Law And Order
So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:12
Good – What is good? Well, there’s the good news. What’s good about that? It’s the announcement that we can have peace with God. That’s pretty good. In the scheme of things, peace with God counts a lot. What else is good? God tells us in Jeremiah that caring for the sick, the homeless, the orphans and the widows is good. Why? Probably because He cares for them and if we involve ourselves in compassion for these little ones, we are likely to meet God doing the same thing. Being in His presence is good. Then there’s Sha’ul’s remark that the Law is good. Unfortunately, many Christians have been taught that the Law isn’t good. They have succumbed to the theology that the Law has been replaced with grace because it was inadequate. How tragic! This misunderstanding is based on a distorted paradigm about the role of law. Let’s take a deeper look.
Heschel helps us see the paradigm structure. “It is not law and order itself, but the living God Who created the universe and established its law and order, that stands supreme in biblical thought. This differs radically from the concept of law as supreme, a concept found, for example, in the Dharma of Mahayana Buddhism. Before the Torah, the covenant was. In contrast to our civilization, the Hebrews lived in a world of the covenant rather than in a world of contracts. The idea of contract was unknown to them. The God of Israel ‘cares as little for contract and the cash nexus as He cares for mere slavish obedience and obsequiousness. His chosen sphere is that of covenant.’ His relationship to His partner is one of benevolence and affection. The indispensible and living instrument holding the community of God and Israel together is the law.”[1]
Since our culture is so seeped in the concept of the supremacy of Law, we might have to read Heschel’s comment again. The Hebrew concept of the “law” is not about rules and regulations. It is about the links within the community that demonstrate benevolence and affection. In other words, the Torah is the love manual of the community. It teaches YHWH’s children how to love each other. How will we know that we are His disciples? By the love we show for each other. And what is that love? It is the exercise of mitzvot. Moshe Kapinski told me that Torah offered 613 opportunities to love God, but Abraham Heschel tells me that those 613 ways are also the loving fabric of the community. Faith in action. Practice of perfection. Not rules. Relationships.
Why does Torah contain an ethical hierarchy? Why are some Torah commandments more important, more necessary, than others. Because Torah is an expression of benevolence and affection. Helping another person is more important than maintaining a worship ritual if, and only if, the two options come into conflict. Healing trumps ritual. Devotion trumps dedication.
Time to reassess our paradigm. How often have we thought of Torah as prescribed behaviors instead of love connections? How much will have to be reordered once we see the world as a place where God teaches us to love Him through the ways we love each other? What will happen to our neatly packaged existence once we recognize that “law” is a synonym for “love”? Grace and law were never disconnected. That is why Sha’ul can say, “The law is holy, righteous and good.” No kidding!
Topical Index: Law, good, Romans 7:12, community, love
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, Vol. 2, p. 10.
The suggested change in our paradigm will take some effort on my part. It is tough to change how one sees the situation and to overcome what has been taught for seventy pllus years. However, I am also convinced that I can learn new ways of thinking. As God helps me, I will!
“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” (Psalm 19)
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1.8)
“Wherefore the law was (and still is!) our schoolmaster (paidagógos) to bring us unto Messiah, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3.24) http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/galatians/3.html
“How often have we thought of Torah as prescribed behaviors instead of love connections?”
Skip,
The wrong idea is so strong in our community, even this statement of yours appears to reflect the problem you are criticizing! 🙂 You have opposed “prescribed behavior” with “love connections.” Now I don’t for one minute think you meant to do that because of the point you are making. But the problem has many roots, and here are two suggestions:
1. The Bible is not read as continuity. Chapter and verse allow us to take words, phrases, sentences out of context. Anyone who ever read as far as the little book of 1 John at the end of Scripture would find these word: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Elsewhere, Yeshua said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” 1 John is not a large book in itself, but how many readers have gone from beginning to end in one sitting and seen the connections and followed the logic of the writer?
2. Why the disconnect between commandments and love? Is it because we have a wrong view of law, or is it because we have a wrong view of love? Perhaps both. But it is not possible to get away from Torah as prescribing certain activities, and proscribing others.
Romanticism, on the other hand, has so disconnected love from Torah, that people think they are “in love” when they are in the midst of violating God’s instruction manual. Consider Wagner’s self-conscious attempts at violating Scriptural moral standards with his operas based on Greek tragedy and you begin to see the difference between Torah and the Romantic notion of “love”. It is nearly always the love triangle tied to infidelity of a husband or wife.
Instead, we end up with a triangle that looks like this: a) A partial disconnect between Old and New Testaments regarding justification and the place of Torah; b) the Pietistic movement that had a misplaced emphasis on both the Holy Spirit and the written Word, and as a consequence of Pietism, an emphasis on subjective “feelings” rather than the objective written Word. c) a “natural” preference to like it this way as a result of Gen. 3:5
It is apparent that the wrong idea of love, has been around for a long time, and may have seen a new revival in Romanticism. It was certainly around at the time of writers of the New Testament who needed to make sure that readers of their letters would get the point. A popular song 50 years ago said “love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.” Rather, it is “Torah and love go together like a horse and carriage. You can’t have one without the other.”
