Hebraic Musing – Is it okay
to simply obey the spirit of the law?
I have often excused myself saying "well I am following
the spirit if the law." My friend Buddy Hansen addressed this in his TGIM
(Thank God it's Monday) message -- This
is a creative attempt by those who dislike the thought of conforming their
lifestyle to God’s laws. Instead of
coming right out and saying what’s in their heart, they beat around the bush by
stating, “It’s not the letter of God’s law that concerns them, but its spirit.”
In stating this made-up distinction they are attempting to validate their right
to edit God’s laws by rationalizing that it is alright to obey only the laws
that fit with their lifestyle, while disregarding those that prove inconvenient
for them.
Let me try to answer this question of ‘spirit vs. letter’ with a parable. Suppose a father tells his son to “Take the garbage out to the curb on Tuesday night.” The son figures that he’ll take the recycle bin out on Wednesday and put it outside the garage. Well the son thinks he has followed the spirit of his father’s words close enough and a good deed was done. The son figures he is obedient enough. Obviously there is a problem or two or three or four – first, the son thinks he knows more than the father; second, the son may not have been listening; third, the son doesn’t understand all the reasons for the specific instructions from his wise ‘old man’; fourth, the son may not even be able to figure out where the stench is coming from (as the garbage stacks up). Are the parallels obvious? Do we Christians all too frequently use the excuse – “At least I am following the spirit of Father God’s laws, commandments, mitzvot, advice, etc.”
Paul affirms obedience to “the law” numerous times (see note below) and in so doing he stresses the need to obey and contrasts that with the foolishness of attempting to obey God’s laws by our own efforts. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit whose job it is to teach us obedience by clarifying Father God’s Word. All too often I have heard that the Holy Spirit has given permission to do something that does not align with God’s Word. Which spirit was speaking?
When suggesting Christians should follow the ‘Law’ (‘Torah’ in the original OT text), their classic response is to quote Matt. 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Then they smugly cross their arms as if to say “So there!”. But Jesus wasn’t finished speaking! In verse 18 Jesus continues in red letters “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law (Torah) until everything is accomplished.” NIV And the word ‘Torah’ (words of advice from Father God) was translated to ‘law’ in vs. 17 & 18 above. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus himself expanded the written law to include the “Spirit of the law”, i.e. ‘don’t even think about it’.
And we like to broadcast the acronym WWJD as our guideline. What did Jesus do? He followed Torah.
Points to Ponder
Do we have salvific faith if we willfully ignore what our Triune God told us to do?
Is the adopted child expected to live according to the House rules?
Do we follow the law (Torah) because we have to, or because we want to?
Shalom
Yosef a.k.a. Joe Brusherd January
21, 2014
Author of
two books “Hebraic Insights” and “Biblical
Marriage”
Note – Examples of Paul affirming the importance of
following Torah – Acts 13:15; 21:20; 21:24; 22:12; 24:14 to reference just a
few.
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