The Inescapable Law
by Preston Foster
As truth-seeking Adventist Christians, we expend a great deal of energy learning to embrace what the New Covenant says about the law. That is, we are not under it. Even this quarter’s SDA Sabbath School Lesson, a repository of historical / traditional Adventist thought, makes it clear (well, kinda, sorta) that as the works of the law cannot save us, we are not under it. Still, many are not comfortable with the seeming ambiguity that comes with being led by the Spirit. They contend that the New Covenant also demands law-keeping (1 John 5:3). They may be right.
Clearly, the Bible says that, under the New Covenant, God will write the law in our hearts (Hebrews 10:16). The question is which law is that?
Some believe that the 10 commandments, being God’s perfect law, is that law that is transferred from tables of stone, by the Spirit, to the chambers of our hearts. Others interpret the Bible to mean that Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant law (Luke 24:44) making it obsolete — though not void (2 Corinthians 3:7, 11, 13, Romans 3:31 KJV), freeing us to live as the Spirit leads, without mirroring the 10 Commandments.
All of this can be debated indefinitely.
One thing is certain. We are, still, under one inescapable law: the law of love (1 John 3:23, 24, 2 John 5, 6). The lawyer, looking to entrap Christ, asked Him what was required to gain eternal life. Jesus told him to read the law of love aloud (Luke 10:27). The lawyer responded, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all the soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thy self.” Jesus told the lawyer, “This do and thou shalt live,” (Luke 10: 28).
Somehow, we avoid this obvious truth, as it often inconvenient for us. Other, more specific laws (i.e. not killing, stealing, coveting, or Sabbath keeping) are thought to be harder to keep. However, I believe the opposite is true. It is hard to love your enemies (Matthew 5: 44, 46).
Have you noticed that there is virtually no faction that is dogmatic about keeping this love of love? It is fairly easy to find vigilant law-keepers and abstainers (of all stripes), who can recite the church manual, verbatim (James 4:11). On the other hand, there are those who chafe at boundaries, thinking that any counsel toward moderation puts the yoke of the law around their necks. Each faction is pre-occupied with the other (Matthew 7:3). Yet, each faction protects the existence of the other, knowing that they provide a useful, work-avoiding distraction. Finding people who are radical about loving God and their neighbor is THE challenge. Who are “The Lovers?” Is there anyone who aspires to be identified as such?
Keeping the law of love demands selflessness, which is the opposite of human nature. Other laws can, rather easily, be kept in letter, if not in spirit. Arguments about the law would be rendered moot if we would accept what Christ and Paul synthesized about the law: if the law of love is kept, it satisfies the whole law — however it is defined (Matthew 22:40, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8). This is where our penchant for works should be employed (James 4:17).
In my favorite sermon, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “The Drum Major Instinct,” he discusses the proper use of our egos and ambitions. Dr. King speaks of how James and John asked Christ for high positions in His Kingdom (Mark 10: 37). Dr. King notes that Christ did not rebuke them. Christ simply pointed out that these positions were reserved for those who were willing to serve (Mark 10: 43-44). Dr. King, concludes by saying that, if, after his death, anyone chose to remember him and “his desire to be out front . . . to be first, to lead the parade,” he wanted to be remembered as being “first in love.”
Where are the other members of that all-too-exclusive club?
Preston,
Once again, you are challenging us to think. Thank you.
If historic Adventist behaviors are any indication, you could easily conclude that the Ten Commandments and the law of love are mutually exclusive opposites that can never be truly reconciled in practice. Condemning people for not obeying all or part of the ten commandment law while saying we love them is a paradox in practice.
Could it be that our definition of "the law" that the Holy Spirit will write in our hearts is something we have not considered and that trying to push the Ten Commandments into that description just doesn't work? That is not to suggest God would ever change His character and reveal something contrary to what He has taught in the past. What I am saying from my own experience is that God has a far greater capability to reveal himself and far more to teach us than the vast majority of Christians have ever imagined. God does not fit inside our limited conceptual boxes, so we must allow for the certainty that God has greater meanings in scripture than we have considered in the past.
Didn't Jesus and the apostles say that love fulfilled the Law? Often, when Adventists claim to be "commandment keepers" it is merely their code for keeping the Fourth, because it shows that they are superior than other Christian who do not keep the whole Law. We need to get over this, don't we?
William and Elaine,
Thanks very much.
It just seems to me that, somehow, the law of love is never the presumed understanding of commandment keeping, although Christ expressly declared it to be so. How did that come to be?
