The Royal Law

 1 John 3:4   Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

 

 

Read James 2:1-12

 

1. From verses 8-12, what 3 points/examples are specifically mentioned in the context of the keeping of the whole law?  Fill in column one in the table below.

 

 James 2 Three Points of Law

1.

 

 

2.

 

 

3.

 

 

 

2. Using the Old Testament/Pentateuch, find a scriptural reference for James calling each of the 3 points sin.

 

James 2                                          Reference

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. From what body/classification of law are these arguments pulled/used?

 

James 2                                           Reference                                           Classification

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James has shown that to break either a commandment or a statute is sin.  Therefore breaking a statute is violating the moral law.

 

4. What terms does James use to refer to this combination of commandments and statutes?

 

5. According to the first full paragraph on Patriarchs and Prophets page 310 why were the Israelites not prepared to appreciate fully the far reaching principles of God’s 10 precepts?

 

6. Why were additional precepts given to illustrate and apply the principles of the Ten Commandments?

 

7. How were the additional precepts delivered and why?

 

8. What was the stated object of all of these regulations?

 

9. What is/was the condition(s) of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel? (6-1)

Statutes and commandments =conditions of fulfillment=law of liberty =whole law

 

10. What is the relationship of  the law of liberty or the whole law (which is statutes and commandments) to God’s promises to Israel?

 

To visually recap these concepts:

James 2:1-12                         Commandment                       Statute

Respect of persons

 

James 2:9  But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

Are statutes moral?

 

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

Adultery

James 2:11  For he that said, Do not commit adultery,

 

Murder

said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

 

Examples of broken laws which equal sin are given above and contain both commandments and statutes.

 

 So Commandments + Statutes = the Royal Law or the Law of Liberty.

 

Ellen White bears this out in PP 310, 311 where she outlines Ex. 21, 22, 23 as the additional precepts given … illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments.

Ex. 21, 22, 23

     EGW’s Outline                          Commandment                      Statute or Judgments

Ex. 21:2 first law relates to servants

 

Ex. 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

Ex. 21:16 manstealing

VIII Ex.20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

Ex. 21:16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

 

 

 

Ex. 21:12, 14 deliberate murder

 

 

VI Ex.20:13  Thou shalt not kill.

 

                               (6-2)

Ex. 21: 12 ¶ He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

Ex. 21:14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

Ex.21:15 Rebellion against parental authority

V Ex. 20:12 ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

 

Ex.21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

 

Ex.21: 20 Murder of slaves to be punished

VI Ex.20: 13  Thou shalt not kill.

Ex. 21: 20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

 

Ex.22: 21 Beware of indulging the spirit of cruelty

 

Ex. 22: 21Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

 

Ex.22; 22 Rights of widows and orphans guarded

 

Ex. 22: 22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

Ex. 23: 9 Aliens who united themselves with Israel to be protected from wrong and oppression

 

Ex. 23: 9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Ex. 22:25 Usury from the poor forbidden

VIII     Ex. 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

 Ex. 22: 25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.

 

 

Ex. 22:4 He who was guilty of theft was required to restore double.

 

 

VIII Ex.20: 15 Thou shalt not steal.

 

                             (6-3)

Ex. 22 :4  If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

Ex. 22:28Respect for magistrates and rulers was enjoined

V   Ex.20: 12 ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother (constituted authority)

Ex. 22: 28 Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

Ex. 23:6 Judges were warned against perverting judgment

 

Ex. 23:6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.

Ex. 23:1 Calumny and slander were prohibited

 

Ex. 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Ex. 23: 5 Acts of kindness enjoined

 

Ex. 23: 5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

Ex. 23: 10-17 Again the people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath.  Yearly feasts were appointed.

IV Ex.20: 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Ex. 20: 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Ex. 20: 10 But 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:

Ex.20: 11 For 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.

 

Ex. 23: 10 ¶ And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:

Ex. 23: 11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

Ex.23: 12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.           (6-4)

Ex.23: 14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

Ex. 23: 15  Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

Ex.23: 16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Ex. 23: 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

 

 

These laws were to be recorded by Moses, and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts which they were given to illustrate, the condition of the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel.  {PP 311.3

 

Some of us have believed tradition all of our lives.  You will not find the word ceremonial connected with the word Sabbath anywhere in scripture or the Spirit of Prophecy.  Augustine originated the phrase, James White picked it up and we never checked it out.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                      (6-5)