Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness [agape LOVE], and Your law [agape LOVE] is truth (Psalm 119:142; emphasis added).
The law [agape LOVE] of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death [GOOD AND EVIL] (Pro.13:14; emphasis added).
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells [GOOD AND EVIL]; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil [GOOD AND EVIL] I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God [agape LOVE] according to the inward man. But I see another law [GOOD AND EVIL] in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin [GOOD AND EVIL] which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death [GOOD AND EVIL]? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God [agape LOVE], but with the flesh the law of sin [GOOD AND EVIL] (Rom. 7:18-25; emphasis added).
In the above passage the apostle Paul describes the spiritual war taking place on the human stage. Paul states that in his Adamic nature, the nature of Adam after he sinned, he is in slavery to the law of good and evil in his mind, in his old covenant thinking. He exclaims that he is thankful that through Jesus Christ he has been delivered from this oppressive condition. Jesus Christ’s revelation about God’s character of agape love, has, by the Spirit of life that is in Christ, freed him from the law of sin and death.
However, the law of sin and death, good and evil, is still in his nature, thus still affecting his mind. Therefore this nature wars against his renewed mind in respect to what he knows about the agape love law of God. By the ministration of God’s Spirit he is no longer in slavery to good and evil. Since learning of the love of Christ and the Father, he now has a mind that knows God’s law of agape love, and even though he still falls prey to good and evil in his behaviour, he is restrained by the empowerment of the Spirit of Christ Jesus.
In his mind he serves the law of God, being fully cognizant that God does not operate by the principle of good and evil. Therefore, because of what he has come to know through the Spirit of Christ, he no longer attributes to God the principle of good and evil. Without the Spirit of God, however, he would operate in the flesh and serve the law of good and evil; that is sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ [agape LOVE] has made me free from the law of sin and death [GOOD AND EVIL] (Romans 8:1, 2; emphasis added).
Paul clearly expresses that only in the Spirit of Christ Jesus can there be a true understanding of the law. Thus we are no longer under the condemnation of the law of good and evil which erroneously had caused us to believe that God operates by it.
One Eternal Law
Before iniquity originated in the universe, only one law existed from eternity past. This law embodied the essence of God, His agape love. The governing methodology used by the agape love rule of law is based on the character of God. Therefore, the principle of agape love is constant as God is constant, and circumstances cannot and do not change its mode of operation. Since the law of agape love is the essence of God, it is as changeless as God himself is changeless, and it does not alter or adjust itself to the different situations that it may confront.
For I am the Lord, I do not change (Malachi 3:6).
Failure to understand this ultimate fact about God’s character and His law, has deceived us into believing that God operates by “situation ethics.” Since we are duped into believing such a lie about God, we do the same. God is eternally constant and operates purely by agape love.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:16,17; emphasis added).
The singular law of agape love for the governance of the universe was no longer a reality when Lucifer introduced his law of good and evil. However, even in the face of iniquity, the rule of law of agape love did not change from within itself in order to address the new circumstances. agape did not make any adjustment to the new circumstance of evil, because agape is principle based.
With the introduction of Lucifer’s law of good and evil, there were now two laws and a visible choice came into existence. True to His own freedom-giving law, God allowed Lucifer to promote and enact his new law. So we see that even in the face of iniquity, for Lucifer’s new law is iniquity, the rule of law of agape love did not change. Because it is principle based, its principles remain constant, unchangeable even in the face of new circumstances. So if we say that God’s law gives freedom of choice, then we must understand that it gives freedom of choice even if the choice in question may be as disastrous as was Lucifer’s new law.
God’s Law Of The Universe Is In Harmony With His Character
Why was God’s law of agape love the supreme unchangeable law for the governance of the universe from eternity past? The answer lies in the fact that God as the Creator of all things transcends everything. And since agape love is His very essence, there cannot, therefore, exist any possibility for anything else to transcend the essence of His being. Nothing else in the universe surpasses the preeminent, absolute supremacy of God’s law of agape love. Everything that had ever existed was in complete harmony with His character and was manifested in all His acts. Since nothing in the entire universe can exceed or go above God, His law governs the universe.
