Most people remember that today is five years since since the bombing of the World Trade Centre. Not many reaslise that this event was predicted by the Prophet Daniel. Follow this link for me
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Last month a New Zealand-born journalist Olaf Wiig was caputured an held as a hostage in Gaza. This event was the first event on our television news every evening, with life hook-ups to commentators in Gaza. Diplomats and politicians were hard at work lobbying for their freedom.
A million people are imprisoned and the whole world is strangely silent. The news media go back to human interest stories and the politicians go back to squabbling amongst themselves.
No one is interested. Have we got our priorities right?
Here are a couple of interesting articles.
Gaza's Darkness
Gaza is a Jail
If it is a war against terror, why did they bomb the electricity plant and bulldoze the olive grove?
Technorati Tags: Gaza Prison
The key to a successful system of government to function, is finding the "highest common denominator", to twist a mathematical expression. The highest Common denominator is what most people will committed to, or at least not object to. The aim should be to find positions that most people can agree on.
In the past, when a Christian world view was more widespread, that highest common denominator was more Christian, but as pluralism increases, some of the things that were widely accepted in the past, are no longer part of the highest common denominator.
Culture and the media shape the highest common denominator, so it is not constant, but changes over time. Prayer in schools was once part of the highest common denominator, but now it is not. Likewise, abortion was once was, but now is not part of the highest common denominator.
The best common denominator is the second table of the law. It limits law to prohibiting crimes that will always be part of the highest common denominator. Almost everyone believes that murder, assault, theft and false witness are crimes. They are specified as crimes in most legal systems. Most people believe that adultery is wrong, but not everyone wants it to be a crime (Moses did not enforce the adultery laws). The second table of the law remains part of the highest common denominator, even in a wicked or pluralistic society.
The same applies to the biblical principles about the functioning of the law. Everyone accepts the principle of proportional restitution. Everyone accepts that just should be tempered by mercy.
A highest common denominator approach means that politics must remain humble. The problem is that most politicians want to do too much, so they end up going beyond the highest common denominator and start forcing significant groups of people to do things that they do not want to do, ie forcing a minority to do what the majority believe is good. God’s law is more humble.
Technorati Tags: Law Highest Common Denominator
God expected the nations to look at Israel’s laws and system of government and say “What a great system! Why don’t we copy it!” Unfortunately, God never even got his own people to say these words. Instead, they looked at the nations with their kings and said, “What a great system. We need a King!”
Now God cannot get Christians to look at his law and say “What wonderful laws!” Most Christians either hate his law, or are totally ignorant of its content. Instead, Christians look at democracy and say “What a great system! We will go with that”.
This should be a wake up call for us. God expects people to look at his law and say “What a great system!”
Oh, how I love your law!We must have missed something. We have not understood the greatness of God’s law. Perhaps it is time to have another look and find out what God was so excited about when he actually came down to earth and gave the law to Moses.
I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands make
me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path. (Psalm 119:97-104).
The law was not just for Israel. God’s purpose was that nations would see the effectiveness of his laws and want to copy them.
See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? (Deut 4:5-8).God’s law would make Israel into a great nation. The other nations would look at their body of laws and express amazement. They would choose to follow the Israelite examples. God’s influence would not grow through the expansion of the Israelite kingdom. Rather it would spread, as the nations copied the laws that God had given to Israel.
Christians have this view that the New Testament is about love and the Old Testament is about law. They seem them as opposites. The words commonly used to describe the Old Testament law include harsh, cruel, severe and merciless.
Jesus had a different view of the law. When asked what is the greatest law, he said,
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The first part of his response is well known, but the final sentence is fascinating. Jesus says that the law hangs on the command to love your neighbour as yourself. How can harsh laws hang on a command to love your neighbour? Jesus saw the law as being about love, so how can it be harsh and cruel.
Paul was even blunter in his statement about the law.
The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself (Gal 5:14).
The law is summed up by the word love. How can a law that is harsh and cruel be summed up by the word love? This does not make sense.
Only one conclusion can follow from these two messages. Those who believe the law is harsh and cruel have misunderstood it. If we read the law in the way that Jesus read it, we would see God’s love and the love of man, not harshness and cruelty. If we are not seeing love when we read the law, then we may need to read it again through the eyes of Jesus.
