Note: Nichol’s use of Christmas texts in this Christmas season installment was not planned ahead; it just happened in a serendipitous way.
Objection 17: The Bible repeatedly and emphatically declares that no one can he justified by keeping the law. Hence to preach the keeping of the law is to preach another gospel. “Whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace.” Gal. 5:4.
In harmony with the Bible, Adventists repeatedly and emphatically declare that no one can be justified by keeping the law. (See the discussion of Objection 14) The confused reasoning in the objection before us resides in the evidently mistaken idea of what the word “justified” means Scripturally.
The evidence presented under objection 14 revealed that the divine act of justifying a sinner takes place at the moment he comes to God, repentant and in faith, to claim the offered pardon for sins through the sacrifice of Christ. To teach that man can wipe out past guilt, that is, past disobedience to the law of God, by faithful keeping of that law in the future is to flout the grace of God and to preach another gospel.
The word “gospel” means good news. Good news that a divine plan has been devised whereby sinful man may be purged of his guilt; that the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world was delivered over to death for our offenses and raised again for our justification. (John 1:29; Rom. 4:25)
This is clearly revealed in the words of the angels who spoke to Joseph and to the shepherds. Said the angel to Joseph, regarding Mary's son that was to be born: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.
To the shepherds the angel declared: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11.
When we preach the keeping of God’s commandments we are not preaching a different gospel. We are simply echoing the words of the apostle John: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. We are simply calling on the justified-through-faith child of God to live in obedience to God.
Paul, apparently, feared that some who read what he had written about men not being justified by the law might wrongly conclude that God’s grace frees us from any obligation to keep the law. He states the matter thus: “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” Paul, who knew that “sin is the transgression of the law,” is really asking this: Shall we transgress the law because we are under grace? He answers, “God forbid.”
We Seventh-day Adventists simply echo Paul’s answer when we call on those who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ’s substitutionary death to avail themselves of God’s transforming power, and refrain from transgressing God’s law in the future. Far from being legalism, this is mere Christianity, and has always been understood to be such.