Before Lucifer sinned, all of his activities were in complete accord and conformity to God’s law of agape love. He lived by it with absolute joy, and with no reservations. While he conformed to the principles of agape love, he enjoyed peace and harmony within himself and with God, till iniquity was found in him.
The Two Trees
When Satan came to the earth along with the angels that had adopted his new law, he brought his law with him. The two trees planted in the middle of the Garden of Eden represented the two antithetical, irreconcilable principles, one representing God, and the other Satan. One was the fountain of life, the other the source of death.
We will all agree that God and Satan are two personalities that are at the ends of the spectrum in every way imaginable. In fact, one might even say that they are not even in the same spectrum. They are irreconcilably at opposite ends of the pole in every aspect of their being. We may then conclude that the two principles represented by the two trees in the Garden are as antithetical to each other as God is antithetical to Satan. There are no commonalities whatsoever existing between the principles of God and the principles of Satan. From this perspective then, as we have seen, the war that is taking place between good and evil, between God and Satan, is a war between the principles of the tree of life and the principles of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is not a war between the good and the evil which belong to the tree of good and evil, because both of these involve violence. Only agape love is truly good, and the law of good and evil is altogether evil.
God’s Tree Of Life
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us (1 John 1:1-2).
From the beginning Jesus was with the Father. The life that is in the Father is also in Jesus.
In the garden, the tree of life represented God as the source and sustainer of life. It symbolized that He is the source and sustainer of life only, and had nothing to do with death. In the sentence for the life was revealed, the article the before the word life is used to emphasize that only life comes from God and no form of death originates from Him—He is the life and so is Jesus. The tree of life was a representation that obeying God and Jesus, who are the source of life, resulted in the perpetuation of life. This tree represented God and revealed Him as the antidote to death, not the cause of death. This tree represented God as the source and sustainer of life and immortality, freely given to all who chose to remain under His protection.
Satan’s Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil Satan’s tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the opposite of anything that is of God, and is called iniquity, or lawlessness. With what we have established in the previous chapters, it is apparent that the Bible’s usage of the word lawlessness describes any principle or law not having agape love as its foundation. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented the death principle, which was the hybrid rule of law Satan had proposed for the government of the universe. As we have seen, this law arbitrarily rewards those who do good and arbitrarily punishes those who do evil. Punishment for evil leading to death is an integral part of Satan’s law. Satan is the source, sponsor and promoter of the death principle for all who choose his form of government.
There Are Only Two Laws From Which To Choose
So we see that the two trees represented two opposing rules of law: God’s law based on His own character of love, and the other Satan’s law of good and evil. God’s law of agape love had its ultimate revelation and demonstration by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. God’s love was authenticated by what transpired on the cross when Jesus Christ died for all of the sins that were committed as a result of using Satan’s rule of law of good and evil. No other options or alternatives are available to the universe. Were we to scrutinize all thinking and actions of all living beings, we would conclude that in their basic premise, they fall under the hegemony of one of these two principles. God’s principle of the tree of life gives life and does not take life under any circumstances. Satan’s principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the other hand, can only take life, for as a created being, Satan cannot give life, he can only take it away.
Each Tree Also Represents A Kingdom And A Character
Not only do these two trees represent two completely antithetical laws by which their respective kingdoms operate, but they also represent two diametrically opposed characters: God who is loving, long-suffering and delighting in mercy; and Satan, who is forceful and violent. We see this contrast in the Bible’s description of Lucifer and of Jesus. Ezekiel 28:16 describes Lucifer thus:
By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned.
Isaiah, on the other hand, portrays Jesus as nonviolent:
And they made His grave with the wicked – But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9).