I believe that Christians who want to understand political systems need to seriously study of the Old Testament law. However, we need a radically different approach. We need to approach the law in the same way as Jesus and Paul, looking for love of God and love of neighbour. We might be surprised at what we find.
Jesus has strong warning for those who teach people to ignore the law. Those in the modern church who despise the law should take note.
Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches othersto do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoeverpractices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom ofheaven (Matt 5:19).
This is an amazing statement. Those who teach people to ignore the law are at the bottom of the heap. Those who teach the law will be called the greatest in the kingdom. This is one that we have not noticed. Christians should think twice before they knock God’s law.
Another common misconception about the Law of Moses is that it contains a complete list of all sins. This is just not true.
God gave the law revealed to Moses to provide a way for people to live in harmony. It was not intended to be a list of all sins. Pride is not mentioned in the Ten Commandments. Neither is presumption or gluttony. We should not be surprised at these omissions, because this is not the purpose of the law.
Moses understood this. He was the most humble man on the earth, even though humility is not one of the Ten Commandments. He was humble because he loved God, not because of the law. He understood that the law was not given to define sin, but to provide a way for people to live in peace.
Jesus corrected this error in the Sermon on the Mount, by giving a true standard of righteousness. He then explained that keeping the law was not sufficient for a holy life. There are plenty of people who have never committed adultery, murdered someone, stolen from their neighbour or perjured themselves before a court, but that does not make them holy. Jesus explained that anger and lust are sins, even though they are not forbidden by the law.
Our righteousness must surpass the standard required by the law (Matt 5:20).
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48).
Keeping the law makes us peaceful citizens, but it does not make us holy. God’s holiness requires a much higher standard than the law.
Some Christians assume that Jesus was changing the law and setting a higher standard. This is not correct. He confirmed the law.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I havenot come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heavenand earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen,will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (Matt5:17-18).
Jesus was not changing the law. He was explaining the difference between the laws needed for the harmonious working of society and the standard of holiness of righteousness required by holiness. The law is sufficient for people to live in harmony, because that is its purpose. It is not our standard of holiness.
The law came as part of a passage. At the same time as he gave the law, God gave a system of priests and sacrifices to deal with sin. These sacrifices were a constant reminder to the people of their sin. As part of the package, God also gave some other external distinctives, like the Sabbath and circumcision, to separate them from the nations around them.
God no longer works through a nation, so the external distinctives are not long longer required. Our agape love should distinguish us from the people of the world. The perfect sacrifice of Jesus ended the need for the Old Testament sacrifices. Jesus became the great high priest, ending the need for priests.
However, a method of restraining wickedness is still needed. Everyone understands this. Even nations that reject God have laws against theft and violence. They might mess up God's law by adding human accretions, but they generally understand the need for laws against these crimes. Everyone understands that law is essential for a peaceful society.
Some Christians assume that the law was given as a temporary way of righteousness until Christ came. The problem with this view is that at least three thousand years had gone when God gave the law. If a temporary system of righteousness was needed, why did God wait for so long to give it?
Nearly 400 years before the law was given, Abraham understood righteousness through faith in God (Rom 4:9). Moses was also accepted by faith, before God gave him the law (Heb 11:24, 25). If righteousness through faith was already available, why would God give a system of righteousness by law? Why would God replace a superior righteousness with an inferior law?
The answer is that God gave the law just when it was needed. Up until the time of Abraham, there was plenty of room in the world, so people did not need live in close proximity. When people had disputes, they could just move away from each other. By the time of Jacob, people were starting to live closer together and disputes over property were becoming prevalent (Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban). A system for resolving disputes was needed.
Then they went down to Egypt to live as slaves, with no choice but to accept the Egyptian system of justice. This changed when they escaped. With a million people living in a small country, disputes would be bound to occur. God have the law to deal with the problem. He gave it just when it was needed.
The law was a system of justice for dealing with disputes over property and to violence towards people. God gave the law to restrain crime. It never had any other purpose and that purpose has not changed. It was given when it was needed, because God’s timing is always perfect.
Many Christians see the law as a system of righteousness that failed. That does not make sense, because God does not make mistakes. The problem is that the law was never intended to make us righteous.
