Sabbath: One Lawgiver and Judge
Read for This Week’s Study: James 4:11-17; Acts 17:11; Heb. 4:15-16; Luke 12:13-21; Eccl. 2:15-19; Titus 2:14.
Memory Text: There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
(James 4:12).
Our attitude toward law, whether God’s law or human’s, affects how we relate to others and even to how we relate to God Himself. Have you noticed that sometimes the rich and famous act as if they are above the law? Even some who make the laws, or enforce them, may look for ways to write those laws for their own personal gain. Disrespect for a society’s laws, then, can involve disrespect for other people, because laws govern how we relate to each other.
At the same time, those whose attitude toward law is rigid and unbending may also have difficulty in their interpersonal relationships. At a deeper level, our view of the law depends on the degree of respect we have for the wisdom of the lawgivers and the fairness of their laws.
This week’s lesson begins with a look at the law but then leads into some important words about a form of arrogance and self-dependence that we might not be aware of but which we are warned about as being sin, a violation of God’s law. In fact, we’re given here, in James, another way of looking at sin.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 29.
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Jas 4:12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.
This text confirms my understanding that it was the pre-incarnate Jesus who spoke the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai and gave Moses all the other laws.
There is only one who saves us, it is Jesus, so Jesus is the Lawgiver.
Actually our whole God, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is our Saviour. If we look at the Father as though He has nothing to do with our salvation we misunderstand Him because He lived in Christ even when He was Jesus the incarnate God. He experienced everything Jesus experienced because He was One with Jesus. Jesus said that He did nothing of His own self, and that the Father was involved with everything He did. The Holy Spirit was the motivator of Jesus from conception until now. In fact we know that selfishness never was His motivation. If it had been we could not be saved because the "sacrificial lamb" would be "blemished" and, therefore, could not be effective.
The same Holy Spirit can be our motivation, with our permission, to do the same for us as He did for Jesus and help us not to sin, by giving us the vey motivation of God.
Hi Donald, of course you are absolutely right, all three were involved in the Creation and in our Salvation.
However it can be said that Jesus was the point person. John said Jesus is the Word and that He created the world, we know He was crucified and that He was the Rock that accompanied the children of Israel in the wilderness. So in that sense we can say Jesus is the Lawgiver. The reason I think this is important is because some people say we only need to follow Jesus' commands and not the Ten Commandments of the OT, however when we know that Jesus spoke the Ten Commandments it takes that excuse away.
I agree. All three are involved with salvation to the same degree.
This is laid out beautifully in Romans 8.
I liked what you said Donald, it felt as if the Holy Spirit was speaking through you when you posted that comment. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Shirley for saying what I thought I should say. In fact it was the Son of God who was separated from the father on the cross so that we could be redeemed. It was the Son of God's blood that was shed on the cross so that I could be saved. It was the Son of God , Jesus who took on the sins of the world in the garden of Gethsemane. It is for this reason that when we pray we pray in the name of Jesus in order to speak to the Father.
The Father was also separated from the Son and suffered just as much.
I know you're not saying this, but oftentimes people may get the misconception that Jesus Christ suffered the most and worked the hardest for our salvation.
Romans 8 surprised me one day when I was reading it--in that it clearly laid out that all three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in this salvation business to the fullest degree.
That is, the goal of salvation is to obliterate the distance between God (as we know it--Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and man.
Have you ever noticed that the people who have trouble with the Law are the ones who is guilty of breaking it. When you buy a bus ticket and you are asked to show your ticket you show it without an attitude, but if you do not have the ticket,you know that you are breaking the law, then there is fighting and arguing about showing the ticket. We must develop a relationship with the Lawgiver , respect Him and obeying the laws will not be an issue
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I like what Shirley said about Jesus being the law giver. I have neve thought of it that way. Many people say that when Christ came He dealt away with moses's law but this is not so because the ten commandments were actually given by Christ and not Moses as they put it.
Anne Nyaboke, I think Moses'law is referring to the ceremonial law (done away) on the cross and ten commandments is the moral law that will not be blotted out (cos it is the God's character)!
Hi Alice, the way I understand those texts is that the record of our sins were 'nailed to the cross', were forgiven, when Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
When Jesus through Moses gave the instructions about the tabernacle and the services they were in effect object lessons of what the LORD wants to do for us and our response. After Jesus came and lived the Law the way He meant it when He wrote it and then died as our substitute then we and they no longer need the object lessons.
However I strongly believe that the principles behind the sanctuary instructions are still valid only the application differs.
For example the instruction to make sacrifices for their sins - we no longer kill animals, but we acknowledge that Jesus died for our sins and per Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
Another example is that the priests had to wash themselves in the basin before going into the Holy Place - we now 'wash' ourselves in baptism, through feet washing, through daily confessing our sins daily and asking for cleansing.
I am sure that if we take each of the instructions the LORD gave Israel through Moses we will see that the principle behind the law are still valid, only the applications differs.
All the ceremonial laws were to show Israel the promise that Jesus would come and take their sins away.
So I believe that the so-called ceremonial laws were not 'done away with' but the principals of these laws are still valid, only the way these principals are applied have been changed.
from the bible u guys I jus feel God, Jesus and the Holy spirit its one and the same thing. All of them are responsible for law giving as well as our salvation. The trio can not be separated
I like what Irene said, the trio can not be seperated God the Father, the Son n the Holy Spirit all work together for our salvation. Without the three everything (our salvation) would be impossible