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In the Image of God

Volume 20, Number 11 July, 2014

§ Sabbath Christian Church Magazine

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The Law

Introduction

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The Law Def.: law, Torah, regulation, teaching, instruction; often referring to the five books of Moses in whole and in part. A thing regarded as having the binding force or effect of a formal system of rules: what he said was law. The Torah not only defines the Ten aspects of the Law, but also teaches and explains the ramifications of the Law. First we need to understands how the Law comes into existence.

By Whose Authority?

By God Almighty’s. God has all power; there is no one or anything that can come close to His power, much less surpass Him. He is the Ruler of all because He created all. He has and did delegate some authority to others. Obviously, the crea-tion as “natural,” Godly formed physical laws, such as, gravity, momentum, friction and hundreds or more laws which we can observe and science has discovered using its scientific method. Further, as noted in several articles, the commandments were embedded into the creation. The physical laws and the Torah teach us about God, our relation with Him and the ways of righteousness, e.g., the Commandments elucidated in many verses. Deut. 4:35 (NAS95S) “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.

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from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has op-posed the ordinance of God; and they who have op-posed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Dan. 5:21 “He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wish-es. Amen. Gil Kovacs, Pastor, Sabbath Christian Church

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Lord def.: Yhwh; from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eter-nal; the name of God: Gen. 17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. The one who is (self-) sufficient” and having all and to-tal power. There can be no other. For example, no one can be self-sufficient, live without air, water and food. Blameless: def., without defect, righteous. 1Pet. 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Psa. 19:7 (NAS95S) ¶ The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; God spoke the initial Command out loud so there would be no question or confusion about what the Law Giver stipulated. Gen. 2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; Gen. 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good

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Deut. 4:8 “Or what great nation is there that has stat-utes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? Noahide Laws: Fundamental Laws of Gov-

ernment

1. “The prohibition of idolatry. 2. The prohibition of murder. 3. The prohibition of theft. 4. The prohibition of sexual immorality. 5. The prohibition of blasphemy. 6. The prohibition of eating flesh taken from an an-

imal while it is still alive. 7. The requirement of maintaining courts to provide

legal recourse. “According to Rabbinic tradition, the Noahide laws are derived exegetically from the few commandments which were given to Adam in the Garden of Eden, Gen 2:16, and a seventh precept, which was added after the Flood of Noah. According to Judaism, the 613 commandments given in the written Torah, as well as their explanations and applications discussed in the oral Torah, are applica-ble to the Jews only, and non-Jews are bound only to ob-serve the seven Noahide laws.” Wikipedia Rom. 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except

created

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and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” They refused to obey this command from the Creator. Jesus, who never sinned, took on the sins of all sinners and died in their place. Those, who accept Jesus’ death for their sins, are freed from the law of death because Jesus died for them.

Origins of Law

The French Revolution Thinking We hold from God the gift, which includes all others. This gift is life — physical, intellectual, and moral life. But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserv-ing, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process is nec-essary in order that life may run its appointed course.

What Is Law? What, then, is law? It is the collective organization of

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makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 14 Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. Jer. 27:5 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.

Physical Law A statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the ef-fect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present: the se-cond law of thermodynamics. Light, gravity, evapora-tion, wind, etc.

Intellectual Law Deut. 32:46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. Psa. 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. Moral Law

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the individual right to lawful defense. Much of Deuteronomy illuminates the Law. Deut. 27:8 (NAS95S) “You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly.” Deut. 27:9 (NAS95S) ¶ Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the LORD your God. Deut. 27:10 (NAS95S) “You shall therefore obey the LORD your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.” Deut. 27:15 (NAS95S) ¶ ‘Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ Deut. 27:16 (NAS95S) ¶ ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Deut. 27:17 (NAS95S) ¶ ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Deut. 27:18 (NAS95S) ¶ ‘Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Deut. 27:19 (NAS95S) ¶ ‘Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

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ens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. Psa. 102:25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. 27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end. 28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.” Prov. 16:4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster. Isa 37:16 The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster. Isa 44:24 “This is what the LORD says — your Redeem-er, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heav-ens, who spread out the earth by myself, Jer. 10:11 “Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’” 12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wis-dom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. 13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he

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These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties? If every person has the right to defend even by force — his person, his lib-erty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collec-tive right — its reason for existing, its lawfulness — is based on individual right. And the common force that pro-tects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another indi-vidual, then the common force — for the same reason — cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups. Such a perversion of force would be, in both cases, contrary to our premise. Force has been given to us to defend our own individual rights. Who will dare to say that force has been given to us to destroy the equal rights of our brothers? Since no individual acting separately can lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not logically follow that the same principle also applies to the common force that is nothing more than the organized combination of the individual forces? If this is true, then nothing can be more evident than this: The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful de-

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fense. It is the substitution of a common force for indi-vidual forces. And this common force is to do only what the individual forces have a natural and lawful right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and properties; to main-tain the right of each, and to cause justice to reign over us all. The world is God’s; He created it. Gen. 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Lord def. LORD (Yahweh), the proper name of the one true God; knowledge and use of the name implies per-sonal or covenant relationship; the name pictures God as the one who exists and/or causes existence. God Has the Right to Make Laws Col. 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through [through, by means of; (acc.) because of, for the sake of, therefore] Him and for Him. 1Chr. 29: 11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Neh. 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heav-