Paul is very negative about our ability to be saved by works of the law, but he is positive about the law itself.
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good (Rom 7:12).
What could be better for the functioning of society than a set of laws that are holy, just and good? Any other set of laws will be suboptimal. They will be partly unjust and not always good. Why would any society want to have suboptimal laws? God’s law must be the best, because he is God.
Christians say that they live under grace and not under law. They then jump out of the frying pan into the fire by choosing to live under human laws. And very few see a problem with this strange attitude to human law. I cannot understand why Christians living under grace want to live under human law.
God’s law is good. It cannot provide peace with God; only the cross can achieve that, but it is still the best basis for a harmonious and just society.
Several false understandings of the law have been prevalent since the law was given. The most common error is the view that we can be made righteous through keeping the law. The Jews believed that they were special because they had the law. They also believed that they could gain righteousness by keeping the law.
Paul spent a large part of his ministry debunking this myth. Here are two statements that make his position clear.
If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!(Gal 2:21).Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteouswill live by faith" (Gal 3:11).
The law cannot make us righteous. Only the ministry of Jesus can accomplish that goal.
Paul was very hostile to those who claimed righteousness through the law, but he was careful not to denigrate the law itself. He was clever enough not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Paul said the law is spiritual, holy just and good (Rom 7). The reason he could say this was that he understood that law is good when used for the correct purpose (1 Tim 1:7-9). It only becomes a problem when used as a basis for righteousness, something that it was not designed to do. True righteous can only be obtained through Jesus, and we appropriate his righteousness through faith.
Many Christians assume that Paul taught that there is something wrong with God's law, but this is not true. Paul taught that using the law a way to righteousness is wrong, because that is not its purpose. When the law is used for the wrong purpose, it is useless. However, when it is used for the correct purpose, it is still holy and just.
Technorati Tags : Purpose, Law, Righteousness
The prophet Habakkuk also understood the purpose of the law.
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted (Hab 1:3, 4).
When God’s law is ignored, strife and violence abound. Without God’s law, justice is perverted and the wicked prevail. God’s law reduces strife and violence, even in a society that has rejected God.
The consequence of our failure to understand the purpose of the law is prophesied in Proverbs.
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them. Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully (Prov 28:4,5).
When God’s people forsake his law, wicked people benefit. In the last century Christians have rejected God’s law. The result is evil run rampant. Our failure to understand justice, has allowed lawlessness to prevail.
The law deals with people who do not respect their neighbours. Nothing more, nothing less.
Technorati Tags : Purpose, Law, Wickedness
Paul understood the purpose of the law. He knew that it was directed towards those who would disrupt the peace of society.
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers (1 Tim 1:7-9).
Paul says the law is not for the righteous. The law is for thieves, murderers, adulterer and perjurers. These are the people who disrupt peaceful and harmony of society. The righteousness of Jesus cannot deal with these people, as they are hostile to him. Until they are transformed by the love of Jesus, society will need the laws that prevent them from harming other people. Law provides a solution to the problem caused by people who are willing to harm others. It is the only way to deal with them.
Christians are confused about the purpose of the law. This is not surprising as even the people who received the Ten Commandments did not understand its role. The first table of the law can be summed up in the command to love God. The second table of the law can be summed up in Jesus command to love our neighbours. The second five commandments are all about our relationships with the people living around us.
God gave the law to Moses at a time when Israel was moving to live in a defined area of land. He gave the law to enable them to live together harmoniously. This is the reason why it focuses on preventing adultery, theft, slander and murder. These four sins are the ones that disrupt the relationships between the people living together in a community. If I am proud and arrogant, my neighbours may not like me, but they are not harmed. If I steal from other people, those I steal from do suffer. A good society needs protection from theft.
There are four ways that another person can harm me. They can steal my possessions, assault my body, lie about my character, or break up my family. Lies, theft, assault and adultery are sins that directly harm other people. The last five commandments deal with these sins. They were given to prevent these sins from breaking down the structure of society.
The context of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 21-23 makes their purpose clear. The case laws that follow the Ten Commandments do not refer to personal holiness. They describe things that happen when people harm those living around them. Solutions are provided for problems between people and disputes over property. The Law of Moses was designed to deal with the issues that arise when people live together in close proximity. This is the sole purpose of the law.
