Law

Law Three kinds of law 1. Specific 2. General 3. Heart Specific tries to name every possible infraction. For example, “Don’t throw spit wads in the classroom.” “Don’t hit the girls.” Throw your trash in the trashcan, not on the floor.” “Walk in single file.” “Line up quietly.” The trouble with naming infractions is that there are an infinite number of possible disruptions and infractions and one can always do or not do something that isn’t named. General rules are rules like: “Don’t disrupt the classroom.” “treat one another with respect.” “The teacher has the floor at all times.” This makes the number of rules more manageable, since each rule can cover a wide range of actions. For example, hitting someone is not respecting them; throwing spit wads is disruptive to the classroom; Talking when the teacher is talking is not giving the attention to the teacher. The drawbacks are that there are many ways to argue whether or not a particular action is covered by one of the laws. For example, Is shooting s spit wad truly disruptive or not? Is hitting back covered under hitting or is it self-defense and therefore acceptable. The heart rules are a teacher’s dream. When the rules are internalized, when true respect for one another and the teacher finally dawns, when learning becomes a desire and not forced, then rules are not even necessary. The heart, the spirit of the child is ruling. It is natural, unforced and no argument or coercion is necessary. In kindergarten, rules need to be clear and specific. Later, in junior and senior high school, at least some of the children catch on that education is important and that their peers and instructors deserve respect. Still later, in college, maturity has ingrained the lessons learned; rules, for most students, are no longer needed. Behavior is self-regulated and automatic. Exceptions to this reveal the immaturity or self-centeredness of the individual and require a return to a more specific-rule basis. These three rule types are exhibited in scripture. Moses laid down the law: “Do this, don’t do that.” It was codified into 10 commands and expanded into dozens of religious, social and national rule. Specific rules included, “Thou shalt not kill.” The expansion of this rule said that, if a person were killed on purpose, two witnesses were required to punish the perpetrator by death. In an accidental killing, cities of refuge were established, giving safety from revenge killings. In all of the law portion of the Old Testament, rules fell under the specific type: a named rule. This led, eventually, to the establishment of many other rules; interpretations of the rules by groups like the Pharisees. For example, over 600 rules were established for the keeping of the fourth commandment. From my own childhood, I was told that, on the Sabbath (Saturday), , when walking on the beach, “You can wade up to your ankles.” In other words, if I waded any deeper, I would be breaking the Sabbath. Orthodox Jews today do not turn on light switches or a stove burner, which are considered work. When Jesus came, He introduced a new way of thinking. He attempted to move the Jewish nation from specific rule keeping to a general rule: hatred is murder, lust is adultery, envy is theft. He tried to bring them along to the next step, to help them see that love for God and man are the outworking, the true keeping of Moses’ commandments. They killed Him for His attempt. They liked the rules; it was easier to judge others and to make one appear pious. Jesus commented on this a number of times, saying, “You tithe your tiniest of seeds, counting everyone, but do not the true meaning of the law;” “You devour widows houses and make long prayers to impress others;” You clean the outside of the cup, but inside it is full of robbery and self-indulgence.” He advocated for a more general application of law: Give rather than just not stealing; Bless rather than murder your enemies; Divorce demeans women. By example, He repeatedly demonstrated how women were to be treated: His mother, Mary Magdalene, the unnamed woman who anointed His feet. He sought to draw them to a deeper, less rule-bound keeping of the law. Then He rose from the dead and the Holy Spirit came, flooding the disciples with power and showering gifts on them. Their words converted thousands, they lived in mutual harmony, they shared their resources, they gave all they had to the poor among them. Suddenly they were living the law. It was no longer external, a code to which to refer. It was not even a more general law, love for God and man; it was not external but internal. It flowed out of them in acts of generosity and love. No Pharisee was necessary to interpret Sabbath keeping. They were living the Sabbath. They rested continuously in Jesus, their true Sabbath. They did not swear, for their mouth was full of praise and prayer. They did not murder, for they loved and sought the best for their enemies. They didn’t steal, for their hands gave away their excess. They didn’t lie, for Truth dwelt within and their tongue wouldn’t say a lie. They couldn’t covet for they desired only the One Gift which brought all else in Its train. They truly fulfilled Jeremiah 31 31-35: Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,´ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Paul makes it clear that our relationship to the law has fundamentally changed in Galatians 5:18: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. And in Romans 7:6 he says: Romans 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. He is equally clear that law still exists: we are not living lawlessly in the age of the Spirit: Romans 7:7, 12 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. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. But even living in the Spirit, the law has only one function: Romans 3:20 “…because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” The function of law, whether of a specific type, like the Decalogue, or the Spirit-breathed laws of the heart has only the function of revealing that which is detrimental, destructive; that which the New Testament calls “missing the mark” or sin. Isaiah saw the time of living in the Spirit when he said, “Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21). Rather than the law being the source of salvation, faith is now that source: Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. In summary, law still exists, it is not replaced with something else or nothing else. It has become larger, covers more, but is acknowledged and kept by the indwelling Spirit rather than by an act of will: Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Law points out sin, faith grasps hold of the promises and salvation is ours. We are saved by grace, through faith: Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…” Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no `one may boast. Beyond law and The Law, is relationship. A couple in love needs no law; they have relationship. Each seeks the best for the other, each desires to please the other, each gives sacrificially for the other. They rest in one another’s love, having no need for a rule to guide them, for they are in relationship one with the other. Loves displays itself in placing other before self. Love supersedes law as universe is greater than atom. God uses law in our immaturity to guide us to faith; faith grows into love which, when it is mature, produces the fruit of relationship. This is what we are called to; this is what we are being led into. God does not want our obedience to a set of rules-they are there only to hedge us in from self-destruction-He wants to sit and eat with us, talk on the back porch with us, take a ride with us, chat over the back fence with us, play a game of cards with us, water the glowers with us, build a shed with us, sink a well with us, ski Mt. Hood with us, hike the Pacific Crest Trail with us, dig thunder eggs with us, bake bread with us, repair a toy with us, wash clothes with us, shop with us, fly a kite with us, cut a Christmas tree with us, pick tomatoes with us, sit behind a desk with us, teach with us, sleep with us, write with us, live with us. We are His family; He longs for that closeness, that intimacy. He calls Himself “Father” for good reason. He desires this with all the ardor of an infinite love which cannot be denied. His love knows no boundary and has no limit. It can and will exceed all objection, all rebellion, all resistance. All will yield to it now or then, not in a reluctant or begrudging surrender, but in rapturous recognition that that is what we have been looking for all our lives in all our meanderings and fruitless endeavors. All of our greed and lusts have been but mocking substitute shadows for the reality of family relationship with Him who made and has sustained us all our lives. To find Him, we need but to turn our attention to Him. He is right there waiting for us. 8/6/13