Part and Whole – The Rule of Law: Interpreting God’s Law (1)

Part and Whole

The Rule of Law: Interpreting God’s Law (1)

The Law is the cornerstone of Scripture.

Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.” Numbers 27:1-4

God has determined to rule His people by His Law. This was His design for Israel in the Old Testament, and it continues to be His design for those who, through faith in Jesus Christ, inherit the promises and Kingdom that God has prepared for them (Matt. 5:17-19). This rule of Law begins in the soul of each person and is worked out in justice in all our relationships, roles, and responsibilities. The end of the rule of God’s Law is that His people should love Him with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and their neighbors as themselves (Matt. 22:34-30).

Because the Law is so central to the life of faith, it is particularly important that citizens of God’s Kingdom practice faithful and obedient interpretation of the Law, so that it might bear the fruit of righteousness—the righteousness of our King, Jesus—in and through our lives in every aspect. The incident of the inquiry of the daughters of Zelophehad presents an excellent opportunity for us to survey the general principles which must be followed in making just use of the Law of God.

The Law of God—the commandments, statutes, and precepts given at Mr. Sinai, in the wilderness, and on the plains of Moab—does not stand alone. Important revelation comes before the Law, which the Law does not nullify (Gal. 3:15-18), and abundant additional revelation follows which, as we shall see, helps to clarify the intent and use of the Law for obedience to God. Indeed, so integrally tied to the Law of God are the prophets and writings of the Old Testament, that, in the minds of Jesus and Paul, these latter were practically coterminous with the Law, being extensions or further developments thereof (cf. John 10:34/Ps. 82:6; 1 Cor. 14:21/Is. 28:11, 12).

The Law of God, if we are to use it justly, must thus be understood in the whole context of Scriptural revelation: as based on God’s Covenant, interpreted through the Prophets (all the Old Testament), further extended through the teaching of our Lord Jesus, and finally clarified by the teaching of the Apostles. To extract the Law from its whole context is to deprive ourselves of important keys to understanding and applying the Law of God to our lives today. We risk missing God’s intention in giving the Law unless we work to discern its meaning and application within the entire corpus of Biblical revelation.

The Law of God is part of that revelation, even the cornerstone. But our understanding of the Law will be incomplete unless we seek to apply the Law within the larger framework of the whole counsel of God in Scripture.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.