Law and Grace (7) Faith
Faith was much more important to the Old Covenant than is often realised. Many of the actions commanded by the law took a great deal of faith.
The Israelites were not to eat animals that had been killed by wild animals.You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs (Ex 22:31).
The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it (Lev 7:24).
The main purpose of this law was hygiene. Eating the meat form dead animals or those that had been killed by wild animals created many health risks. God’s people must not be scavengers. However, this took faith. Most people in the ancient world and many in the third world today would eat any meat that they came across, because they did not know where there next meal would come from. Passing over food was risky, even if it was contaminated. Most people were more afraid of starving than an upset stomach.
Walking past a dead animal took a lot of faith for people were sometimes hungry. They must trust God to provide them with food when they needed it.
Attending the feasts in Jerusalem also demanded faith. Leaving a rural property unattended for a couple of weeks was a risky action. Other people could steal anything that was not locked away. If all the people in a district were away on a pilgrimage, a foreign army could use the opportunity to invade. They could be established in the land before the local people realised what had happened. God promised to care for their land while they were away.Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will.. enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God (Ex 34:23-24).
This was a big promise, but it was also a big ask. Understanding human nature, and realising that they had animals, they were being expected to trust God to prevent anyone from desire their land while they were away. This required considerable faith that God would keep his word.
1 comment:
I quite agree. The idea of faith is threaded throughout the OT.
The OT concept of faith is broader than the commonly held idea of faith. The commonly held idea is a a mental or cognitive assent to a belief.
The Hebrew word for "Emunah" is often better translated as Faithfulness of which the majority definition of "faith" is but a subset.
Thus in Hebraic thought, if you have faith, you act a certain way. And if you acted in a certain way, you are exhibiting faith.
This doesn't mean that the Hebraic view eliminated the cognitive assent since the idea of having the law written on your heart is clearly an allusion to an inward state, which should result in outward obedience.
Thus there is no clash between Paul and James regarding faith and works. They are both likely to be dealing with the corruption of the idea of emunah by an over-emphasis of the Greek understanding of faith.
E P Sanders argues that the widely held idea that 1st Century Rabbinic Judaism is based on a false premise of justification by works is incorrect. If true, then we have made a misjudgement that has far reaching consequences on our understanding of Pauline thought.
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