1. What we are to understand by the law.
I. I shall discourse concerning the law's entrance, and the end or consequence of it
It will therefore be proper to explain there three things in discoursing on this head.
1. What we are to understand by the law.
2. What by the entrance of it.
3. In what sense the offense abounded by it.
1. What we are to understand by the law: By the law is meant either the ceremonial or the moral law; the ceremonial law was a shadow of good things to come; it prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ, and was the Jews schoolmaster, which led them to him; it consisted in the observation of meats and drinks, and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on the Jewish church, until the time of reformation (Hebrews 9:10). It may not be amiss if we consider a little, how far the words will bear this sense.
The ceremonial law entered but for a time, it was not to continue always; and this is thought by some to be the import of the Greek word pareishlqen; and it is the observation of one of the ancients, that the apostle does not say the law was given, but it entered, and that on purpose to shew that the use of the law was but temporary. The moral law abides for ever, as a rule of life, but the ceremonial law was to continue but for a time, even until faith came (Galatians 3:23, 25), that is, Christ, who is both the object and author of faith; for Christ the substance being come, those shadows vanished and disappeared: His blood being shed, which cleanseth from all sin, no more need of the blood of bulls and goats, nor of those divers washings and purifications; this great sacrifice being offered up, the daily sacrifice ceased; and spiritual ordinances being instituted, no more need of carnal ones.
Again; The ceremonial law was superadded to the moral law; it was an appendage to it, it entered in over and above that. The moral law was given to discover the evil of sin; the ceremonial law was superadded to it to lead the faith of God's children, under that dispensation, to a proper atoning sacrifice for it.
Again; The ceremonial law was an indication of that great evil which is in sin; God's requiring sacrifices to be offered for the typical expiation of sin, does manifestly shew how highly he relented it, and of what an evil nature it is; and if you will but consider the frequent reiteration of those sacrifices, and how there was, notwithstanding them, a remembrance of sin made every year (4); also how far short of perfection these sacrifices left the comers thereunto, and how impossible it was that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin; you will then easily observe the vile nature of sin, and how it abounded and became exceeding sinful by this law.
Lastly, As the design of this law was to lead the faith of God's children to the person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; so it was not only to shew us what sin is, and how highly displeasing to the great God; but also how much his superabounding grace appears in the remission of it, through the blood and sacrifice of Christ prefigured thereby; so that where sin abounded grace did much more abound . But then,
By the law may be meant the moral law, which was given by Moses, and is mentioned in apparition to that grace and truth which came by Christ. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The sum of which law is love to God, and love to our neighbor; as appears from the answer which Christ gave the lawyer who put this question to him; saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets (37). Hence it is that the apostle Paul says, that love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10). And this is the law which I apprehend is meant in the words of my text. I shall now therefore consider,
2. What is meant by the entrance of this law. We may consider the law as it entered into the world by Moses, as it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator on mount Sinai, and also as it enters into the conscience of a poor sinner.
The entrance of the law by Moses, does not suppose that there was no law previous to that which was given by him; for there was a law of nature which was inscribed on Adam's heart, and continued there during his innocent state; same broken remains of which are yet to be found, even in the very Heathens, as is manifest from Romans 2:14, 15 .
Besides this, there was also a positive law given to Adam as a covenant-head, recorded in Genesis. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou halt surely die. Through the transgression of which law he ruined himself and all his posterity, and that for ever, had it not been for the kind interposition and efficacious mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus then there was a law antecedent to the lawn being given on mount Sinai.
Nor does it suppose that this law, which entered into the world by Moses, is of a different nature from that which was inscribed on Adam's heart, in his state of innocence; but only that it was delivered in another manner, the one was written upon the fleshly table of the heart, the other upon tables of stone; the one was given to Adam to be kept by him, the other was put into the ark, which ark was a type of Christ; the one was delivered as a covenant of works, the other only as a rule of life, to shew what is to be done, and what to be avoided, to discover the nature of sin, and the creature's inability to keep that law; in order that souls under a sense of these things, might make application to Christ, who was made under this law, and is become the fulfilling end of it for righteousness to every one that believes (Romans 10:4): so that the law of nature, and the law of Moses, for substance, are the same. Again:
The word here used may denote the time of its entrance, it intervened, it came, as it were, between Adam's sin, and Christ's sacrifice for it; the offense was committed long before the law entered; and the law entered long before Christ's sacrifice was offered; it entered into the world between them both. The offense is permitted, and after some considerable time the law is given, that the offense might abound; and after as long a time, Christ comes to atone for this offense, that grace might superabound . Quickly after the offense was committed, a promise of grace was made; now between that promise, and the fulfilling of it, the law entered. But we may consider the law, as it enters into the conscience of a poor sinner, and thus it enters privately, secretly, and as it were by stealth; and in this sense is the word used, where we read of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily, pareishlqon, crept in, as it were by stealth, to spy out our liberty; now the law as given by Moses, did not enter in such a manner; there were present ten thousands of saints, that is, Angels. And so also when the Lord spake the ten words, all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightenings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; (Exodus 20:18); so that the law was not given in a private manner, but in the presence of angels and men. But when the law comes and enters into the conscience of a man, it is suddenly, at unawares, and it immediately causes sin to abound. An instance of this, we have in the apostle Paul; for I was alive, says he, without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died (Romans 7:9).
