Tenants of God’s Moral Law
Tenants of God’s moral law
Lastly, let’s consider the tenets of God’s moral law. If they aren’t strictly codified how do we know what they are? How do we know what it means to do good? What are his timeless and universal commandments and principles for living? Again, we briefly considered this regarding the definition of evil. God reveals his law through our conscience, the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible.
Though all three are important, the Bible is the most reliable. We may rationalize away our conscience and be insensitive to the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Rationalizing away or misunderstanding the teaching of the Bible is possible but less likely, particularly if we honestly seek to know and reflect God’s nature.
From beginning to end the Bible is full of teaching, stories, and commandments that either directly give his moral law or principles that reflect his law. Together they teach us what it means to do good.
A Pharisee testing Jesus asked: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36). Jesus answered:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40)
The Pharisee’s question referenced the Mosaic Law. Jesus’ answer reflected not only the Mosaic Law, which he came to fulfill and abolish, but also God’s timeless moral law and the principle of love. In it he tells us what it means to do good–at its core it’s loving God and loving others as your self. On this the Mosaic Law depended and on this God’s timeless moral law depends. Love is important to God because it’s his nature to love.
We find Jesus’ answer illustrated when we look at Biblical particulars of the law in the light of the principle of love. We’re not to steal because it’s unloving. It’s evil because it hurts the one we steal from and comes between us and God. When we steal we are neither loving others nor God.
Likewise, though I mentioned the effect of drunkenness was darkness and sorrow, the reason it’s evil is because it’s a violation of the principle of love. We’re not to get drunk with wine because it shows we would rather be under the control of alcohol than the Holy Spirit. It shows our love for alcohol exceeds our love for God. Alcohol in excess is also damaging to the body. When we damage our body we are showing disdain for God’s image, because man is created in his image. That too is unloving toward God.
The principle, love God and others, is commanded and taught throughout the Bible. The Bible calls for an intentional, sacrificial and unconditional type of love, not emotion based love. Loving God includes willingly honoring, obeying, and trusting him at all times, even when we are tempted to do otherwise, can’t understand why he allows pain in our lives, or don’t understand the reason behind a command.
If an Israelite under the Mosaic Law grudgingly refrained from eating the fat of oxen, sheep, and goats, he obeyed that specific law in a narrow sense, but disobeyed God’s moral law which requires obedience willingly, out of love. Unlike portions of the Mosaic Law, no portion of his moral law can be obeyed in a narrow sense. Both our actions and hearts must be conformed to his principles.
Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God. When God allowed Satan to destroy Job’s sons, daughters, servants, and livestock (Job 1:12-19), Job didn’t understand why God allowed such pain into his life. Still, he loved God:
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20–22)
Abraham fully obeyed both God’s specific commandment and his moral law when he offered up his son Isaac without hesitation (Gen. 22:1-13). He didn’t know why God told him to sacrifice his son, and as a loving father would have offered his own life to spare his son. Still, he obeyed God, loving him above all else.
Jesus said the second greatest commandment was to love others. Loving others according to the moral law is different from the emotional attachment type of love we associate with “falling in love,” or with the tender bond between individuals, like the bond between a parent and child. It’s a love characterized by intentionally placing the welfare of others over our own, and of having goodwill toward all, even our enemies.
Paul gives us a sense of the fullness of the principle of love, including the need for both right action and a right heart, in 1st Corinthians:
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:3–6)
Regarding our enemies, Jesus commands us:
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:44)
Loving your enemy doesn’t mean letting him destroy you, your family, or your nation. At times, such as war, it may be necessary to kill your enemy. Rather, loving your enemies is engaging them without malice or hatred in your heart. It’s trying to resolve issues peacefully, praying for the salvation of those who are lost, and praying for God’s peace for those who are saved.
There are many commandments and stated or implied principles in the Bible. L. Wayne House relates the Ten Commandments to some of God’s eternal moral principles.1 Here is his list of commandments and the principles they reflect:
1. Have no other gods before Me: Sanctity of the special claims of God on his people
2. Don’t make idols, worship them or serve them: Sanctity of the incomparability of God
3. Don’t take the name of the LORD your God in vain: Sanctity of the character of God
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy: Sanctity of the worship of God
5. Honor your father and your mother: Sanctity of parents as the reflection of God
6. Don’t murder: Sanctity of human life
7. Don’t commit adultery: Sanctity of marriage as the reflection of God
8. Don’t steal: Sanctity of private property or sole stewardship over God’s creation
9. Don’t bear false witness against your neighbor: Sanctity of the person’s character from defamation
10. Don’t covet: Sanctity of private property or sole stewardship over God’s creation
Sanctity is synonymous with holiness and sacredness. In reference to God the terms reflex his perfect nature. In reference to people or things, sanctity, holiness, and sacredness all refer to something or someone set apart unto God.
The Israelites were commanded to remember the sabbath, to keep it holy, set apart unto God. Though we no longer have that specific commandment, we are to honer the underlying principle, to hold worship as a sacred duty, and set it apart unto God.
All the commandments ultimately relate to the overriding principle of the sanctity of God and our call to love him. The first four relate directly and the rest, our duty to others, indirectly.
Though God’s moral principles and commandments may be variously stated and aren’t strictly codified, they are evident to all who seek them. As Christians, with our conscience, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible, God’s moral law is never far from us. It’s there as our guide and standard to live by. We do good when we conform our actions and hearts to it.