By Law We Must, By Faith We Can

We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16

However one apprehends God’s Law, one truth is indisputable: God’s Law is the supreme measure of what is right and what is wrong in the universe.

If God’s Law says “do”, we are called to do.

If God’s Law says “do not”, we are called to do not, and to refrain.

If we apprehend that God is real, we necessarily must in some fashion apprehend God’s Law. For myself, God’s Law is found in the BIble. Woven into the stories in Genesis, the Mosaic Law handed down through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the teachable moments found in Judges,the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, all the way through to the New Testament Gospels of Jesus Christ, and the letters of the Apostles is where we find the values and commandments by which we are meant to live.

As I read the Bible, and as I accept that it contains God’s Law and God’s Word, I must assume that I know God’s Law.

I know what is right and what is wrong. I know I should do that which is right, and that I should not do that which is wrong.

Yet I do not always do what is right. For whatever reason—and, being human, I am quite good at coming up with reasons for everything I do—I sometimes do the wrong things. Sometimes, I make the wrong choice.

I am human.

Yet if I claim to love God, what becomes of that love when I do the wrong thing? What becomes of that love when I sin?

That is no small question, because the one certainty I have in this world is that I will sin. I will do the wrong thing.

I am human.

Do I stop loving God in the moment I commit a sinful act? After all, if I know right from wrong, if I claim to know God’s Law, surely by choosing to do that which is sinful I am rejecting God’s wishes and substituting my own. If I am rejecting God’s wishes surely I cannot claim to love God. After all, rejection is not love.

Yet I do not stop loving God even when I do the wrong thing. We do not stop loving friends, spouses, or familly merely because we do some wrong thing which hurts them.

More importantly, friends, spouses, and family hopefully do not stop loving us merely because we do some wrong thing which hurts them.

God certainly does not stop loving us merely because we do some wrong thing!

What do we do with regards to our friends when we do some wrong thing and hurt them? If we are wise, we apologize, we ask for forgiveness, we make whatever amends we can, Then we move forward from wherever we are, and hopefully keep striving to build that friendship.

What should we do when we sin? If we are wise, we repent, we ask for forgiveness, we offer whatever atonement is needed. Then we move forward from wherever we are, and hopefully keep striving to move closer to God.

Only…we do not need to ask for forgiveness. We are told in both the Old and the New Testaments that God forgives. That is the pledge in Jeremiah 31:34. That is the promise in Isaiah 55:7. That is the reminder in Matthew 6:14-15, and again in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35.

Nor is atonement needed. As Jesus Himself says in Mark 10:45, He came to give His life “as a ransom for many”. All atonement, all reparations, all that we might otherwise need to offer God to receive forgiveness has already been fulfilled in Jesus’ death and Resurrection.

We do not need to ask for forgiveness. We have only to accept that we are forgiven, and that we are redeemed. We have only to move forward from where we are, and hopefully strive to come closer to God.

The challenge, of course, is believing that we are forgiven, believing that we are redeemed. And it is a challenge. When we acknowledge even to ourselves our sins and mistakes, by that acknowledgement we know that by our own choices we have earned not just misfortune and negative consequence, but punishment and condemnation. By that acknowledgement, without which there can be no repentance, we know that God’s forgiveness can never be “earned”.

To accept that we are forgiven, we must believe. We must have faith.

Having faith, accepting forgiveness and redemption, we are free to move forward, and hopefully strive to come closer to God.

How might we come closer to God?

I submit that one obvious step is to apply ourselves ever more diligently towards upholding God’s Law. It would be a most impious hypocrisy to continue committing sinful acts and then “repent” in church on Sunday. By accepting forgiveness, by acknowledging that our sinful acts are just that—sinful—we are also acknowleding that we must not continue committing those acts. That is often easier said than done, but it remains as something that must be done.

If we are to come closer to God, we must walk a righteous path, doing righteous things.

Yet it is because we are forgiven that it is feasible for us to even make the effort of striving to do better in following God’s Law. It is because we are forgiven that we can rise and overcome our repeated stumbles and failures, and our very human predilection for continuing to make at least some bad choices.

If we were not forgiven there could be no hope, and thus no reason or incentive to make the effort.

This is the curious paradox of the relationship between our human faith and God’s Law. Our faith, our belief that God will forgive and that Jesus has redemed, is essential in our acceptance of that forgiveness and that redemption.

Having embraced forgiveness and redemption, and choosing to draw closer to God, we must look to God’s Law for guidance on which path will lead us closer to God. Committed to drawing closer to God, we must look to God’s Law to make the right choices necessary to move forward on that path.

Yet it is because we have embraced forgiveness and redemption, because we believe in God’s forgiveness and Jesus’ Redemption, that we can hold on to the hope of drawing closer to God. That hope is what keeps us on that right path. That hope is the reason to get up again after a stumble back down into sin.

My prayer for myself is always that I will have the strength of faith to accept God’s forgiveness. My prayer is always that I will hold fast to the belief in the redemption of Jesus Christ. My prayer is also that I will have the discipline and the dedication to continue moving forward along that right path, striving to do better in following God’s Law. And my prayer is that I will continue to feel the hope that comes from faith, and that keeps me moving forward along that right path.

My prayer for you is always that you also will have the strength of faith to accept God’s forgiveness. My prayer is always that you will hold fast to the belief in the redemption of Jesus Christ. My prayer is also that you will have the discipline and the dedication to continue moving forward along that right path, striving to do better in following God’s Law. And my prayer is that you will continue to feel the hope that comes from faith, and that will keep you moving forward along that right path.

For I believe that faith and Law are twin pillars of good spiritual practice. Both are necessary, and ultimately both are complimentary.

We need faith to accept forgiveness and redemption, from which we have hope to move us forward.

We need Law to guide us as we move forward, that we stay on that right path.

We need faith again to get back up after we stumble and resume moving forward.

For the Law tells us what we must do. Faith assures us that we can actually do it.