The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today (Deut 6:24).
God provided the law so that people could live together in harmony. In the modern world, people still have problems with each other and disputes over property, so this need has not disappeared. We still need the Law of Moses.
Love has not replaced the law. Paul says that the consequences of fulfilling the law and living in love are the same. This is an amazing statement. The law is not the opposite of love, but is consistent with it.
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of thelaw (Rom 13:10).
Love does no harm to another person, so good law cannot allow harm to anyone. A system of government that forces people to do things against their will would be inconsistent with love.
God’s law is the only law that can be fulfilled by love. Good law must be capable of being fulfilled by love. Love could never fulfil a modern system of law, because it would be far to complicated. That suggests there is something wrong with modern systems of law. They cannot be fulfilled by love.
Christians have this view that the New Testament is about love and the Old Testament is about law. They seem them as opposites. The words commonly used to describe the Old Testament law include harsh, cruel, severe and merciless.
Jesus had a different view of the law. When asked what is the greatest law, he said,
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
The first part of his response is well known, but the final sentence is fascinating. Jesus says that the law hangs on the command to love your neighbour as yourself. How can harsh laws hang on a command to love your neighbour? Jesus saw the law as being about love, so how can it be harsh and cruel.
Paul was even blunter in his statement about the law.
The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself (Gal 5:14).
The law is summed up by the word love. How can a law that is harsh and cruel be summed up by the word love? This does not make sense.
Only one conclusion can follow from these two messages. Those who believe the law is harsh and cruel have misunderstood it. If we read the law in the way that Jesus read it, we would see God’s love and the love of man, not harshness and cruelty. If we are not seeing love when we read the law, then we may need to read it again through the eyes of Jesus.
I believe that Christians who want to understand political systems need to seriously study of the Old Testament law. However, we need a radically different approach. We need to approach the law in the same way as Jesus and Paul, looking for love of God and love of neighbour. We might be surprised at what we find.
God's law does not try to do too much. It attempts to prevent violence and theft by punishing stealing, assault and murder. It also protects the family by trying to minimise adultery.
God's law recognises the limits of what can be achieved if hearts are not changed. For example, it gives up trying to prevent adultery in a society that is hard of heart (Matt 19:8).
Often the best that God's law can do is minimise theft and violence. That is not a lot, but it is enough for society to live in relative harmony.
God's law does try to eliminate evil or make people good. It leaves that to Jesus and testifies to him.
Now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify (Rom 3:21).
The law works in advance of Jesus by restraining the worst effects of sin, but does not try to eliminate them until hearts are changed (Rom 3:20). God's law points to Jesus and restrains sin, until Jesus and the Holy Spirit have done their work. This is the best that law can do, but it is enough.
Human law always tries to do too much. Not content with preventing theft and violence, politicians try to solve ever problem: eliminate poverty, eradicate racism, transform the economy, save the environment, and all before lunch.
Human law tries to do everything, but succeeds at nothing, except destroying freedom and stealing income. And it is so busy trying to do everything that it fails to do the basic things like restraining theft and violence.
God's law is superior to human law: no contest.
We assume that because our legislators are democratically elected, they have authority to make laws. If we elected them, they are making laws on our behalf. But nothing has changed. Democratically-elected legislators are still making human law.
Human laws will always be inferior to God’s law. We have the odd situation in the modern world where everyone hates God’s law, but loves human law. I can understand why those who hate God would hate his law, but I cannot understand why those who love God are so ambivalent about his law.
When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This tree represented the ability to decide between good and evil, between justice and injustice without reference to God.
Adam and Eve had a choice; they could obey God, or they could decide for themselves how they would live. We face the same choice today. We can accept for God’s law or we can make up our own. Parliaments and congresses are feasting on the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Most people would sooner live under human laws, than acknowledge God by admitting that his law is better than any human law.
When we vote for a person to be our representative in parliament, we are saying that we want that person to make laws for us we are actively rejecting God’s law and saying that we prefer human law. If all authority must be under God, legislators and politicians who make human laws are not legitimate, even if they are elected.
