Putting God’s Law in Perspective
By Gary
Ray Branscome
When the Gentiles, who do not have the law,
do by
nature the things contained in the law, they… show the work of the law
written
in their hearts. // This is the covenant
that I will
make with them… says the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and
write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they will be my
people.
(Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 10:16, Romans 2:14-15.)
The entire Law of God, everything that
He requires, is summarized in two commandments. You shall love the Lord
your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind, and with all your strength, and, you shall love your
neighbor
as yourself. (Mark
The verses just quoted make it clear
that genuine love, the kind of love that comes from God, will never
lead anyone
to do evil. Therefore, those who appeal to “love”, a twisted perverted
“Love”,
in order to justify their own immorality, adultery, homosexuality etc.
are
under a Satanic delusion, and are doing the will of Satan, not God.
However, even though the entire will
of God for us is love, it would be totally wrong for us to assume that
anything
not specifically condemned or forbidden in Scripture is in accord with
love,
for it is not. War is not in accord with love! Slavery is not in accord
with
love! Divorce is not in accord with love! On the contrary, they are
evils that
are in the world because of sin. Therefore, if God does not
specifically
condemn and forbid them, it is not because that is the way He wants us
to act,
but because they are a part of God’s judgment on a sinful world.
War is the opposite of love. War is
hate! And, because people on both sides suffer and
die, war
is always a judgment of God on both sides. Therefore, even
though God
allows for war, the cause of war is sin. And, even though love may
sometimes
require us to take up arms in order to protect our families and loved
ones from
those who would do them harm, we should never love war, glory in war,
or seek
war except as a last resort.
Two other evils that have come into
the world through war are slavery and polygamy. Slavery and polygamy
are only
in the world because of sin, and are not in accord with love. The first
slaves,
both male and female, were prisoners of war. And, whenever men own
women they
tend to become objects of their affections, thus degrading marriage in
a way
that degrades the status of women in general and leads to strife and
division
in the home. That is why the Jews rejected polygamy before the time of
Christ,
and that is why it is not mentioned in the New Testament.
Another evil that is not in accord
with love is divorce. Even though Moses allowed for divorce
(Deuteronomy 24:1),
and those who lived under that law sometimes divorced and remarried,
Christ
made it clear that even though they were following the Law they were
still
guilty of adultery if the divorce was for any reason other than
adultery
(Matthew 19:3-9). And, why was it adultery? Because it was not God’s
plan from
the beginning! Here are the words of Christ.
“The Pharisees also came to him [Jesus],
tempting him,
by asking him, Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his
wife for every reason? And answering he said to them, Have you not
read, that
he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said,
For this
reason a man will leave father and mother, and will be united to his
wife: and
the two will be one flesh? Accordingly they are no more two, but one.
Therefore, do not let man separate what God has joined together. Why then, they asked, did Moses command to
give her a certificate of divorce, and to put her away? He said to
them,
Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to put away
your
wives: but from the beginning it was not so. But I tell you, whoever
divorces
his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another,
commits
adultery: and whoever marries her who is put away commits adultery.”
(Matthew
19:3-9.)
In order to understand how “obedience” to the law given by Moses could still be sinful, we need to distinguish
between the political law and the Moral law. As the political leader of Israel, Moses had to govern both the saved and the unsaved, both those who had God’s Spirit in their heart and those who did not. When a husband and wife are both saved divorce should never happen, because they should love and forgive each other just as Christ has forgiven them.
However, Moses had to deal with those who had hardened their hearts. Nevertheless, Christ has called us to a higher standard, the standard intended by God from the beginning.
The standard that Christ
calls us to is not a new standard. The Law has not been changed.
Although Moses
never specifically said that a couple could divorce for reasons other
than
adultery, the law was interpreted that way. However, Christ has called
us to a
higher standard of interpretation. A standard that does not compromise
with sin,
excuse sin, or in any way allow for sin. And, that is just what is done
by
those who want to justify slavery, polygamy, or any other evil just
because it
was not specifically forbidden by the Law of Moses.
The fact that Christ has called us to a
higher
standard can clearly be seen in the following statements.
I am telling you, that unless your
righteousness exceeds
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way
enter into
the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said by those long
ago, You
shall not kill; and whoever kills will be in danger of the judgment:
But I say
unto you, That whoever is angry with his brother without a cause will
be in
danger of the judgment: whoever says to his brother, You idiot, will be
called
to account: and whoever says, You fool, shall be in danger of hell
fire.
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that
your
brother has a grievance against you; Leave your gift before the altar,
and go;
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer your gift.…
You
have heard that it was said by those long ago, You
shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whoever looks on a
woman to
lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
(Matthew
5:20-28.)
Furthermore, because Christ has said,
“Whoever divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and
marries
another, commits adultery,” it would be lowering the standard and
cheapening
marriage to assume that a man who does not even bother with divorce
before
marrying another is not committing adultery. That is opposite of what
Christ
was teaching! He was not lowering the standard. On the contrary, He was
calling
us back to God’s original intention for marriage. And, that is how
Christians
have understood His words for two-thousand years.
Conclusion
Christianity did not originate with
the gentiles, but with the Jews. Not the unbelieving Jews, but those
who
accepted Christ as the Messiah, those who spread palm branches before
Jesus
when He entered Jerusalem (Matthew 21:8), those who were baptized by
the
thousands following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost (Acts
2:41 and 4:4). And, because the Jews living at that time had rejected
polygamy,
that rejection of polygamy was a part of Christian morality from the
beginning.
Because Christianity aspires to the
highest standard, because it calls all who name the name of Christ to
walk in a
clean conscience, and conduct themselves in a way that brings honor to
His
name, Christians have, throughout history, been the leading opponents
of both
slavery and polygamy.
In the past, the stricter
interpretation of the Ten Commandments embraced by the Church has been
referred
to as “reasonable morality”. However, because the meaning of words has
changed,
I need to explain that the phrase, “reasonable morality” is not a
reference to
“rationalism” (which excludes God), but to the law of God written on
the heart.
It was that law that set forth God’s original intent for human conduct
and
marriage. And, even though that law can be easily explained away by a
sinful
heart, when we come to faith in Christ it is written anew as we are
“renewed in
knowledge after the image of the
One who
created” us (Colossians 3:10). As it is written,
“After those
days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write
it in
their hearts; and will be their God, and they will be my people,”
(Jeremiah
31:33).