Isn’t it interesting how the New Testament reads as a “commentary” on the Tanak, making sure we understand Torah and its place in the life of community.
Great posting again today. Keep them coming!
“Unfortunately, many Christians have been taught that the Law isn’t good…. The Hebrew concept of the ‘law’ is not about rules and regulations. It is about the links within the community that demonstrate benevolence and affection.”
Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law.”
Psalm 119:97 “O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”
Psalm 119:165 “Those who love Thy law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble.”
Proverbs 14:22 “Will they not go astray who devise evil? But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.”
“the Dharma of Mahayana Buddhism”
As I understand it, the term Mahāyāna is a synonym for the “path” and the teachings of the bodhisattvas.
Some time ago, I mentioned Baba, who taught me about the ancient hom fire ceremony in India, and the spiritual significance of “fire in the belly:”
“Hom is the Jat’hara Agni, the fire in the belly. Here in the stomach the true Hom is burning. The Hom fire makes a breeze, a beautiful fragrance goes up. It’s like when you burn incense before the gods. Maybe you cannot do the Hom fire so you light incense, that is also Hom. You light a lamp or candle, that is also Hom. It is for the sake of the whole world’s welfare some Hom must be done. Since I have come to America, so for the sake of America’s peace I say to God “Om! Swaha!” and offer these things. In our India, Hom is important.”
Some of my favorite passages from Baba sound a lot like Paul to me:
“Love is the main thing. You can do japa, chant mantras,or do worship, but if you do not have love then all these things are worthless. I ask Satchidananda Guru to give you peace.”
“By true Satsang the mind is purified and the intelligence is clear about the inner being. If intelligence is clear, then Divyagyan or God’s true self is revealed. By Divyaguan we can have darshan of God, who is within us all. ”
http://www.prahlad.org/Baba/talks/some_quotations_of_baba.htm
Michael, & hopefully others, I am trying to get your attention, to be sure you read my reply early this A.M. for Friday’s (Nov. 12 /comments to you on Emily Dickinson. Some good stuff in it!—– I am just slow in getting things written, but truly think you will enjoy the comments. LaVaye
Will not touch what you wrote just above! Even though we lived 14 miles inside Lahore, West Pakistan, from the Indian border crossing over to Indian and going to Amristar. The “No Man’s Land between the two countries is about a mile wide, but we found ourselves closed inside the area of No Man’s Land: iron gates closed and locked, we had no food, water, or warm clothing or blankets, as of course, we expected to be in our hotel in Amristar. Neither side was willing to help us get through!( yes, Ed was driving our MicroVWagen that we bought out of W. Germany. The steering- wheel on the “wrong side”, oxcarts, camel carts, Monkeys at the bridges waiting for someone to feed them, and all kinds of people wanting to stop you for a million reasons.
It was dark the first night, by the time we finally got to our Hotel, Mrs. Banderia’s.( she had been written up in a National Geographic in 1961 for all the different types of guest staying there and where their journeys would take them. ) I had become very ill, and thought I was having a miscarriage; we had to have a Dr. come to the annex of the Hotel where we were staying. Just outside of Amristar, where later we visited the Sikh’s Golden Temple with educational teachings on the Sikh’s origin, religion, and the construction of the Golden Temple. A very positive thing that was so different from most of the religions in India, is that the Sikhs are very CLEAN people in all areas of their lives!
In a couple of days we drove on to Dehli and New Dehli for a week at Thanksgivng, with more trauma! Our real/life trauma of just getting across “no Man’s Land in 1963, was enough to make anyone forget the study of the Indian religions. But the entire time of Ed and I living in Pakistan and traveling with children -ages 8 & 6 yrs. in several neighboring countries , made me so desperate that it pushed me into really a deep thirst for “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness ( in right standing with God–through Jesus, with the power of the Holy Spirit–and a heart’s desire to find Him in both of the Bible Covenants– powerful stuff! God is so Wonderful, awesome,–words can not explain HIM. He has been so faithful to lift us out of the “PIT” and put our feet back on the Hiway of Holiness, so many times —His mercies are new each day! ——LaVaye Billings ( Ed would agree with all of this!!! )
The BLOOD OF JESUS!
Skip, thanks so much for all the work you put into Today’s Word. I have just spent a good part of the day re-sending all of them to myself with the topic as the first thing in the subject line so that I can find things when I need them. Would you consider changing how you do the subject lines? I don’t know how many people look for something under the date it arrived.
It would be SO helpful if the subject lind read like this:
Topic Today’s Word and then the date.
Thanks for considering my suggestions. dotco8
All of Today’s Word editions are indexed on my web site by topic, so you can easily search them by verse, topic or other key words. But I will think about changing things. It’s not so easy because of the web format requirements.