The God of the Law

The God of the Law

Know the Law-giver, know the Law.

Exodus 20:2, 3

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.”

Deuteronomy 5:6, 7

“‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods beforeme.’”

Psalm 73:25; Romans 1:21-25

In the prologue to the first commandment, God identifies Himself as sole Giver of the commandments, statutes, precepts, and rules that follow. The Law thus has its origins in the eternal being and counsel of the one true God, and this has profound implications for the nature and use of the Law.

Most especially, it is important to bear in mind that God is love (1 John 4:8); thus, we should expect that the Law of God would be motivated by love and intended to promote love as an expression of the very being and character of God. To read the Law of God in any way other than as a code intended to guide human beings in the ways of love is to misjudge the intentions of the Divine Lawgiver, to misunderstand the meaning of His Law, and to misapply the Law in the day to day business of human life.

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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.