The Two Antithetical Principles Cannot Be Reconciled
The principle of good and evil is antithetical to God’s agape love principle from the tree of life. With all that we have established in previous chapters, there is no way to evade this fact. These two incompatible and irreconcilable principles can never belong to, or co-exist in, the God of agape love, the Creator of the universe. They do not share any common ground and do not overlap in any possible way. They are absolutely mutually exclusive, being worlds apart and without any link to each other. We cannot stress enough just how diametrically opposed they are. They are as far apart as God and Satan are apart. The contrast is infinite.
The tragedy of tragedies is that most of the followers of God, and in particular those within the Christian persuasion, have attributed to God a hybrid personality comprised of elements that arise from Satan’s principle of good and evil.
Satan’s principle of good and evil has been wrongly portrayed as having two opposite and antithetical precepts within itself. We have come to believe that the good of good and evil belongs to God, and the evil belongs to Satan. But as discussed in chapter two, this hybrid principle belongs completely to Satan, and is in its entirety evil. The good and the evil of the principle of good and evil are both evil. It was to make this point that Jesus answered in the following manner the rich young ruler who has asked Him what good deeds he should do in order to inherit eternal life: Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God (Luke 18:19). God’s goodness is an altogether different kind of goodness than the one that exists in the world. God’s goodness is His agape love, and it has no relation to the good from the principle of good and evil.
The fault in this confusion lies with us, for we have under-estimated the profoundness of what Lucifer, who had the mind of a genius, proposed. We cannot conceive that God would allow him the freedom to devise such a masterful, logical evil principle. His intended principle was ingenious as an alternative to agape love. The deception has been achieved because it is so logically systematized and thoroughly sound to the carnal mind that does not understand the principle of the cross. It is so rationally convincing that its deception is impossible for normal human wisdom to discern and penetrate, except through the cross principle. The cross event is the only place where the deception is exposed.
Satan Wanted To Replace God’s agape Law With His Own Law Of Good And Evil
Lucifer’s highest ambition was that his principle of good and evil should have been accepted by God as the supreme law of the universe. We can make that claim because we know he wanted to exalt his throne above the stars of God (Isa. 14:13). If this principle had been accepted by God, then God would have arbitrarily rewarded when one did good and arbitrarily punished when one did evil, just as Lucifer is now doing on earth. He believed that the rule of law he proposed made much more sense than God’s supreme law of agape love. Because he believed that the principle of agape love, as a law for governance. was ludicrous, he felt strongly that it should be replaced by the principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He maintained that no one can have a relationship with God based purely on agape love, and that the arbitrary reward/punishment system is the only way we can have a relationship with God. The contrary, of course, is the truth.
The Law Of agape Love
Jesus taught that God makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:43). Jesus taught that God simply loves all His creatures and showers them with His blessings regardless of who they are or what they do. Since we are all evil (no one is good but One, that is, God, Luke 18:19) then in actuality there are no truly good people on earth, as human goodness is always tainted by selfishness. But God blesses all, irrespective of our actions. That is unconditional love in action.
In God’s rule of law of agape love, which is a representation of His character, freedom to choose for or against Him is intrinsic, indispensable and inseparable from His character. When one chooses to obey God, inherent in that choice are the fruit of blessings. These blessings are not an arbitrary act of reward from God, but are inherent in the choice to obey God. When one chooses to disobey God, inherent in that choice is the decision to place oneself in Satan’s domain of good and evil, the only other alternative, and the one in which curses are experienced. That fact must be unequivocally understood and accepted or else the consequences will result in believing Satan’s lie that God treats us according to our behaviour.
The preponderance of Christians claim that it is apparent from the Bible that God does operate arbitrarily. They believe that when circumstances demand it, He utilizes the death principle that emanates from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
To avoid such an erroneous understanding from developing, God illustrated the two principles at the very beginning of human history in a simple and graphic display by the two trees in the Garden of Eden. The two trees which represented the two antithetical and conflicting principles were in place in the Garden of Eden before sin occurred in our world. It is imperative that this understanding be the paradigm we use when studying the character of God, as failure to do so will result in a complete misunderstanding of God’s character. Not grasping this principle is the root cause of all false knowledge of God.
