Tuesday, May 24th - Struggling with the Law

#thestruggleisreal - Day 6

In May and June, Toni Ruth and I (and Richard) will be preaching a series based on Paul's letter to the Galatians called #thestruggleisreal.  During this series, I'm going to be posting regularly with some brief thoughts on various passages from Galatians.  I hope that you follow along as we look for God's grace in the midst of some very real struggles!

I was 16 years old when I first began to read Paul's letters with serious interest. His letters inspired and intrigued me and, for some reason, the way he structured his arguments appealed to me.  This love of Paul has not abated in the slightest as I've grown older.  However, I must admit to a consistent and continual difficulty in keeping a handle on Paul's understanding of the Law (or, the Torah). Learning about Paul's Jewish roots and that he was not attempting to create an entirely new religion that would replace Judaism was helpful. However, I still struggle when teaching/preaching from Paul's letters to communicate his views on the relationship between Christians and the Law. I keep struggling, because if you're going to make an effort to understand Galatians, you have to contend with Paul's teachings about the Law.

A few years ago, a judge in Alabama caused a bit of a controversy by installing a massive monument to the Ten Commandments in the State Judicial Building. The ACLU filed and eventually won a suit against the Judge and the monument was removed. While this was a minor national controversy, it had a bigger impact on evangelical/conservative Christians, for a couple of reasons. One, what is the role of religion (and specifically the Christian faith) in public and political life in the United States? Secondly, what is the relationship between the Torah and the Christian faith? While I find the first question endlessly fascinating and could spend a lot of time dissecting that, it's the 2nd question that concerns us if we're talking about Galatians.

I have grace, I don't need to worry about sin,
right Mr. Corso?

Throughout much of Christian history, the relationship between Christians and Law has been dysfunctional - veering towards what looks like a full embrace of legalism and at times seeming to throw off any kind of moral requirements. The tension is present throughout Paul - if we are saved by grace and grace alone, what compels me to follow any kind of restrictive moral code?  If the onus of responsibility for my salvation is not on me but on Jesus Christ, then what I do with my body or my words is of no ultimate consequence, right? Well, to echo Lee Corso: not so fast, my friend! Paul's argument is that in salvation, a transformation happens. We become a new creation and our lives begin to be opened up to and guided by the Holy Spirit, which leads us away from sin and death, towards life and a Christ-centered morality, which shows up as naturally as fruit in an orchard.

In his commentary on Galatians, Richard Longenecker makes an important distinction about the relationship between the Law and Jewish Christian in the 1st century: Jewish Christians were not "legalistic…attempting to gain favor with God (i.e., be found righteous) by means of Torah observance", but they were "certainly nomistic…expressing their Christian convictions in their lifestyle in ways compatible with Jewish traditions."  Paul was arguing forcefully against legalism, which would make individuals responsible for achieving their salvation through perfect law obedience. Experience clearly demonstrates that this is impossible. And there's no wiggle room here, either.  As Paul says in 5:3-4 - "every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ…" In other words, we are not obligated to follow the law for the sake of our salvation. And if we assume that we have to follow the ten commandments in order to be saved by God, then (1) we are not Christians, but Jews (which is not a bad thing for someone who wishes to be Jewish - it just means that you've left the Christian side of the pool) and (2) we are consequently responsible for obeying the entire Law, not just the top ten.

This doesn't mean that we can disregard the Torah or the Old Testament, though. It's not that simple.  And it doesn't mean that we don't have any moral standards at all. It just means that adherence to those moral standards doesn't save us. Our moral standards as Christians are meant to reflect the way of life in the Kingdom of God and grow out of our ongoing, living response to God's grace. Why the Law, then? It was God's way of forming and establishing the boundaries of life together for the Hebrew people. As Christians, that formation and boundary making is the work of the Spirit moving and working in and through the Body of Christ.