Even if one factors the 10 Commandments into their working definition of "the law," it would seem that you must, then, refer to "the 11th" (1 John 3:23-24). It is clear, at least to me, that this "11th" is Christ's, specifically. Since it is all-encompassing, it seems impossible to exclude it when defining "the law."
Preston,
I would not agree that 1 John 3:23-24 is the 11th Commandment, but the actuall application of the 10 Commandments under the New Covenant. The 1st 4 commandments can only be kept by faith, and would it be safe to say that faith in God and love for God are synonomous? As for loving one's neighbor, how could it not be that loving your parents by giving them honor, to not steal, committ adultry (fornication), respect the life of others, refuse to tell lies, and be thankful for what God has given you as opposed to what others may have is not love in action?
If the viewpoint of the 10 Commandments is a set of rules…to keep in order to be saved, there is no help for us here. But if they are viewed as principles highlighting the characteristics of a godly life lived by those who walk in the Spirit… love for God and our fellow man will surely be born. And if the fruit of the Spirit is born / flourishing in the follower of Jesus, the law will find no fault with in it.
To not recognize this basic distinction was / has been the problem with the children of Israel / SDA's (amongst others).
laffal,
My thinking is that, because the word "love" doesn't appear in the 10 Commandments, the "new commandment," added under the New Covenant, might, indeed, be an "11th." Why else would Christ declare it to be "a new commandment" (John 13:34)? Love added a new dimension to following the will of God — going back to your "motivation theory."
Other than the 4th and 5th Commandments, the Old Covenant law is a list of "Thou shalt nots." Adding the love component, expressly changes the motivation for acting with consideration toward both God and man.
For me, it seems the love motive is a new and necessary component of commandment keeping — and a commandment in and of itself. Christ came to fulfill the law and to free us from its curse. He gave us a new commandment tailored for the New Covenant.
Preston,
Why would Jesus call it a new commandment? Because of what the Pharisees were teaching according to their Old Covenant interpretation / application of the 10 Commandment Law. Matthew 5:43; Matthew 23:15.23 What Jesus was actually saying was already established in the instruction given Israel thru Moses. Levitcus 19:17.18
Christ came to reset / reframe the 10 Commandments as the Law of love as opposed to rules and regulations by which you can say of yourself… "I am keeping God's law!" His instruction therefore to the disciples, and us by extention, is to follow His example and not that of the church leaders of the day (and ours too if / when it applies). Matthew 5:20
Preston,
Recently I've been pondering the potential meanings Paul may have had in mind when he said the law was desgined to be a "schoolmaster." A teacher's job is to guide their students in learning certain principles and information so they can function successfully in life and society. When we graduate we don't leave that knowledge behind because it is now part of us. Graduation means we transition from the phase in our life that is focused on intensive learning into the phase where we learn to apply what we have learned, become proficient in that application and learn lessons far beyond anything our teacher could have shared with us because we were not ready for it.
So, if the ten commandments are a glimpse into the character of God and a model for how he expects us to live, what happens when we "graduate?" No, we do not leave the Ten Commandments behind. Rather, they have become part of us so we are ready to take our application of those principles to a higher level and learn more, dynamic and living lessons taught directly by the Holy Spirit. That is where I see the "law of love" playing its' most important role. Whether it is an "11th Commandment" or not, view it as you wish. What I see as important is found in the statement that "love is the fulfillment of the law." We sometimes overlook that "fulfill" means to "complete" or "make whole." So, without love, the law has not achieved the full purpose for which it was given.
Unfortunately our church's historic emphasis on keeping the law has been to the larger exclusion of any practical emphasis on experiencing and ministering God's love. I have been richly blessed in my ministry by experiencing and ministering that love. As I tell people, "I get paid in hugs and smiles." Two evenings ago after work I went to a house to do some plumbing repairs that we had run out of time to do the day before. When I finished and told the woman (an Adventist) what I had done, you should have seen the smile on her face as she thanked me. What really got my attention was the looks of amazement on her face and her daughter's face when I told them doing home repairs was my ministry and that I enjoyed it. They could hardly believe that someone would actually minister in ways that directly improved their lives. Their next questions were about what church I attended because they wanted to visit.
William and laffal,
I am really not hung up on trying to establish an 11th commandment as I am pushing the issue that if there is ANY law, this law of love MUST be included in it.