Under no circumstances does God’s agape love punish anyone. On the contrary, God and all who live by agape love take punishment upon themselves instead of harming or punishing the wrongdoer.
Satan’s Agenda Is To Destroy God’s Supreme Law Of agape Love
Satan has the singular agenda to make null and void and bring to an end God’s supreme law of agape love as the way of governing the universe. To achieve this end he is utilizing his law of arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment. Humanity has mistakenly believed that this evil system originated from God and is His rule of law. The whole world has been deceived in this respect. Satan has to resort to deception because he is fully cognizant that agape love cannot be breached except by deception. Therefore, subtly and convincingly he is surely accomplishing his agenda by making us believe that good and evil is God’s principle.
Have The Ten Commandments Been Abolished?
Some passages in the Bible appear to indicate that the Ten Commandments have been abolished. We will take a look at some of the verses that address this issue, and we will see that is not the case. In fact, the law of agape love is the foundation of the Ten Commandment law, and Jesus confirmed this when He said that love for God and for a neighbour was the totality of the law.
Romans chapter seven looks at the hold that that law has, and uses the example of the marriage between a man and a woman. In this chapter, Paul informs us that the Ten Commandment law of agape love is certainly not sin, for sin brings death. On the contrary, he tells us that the law of agape love is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. This law of love is also spiritual. Therefore, for these reasons he delights in the law of God. Then, after making such statements, Paul says that the commandment which was to bring life, he finds to bring death. How can agape love bring about death?
The answer is simple: the problem is not with the law but with us and our carnality. Because we are in bondage to the sin of good and evil we interpret the law of life from the perspective of good and evil. So when viewed from the lens of good and evil the law that was to bring life brings death instead.
Or do you not know, brethren, (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; though she has married another man (Romans 7:1-3).
When the Ten Commandment law is viewed and lived by the principle of good and evil, it has dominion over us as long as we live within that paradigm.
In this context, the word dominion means that this law has repressive supremacy and control of our lives. While under such a law, we are bound by this onerous principle and we cannot be freed from such a demonic edict until we die to it.
As long as we impute the law of good and evil to the Ten Commandments, which is a reflection of God’s character, we will have a distorted view of God and will never have that oneness that God wants to have with us.
We cannot attribute both agape love and good and evil to the Ten Commandments because they are antithetical principles. Such a mixture is neither in God’s character nor in His Ten Commandment law of agape love.
In our deceived condition, we may assign good and evil to the law of God; but when we do such a thing, we commit spiritual adultery. In order to be released from this adulterous condition we must first die to the belief that Satan’s principle of good and evil is God’s moral law. After our minds have been cleansed from this sinful understanding we are then set free to be married to Jesus Christ and His law of love.
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:4-6).
Paul further expounds that we have become dead to the law of good and evil through the body of Christ. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has revealed and confirmed God’s law of agape love and this law is also intrinsic in the Ten Commandments. With this understanding, in the newness of the Spirit, we are dead to viewing the law with the mind of good and evil. We must not ascribe the principle of good and evil to the Ten Commandment law. This is what Paul had done before his epiphany. Now he advises us not to do what he did before his conversion, because that was the oldness of the letter. The oldness of the letter is what was in all of us prior to the revelation Jesus Christ gives of the Father. When we, by the Holy Spirit, receive Jesus Christ’s revelation, then, like Paul, we will be able to state:
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me (Romans 7:7-11).
Paul clearly points out that without the Ten Commandment law of agape love we would not be sinning or transgressing it: for where there is no law there is no transgression (Romans4:15). Sin is not imputed when there is no law (Romans5:18). If God’s law of agape love was nonexistent sin would also not exist. Are we to conclude that the law of agape is sin, because if there was no law of agape love there would be no sin? Paul passionately exclaims “certainly not!” He says that sin, taking opportunity by the commandment of agape love, produced in me all manner of evil.
