineword proclaimedthrough
them(Isa.viii. 16, cf.also
v.20;
Isa.xxx. 9f.;perhapsalsoIsa. i. 10).Besides
this,certainpassagesintheearlier prophetsusetheword torah alsoforthe
commandment of Yahweh which was written
down: thus Hos. viii. 12. Moreover there are
clearly examples not only of
ritual matters, but also of ethics.
Hence it follows that at any
rate in
this period torah had the meaning of a
divine instruction,whetherithadbeenwrittendownlongago asalawand was preservedandpronouncedbyapriest, orwhether thepriestwasdeliveringitat
that time (Lam. ii. 9; Ezek. vii. 26;Mal.
ii. 4ff.), or the prophet is commissioned by
God to pronounce it for a definite
situation (so perhaps Isa. xxx. 9).
Just like as
seen in the above reference, this was the
view for
the source of law that was common in early
America:
“The moral principles and
precepts
contained in the scriptures ought to form
the basis of all our civil
constitutions and laws. All the miseries and
evils which men suffer from vice,
crime, ambition, injustice, oppression,
slavery, and war, proceed from their
despising or neglecting the precepts
contained in the Bible.” - Noah Webster
(1758-1843)
Back to the
Bible. The only place to find righteous
statutes
and decrees. The following article will
further introduce the idea of the whole
Bible as the source of ethics:
BIBLICAL
ETHICS, The Entire Bible, Our Standard
Today
By Greg L. Bahnsen, Th.M.,
Ph.D.
All of life is ethical, and all
of
the Bible is permeated with a concern for
ethics. Unlike the organization of an
encyclopedia, our Bible was not written in
such a way that it devotes separate
sections exclusively to various topics of
interest. Hence, the Bible does not
contain one separate, self-contained book or
chapter that completely treats the
subject of ethics or moral conduct. To be
sure, many chapters of the Bible
(like Exodus 20 or Romans 13) and even some
books of the Bible (like Proverbs
or James) have a great deal to say about
ethical matters and contain vary
specific guidance for the believer’s life.
Nevertheless, there will not be
found a division of the Bible entitled
something like ‘The Complete List of
Duties and Obligations in the Christian
Life.” Instead, we find a concern for
ethics carrying through the whole word of
God, from cover to cover — from
creation to consummation.
This is not really surprising.
The
entire Bible speaks of God, and we read that
the living and true God is holy,
just, good, and perfect. These are
attributes of an ethical character and have
moral implications for us.The
entire
Bible speaks of the works of God, and we
read that all of His works are
performed in wisdom and righteousness —
again, ethical qualities. The world
which God has created, we read, reveals
God’s moral requirements clearly and
continuously. History, which God governs by
His sovereign decrees will manifest
His glory, wisdom and justice. The apex of
creation and the key figure in
earthly history, man, has been made the
image of this holy God and has God’s
law imbedded in his heart. Man’s life and
purpose take their direction from
God, and every one of man’s actions and
attitudes is called into the service of
the Creator — motivated by love and faith,
aimed at advancing God’s glory and
kingdom. Accordingly the entire Bible has a
kind of ethical focus.
Moreover, the very narrative
and
theological plot of the Bible is governed by
ethical concerns. From the outset
we read that man has fallen into sin — by
disobeying the moral standard of God;
as a consequence man has come under the
wrath and curse of God — His just
response to rebellion against His commands.
Sin and curse are prevailing
characteristics, then, of fallen man’s
environment, history, and relationships.
To redeem man, restore him to favor, and
rectify his wayward life in all areas,
God promised and provided His own Son as a
Messiah or Savior. Christ lived a
life of perfect obedience to qualify as our
substitute, and then died on the
cross to satisfy the justice of God
regarding our sin. As resurrected and
ascended on high, Christ rules as Lord over
all, bringing all opposition into
submission to His kingly reign. He has sent
the Spirit characterized by
holiness into His followers, and among other
things the Holy Spirit brings about
the practice of righteousness in their
lives. The church of Christ has been
mandated to proclaim God’s good news, to
advance His kingdom throughout the
world, to teach Christ’s disciples to
observe everything He has commanded, and
to worship the Triune God in spirit and in
truth. When Christ returns at the
consummation of human history, He will come
as universal Judge, dispensing
punishment and reward according to the
revealed standard of God’s word. On that
day all men will be divided into the basic
categories of covenant-keepers and
covenant-breakers; then it will be clear
that all of one’s life in every realm
and relationship has reflected his response
to God’s revealed standards. Those
who have lived in alienation from God, not
recognizing their disobedience and
need of the Savior, will be eternally
separated from His presence and blessing;
those who have embraced the Savior in faith
and submitted to Him as Lord will
eternally enjoy His presence in the new
heavens and earth wherein righteousness
dwells.
