The Way the Law Works – The Eighth Commandment

The Way the Law Works

Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19

“You shall not steal.”

Launched on a trajectory

Read Exodus 22.6

“If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.”

Show of hands: How many of you would have ever applied Exodus 22.6 to the way you use your tongue? Or to your relationship with your wife? Thanks, put your hands down. Now how many of you are willing to let this statute – and the eighth commandment as a whole – lead you into the liberty of love and growth in grace? Good. This is the way the Law works. The commandment serves as a kind of launch pad. It aims us in a direction and fires us up for action: “Don’t steal!” OK, got it. Then, as we launch out into our everyday lives, the statutes accompanying the commandments mark out a kind of course or trajectory, carrying the intent of the commandment beyond the letter into the spirit of it. You won’t steal from your neighbor. No way. And you’re not worried about any fires you start burning up his grain or house. But can you see now that this commandment and this statute guide you into a larger trajectory still, and equip you to deal with specific things the Scripture doesn’t address, but the Spirit can bring to mind? It’s the same with all the holy, righteous, good, and loving Law of God.

Pray

Help me to love Your Law, O Lord! Speak to me of its liberating power, or its ability to form me into someone who loves You more and more, and who loves my neighbor as myself. Disabuse me of every false idea I’ve ever held about Your Law, O Lord, and lead me fully into its glorious truth.

—

“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is 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.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.