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good (verse 12) and unchangeable, because its principles emanate from God. The law will also remain unalterable in us as long as we do not subject it to the principle of good and evil. If we do, it will certainly bring death to our understanding of God’s character.
Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin (Romans 7:13-14).
Sin is Satan’s rule of law, his principle of good and evil. If it was not for the law of agape, sin would be nonexistent. In love, God asks us not to covet. We will not want to covet if our lives are governed by agape love. If we are dead to agape love, the law that states ‘You shall not covet’ will cause us to covet because we are under the domination of the sinful law of good and evil.
Thus, the Ten Commandments can be interpreted either by a mind controlled by the principle of good and evil, or by a mind inspired by the principle of agape love.
The Flesh Or The Carnal Mind Is The Law Of Good And Evil, The Spirit Is The Law Of agape Love
The Bible refers to the innate human nature as the flesh or the carnal mind. The flesh or the carnal mind is the principle of good and evil in us. Romans chapter 8 makes the distinction between living by Satan’s principle and living by God’s principle:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh [GOOD AND EVIL] but according to the Spirit [agape LOVE]. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [THE LAW REPRESENTED BY THE TREE OF LIFE] has made me free from the law of sin and death [SYMBOLIZED BY THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL]. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the Law [agape LOVE] might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh [GOOD AND EVIL] but according to the Spirit [agape LOVE]. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [GOOD AND EVIL] is death, but to be spiritually minded [agape] is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the Law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:1-8; emphasis added).
There is therefore now no condemnation only because those who are in Christ Jesus have understood and appropriated God’s unconditional love. They know that no matter what the circumstances, God does not condemn them, but accepts them unconditionally. They no longer believe that God looks at them with a mindset of good and evil, and they have no more fear of punishment. In addition, they themselves also do not use the principle of good and evil anymore in their relationship with God and others.
The law of unconditional agape love has made us free from the law of sin and death (verse 2). When Jesus demonstrated God’s unconditional agape love on the cross, it was thus that He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness requirement of the law [of agape love] might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the [law of good and evil anymore] but according to the Spirit [of agape] love (verses 3, 4).
To be carnally minded is death (verse 6) because God said it was: for the day you eat of it you shall surely die. That the carnal mind is at enmity against God (verse 7) was immediately apparent when Adam and Even ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and hid from God. We must not forget that what affected their minds has also affected ours, and that is the ‘knowledge’ of good and evil. If God dwells in us through our acceptance of the testimony of Jesus Christ and through our adoption of the law of agape love, we will no longer operate under good and evil and we will have life and peace.
The law Of Good And Evil Leaves Us Guilty Before God
The entire human race has fallen prey to Satan’s law by utilizing the principle of arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment. Those who have not been deceived by this principle and know that good and evil is not of God are the exception. Not surprisingly, even with this knowledge, there is still an uphill battle for those who do not wish to live by the law of arbitrary reward and punishment, for it is so ingrained in us. For this reason therefore now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God (Romans 3: 19).
All people on earth live by the law of arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment in some form or another, and under that law, all consider themselves guilty before God. We will never attain perfection and earn a right relationship with God by adhering to the law of good and evil because all this law ever does is it makes us believe that we are guilty before God. But by God’s perfect law of agape love, we are all justified before God, are we not? If we relate to this law of grace and the righteousness of Christ, then we know that God does not condemn us. The world is judged by only one law, the law of good and evil. Jesus came to show us that God does not condemn us as the law of good and evil condemns us.
When our knowledge of God’s character is untainted by good and evil, the following passage will meet its fulfillment:
We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:18-20).
Paul states clearly that the whole human race does not seek after God and that we are all on the wrong track.
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have before charged both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable, there is none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their way, and the way of peace they did not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes’ (Romans 3:9-18).
