Lines Are Our Friends

If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal 5:18)

I have been assured by fellow Christians that this clearly teaches that the law is no longer in effect for Christians. That was "Old Testament". We're new. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes," the tell me (Rom 10:4).

Unlike those who think we are still fully under every aspect of the Old Testament law (admittedly a very small number, but in existence nonetheless), there are many who avoid the whole accusation of "pick and choose" by rejecting the law wholesale. These are actually antinomians, those opposed to the law. In this view right and wrong becomes irrelevant. "It's between me and God," they will argue and then sort of make it up as they go (because they'll still argue that you're immoral for suggesting the law is of any value anymore).

Is the law dead? I, for one, hope not. As it turns out, lines are our friends. God didn't give us rules to strip away our fun or simply to condemn us. He gave us law to offer the best, as love always does.

There are, today, multiple uses for God's law. For one, Paul wrote, "If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin." (Rom 7:7) That is, the law teaches us what God views as right and wrong and tells us where we transgress it. (Thus, "transgressions".) The word "sin" in the Greek language means literally "to miss the mark" and if you don't know what the mark is, you can't know if you missed it. That's the function of the law. Along that line of thinking, anyone who wishes to please God would want to know what He wants. So God's law serves that purpose. It offers to those who want it (even to those who don't), "This is the way, walk in it." (Isa 30:21) A third purpose, and one we can see clearly today, is to use the law to restrain sin in society. There are cultures, for instance, that value murder. (Do I need to offer current examples (hint: ISIS)?) But the Bible forbids it and laws against it aim to help restrain it. While adultery is just about everywhere, God's law condemns it and we all know it's wrong which helps decrease the occurrences. Indeed, Paul claimed "the work of the law is written on their hearts" (Rom 2:15). Everyone has it. If it were not so, there wouldn't be nearly the outrage against people who claim "God says this is wrong." No, the outrage is caused by the conscience warring against desires. A function of the law.

As a whole, God's law may look like a restraint to our freedom, but it serves good purposes. Imagine, for a moment, a child that would like to learn to draw. Setting that child down in a room and telling him or her, "Go to it!" without guidance is not helpful. You haven't assisted that child in learning to draw. You need to make rules. "Here are some implements to use. Here is the medium you can use. Here is a book to give you some instruction." That sort of thing. Teaching them sociology (for instance) is all well and good, but it is not within the "lines" of learning to draw. So, as it turns out, limiting their choices serves to direct them toward improving their skills, while eliminating all limitations will simply allow random activity without achieving the ends they had intended. Now, step up from drawing and it gets clearer. The child that wants to learn to design buildings will need to learn foundational truths (yes, that was a pun) in order to do the job. Limitations? Yes, but limitations that make everything work.

In a nation whose god has become "liberty" that means "do whatever I feel like", laws--especially God's laws--are an affront. To the antinomian Christian, even God's law is an affront. But Jesus assured us "Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matt 5:18) And, as it turns out, lines are our friends.