Your larger point resonates with me. I cannot prove it, but, it seems to me that the 10 Commandments were/are a sort of minimalist (yet important) starter set of instructions. To your point, the New Commandment expands those instructions with the yeast of love, fulfilling the spirit of God's intent.
Love is a powerful ministry. With it, no words are needed to convince others of its correctness or attractiveness. Love, in action, makes those things self-evident.
Preston,
If we would go back and read carefully the laws, statutes, and judgments in the light of the New Covenant, we will find that Law of love expanded. Again, it was the Old Covenant influence (promising God to keep His law as rules) and emphasis that was the cause of so many of Israel's / SDA's experiencing God's love and living it by extension… which is the witness that the Lord Jesus is calling for.
Q. If one practices love, is it possible to break the Law?
Q. Can the Law be kept without love? Did not the Pharisees keep them scruplulously but showed no love to their fellowman?
That is why love not only fulfills the Law but is superior, because one can dutifuly obey the Law without love, but cannot love and break the Law. That is why Christ said that Love fulfills the Law and Paul said that to love one's neighbor fulfilled the Law. They realized that merely "keeping" the Law did not require love. Otherwise, why would love have been given so much emphasis? Those who truly love need no law.
"one can dutifuly obey the Law without love" Not really, because the motives are wrong. Anything that is done without love to God as the motivating factor violates the law. If one looks at the law from a positve point of view rather than a negative one, it presents a different perspective from what is usually presented. One who loves God and their fellow man will not want to take His name in vain, use His holy day for selfish purposes, dishonor their father or mother, kill, steal, etc. The lawyer's response to Jesus in Luke 10:27, was merely a summary of the law; the 10 commandments are a bit more detailed, and the sermon on the mount gets even more specific. There are no disagreements among them.
And then there is the issue of how one defines love. It is one of the most abused words in the English language. When one can say that they love pizza and also claim to love God, we have a problem; the word has ceased to have any useful meaning. The only word that really describes Christian love is agape. That word cuts through all the baggage attached to the English word. Agape describes not only the character of God, but the nature of His law as well. What passes for love these days is often meaningless sentimentality or immoral permissiveness.
People not only can obey the law without love, there is no mention of love in the Decalogue, only behavior. The laws of our nation have no mention of love but only obedience, motives cannot be questioned. The statement that anything that is done without love to God as the motivating factor violates the Law, is never mentioned in connection with the Law as it was given. Yours is a personal interpretation that cannot be substantiated by scripture.
There were no laws given under the New Covenant commanding love. Behavior, not motivation cannot be commanded. As Christ has fulfilled the Law there is nothing humans can do to add to that. The Law was answered at Calvary when Christ said "It is finished," there is nothing that man can do regarding an obsolete Law, which was only a shadoe of the good things to come: "He takes awas the first (covenant) in order to establish the second." How can there another interpretation of Hebrews?
Elaine,
Knowledge about God comes from reading the Bible, but really knowing God and growing in experiential knowlege of His love comes from an ongoing, dynamic relationship with the Holy Spirit. God wanted us to both see His principles in writing and to have a personal relationship with Him so we could know him intimately beyond the words on a page.
To All,
Correction: The first Bible reference in paragraph 4 of the article should be 1 John 3:23-24, NOT 1 John 1:23.
Sorry for any confusion.
Good looking out, Brother Timo! Thanks a bunch.
Timo,
We may be closer in agreement than you realize and just saying the same thing with different words colored by our separate experiences so they carry different shades of meaning.
I learned a little more about 'law' when I lived in Puerto Rico, and then Brazil. If one considers 'law' as 'the manner in which to live in this place', and takes Jesus' statement to Pilate ("My kingdom is not of this world'), one can arrive at 'the law' as being 'the manner in which to live' in Jesus' 'not of this world' kingdom. As we had to do in foreign countries–'that's the way its done there.' Keeping the 'law' becomes the way of living in that kingdom. Since Jesus keeps bringing the 'law' down to 'love', and if we take Jesus as the supreme example of how that's lived out, and we accept the premise that God will write that 'law' on our hearts….it becomes fairly easy–just live in harmony with Jesus' kingdom.
Harlan,
Indeed, the law of love is "the manner in which to live in this place." What a wonderful insight.
Perhaps that is why we resist it, diverting our attention to either the "less weighty matters" of the law (either to resist them or to vigilant enforcement of them). The ways of His Kingdom are foreign to us. Imagine how much more pleasant our journey would be if we happily adopted the customs of His loving Kingdom!