Article October 3, 2005 Issue

LIVING UNDER THE JUSTICE OF DIVINE LAW

By James Spencer

WHEN GOD GAVE Moses the Ten Commandments, it helped bring an end to much lawlessness in the known world, and to the perception of justice as a relative concept, fluctuating according to one's situation and viewpoint. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy described the unity of law and justice when she wrote: "Justice is the moral signification of law. Injustice declares the absence of law" (p. 391).

In the Old Testament, however, the idea of divine law and justice still portrayed God as vengeful, exercising destructive wrath and enforcing a personal will. The understanding of God as divine Love—Love that inspires and enables men and women to obey the Commandments, Love that saves humankind while it destroys sin—hadn't yet been revealed to human consciousness.

It would take centuries of mental development and spiritual growth before Christ Jesus' life, teaching, and works would link love and mercy to justice. The "Thou shalt not's" of the Ten Commandments given by Moses were fulfilled in the "Blessed are ye's" of the Beatitudes given by Jesus (see Matt 5:1-12).