False Interpretations – Interpreting the Law of God (2)

False Interpretations

Interpreting the Law of God (2)

Bad understanding is no excuse for not understanding at all.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Matthew 22:23

Ask any person you meet: “Would you like to see more justice and mercy and faithfulness in our society?” What do you think he would say?

But then if you ask, “Would you like to see more of a prominent place given to the Law of God in American life, culture, and society”? He will shrink back in horror and loudly declaim against such an idea.

And that’s just among those who call themselves followers of Christ!

The Law has gotten a lot of bad press. Secularists rage against it as binding and outdated, tyrannizing our freedom, setting us up for a return to stoning and slavery and whatnot, and an unacceptable intrusion into public life of what should be a matter of private morality only.

Christian preachers tell their congregations that Christ has set us free from the Law. So we don’t need to worry about understanding all those difficult passages and how they might apply in our day.

Even though Paul, James, John, and the Lord Jesus did precisely that.

Just because the atmosphere reeks with bad interpretations of the Law of God does not mean we should not seek out the fresh and revitalizing air of true understanding. C. S. Lewis wrote, “The right defence against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.” The same is true when it comes to understanding the Law of God. Accept that the reason we are so willfully ignorant of God’s Law today is that someone has told us something less than the truth about the Law, and you have a starting point for beginning to seek out a proper understanding of what Jesus held forth as the key to true love and Kingdom greatness.

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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.