Law or Love - What Would Jesus Say About... Submission?

There are approximately 613 rules in the Old Testament. That is a lot! Many of the reasons for these Laws are hard to understand today. But according to the Bible they, at the very least, had plenty of meaning and significance for ancient Israel and Jesus. The Laws were meant to shape and guide the lives of Israel toward communion with God.

Today the average American Christian looks to Jesus and the New Testament for their shaping and guidance. American Christians try very hard to follow principles and rules set down for us in the New Testament.

The Pharisees also tried very hard to follow the rules set before them in the Old Testament and now there name is synonymous with 'hypocrite' in our modern world. What might be confusing for them if they were to have found out about such a label is that they very much did what they set out to do. They followed the rules set out in the Old Testament to the T. Their very livelihoods and reputations depended on it! But it is recorded in the New Testament that God came down as a man and exclaimed to the Pharisees, 'You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil?' (Matthew 12:34). Even though they thought that their tireless pursuit of the Law of God would make them righteous before God, God truly saw that it made them evil.

According to God, there is more to a righteous, religious, God-honoring life then just following the rules.

Jesus was not saying in Matthew that following the rules was wrong of the Pharisees. In fact, earlier had He said that He was on earth to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17-18). The Law was good according to Jesus, but later He sums up the Law giving clarity to how He (the author of the Law) truly saw it. In Mark 12:28-31 He is asked to sum up the 613 laws of the Old Testament. Jesus responds by boiling these laws down into "one principle - love, directed to God and to others. Here Jesus is going to the very heart of the core dilemma of ethics. Human thinkers have for centuries felt there was a tension between 'Law' and 'Love.' Do I do the legal thing, or the loving thing?" Today we have a similar tension in the Church.

Very quickly let me explain:

Let's apply this idea to one controversial aspect of the Christian life. Do Christian husbands love if they authoritatively demand submission from their wives? NO! And so even though they are following the letter of the New Testament law they are missing the point. They maybe missing the point as much as the Pharisees who were later instrumental in killing Jesus!

"Jesus is not so much picking one or two rules over the others [in His summary of the Law], nor is He choosing love over the law, but rather He is showing that love is what fulfills the law..."

"The law is not being fulfilled unless it is obeyed as a way of giving and showing love to God or others."

No matter how good we are at following Biblical principles (Law), we are missing the point if it is not obeying the greater law of love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Love God with everything you are. Dream about Him, long for Him, think about Him, spend time with Him, spend time doing the things He loves, talk about Him, passionately pursue Him with your heart, creativity, energy, strength... And love people just like you love yourself. Love them with all the energy, creativity, and time you give to loving yourself.

I think Jesus would say if you are not fulfilling New Testament principles (Law) like this then you are missing the point!

If you understand that you are helpless in fulfilling all that Jesus requires of you then you are one step closer to understanding what the Gospel is all about. And only then do you even have a chance at fulfilling what is actually 'required' of the Christian life.

*Everything in quotes in this post is taken from Timothy Keller's book 'King's Cross' on Page 134. I hope I did not take Keller out of context and butcher the incredible book that he has just recently put out with this post. If I have I am sorry. I am very open to critique and criticism.