The Law and the Gospel - Our Adventist Life

These verses are about what is the law and the gospel based on a chain of verses that are referenced in a specific order to help give clarity and context.* It has very minimal commentary so that you can do your own self-reflection and discovery of the verses. Many times the Bible explains itself if you just know where to look.

With each group of verses, there are probing questions to help you consider what is being said. Each verse in the study is linked to an online Bible, should you want to check the context of the verses around it. Also, allowing verification of what scripture says, as well as purity of a study based only on the Bible.

1. How extensive is God’s government?

Psalms 103:19 (KJV) — “The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.”

2. What is the rule of His kingdom?

Psalms 103:20 (KJV) — “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
Psalms 119:172 (KJV) — “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.”
Psalms 119:142 (KJV) — “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”

3. Did God’s law exist on earth before it was given at Sinai?

Compare Genesis 4:7 (KJV) — “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
- with 1 John 3:4 (KJV) — “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
- also Genesis 35:2-4 (KJV) — “² Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: ³ And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. ⁴ And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.”
Genesis 26:5 (KJV) — “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
Genesis 2:1-3 (KJV) — “¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ² And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ³ And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
Exodus 16:1, 4, 5 (KJV) — “¹ And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. … ⁴ Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. ⁵ And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Exodus 16:27-30 (KJV) — “²⁷ And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. ²⁸ And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? ²⁹ See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.”

4. How was the law given?

Deuteronomy 4:12-13 (KJV) — “¹² And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. ¹³ And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.”
Exodus 24:12 (KJV) — “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.”
Exodus 31:18 (KJV) — “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

5. What is the nature of God’s law?

Psalms 19:7 (KJV) — “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
Proverbs 6:23 (KJV) — “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:”
Romans 7:12 (KJV) — “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”

6. What is the relation of the law to the sinner?

Romans 4:15 (KJV) — “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.”
Romans 7:6-8 (KJV) — “⁶ But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. ⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. ⁸ But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.”
Romans 5:13 (KJV) — “(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
1 John 3:4 (KJV) — “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

7. What is the place of the law in the gospel?

Romans 3:19-20 (KJV) — “¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:31 (KJV) — “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
James 2:8-12 (KJV) — “⁸ If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: ⁹ But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹ For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.”
James 1:22-25 (KJV) — “²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
Romans 3:21-24 (KJV) — “²¹ But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²² Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”
Romans 3:31 (KJV) — “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

“The law is the gospel infolded; the gospel is the law unfolded.
“The law is the gospel inclosed; the gospel is the law disclosed.
“The law is the gospel concealed; the gospel is the law revealed.
“The law is the gospel fulness delayed; the gospel is the law fulness portrayed.
“The law is the gospel in minimum; the gospel is the law in maximum.
“The law is the gospel contained; the gospel is the law maintained.
“The law is the gospel sighted; the gospel is the law lighted.
“The law is Christ designed; the gospel is Christ enshrined.”
— “Practical Lessons from the Experience of Israel,” F. C. Gilbert, pp. 168, 169.

8. Did Christ keep the commandments?

Psalms 40:7-8 (KJV) — “⁷ Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, ⁸ I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
Isaiah 42:21 (KJV) — “The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.”
John 15:7-10 (KJV) — “⁷ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. ⁸ Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ¹⁰ If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

9. What should be our attitude towards the law?

John 14:21 (KJV) — “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
1 John 5:1-3 (KJV) — “¹ Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
1 John 2:4-6 (KJV) — “⁴ He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. ⁶ He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

10. In what way only can we obey the law?

Romans 8:1-4 (KJV) — “¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ⁴ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

“The law reveals the perfection of character required, and so gives a knowledge of sin; but it is powerless to confer the character demanded. In the gospel, the law, first written in the heart of Christ, becomes ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,’ and is thus transferred to the heart of the believer, in whose heart Christ dwells by faith. Thus the new covenant promise is fulfilled, that the law shall be written in the heart. This is the genuine experience of righteousness by faith,— a righteousness which is witnessed by the law, and revealed in the life in harmony with the law. The gospel is thus seen to be the provision for restoring the law to its place in the heart and life of the one who believes on Christ, and accepts His mediatorial
work. Such faith, instead of making void the law, establishes it in the heart of the believer. The gospel is not against the law, therefore, but upholds, maintains, and presents the law to us in Christ.”
— “Bible Readings for the Home Circle,” pp. 410, 411.

This study guide was based on Reading No. 11, pages 102-103 from Brief Bible Readings for Busy People,
prepared by the Home Missionary Department
of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Review and Herald Publishing. Published originally in 1930.

View the original study guide, which this guide is based on, as a scanned PDF. Full credit to them.

*A Bible chain reference is a system of cross-referencing between different passages or verses of the Bible to connect and relate different concepts, themes, or topics mentioned in different parts of the Bible. It helps readers gain a deeper understanding of the overall message and meaning of the text. To use it, readers start with a particular topic or theme and then look up the corresponding list of verses, paying attention to the connections and relationships between them. Studying them in a particular order, helps one understand the topic from beginning to end. Just like peeling the layers off of an onion. It’s a useful tool for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the Bible and its teachings.

Our Adventist Life

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Our Adventist Life is a dedicated online evangelist and mother of two, deeply rooted in her Seventh-day Adventist faith. With over 15 years of experience in creating and optimizing digital content, she brings a unique blend of professional expertise and spiritual insight to her work. Her passion lies in exploring Biblical truths and their practical applications in daily living, self-care, and family nurturing. Through her writing, she aims to inspire and guide her readers toward a more fulfilling Christian lifestyle, drawing from her own experiences as a parent and a follower of Christ. Her thoughtful and engaging content reflects her commitment to sharing the love and wisdom found in the Scriptures with a modern audience living in the end times.

Home Missionary Department

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“Adventist mission touches lives through medical care, media, education, mission workers, Global Mission pioneers, outreach resources and so much more. The Adventist mission is entering new areas. Establishing new congregations. Changing lives.” “More than 2,500 Global Mission pioneers are now working around the world. Since 1990 pioneers have established more than 11,000 new Seventh-day Adventist congregations.” – Read more about Adventist Mission.