Literature.— The subject is discussed in the ^'ew Testament Theologies, the treatises on the Teaching: of Jesus, and in the Lives of Christ and the commentaries. A verv able n^no-rraph by R. Mackintosh, Christ and the Jetrhh Law, is devoted to the subject. Other works that mav be mentioned are : Schiirer, Die Predict Jetsri in ihrem Vcrhultnisg zvm alien TeMament tind zum Jtuienthitm (18S2) ; Bousset, Jesit Predict in ihrem Gegenmtz zum Judenthnm (1892); Jacob, Jexti Stelhmr, zvm mosaischen Gesetz (1S93) ; also the section ' Christus und das niosaische Gesetz' in Ritschl's Die Entftchiinq der alfkathoti- iiehen Kirche -' (1857) ; cf. also Hastings' DB iii. "73-76, and Extra ^ ol. p. 22 S.
See also following article.
A. S. Peake.
LAW OF GOD.— We are not entitled to gather from the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels that He made auj- formal distinction between the Law ot Moses and the Law of God. His mission being not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets (Mt 5^'), so far from saying anything in disparage- ment of the Law of Moses or from encouraging His disciples to assume an attitude of indepen- dence with regard to it, He expressly recognizetl the authority of the Law of Moses as such, and of the Pharisees as its official interpreters (Mt •23'-).
One great aim of His teaching being, however, to counteract the influence of the Pharisaism of the time, under which zeal for the Law had degenerated into a pedantic legalism, which made outward con- formitj- to the letter all-iaiportant and caused the true interests of religion and morality to be lost sight of amid the Shibboleths of national ritualism, He sought to concentrate the attention of His hearers upon the true meaning of the Law. In doing this He practically ignored the distinctions of the scribes between greater and lesser com- mandments of the Law, and between the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (or ' the Writings "), and insisted upon the authority of Scriptiu-e as the word of God. What God says in Scripture, the inspired record of Revelation, is for Jesus the linal court of appeal. ' The Scripture cannot be broken " (Jn 10^"^) is a principle never once lost sight of in any controversy.
At the same time, as Jesus Himself taught as One who had autliority (JMt 7-" Mk 1--), quietly but none the less emphatically asserting His right to explain the spirit and meaning of the Divine word. He did distinguish and teach His disciples to distinguish between letter and spirit, that which was jiermanent and universal in the Law and that which was partial and temporary. It is therefore possible, and even almost necessary, with a view to a clear understanding of Christ"s attitude to- wards the Law, to distinguish between the Law of God, meaning hy the term that which is of uni- versal validity, and those elements in the Law of Moses which are merely associated with a par- ticular dispensation, a temporary manifestation of God's will.
1. A tyjiical illustration of the propriety of such a distinction is found in that passage in which Jesus, dealing \\itli the question of marriage and divorce, treats the Mosaic law on the subject as an instance of accommodation to an imperfect state of society (Mt 19»-« Mk l(p-% 'For the hardness of j'our heart he A\Tote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female," etc. (Mk lO^"^*^-). Here we see at once a distinction made between the Mosaic precept and the Divine law. The former allowed divorce upon certain well-tmderstood grounds. The Pharisees put their own lax interpretation upon this precept, and multiplied the causes of divorce to an extent far beyond what the precept actually justified. Christ's reply to the question of His adversaries on this point was simply to remind them of the original Divine ordinance, according to which the marriage bond was made indissoluble. The Law of Moses permitted divorce, but the Law of God maintained the sanctity of the marriage bond, and this represented the point of view from which the whole question ought to be regarded. ' They twain shall be one flesh. Wliat therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.' In this connexion the Law of God and the Law of Moses are to one another in the relation of the spirit to the letter. This tyincal instance illustrates the principle upon which Jesus proceeded in His interpretation of the Divine law. His aim throughout was to call at-
16
LAW OF GOD
LAW OF GOD
tention to tlie true spirit and jjurpose of the Law, to that in it which was of essential and permanent value. That the spirit of the Law, of which the letter is but the necessarily inadequate expression, is the Law of God, the manifestation of the Father's will for the moral and spiriturd good of His children.
2. The attitude which Jesus adopted towards the whole question of the Law, considered as the ]>aw of God, is well exenndified in the Sermon on the Blount, and in particular in those words which may he fitly taken as the motto of His teaching : ' Think not that I am come to destroy the law or tlie prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulhl ' (Mt 5" ; see j^reced. art.). In the contrast between Avhat ' was said by them of old time ' and His own emjjhatic ' But I say unto you,' we find the distinction between the Law of Moses and the Law of God. In the latter case He clearly speaks as God's representative, and we are reminded of John the Baptist's illustration of the difference between Christ and himself, the last of the Prophets : ' He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God ; for God giveth not the Sjiirit by measure [unto him] ' (Jn 3"^). In the one case, the statute which Jesus quotes, M-e have to do with the letter of the Law, that Avith which alone the scribes occupied themselves and upon which they founded their casuistical refinements. In the other case, the words ' But I say unto you ' bid us go behind the letter and get at the root of the matter, ' for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life ' (2 Co 3"). Thus, in proceeding to apply the prin- ciple which He has just laid doAvn (I\It 5^''), Jesus starts with the comprehensive statement of v.-" ' For I say unto you, That except your righteous- ness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pliarisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.'