It is easy to see, then, that
everything the Bible teaches from Genesis to
Revelation has an ethical quality
about it and carries ethical implications
with it. There is no word from God,
which fails to tell us in some way what we
are to believe about Him and what
duty He requires of us. Paul put it in this
way: “Every scripture is inspired
by God and profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, in order that
the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto every good work”
(2 Tim. 3:16-17). If we disregard
any portion of the Bible, we will — to that
extent — fail to be thoroughly
furnished for every good work. If we ignore
certain requirements laid down by
the Lord in the Bible our instruction in
righteousness will be incomplete. Paul
says that every single scripture is
profitable for ethical living; every verse
gives us direction for how we should live.
The entire Bible is our ethical
yardstick, for every bit of it is the word
of the eternal, unchanging God; none
of the Bible offers fallible or mistaken
direction to us today. Not one of
God’s stipulations is unjust, being too
lenient or too harsh. And God does not
unjustly have a double-standard of morality,
one standard of justice for some
and another standard of justice for others.
Every single dictate of God’s word,
then, is intended as moral instruction for
us today if we would demonstrate
justice, holiness, and truth in our lives.
It is important to note here
that
when Paul said that “every scripture is
inspired by God and profitable” for
holy living, the New Testament was not as
yet completed, gathered together, and
existing as a published collection of books.
Paul’s direct reference was to the
well known Old Testament Scripture, and
indirectly to the soon-to- be-completed
New Testament. By inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, Paul taught New Testament
believers that every single Old Testament
writing was profitable for their
present instruction in righteousness, if
they were to be completely furnished for
every good work required of them by God. Not
one bit of the Old Testament has
become ethically irrelevant according to
Paul. That is why we, as Christians,
should speak of our moral viewpoint, not
merely as “New Testament Ethics,” but
as “Biblical Ethics.”The
New Testament
(2Tim. 3:16-17) requires that we take the
Old Testament as ethically normative
for us today. Not just selected portions of
the Old Testament, mind you, but
“every scripture.” Failure to honor the
whole duty of man as revealed in the Old
Testament is nothing short of a failure to
be completely equipped for righteous
living. It is to measure one’s ethical duty
by a broken and incomplete
yardstick.
God expects us to submit to His
every word, and not pick and choose the ones
which are agreeable to our
preconceived opinions.The
Lord requires
that we obey everything He has stipulated in
the Old and New Testaments — that
we “live by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Our
Lord responded to the temptation of Satan
with those words, quoting the Old
Testament passage in Deuteronomy 8:3, which
began “All the commandments that I
am commanding you today you shall be careful
to do” (8:1). Many believers in
Christ fail to imitate His attitude here,
and they are quite careless about
observing every word of God’s command in the
Bible. James tells us that if a
person lives by and keeps every precept or
teaching of God’s law, and yet he or
she disregards or violates it in one single
point, that person is actually
guilty of disobeying the whole (James 2:10).
Therefore, we must take the whole
Bible as our standard of ethics, including
every point of God’s Old Testament
law. Not one word which proceeds from God’s
mouth can be invalidated and made
inoperative, even as the Lord declared with
the giving of His law: “Whatever I
command you, you shall be careful to do; you
shall not add to nor take away
from it” (Deut. 12:32). The entire Bible is
our ethical standard today, from
cover to cover.
But doesn’t the coming of Jesus
Christ change all that? Hasn’t the Old
Testament law been either cancelled or
at least reduced in its requirements? Many
professing believers are misled in
the direction of these questions, despite
God’s clear requirement that nothing
be subtracted from His law, despite the
straightforward teaching of Paul and
James that every Old Testament scripture –
even every point of the law –has a
binding ethical authority in the life of the
New Testament Christian. Perhaps
the best place to go in Scripture to be rid
of the theological inconsistency
underlying a negative attitude toward the
Old Testament law is to the very
words of Jesus himself on this subject,
Matthew 5:17-19. Nothing could be
clearer than that Christ here denies twice
(for the sake of emphasis) that His
coming has abrogated the Old Testament law
“Do not think that I came to abolish
the law or the prophets; I did not come to
abolish.”Again, nothing could be clearer than
that not
even the least significant aspect of the Old
Testament law will lose its
validity until the end of the world: “For
truly I say to you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not the slightest letter or
stroke shall pass away from the
law.” And if there could remain any doubt in
our minds as to the meaning of the
Lord’s teaching here, He immediately removes
it by applying His attitude toward
the law to our behavior: “Therefore whoever
annuls one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others so, shall be
called least in the kingdom of
heaven.”Christ’s coming did not
abrogate anything in the Old Testament law,
for every single stroke of the law
will abide until the passing away of this
world; consequently, the follower of
Christ is not to teach that even the least
Old Testament requirement has been
invalidated by Christ and His work. As the
Psalmist declared, “Every one of Thy
righteous ordinances is everlasting” (Ps.