Why does this passage say that no one seeks after God when we know that God has put in all of us a desire for Him? In some parts of the world, just about everyone is seeking after God, and the people are very spiritual! And yet, the Bible clearly states that not seeking God is the universal condition of humanity without any exception.
No one is excluded because no human being has understood and lived by God’s agape love. Because everyone lives by the principle of good and evil, none are righteous, no not one. No one understands God and His agape love. Not one seeks after the God of agape love. We have made God into our own image, into a God of good and evil, and that is the God we seek.
We must understand that we are all utilizing the same principles as Satan as we go about trying to attain our individual goals in life. We all use principles that are contrary to God’s agape love principle, and try to achieve our own selfish goals by whatever methods our minds can conceive. Not one of us is righteous in this connection; no not one is excluded from conforming to the law of arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment, the methodology of Satan.
When we take the Ten Commandment law and apply to it the principle of good and evil, then we are under the law and still guilty before God. What does it mean to apply the principle of good and evil to the law? It means to attempt to keep God’s good law out of fear of punishment and condemnation, or out of a hope of arbitrary reward from God. That is why some Christians believe that we are under the condemnation of the law because we have failed to keep it. None of us are able to keep the law in the flesh, that is, with the mindset of good and evil. When we look at the law, God’s agape love, we realize how far removed we are from that love, which makes us realize our sinful condition—through the law is the knowledge of sin. It is then that we will realize our need of Jesus Christ.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe (Romans 3:19-22).
The Bible classifies all that adhere to the belief system from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as those who are under the law. The followers and worshippers of a God of arbitrary reward/punishment are under the law of this erroneous belief system. Now we know that whatever the law says, about this deviant belief system, it says to those who are under the law, under the law of this godless belief system, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
We are guilty of participating in this flawed belief system that is not of God. The obvious empirical evidence cannot be denied that the entire world in one way or another is systematically governed by this arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment system, which is why all the world is guilty before God. Guilty—for the system itself is intrinsically saturated with the evil of guilt. Because the system of arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment is innately antithetical to God’s unconditional agape love, it is therefore permeated with accusation, resulting in the state of being in which all the world may become guilty before God.
Is The Law Therefore Sin And Has It Been Abolished? What About The Sabbath?
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law (Romans 7:7).
If the Ten Commandment law is sin, then we must also ask the question: is the Sabbath law sin? This is an extremely crucial and critical question, and it will be discussed in great detail in chapter seven. We must clearly understand whether the Sabbath law is sin, and whether God has abolished this law, having nailed it to the cross. In addition, we must know for certain whether God replaced the seventh day Sabbath with Sunday, the first day of the week.
Answering the above question, the apostle Paul passionately cries out and says certainly not! He goes on to say, on the contrary I would not have known sin except through the law. Except through the law is the only specific way Paul knew that to break the Ten Commandments, which includes the Sabbath commandment, was a sin.
Satan has tried to discredit God’s law of agape love in any and every possible way. He has taken particular aim however, on the seventh-day Sabbath, for he knows that when we come to understand the true spiritual meaning of the seventh-day Sabbath, his masterful deception regarding the true character of God will be unmasked. The attack on the seventh-day Sabbath, which is one of the commandments of God’s law of agape love, is an age- old attack and continues to this day.
There is a segment of Christianity that has taken some biblical passages regarding the Ten Commandment law, and have distorted their meaning by not comparing Scripture with Scripture, thus not looking at the picture in its entirety. One of these passages is found in Colossians 2:14-17:
…having wiped out the hand-writing of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:14-17).
