"From the very beginning of the great controversy in heaven it has been Satan's purpose to overthrow the law of God." GC 582

WHY?

Because God's law is the foundation of his government. To overthrow it would be to overthrow God's government.

The law expresses the moral integrity of the cosmos and to overthrow that law would be to overthrow the moral order of creation.

But what is morality?

Morality involves the power of thinking and the ability to choose. Morality differentiates between right and wrong.

But what is right and what is wrong?

Is it love -- just love?

But what defines love?
"Love can't exist without freedom, moral freedom. And moral freedom can't exist without law, moral law".




Link to Introduction to this quarters lessons

for creating this thread.

Lesson 1

Laws in Christ's Day.

The lesson lists several different sets of laws in existence in Christ's day.

A. Roman law
---issues of government
---behavior in domestic arena
---social codes

B. Mosaic Law
---Civic laws governing Jewish society
---Ceremonial centering around the sanctuary and its services
---Moral law based mainly upon the ten commandments

C. Rabbinic Law
---laws interpreting and adding details to the Mosaic law.

Discussion Question

Long before Moses penned the laws that were to govern Israel, Egyptians, Babylonians and other societies had their systems of societal laws that were in some cases similar in content to some of God's laws.
From where do societies get their sense of good and evil?

Some of my thoughts pertaining to the discussion question.

In the garden of Eden, God communicated directly with Adam and Eve, thus they were acquainted with God's ways.

After the fall this statement was made:

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;

"God pledged Himself to introduce into the hearts of human beings a new principle—a hatred of sin, of deception, of pretense, of everything that bears the marks of Satan’s guile."
Manuscript 72, 1904


This enmity against sin is the work of the Holy Spirit in the minds of people, for Paul writes:

Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
2:15 Which show the work of the law written in their hearts,

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to write God's law upon our hearts and minds. (see Jer. 31:33, Romans 8 and Heb. 8:10)



Yet the human heart is deceitful according to scripture, and can quench the true voice of the Holy Spirit, rationalizing evil, till they call good,evil, and evil, good, thus God gave mankind his law in written form as well, for the standard by which to know what is good and what is evil.

Why does the Old Testament refer to the commandments as a "Covenant"?

Some Bible students have noticed that the language used in the Ten Commandment is the language of a covenant.

What is the difference between commandments and a covenant?

Good question.

I well remember my first Bible study given me by a person who left the church back in the 1970's. It went something like this.

Exodus 34:28 And he (Moses) was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Hebrews 8:13 In that he said, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Thus he maintained -- the old ten commands have vanished away and we are now under the new commandments of "love".

It is a popular teaching. Yet it is a teaching that is used mainly by people who wish to get away from the Sabbath! Ever notice that? I mean, Christian denominations are having special days called "ten commandment days". They are fighting to have the ten commandments posted in schools and court rooms. So what is really going on? It's basically a battle against the 7th day, Sabbath!

Now the ten commandments are very much part of the covenant. Paul makes several statements that breakers of the commandments cannot inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21)
The covenant was given because
God's law was broken -- sin was everywhere.
It was given so covenant breakers could find forgiveness -- Christ took their punishment,
and be restored back into image of God -- living righteously.

The ten commandments remain the foundation of God's government, the standard of right and wrong. They are part of the everlasting covenant.

So the question is really -- what is the role of the commandments in the new covenant, is it different from the old covenant?

Without Christ, the law brings death, for all have sinned, transgressing the law, and the wages of sin is death.
But Christ has paid that price at Calvary, and He offers us life. We are freed from the condemnation of the law through Christ, but what now? What role do the commandments have now?

We can look at almost identical verses in Jeremiah and Hebrews.

Jeremiah 31:31-33



At Sinai, God wrote his commandments on two tablets of stone. The people declared, "all God has commanded we will do", thinking they themselves could do it. They of course failed.

Yet when people turn to God and give their lives into His control, they partake of the new covenant in which God has promised:

"“I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Thus the law is internalized -- that is, it becomes part of our very nature. Through the work of the Holy Spirit and our co-operation with His leading a transformation takes place in the character and life of the believer.

2 Cor.3: 3 "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart."

The commandments are part of God's covenant relationship with us. When we enter His covenant, we obey those commandments. The commandments are written in future tense. This means each of them is essentially a promise God makes with us, that when we enter into this covenant relationship with Him, we will cease to do those things which are sinful.

Picking out some of them for an example, and for the sake of brevity:

"You will not have any other gods...."
...
"You will not take the name of your Lord God in vain...."
...
"On the seventh day you will not do any work...."
...
"You will will not murder."
"You will not commit adultery."
"You will not steal."
...

Each one is a promise. The whole is a covenant, and God keeps His promises. We have only to keep our side of the bargain, and the covenant is sure to be fulfilled--Christ's character will be seen in us.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Read Matthew 19:16-19, Romans 13:8-10, and James 2:8-12. What do these verses say about the role that the Ten Commandments played in the lives of those who are followers of Christ?


How do we connect "love" with "commandments"?

Can one function without the other in a true Christians life?