He thought himself, before the commandment came, as good, holy and righteous as any man, and in as fair a way for heaven; but when the commandment came nearer to his conscience, and he law the perfection; and spirituality of it, and was thereby powerfully convinced of the filthiness of his nature, and the imperfection of his obedience, immediately sin revives, abounds, and appears exceeding sinful, and he becomes a dead man in his own apprehension; thus the words may be referred to the use of the law; though I am rather inclined to think they are to be understood of the law's entrance by Moses. Thus much for the law's entrance; we shall now consider,
3. The end or consequence thereof; that was, that the offense might abound: By the offense, we may understand either the sin of Adam, or any, or all other sins, and transgressions; there is some reason to believe that by the offense, the apostle primarily intends the sin of Adam; because it is that sin which he particularly treats of in the preceding verges, as also the word paraptwma, which the apostle makes use of here, signifies a fall, and so may intend what we commonly call the fall of Adam; though, I confess, the word is sometimes used for actual sins and transgressions. But however, it may not be amiss to consider how this offense of Adam's abounded by the entrance of the law of Moses.
1st, The guilt of Adam's sin has abounded to all his posterity, being imputed to them; for in the preceding verges we are told, that by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; and that by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners . Now the apostle asserts, in Romans 4:15 that where there is no law, there is no transgression; and in Romans 5:13 . that sin is not imputed where there is no law; so that the objection then is, how could sin exist, and be imputed, and death by it reign over the sons of men, when there was no law given? I answer, There was, as I have before observed, a law of nature written upon Adam's heart, the same in substance with the law on mount Sinai; which last was broke, through the violation of a positive command, and thereby sin did exist, and was justly imputed by God; Adam then standing as a common person, and representative of all mankind; but by the fall, this law and light of nature became weak and dim, so that the existence and imputation of sin did not appear so manifest; wherefore the great God thought fit to renew the law on Sinai, that the offense might be more conspicuous, and the imputation of it appear more just; thus the law entered, that the offense might abound .
2dly, Not only the guilt of this sin is imputed, but a corrupt nature is propagated to all his posterity; for who can bring a. clean thing out of an unclean? not one (Job 14:4): This corruption of nature, which is sometimes called by the apostle, sin, and sin that dwells in us, abounds in every man, and by the law abounds more and more, according to what the apostle says in Romans 7:8, But sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence; that is, "This inherent corruption of my nature took the opportunity, through the law's prohibition of sin, to stir up in me the lusts of the flesh, and carnal desires of the mind, and pushed me on to a performance of sinful actions." Thus the law entered, that the offense might abound . But,
3dly, By the entrance of the law of Moses, Adam's sin appears exceeding sinful, attended with aggravating circumstances. For though the eating of the forbidden fruit, may seem to be a small offense, yet if you consider what an indignity was offered to the great God thereby, how his divine authority in his holy command was trampled upon, the glorious perfections of his justice, truth and power were despised, his pure and perfect image in man, which consisted in righteousness, and true holiness, defaced, and also that glory which the creature by its service should have brought to him, lost: thereby, it was great.
"He at one slap (as it is well expressed by a learned divine) breaks both the tables, and all the commandments,
1. He chose him another God when he followed the devil.
2. He idolized and deified his own belly.
3. He took the name of God in vain, when he believed him not.
4. He kept not the rest and estate wherein God had let him.
5. He dishonored his father which was in heaven; and therefore his days were not long in that land, which the Lord his God. had given him.
6. He massacred himself, and all his posterity.
7. He committed spiritual fornication in eyes and mind.
8. He stole that which God had set aside not to be meddled with.
9. He bare witness against God, when he believed the witness of the devil above him.
10. He coveted an evil covetousness, which cost him his life, and all his progeny."
Thus he broke all the commandments. Now it is the law, which thus discovers the heinousness of this sin, in those particular instances. And in this sense the law entered, that the offense might abound .
By the offense we may also understand any, or all actual sins and transgressions; now let us see in what sense they abound by the law.
First, The law makes a plain and open discovery of them, and lets them forth in their own proper colors; for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20; 7:7), yea, the apostle tells us, that he had not known sin but by the law; it is a glass wherein we may behold in the light of the Spirit, our inward deformities, as well as the grosser sins of life; though it is neither a magnifying, nor a multiplying glass, it does not make sins to appear greater than they are, nor more than they really be; but it discovers those sins to be great ones, which before were looked upon to be but small; and those to be sins, which before were not esteemed so; and thus sin abounds by the law's entrance.
Secondly, It makes sin to abound by a prohibition of it; not that any fault is to be charged upon the law; but upon the corrupt heart of man, which, the more it is restrained and prohibited from doing any thing, the more eager it is to effect it. It is just like a person in a violent fever, who the more he is restrained from drinking, the more he thirsts after it; or like a torrent of water, which when attempts are made to stop it, it rises, swells, rages, and overflows the more; such is the untoward, perverse and corrupt heart of man: thus when the Lord would have the Israelites go into the land of Canaan, then they refuse; but when the Lord had forbid them to enter, then they must needs go in all haste; so also when circumcision was God's ordinance, then the nations round about loathed it, and the Jews for it; but when it was abolished by Christ's death, then it needs must be taken up, as necessary to salvation. Oh, the abominable corruption of man's heart!
Thirdly, The law being given, sin committed against it, is attended with more aggravating circumstances; it is committed against light and knowledge; here can be no plea of ignorance, no cloke for sin; for he that knows his Lord’s will, and does not according to it, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12:47); it is bidding an open defiance to heaven, and a despising and trampling under foot the majesty and authority of God, instamped on his law; for according to the majesty and greatness of the lawgiver, does the offense in. proportion arise: This law, which sin is the transgression of, being given forth by that great lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy (James 4:12); makes the offense to be the more heinous. And thus by the entrance of the law sin abounds . This may suffice for the. first head of. discourse. I shall now,