The Law of God

1. The Law of God

2. The purpose of this study is not to present a position, but to allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves. However, some notes are provided where clarification may be required.

3. Isaiah 28:9, 10* • Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? …for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: *All Bible verses are from the King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

4. The Law of God • When was the Law given? • Why did God give us a written Law. • Was it abolished by Christ? • Will keeping it save us? • What if we choose to reject it?

5. Genesis 26:5 • Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. • Note: Abraham lived before the written Law was given, yet he kept the Law.

6. Exodus 20:2, 3 • The First Commandment: • I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

7. Exodus 20:4-6 • The Second Commandment • Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: • Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; • And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

8. . Exodus 20:7 • The Third Commandment • Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

9. Exodus 20: 8 -11 • The Fourth Commandment • Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

10. Exodus 20:12 • The Fifth Commandment • Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

11. Exodus 20:13 • The Sixth Commandment • Thou shalt not kill.

12. Exodus 20:14 • The Seventh Commandment • Thou shalt not commit adultery.

13. Exodus 20:15 • The Eighth Commandment • Thou shalt not steal.

14. Exodus 20:16 • The Ninth Commandment • Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

15. Exodus 20: 17 • The Tenth Commandment • Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

16. Deuteronomy 4:13 • And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

17. Nehemiah 9:13, 14 • Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: 14And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

18. Psalm 1:1, 2 • Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

19. Psalm 19:7, 8 • The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. • The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the comm-andment of the LORD is pure, en-lightening the eyes.

20. Psalm 19:11 • Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

21. Psalm 111: 7, 8 • ...all his commandments are sure. 8They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.

22. Psalm 111:10 • The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his comm-andments: his praise endureth for ever.

23. Psalm 119:1 • Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

24. Psalm 119:97 • O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

25. Psalm 119:165 • Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

26. Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14 • Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

27. Jeremiah 31:33 • But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28. Matthew 5:17, 18 • Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

29. Matthew 5:19 • Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

30. Matthew 15:3-6 • For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother…But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift… he shall be free. Thus have ye made the comm-andment of God of none effect by your tradition. • Note: Have we made any other comm-andment of no effect by our tradition?

31. Matthew 19:17 • …if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

32. Matthew 22:37-40 • Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

33. Matthew 22:37-40 • Note: The first is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:5. The second is from Leviticus 19:18.

34. John 14:15 • If ye love me, keep my comm-andments.

35. John 15:10 • If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

36. Romans 2:13 • For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

37. Romans 3:20 • Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. • Note: The Law has no power to forgive sin, only to reveal its presence.

38. Romans 3:31 • Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

39. Romans 6:14 • For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. • Note: ‘Not under the Law’ does not mean it has been done away with, it means it is written on the heart (see note on Galatians 3:23-25).

40. Romans 7:2 • For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. • Note: The Law here refers to the seventh Commandment.

41. Romans 7:7 • What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. • Note: The Law is like a mirror which reflects our sinfulness.

42. Romans 7:12 • Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

43. Romans 7:14 • For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

44. Romans 7:22 • For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: • Note: The inward man means the heart, see Psalm 1:1,2.

45. Romans 8:7 • the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

46. Romans 13:8-10 • Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery… kill… steal… bear false witness… covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

47. Romans 13:8-10 • Note: The first four Commandments refer to our relationship with God; the last six to our that with our neighbour. This passage deals with the last six. We show our love for God and our neighbour by obeying the law.

48. 1 Corinthians 7:19 • Circumcision is nothing, and un-circumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. • Note: Not for our salvation, but because we love God.

49. Galatians 2:16 • Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

50. Galatians 3:11, 12 • But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. • Note: The Law, being like a mirror, has no power to justify us, only to point out our sin.