The Law III

Jay: In our recent discussions, we seem to have determined that rather than live by a divine law that is harsh, demanding, and probably impossible for any human to uphold, we should accept god’s grace as protecting us from the law.

Matthew tells you that your hands, eyes, and feet might cause you to sin, and that so harsh is the penalty, you would be better off cutting them off. Paul struggles with this, in Romans 7:7-25:

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold [m]into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

And again in Galatians 3:1-14

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Is living up to the law so difficult that Jesus and Paul want us to transition away from it? If so, how does this relate to becoming like, or being like, a child? Is childhood somehow incompatible with lawfulness?

Harry: Billions of people born through the ages have never read “the law” and never heard of the bible, yet they live or lived the law in their hearts. Jesus ridiculed the Pharisees for their insistence on the law. And look at how the law confused Paul! He finally figured out that Jesus has us covered, and we don’t need to worry about it.

Robin: What if we had no law, though? Wouldn’t it result in chaos?

Jay: Indeed. And why is there law in the first place? Is it purely man-made? Paul says it is spiritual.

David: It’s implicit that law requires knowledge of good and evil, so law must have been man-made at the time of the Fall and must therefore be fundamentally flawed. There can be no gradual transition from such law: There can be only a sharp cut. To enter into the world of the spirit, the kingdom of god, one must leave the law behind.

Harry: Yes, the law is from man and is flawed. That’s why Jesus was mocking it. It’s so flawed that it is impossible to uphold.

Jay: So the law was not given to us by god, to help us out once we had knowledge of good and evil?

Joyce: The law was a good thing. It shows people how to love and respect one another. Of the 10 commandments, nine tell us how to treat one another. Only one has to do with worship of god.

Life is better following those rules. But using the rules to make judgments on yourself or on others is sinful. If we do it, we become so beaten up inside we cannot be joyful Christians.

Harry. If you believe that god exists, the only true law is inside you, even though you may not understand it. We are naturally spiritual. The Pharisees based the law on their understanding of good and evil, but remember that god said “my ways are not your ways”—there’s no way you can understand my concepts. So our understanding of good and evil may not be God’s—they are man-made. So Joyce is right—we should not judge ourselves based on these laws. They are fundamentally corrupt. Even our concept of god is corrupt.

David: We don’t need laws to teach us how to love. Love is inherent to humanity, including all those who have never heard of Jesus. Such concepts are beyond our ability to define. To try to codify, or define, something one does not understand is to sully it. That’s the source of all our problems.

Joyce: The law is good. Laws against theft, adultery, etc., are good for the community. You might sin and be saved by grace, but sin won’t bring honor to your parents, or make you a welcome member of your community.

Harry: The problem is that what we do in our community has nothing to do with our relationship with god.

Joyce: I agree, but that doesn’t mean that respecting and conforming to community rules is a bad thing.

Robin: I don’t see how you can separate your love for god with your love for community. “You do unto me as you do unto the least of these.”

Harry: But the question is where the law resides: In our hearts, or in some man-made, and manifestly imperfect, construct.

Joyce: The law is a beautiful construct, as showing us a way to live. It is a blessing to have the Ten Commandments to follow. We all fall short of living up to them, but it’s making the effort that matters.

Without structure and guidelines, we cannot build community, because community is based on love and trust. Such a community is safe and secure. Will you accept someone into your home who is going to abuse your child? As Christians, we are allowed to have boundaries.

Jay: The question boils down to whether we can focus on the law and grace equally, or is it a zero sum game?

Robin: The Pharisees focused on the law and used it to say “I am better than you because I am keeping the law and you are not.” First of all, they were lying—no-one could keep the law, it is too strict for anyone. But still, the law is necessary. After all, god’s own finger wrote it down on the tablets. But when you start a relationship with god, then the law becomes an expression of god’s love within you. That doesn’t mean the written law becomes null and void. It is still there.

Rimon: To pretend that we have god’s grace is even more impossible than pretending we can keep the law.

Harry: Jesus told us to “turn the other cheek.” This and other laws that god wrote were written in human hearts long before the ten commandments appeared. Every human who has ever been born has the law in his or her heart. The problem is setting up laws and saying that they are the way to god.

David: It is repeated so routinely that it is accepted as fact that we have to “love god.” We cannot love god, because we cannot know him. His ways are not our ways. Scripture is not telling us love god, it is telling us to love our neighbor. Scripture says that is the way to love god.

Jay: I still want to return to the issue of balance between law and grace, and which is the priority. I feel that law helps us to live a happier life, and to judge other people, which seems essential to community. If grace dictates your community, then everyone is in the community. Are the scriptures pointing to both types of community equally, or to one more than the other?

Emma: The one thing we have to be thankful for is god’s grace, which comes to us through trust in god.

David: Emma is right. Trust, or faith, is what unites the true community. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, if you have faith in god, you are united, in communion, with every other believer.

Rimon: The law shows us what to do—e.g., love your neighbor—but we cannot do it perfectly.

Harry: We cannot have the same faith and love as god. That’s life. One has days when one fails, and days when one succeeds, in following rules. We should listen to god in our heart, and try to love our neighbor as ourselves even though we know we will often fail. In Jesus we have the perfect example of including everyone—everyone—in community and telling us plainly that laws and biblical exhortations that exclude are false.

Robin: It certainly is possible to love god, because he defines himself as love and is the shepherd who looks after us. When someone demonstrates that kind of love for us, our innate, natural response is to love back. Can we love god perfectly? No, but that does not prevent us from developing that loving relationship individually, one to one. God seeks the single lost sheep. Will the sheep always respond with love? Maybe not, but it has the opportunity. It is possible to love and to grow in love with god, as with our family, our neighbor, and even our enemy (as Jesus told us.)

Jay: It is impossible to love god alone. The only way to love god is to love your fellow man. I don’t think you can have love outside of this. It’s almost a chicken and egg thing.

Harry: First you have to love yourself. You can do that when you know and accept that god is with you. If you are afraid, it is because you are keeping god out. Love yourself, then you can start to love others.

Victor: But isn’t self-love a form of selfishness?

Rimon: It’s just a matter of accepting yourself for what you are, as god does.

* * *