September 28
“Whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all,” James 2:10.
When God created Adam and Eve, He wrote the Law of God in their hearts. They had a perfect knowledge of God’s will. After they sinned, that knowledge was blurred. However, by birth, every person still has a blurred knowledge of God’s Law.
To the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote: “When Gentiles, who do not have the Law (that is, the heathen, the non-Christians, who do not have the written Ten Commandments), by nature do the things in the Law, these, although not having the Law (that is, the written Law), are a law to themselves, who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them,” Romans 2:14-15.
Every person, when he or she is born, has a limited knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, which is based upon the Law of God written in their hearts. Being sinners, we do not have that perfect knowledge of God’s will which Adam and Eve had before they sinned.
The Bible speaks of the Ten Commandments given to Moses on two tablets of stone. However, the Bible does not number the Commandments as First, Second, Third, etc. All church bodies do not use the same numbering, which is of no consequence. The Ten Commandments are summarized in the Bible in two categories. A certain lawyer asked Jesus, “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets,’” Matthew 22:36-40. According to the arrangement that we use in the Lutheran Church, the first three Commandments speak of love for God. The last seven speak of love for your neighbor.
The Law of God is a unit. You never sin against only one Commandment at a time. James writes, “Whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” When you sin, you break the whole unit! For example, every sin is a sin against the First Commandment. “You shall have no other gods before Me,” Exodus 20:3. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. If we could and would love God perfectly above all things, then we could keep all the Commandments. They form a unit. Sin in one point, and you are guilty of all.
This shows us how horrible and serious sin is! It becomes very clear to us that we cannot be saved and go to heaven by keeping the Commandments. “By the deeds of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin,” Romans 3:20. For the sake of our salvation, we flee to the Gospel, the Good News of God’s love for us sinners through Christ. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” Acts 16:31.
“The Law commands and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;
But ‘tis the Gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do His will.
My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the Law.
Fly to the hope the Gospel gives;
The man that trusts the promise lives!” Amen.