Fulfilling the Law

As I've been preaching through Galatians--that letter of Paul in which he draws a thick, dark line between Gospel and law--I've been pondering a question: Why didn't God send His Spirit to us to make us exemplary law-keepers, rather than to set us free from the law (as Paul states in Galatians). In fact, he says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18).

It's a little shocking, really. Isn't it? It sounds a lot like Paul just said a very big part of the Bible (specifically what we call the Old Testament) no longer applies. Weren't all those laws, and regulations inspired to be written by the Spirit? Wouldn't setting them all aside constitute breaking a basic rule of listening to God in our day: "If it contradicts Scripture, it's not from the Holy Spirit"?

What's the Law For?

Setting aside Old Testament law for a moment, let's ask ourselves what civic laws are for. Why are there speed limits? A cynical answer might be: to raise money for local coffers. But that's not why legislators make speed limits; they make them for our safety - the safety of the one driving, and of those around the driver. In residential areas speed limits are slower because there are more people walking, including children. Speed limits on freeways are set based on the limitations of cars, expected traffic, and how the roads themselves are designed.

We make laws to restrain evil, and promote good. Old Testament law does the same, though the scope of Old Testament law includes not only human interaction, but also our relationship with God.

One other thing that laws do for us is tell us which side of the road to drive on. It's not that one side is better or worse than the other, but a convention is necessary for all of us to be safe. The same is true for standards of currency, measurement and even the voltage of an electrical outlet. In this case, laws are more cultural than anything else--they aren't about restraining evil or promoting good, they simply state what our culture needs to function efficiently. Other nations do things differently. We would never say that the British are immoral for driving on the left side of the road, or that Canadians are evil for using the metric system, or that Australia is in danger of God's judgment for sending 230V, 50Hz power into people's homes. Of course not. But each nation, each culture has to decide on it's own internal standards for such things.

I would suggest one purpose of Old Testament law was to create Israelite culture. Israel had just come out of slavery in Egypt, which had a pagan culture. God intended to establish a distinct people, distinguished from their Egyptian past, but also from the peoples that would be surrounding them in Canaan. What I'm suggesting is that much of the Old Testament laws governing diet and clothing are there in part (at least) to create a culture (not because pork is bad for you, or because blending cotton and linen is immoral, e.g.). It's not wrong per se to eat catfish (it has no scales, and is considered "unclean" by Old Testament law), it's just something Israelites weren't supposed to do. It's not better to eat locusts (as John the Baptist did - they are not considered unclean by Old Testament law), no matter how "gross" it may seem to most North Americans.

Love Fulfills the Purpose of the Law

How is it Paul can say "Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law?" (Romans 13:10), or "the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:14)? For example, how does loving my neighbor fulfill the command to stone to death a bull that has gored someone to death (Exodus 21:28)?

One could, at this point, suggest all sorts of ways that would link stoning such a bull, along with the other regulations about this that follow in that passage, with being loving toward ones neighbor. This would establish bull-stoning as a loving thing to do in such situations. Would shooting it, instead of stoning it count? Is that what Paul is saying?

No.

What hit me in the middle of preaching on the last half of Galatians 5 last Sunday, when I got to the passage that says "if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law" (Galatians 5:18), is that the Spirit leads us to fulfill all the purposes the law was intended for. No law exists simply to be a law; laws exist for a reason. This includes both human law and God's law. God didn't make the Old Testament laws simply to have laws; the laws were intended to restrain evil, promote the good and create a culture distinct from the world around them. The Holy Spirit is doing the very same things within us and among us.

Paul's answer to the problem of restraining the flesh through the law (the presumptive message of the Judiaizers Paul combats in Galatians), is that faithfully following the Spirit does a much better job of this than following the Old Testament law. He's not saying just do whatever you want, you're under grace (as some "hyper-grace" teachers in our day are saying). He's saying, if you live by the flesh you cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). He's also saying, if we live by the Spirit we won't be living by our flesh (Galatians 5:16).

The Spirit is producing fruit in us: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These things are not opposed to the law (see v.23b), rather these things fulfill the purpose of the law. Everyone of these fruit have both a personal and a relational aspect. We aren't just supposed to be loving, we're supposed to love others, not just be joyful, but share our joys (etc.).

This is why when we are led by the Spirit we are not under law (v.18). Where does the Spirit lead us, but into the ways of God Himself, into the character we need to live in the Kingdom, into lives that always seek what is good for ourselves and others, and into the culture of Heaven itself? I'd also suggest that if we are always and only living for the good (for ourselves and others), we simply won't have time for evil, and so we need not worry about restraining something we have no interest in.

When we live by the flesh (out of our mere humanness), often the best we can do is a little better than we used to. This is because our flesh can never overcome itself. It always has a bent to operate apart from God. Romans 7 explains this: the harder I try the worser I get. Trying harder doesn't work. This is also why legalism fails: it relies on our humanness to do (or not do) things on a list. We either need a manageable list, or we need to live in hypocrisy--pretending we're better than we are.

Living by the Spirit means living in joyful dependence on the Spirit's leading and empowerment to follow Him. We can't do it without Him. Our flesh thinks we can, but even that thought is rebellion against His work within us.

Now, most of us learn how to follow the Spirit over time. We don't hear clear and specific messages from Him about what to do, or how to do it -- at least not at first. Some may, many don't. That's okay. Like an infant learns to identify sounds and then words and then meanings, so we too learn the Spirit's language a bit at a time. Being in His presence is the important thing. We'll catch on after a while. He's a patient but also a good teacher.