Most modern-day Christians claim that the above passage refers to the Ten Commandments, and thus they deny the sacredness of the seventh-day Sabbath. However, does the apostle Paul convey the notion that the seventh-day Sabbath was just an ordinary day like the ceremonial Sabbath days, which were festivals that were put in place after sin, and which were a shadow that met its fulfillment on the cross? If that were the case it would no longer be necessary to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, just as it was no longer necessary to observe the other Sabbath days after the cross event. But is that what he was communicating in the verses above? We must bear in mind that the principle of the seventh-day Sabbath, which is a component of the law of agape love, preceded the creation of Adam and Eve as well as sin in our earthly sphere. The ceremonial Sabbaths were introduced by Moses approximately twenty-five hundred years after Adam and Eve were created and after they sinned.
What Was Really Abolished At The Cross?
The following passage states that on the cross Jesus abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances (Ephesians 2:15). To what does this passage apply? Is the Ten Commandments law, which includes the seventh-day Sabbath commandment, no longer applicable because Jesus nailed it to the cross?
The answer is a resounding no! It is the law of commandments contained in ordinances that were abolished. They were those commandments that were Judaism’s ritualistic commandments, and which pointed to the Advent and life of the Messiah. These were not the moral law of God.
The Ceremonial Sabbaths Were Done Away Because Jesus Fulfilled Them
Paul is not saying that the Sabbath of the seventh-day of creation week is the sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come, of which the substance is of Christ. Nor is he saying that the seventh-day Sabbath belongs to the law of commandments contained in ordinances. In this passage he is specifically referring to the ceremonial sabbaths of Leviticus chapter twenty-three. These were types, symbols, and rituals instituted after sin. They ceased to have meaning after they met their fulfillment in the different aspects of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ’s own words deny that the seventh-day Sabbath came to an end at the cross. In the passage below He warns us of a future event, an event that will take place much later and way beyond what transpired on the cross. In this prophecy of the end time He confirms that the seventh-day Sabbath will still be undeniably applicable just prior to His second coming:
But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be (Matthew 24:19-20).
The Law Of Good And Evil Was Also Abolished At The Cross
The two antithetical principles in question represented by the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must be addressed and dealt with as two separate principles. They are mutually exclusive principles.
They must never be fused or thought of as belonging to the governing principles of God, which is what we have done. By dying on the cross, Jesus abolished such erroneous notions.
We replaced God’s supreme rule of law of agape love with Satan’s principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Arbitrarily rewarding the good and arbitrarily punishing the evil is claimed and promoted not only as being God’s rule of law, but as being His law of agape love.
We will be freed from deception when we come to understand the purity of God’s agape love as shown by Jesus’ death, and when we stop fusing and tainting His love with Satan’s principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God’s Law Is Foolishness To Some Because It Does Not Arbitrarily Punish
Without spiritual discernment, God’s agape love is the epitome of foolishness to the human intellect. One third of intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere believed this to be true and refused to believe that agape love is a workable rule of law. agape is complete insanity to the carnal human mind for the single reason that God’s agape love has no mode of arbitrarily punishing evil. While it allows an individual the freedom to choose evil, it does not punish that individual. All punishment comes from Satan’s domain.
Conversely, to the carnal mind, Satan’s law is the embodiment of wisdom because it punishes evil. Satan arbitrarily rewards evil and good, and punishes evil and good as well, as long as the end justifies the means. If one chooses to operate by his law of good and evil one removes oneself from under the protection of God’s law of agape and places oneself under the destructiveness of Satan’s rule of law.
The Angels Who Accepted Satan’s Good And Evil Rule Of Law Are Sealed In Their Choice
Satan’s proposed replacement of God’s rule of agape love for governing the universe was not an impulsive thought. On the contrary, he thought it out, and on the surface it appeared rational and was very convincing.
Intellectually, the choice he offered made abundant sense in that it was perceived to be ethically indisputable and logically flawless. For these very reasons one third of highly intelligent angels rejected God’s rule of agape love and accepted Satan’s law, which was later represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.
A third part of the stars of heaven, mentioned in Revelation twelve, verses three and four, represents the number of the angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion:
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth.
The Bible proves that the fallen angels are roaming the earth. They were cast…onto the earth along with Satan who is ultimately responsible for convincing them to accept his law.
