| |
11. The original law is
superior to the law of Sinai.
When asked, "Which is the
greatest commandment of the law?" Jesus said:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets"
(Matt. 22:37-40). Neither of these is in the Decalog; but
that law hangs on this higher law, and so is inferior to
it. These principles, clad in the armor of eternal
immutability, lay back of the Mosaic law and existed as
they had existed before and exist now.
In its very nature this great law
of supreme love to God, and equal love to fellow
creatures, must be as eternal and everlasting as God
himself. This law governs angels, governed Adam, the
patriarchs, the pious Jews while "under the
law," and governs Gentile Christians now. It is
applicable to all God's creatures in all ages and all
worlds. This great law might be worded in different ways
at different times and yet the same essential idea be
preserved. Thus, Jesus stated the second great commandment
in another form: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them;
for this is the law and the prophets"(Matt. 7:12).
The idea is the same as "thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself." Evidently this supreme law must have
been known to Adam and to the patriarchs, but in just what
form we are not told. To say that it was in the exact
words of the Decalog is to affirm what can in no wise be
proved.
|
|
