Necessary Roughness

Ideally, when a temporal government writes a law, there is an expectation that the governed will do what the law says. There is also an ideal expectation on the part of the governed that some sort of enforcement will occur to those people who do not keep the law.

In the Old Testament, the Lord operates in a similar fashion with his people, sometimes delegating his authority to his people (example: Leviticus 20:1-2) and sometimes enforcing his law on his own (example: Genesis 38:6-10).

This is the kind of God we can get our head around, “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5). It’s a God that makes sense, one that will give you the Terry Tate beat down if you disobey. Justice, sure and swift.

The Old Testament fear of divine smackdown has been twisted by man into an insidious doctrine: we would get divine benefits because we did what has been asked. We would exalt ourselves by keeping the Law. We can tell ourselves that if we’re good, we can earn a small miracle here or there. We would gain an edge over our fellow man, whether now or later. The Law in this case would not be a curb, mirror, or guide, but a lever.

We don’t use the Law to gain an edge over fellow man but to gain an edge over evil. Having our own personal gods, not hearing the Word and the true preaching of it, dishonoring our parents, lying, committing adultery, coveting: these all result in harm to us at some point. The Law for the Christian is a desire to see us safe from harm. It is objective good to keep God’s name holy among us, for husband and wife to love each other, for children to honor their parents, for neighbors to help each other keep their property, and so on.

We dare not get into a quid pro quo with God — we have no quid!

The divine law tells the redeemed: we are born in a world originally created perfect but now twisted with sin. This is behavior in this sinful world that does not harm our faith in God and draw us into Hell. It won’t make us holy. It doesn’t promise that God will grant us treasures on earth, but it shows us that God’s eternal treasure is an unearned gift. Our eternal salvation is secured through the cross; here is how we can do good until then.