Using Law Lawfully

But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious.... (1 Timothy 1:8-9)

I am a little puzzled by the way this is expressed. It seems on the surface to be circular reasoning, though I am sure it has a much deeper importance and reservoir of truth than that. But I have heard enough abuse of this text from both sides to make me want to listen for a bit as to what God has to say about the real meaning of this passage.

In my study in Romans I remember Paul spending quite a bit of time and effort trying to explain a Christian's proper relationship to the Law. In all of his writings Paul always affirms that the Law is good. And yet the way he words things sometimes has given rise to many people believing that the Law is not really that good and can be ignored in the light of Calvary. Claiming that the Law was done away with at the cross, they embrace a religion that seems to be not much more than magic where they have people repeat certain phrases and then assure them that they have secured for themselves a place in paradise. As a result of such teachings and beliefs, many have minimized the place of the Law of God and have introduced all sorts of speculation and confusion that have caused many to lose their way to God.

On the other side, some people have emphasized the Law and tried to teach it so forcefully that they quickly lose sight of the real plan of salvation and the real meaning of the gospel. They consciously or unconsciously promote keeping the Law as a means of convincing God that they are ready to enter into heaven and receive His rewards for their good works of Law-keeping. This is more likely the group that Paul was referring to in this passage.

While I cannot subscribe to such teachings, I am presently unsure of just what this phrase means, if one uses it lawfully. That almost sounds redundant to me. How could one really use a law unlawfully?

Then there is the next phrase that equally is almost as puzzling, the law is not made for a righteous person. This is the phrase that has confused millions over the years and has been misapplied to the devastation of many people's experience. But to simply try to assert the opposite of what people falsely teach is not necessarily to teach the truth either. Instead of basing our beliefs on the apparent opposite of what others teach that we believe is wrong, it is far more important to go to the source, consider the context and ask the Spirit of the Author to explain it to us better.

Father, please explain this to me. I am sitting here with an open mind and heart to receive whatever You are wanting to teach me. You are faithful and good and the Law is a description of Your character of perfect love. Please reveal to me what You intended for me to know when this was written by Paul.

I notice that Paul gives a qualifying statement a few verses before this explaining what is the goal of the kind of teaching that he used with people. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (v. 5) Does this imply that a person doesn't need the Law but only needs to just have love as the hippies of the 60's used to talk about so much? I do not want to downplay Paul's words here in the slightest. He is very clear that the focal point for the result of his teaching is the fruit of love. This fruit of love, according to this verse, will be rooted or based on three things: a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.

This sounds to me very much like a description of a righteous person. So what relationship does a righteous person have to a Law that, according to this text, is not made for them? Are they to use it as a club to make all the other people that are listed in the next two verses feel guilty, shamed or frightened? Is that really how love exhibits itself? That is certainly how many people perceive God as relating to sinners, but is that really true or just our assumed perceptions about Him?

I see in the context of the larger passage here evidence of a tension between the teachings of certain men (v. 3) as compared to the instruction of Paul and those he was mentoring like Timothy. It seems apparent to me that Paul is trying to discriminate between the goal of his teaching and the implied goal of others whom he feels are improperly using the Law. For in verse seven he describes them as wanting to be teachers of the Law. But I want to be very careful not to bring in my own assumptions and preconceived ideas into the text as much as possible. I want to remain open to insights that are currently out of my radar range at the present. I want every conclusion that I find to be rooted in the text so that it can be solid and verifiable and connected to the power of God inherent in His Word.

Part of the reason I feel a need to understand this more clearly is that I do not want to be found to be a teacher that does not understand either what I am saying or the matters about which I make confident assertions as described in verse seven. But on the other hand, I don't believe that this means that a person should never make confident assertions. What it does seem to say is that confident assertions need to be rooted securely in proper understandings and application of the Law, and even more importantly coming from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.

If the goal of my teaching is not love induced in the lives of others as well as my own, then I am more likely to find myself among those who are speculating and engaged in fruitless discussion as described in the context here.

I am not going to attempt to close this off with a nice, pat conclusion at this point. This is far too big for me to force it into a nice writer's ending and I want to remain open to further thoughts from God on this. I know He can be trusted to keep sharing His truth with me from His Word because He has been doing it for some time now. So I don't have to be afraid of what others may think about me for leaving this hanging for the time being. As I learn more and will take time to share more.

Can You Stay Awake?

And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? (Mark 14:37)

I am not sure why, but this verse came to my mind this morning as I was lying in bed talking with God. Actually I was misquoting it in my mind and was surprised when I looked it up that it didn't say what I thought it said. I was all ready to put together some interesting ideas based on the wording that I thought was in this verse but had to rethink my assumptions after realizing that this verse did not say what I thought it did.