Further evidence that the fallen angels have assimilated and adopted Satan’s belief system of good and evil can be found in many of the verbal exchanges they had with Jesus and in the fear they now have toward God:
When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time (Matthew 8:28-29; emphasis added)?
Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God (Mark 1:23-24; emphasis added)!
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble (James 2:19; emphasis added)!
The minds of the evil angels now view everything from their adopted paradigm based on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as destroyers themselves they now see God in the same light. By their clear choice one third of sinless beings in the transcendent sphere demonstrated that they firmly believed that the message of the cross is foolishness, that message which is God’s unconditional love and which is the power of God. They not only thought God’s law of love was foolishness but also firmly believed it would be the downfall of God and His government. It was for this reason, therefore, that they accepted Lucifer’s principle of good and evil. They came to believe that Lucifer’s principle of good and evil had the true power for the governance of the universe. Like him, they felt that without arbitrary punishment for evil, it is impossible to govern.
Thus the more heinous the evil perpetrated, the more severe should be the arbitrary punishment. In fact, to more effectively deter evil from happening, the punishment should be even harsher than the actual crime warrants. The consequential arbitrary punishment dispensed should be even greater, so that the evil will not be repeated. In their darkened minds this punishment became the only way to curb evil. It is to those who are thus influenced by Lucifer’s principles that the message of the cross is foolishness.
We know that the essence of God is agape love. This single, ultimate law of agape love was the principle that governed the universe. What made Lucifer commit himself to such an antithetical thinking to that of God is stated by Isaiah in chapter 14:13-14:
For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
Lucifer firmly believed that his principle, his rule of law, was better than what God had in place to govern the universe. It is his desire to be worshipped at any cost, and he can use what God cannot – force.
Human beings, with their brilliant minds, have accepted exactly the same law. The difference between the two classes of created beings, angels and humans, is that one third of the angels were not under the same delusion as the human race, who are deceived into thinking that Lucifer’s law for governance is God’s law. The angels (now demons) who accepted Lucifer’s law know exactly what they believe. Accordingly, their decision is sealed for eternity.
Humanity, however, due to its thousands of years of degeneracy and the very subtle nature of Satan’s deception, is still on probationary time. God in His mercy will ensure that the gospel – the eternal and true character of God, the good news of God’s agape love, that
He is the Creator and not the destroyer of people, and that He does not operate by Lucifer’s principles – is made available far and wide before Jesus’ Second Advent. Humanity’s fate is not sealed till it will be known with certainty before the Second Advent of Jesus Christ that God does not operate by Lucifer’s principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God is patiently waiting for humanity to come to the realization of the deception that is controlling our minds and every aspect of our activities. This error in thinking, and the resulting actions, must be corrected when the truth is given. Once the truth is given, rejection of the truth about God’s character will result in what the Bible refers to as a hardening of the mind or heart. This will lead ultimately to the mind being completely hardened in favor of the hegemony of Satan’s rule of law, which will have eternal consequences.
After the truth is given, all, whether believers or unbelievers in God, who continue to believe that Satan’s law is the way to govern, will reflect it in their lives.
All who have embraced Satan’s principles, including some of the professed followers of God, will react in ways that will predictably harmonize with the principle of good and evil. With a blasphemous mindset, their belief will be revealed in certain fixed ways. For instance, they will vote for candidates who will agree with them that good and evil is God’s rule of law. Their mindset will also be demonstrated by their belligerent reaction towards those who do not agree with their belief system. They will even sanction violence as a method of punishment.
Another way in which their theology and faith will be verified, is by their personal involvement in violence towards those they categorize as enemies, because these so called enemies are not in harmony with their thinking. Believers and unbelievers in God will all alike reveal by their actions whether or not they are in agreement with Satan’s law. Their minds will be sealed like those of the angels who accepted Lucifer’s rule of law, and they will thereby seal their fate.