Somewhere in the mix of biblical interpretation, people seem to misunderstand the point of the law. The major theme of Jesus Christ’s message was about intentionality, more so than action and conduct. When you think about it, the group he spoke the most harshly to were the Pharisee’s. Why was that? They posed as the fulfillment of the law, yet there were far from it, as a code of conduct never breaches the intentionality of someone’s heart. So if God’s commandment wasn’t about conduct, then what was it? Christ declared it simply in Matthew 22:36-40:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So the intent of the law wasn’t the Ten Commandments, nor the more detailed law in Leviticus, but rather in the simple intent of loving God with all your heart and loving others as yourself. In Christ’s words, it summarizes the Law and Prophets. Why is this important? Because the message of faith and eternal life is conditioned on critically understanding intent more so than merely obeying laws or principles. It’s also why the Christian message is so poorly understood, communicated and practiced, as various forms of legalism, tradition, and doctrines have perverted the intended freedom that comes with Christ’s sacrifice.
Reason by definition is defined by following sets of rules to reach intended conclusions. Everything is rules based and the value of what you have accomplished is determined by the conclusion. The nature of everything becomes about commoditization, everything is valued purely by function and end games. As a result, it should be no surprise that reason always results in death of some sort unless someone can be motivated to constantly reach new conclusions or end points all the time. However, this is unrealistic for many as people with multiple talents/interests/true fluidity are rare. And unfortunately, in a world dictated purely by reason and law, there is no such thing as free will.
Let’s put this more practically. Let’s think of people who have been in religion that are dictated by rules, codes of conduct, and a constrained way of living (the same would be true of me saying I am American and subject to the laws of my city, state, and federal levels, it’s all more or less the same- the curse of identity or group think). Having been in a very legalistic church, I was expecting that as I adhered to the rules more and more, dedicated my life to the church’s goals, sacrificed my desires, etc., that my relationship with God would grow. Well, it didn’t. Following the rules usually made me resent the people who did not and I eventually saw the hypocrisy in the leaders that enforced the conduct. However, unlike the rebels who blame God or Christ, I blamed the human institutions and tried to understand what went awry.
The answer is so obvious, it was intent. I did something to edify myself; I sought eternal security not by following God, but the edicts of an institution. And I went down the pathway of death, struggling to find joy, despite the “success” the world told me I had attained. But when I started to honestly examine intent in my own heart, I could actually start seeing the intent of others and truly understand the various passage of the Bible. Faith (past) is the sense of mutual trust that requires objects to be in unity with each other, while love (present) is the positive bond that is created through mutual trust, while hope (future) is the future intent of mutual faith and love. It really does create the eternal loop, which requires dying to one’s earthly identity and not being tied to the defined nature of the deathly titles earned from a life here on earth. These things don’t require rules per se, but merely what Christ says, love God with all your heart and others as yourself. In as much, your present will be in balance with God and you can actually have a relationship with Him before we face Him in the end.
Simply following laws does nothing. It makes conduct more bearable for others, but it does nothing to address the intent of someone’s heart. In some cases, it creates resentment that pushes others to commit the action. Hence, laws and reason present a paradox. The conduct of men cannot simply be governed by laws, logic and reason, it requires an adjustment of intention, which requires faith, love, and hope to change. This is why psychology, prisons, etc., tend to fail at rehabilitation. Faith cannot change people focused on reason, and vice versa, reason cannot change people focused on faith. And faith and reason can point to God (narrow road) or the wide roads that lead to death. I much prefer Christ’s law, loving God and others can be tough to do all the time.
In future posts, we will go into more on the paradox of faith and reason as it relates to many of the misunderstandings that plague the church today.