What I thought Jesus asked was for His disciples to pray with Him for one hour. But upon looking more carefully at the verse and its context I realized that something else very important was here for me to discover. Jesus did not specifically ask His disciples to pray with Him necessarily, but He certainly did ask them to do something that is very relevant for me to pay attention to today. And just as the story reveals the weakness of the disciples and their inability to carry out such a simple request by Jesus in a time of extreme intensity in His heart, so too do I find that same weakness in my own flesh when Jesus asks me to do even simple things like getting out of bed a little earlier on a cold morning to have time to listen to Him and deepen my intimacy and knowledge of Him.

The first thing I wanted to do was to look up some of the original words to see what they might really mean. This idea of watching has never really clicked with me. It is another one of those words that religion has generally obscured the real meaning of for many of us. I always like to explore what the words I am hearing really mean before trying to unpack the larger meaning of a text.

I realize that sometimes people around me may think that I am very nit-picky or that I am simply trying to stir up controversy because I ask so many questions about what is really being conveyed in language, especially in the study of the Bible. But I sincerely want to understand much better what is real and unmask what is fake and confusing or blurred over by tradition and counterfeit ideas embedded in our language and culture. I have found it very liberating and refreshing to discover over and over, new and exciting truths as I have challenged the common assumptions about nearly every text and passage that I grew up hearing about.

This word watch means to keep awake, watch (literally or figuratively), be vigilant, wake, watchful. That is pretty much straightforward as far as it goes. But I felt that there was still something I was missing. Why would Jesus only expect His disciples to stay awake and nothing more? So I went back a few verses to find out what it was He had asked them to do in the first place that they were not doing.

And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." (Mark 14:34)

"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." (Mark 14:34 NIV)

What I discovered in this verse was something that really caught my attention. When looking at more of the words in the Greek I noticed that the word for remain here is the very same word used throughout the Bible that is one of the most important things we need to know in order to grow as a real Christian. This word is used repeatedly in the discourse in John 14 and 15 when Jesus was sharing with His disciples how they needed to live. And in fact He had just finished telling them all of this only minutes before He asked Peter, James and John to practice what He had just told them about.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4)

Remain here and abide are translated from the very same word in the original. So what Jesus was asking three of His disciples to do was to practice for at least one hour what He had just taken time to describe to them in great detail. In essence He was saying to them, I have just told you all about how you must live in order for you to be my loyal disciples successfully. You must learn to abide in me and I in you so that you will be prepared for anything that might happen to you. Now that I have taught you verbally this lesson it is now time for our first test on what you have heard and find out if you were really listening. Take what I have just taught you and practice it for one hour. If you do, you will be empowered to meet what is about to happen to us. If you don't take this activity seriously you will find yourself helpless and clueless as to how to act like yourself when a massive assault is launched against us in a few minutes.

Well, most of us know how that first quiz turned out. They all failed quite spectacularly and ended up running away in fear and shame. Many theologians have analyzed endlessly the events that ensued that night as to why Peter denied his Lord, why each of the disciples did what they did and why everything seemed to go wrong. But much of this would have turned out very differently if just three of the disciples had taken the words of Jesus seriously and instead of thinking more about themselves and fighting over who was the most loyal and most important among themselves, they had actually listened with their heart and received the warnings that Jesus had been giving them all evening.

It is very sad to think about the tragic outworking of their bad choices that night. But the story is not really over yet. Each one of us also receives the very same instructions from Jesus to learn what it really means to abide in Him. And Jesus is hoping that maybe we just might learn enough from observing the results of those disciple's failures in this story to make a different choice ourselves.

Am I willing to learn what it really means to abide in Christ and allow Him to abide in me? Am I ready to carefully study and ponder and meditate on what the real meanings of His words are to me today? Am I willing to practice in real life situations how to abide in Him even when I meet the little difficulties that I am sure to encounter?

Am I am willing to learn in the little things how to trust God, to stay awake when it is easier to roll over and fall asleep? Am I willing to marinate in the presence of God and soak up more of His kindness, His goodness, His grace and be filled with His peace? If I am willing to take to heart the example of the failure of those disciples and in humility choose to take a better option in my own life, I can in some way rewrite the story of that crisis and demonstrate in my life what Jesus intended for all of His disciples to experience. I can learn to abide, to pray and stay alert and listen and be ready to be strengthened by angels of glory just as Jesus experienced in the garden. And if I choose that option in obedience to the invitation of Jesus to abide in Him and stay alert, my story can be different than the stories of His disciples during that last tragic weekend of His crucifixion.

Jesus, teach me what it really means to abide in You today. Help me to pay attention to the messages from Your Spirit to my heart. I choose to listen to You and obey Your promptings today. Help me to avoid all the interfering noise of the world designed to drown out your quite voice inside of me. Make me alert and ready to act instantly for You whenever You need me to be a channel of blessing, comfort or encouragement to one of Your children. Thank-you for Your faithfulness and love in my life.