119:l60).
So then, all of life is
ethical, and
ethics requires a standard of right and
wrong. For the Christian that yardstick
is found in the Bible — the entire Bible,
from beginning to end. The New
Testament believer repudiates the teaching
of the law itself, of the Psalms, of
James, Paul and Jesus himself when the Old
Testament commandments of God are
ignored or treated as a mere antiquated
standard of justice and righteousness.
“The word of our God shall stand forever”
(Isa. 40:8), and the Old Testament
law is part of every word from God’s mouth
by which we must live (Matt. 4:4).”
(6)
The above article by Greg
Bahnsen
serves as an excellent summary for this
primer. Sinful men make unjust statutes
and oppressive decrees. Only in the Lord do
we find righteousness and truth.
“The statutes of the LORD are
right,
rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the
LORD is pure, enlightening the
eyes.” (Psalm 19:8 KJV)
In closing:
Because it is
only in the Lord’s Word do we find just
statutes
and pure commandments or righteous
decrees, the following thoughts on the
Bible
are apropos:
“The existence of the Bible, as
a
book for the people, is the greatest benefit
which the human race has ever
experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is
a crime against humanity.”-
Immanuel Kant
“The doctrines thus delivered
we
call the revealed or divine law, and they
are to be found only in the holy
scriptures...[and] are found upon comparison
to be part of the original law of
nature. Upon these two foundations, the law
of nature and the law of revelation
depend all human laws; that is to say, no
human laws should be suffered to
contradict these.” - Sir William Blackstone
“The Bible is worth all other
books
which have ever been printed.” - Patrick
Henry
“Should not the Bible regain
the
place it once held as a schoolbook? Its
morals are pure; its examples are
captivating and noble. In no Book is there
so good English, so pure and so
elegant, and by teaching all the same they
will speak alike, and the Bible will
justly remain the standard of language as
well as of faith.” - Fisher Ames
“We have staked the whole
future of
American civilization, not upon the power of
government, far from it. We have
staked the future of all of our political
institutions upon the capacity of
each and all of us to govern ourselves, to
control ourselves, to sustain
ourselves according to the Ten Commandments
of God.” -James Madison
“By removing the Bible from
schools
we would be wasting so much time and money
in punishing criminals and so little
pains to prevent crime. Take the Bible out
of our schools and there would be an
explosion in crime.” - Benjamin Rush
“If we abide by the principles
taught in the Bible, our country will go on
prospering and to prosper; but if
we and our posterity neglect its instruction
and authority, no man can tell how
sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and
bury all our glory in profound
obscurity.” - Daniel Webster
“Education is useless without
the
Bible.” “The Bible was America's basic
textbook in all fields.”
“God's Word, contained in the
Bible,
has furnished all necessary rules to direct
our conduct.” - Noah Webster
“It is impossible to enslave,
mentally or socially, a Bible-reading
people. The principles of the Bible are
the groundwork of human freedom.” - Horace
Greeley
“The Bible is the only force
known
to history that has freed entire nations
from corruption while simultaneously
giving them political freedom.” - Vishal
Mangalwadi
In contrast to above quotes
about
the Bible, the wisdom of man is vain and
deceitful.
“Through thy precepts I get
understanding: therefore I hate every false
way.” (Psalm 119:104)
Notes:
1.Walter
A. Elwell, Editor, Baker’s
Evangelical
Dictionary of Biblical Theology,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book
House), p. 747-748.
2.Walter
A. Elwell, Editor, Baker’s
Evangelical
Dictionary of Biblical Theology,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book
House), p. 160-161.
3.Charles
John Ellicott, Bible
Commentary for
English Readers, Psalms, Vol.4,
(London, England, Cassell and Company), p.
228.
4.John
Gill, Exposition
of the Old and New
Testaments, Isaiah, (Grace Works,
Multi-Media Labs), 2011, p. 84.
5.Quote
is from Hermann Kleinknecht and W. Gutbrod,
Law,
(London, England: Adam and Charles Black,
1962), p. 44.
6.Greg
L. Bahnsen, BIBLICAL
ETHICS, 2Timothy
3:16-17 Vol. 1, No. 2, (Tyler, Texas,
Institute for Christian Economics).
“To God,
only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27) and “heirs
according to the promise.” (Galatians
3:28, 29)
Mr.
Kettler has previously published articles in
the Chalcedon Report and Contra
Mundum. He and his wife Marea attend
the Westminster, CO, RPCNA Church. Mr.
Kettler is the author of the book defending
the Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The
Religion That Started in a
Hat. Available at: http://www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com