How Can Faith Transcend God's Law?
The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
It seems a simple statement of faith to say that God gave us His Law, that we might live in accordance with His will, achieving whatever destinies He has decided for us.
Yet a question arises. If we define living in accordance with His will as living in obedience to God’s Law, of what virtue is faith? If we have God’s Law, what need have we of faith? If we order our affairs so as to comply with God’s Law in every particular, are we not righteous even if we have no faith? If we are obedient to God’s Law yet do not believe in the Author of that Law, are we not still righteous?
In truth, no, we are not.
Even at the most simplistic understanding, we cannot be righteous if we do not believe, for the great commandment, as Jesus teaches us, is that we are to love God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our might. If we declaim belief in God, it is not possible for us to love God, and so already we have failed to keep His Law.
God’s Law demands that we believe. God’s Law requires that we have faith. It is not possible to keep God’s Law in every particular if we do not have faith.
Thus we may know that faith is an absolute necessity. Thus we may know that our apprehension of God’s Law comes from our faith. Thus we may know that our faith does not arise from obedience to God’s Law.
If faith is a necessity even in the apprehension of God’s Law, it is fitting also that we look at faith and His Law side by side, and contemplate the role of each in fulfilling God’s will. When we do this, one thing becomes clear: God’s Law is invariably a threatening and a warning. In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we see time and again the particular penalties to be meted out for particular transgressions of His Law, and we see the particular atonements to be made to show fitting repentance for sin. Only once in Leviticus 25, and again in Deuteronomy 7, do we see any depiction of what rewards are to be had for keeping God’s Law—and they are for keeping all of the Law, not merely individual particulars.
Such is the nature of all laws. Such is the nature of man’s laws, and such is the nature of God’s Law. Intrinsic in law is that it specifies the consequences of disobedience far more than any promise given in exchange for obedience. If mankind keeps to God’s Law we are assured there will be peace in the world, and where there is peace a space arises for there to be prosperity as well. Yet God’s Law is far more detailed and specific about the consequences that follow when His Law is violated.
If we but look at our own lives, surely we can see that this is the nature of all law. If we transgress a particular law, we invite a particular consequence down upon us. If we defile our bodies with lusts and promiscuity and gluttony, we invite consequences of disease and ill health. If we breach a trust with our neighbors, we may find ourselves faced with arrest and incarceration. If we assault our neighbors we will surely find ourselves facing such penalties. Each transgression—each sin—invites a particular consequence, and we suffer that consequence even if we do not have any other transgression.
Yet should we succeed in refraining from lusts and promiscuity and gluttony, and in refraining from breaches of trust, and in refraining from assaulting our neighbors, only then do we attain a measure of peace and a measure of space in which to prosper. Only when we succeed in avoiding the negative consequences of all our sin are we able to craft chances for peace and prosperity.
From this we may apprehend that the nature of law is invariably to punish. The nature of law is to chastise. Thus we see why God gave us the Law—that we might understand the consequences of our sin.
If the nature of law is to punish, then it must be that is the nature of faith to reward. Nothing else remains but faith to be the font of all good things in our lives. This the Apostle Paul reminds us in pointing out that the promise to Abraham arose from his faith, and not his obedience to the law.
While God’s Law is our understanding of right and wrong, and our apprehension of good and evil, our obedience to His law can never be as important or as powerful as our faith. Without faith we cannot be obedient to His Law, yet we would still have that faith even if God had not given us His law. Without faith we could not receive the blessings God is willing to bestow upon us, even if we could be obedient to the law in every other particular.
Consequently, we must surely see that faith always transcends even God’s Law. Faith, however we apprehend it, invariably is part and parcel of any person’s love for God. Consequently, faith is what motivates us to choose right over wrong and good over evil. Faith is in every respect our reason for doing what is right, for following and not rejecting God’s Law.
Take away faith, and no reason is left for doing what is right, for following and not rejecting God’s Law. Take away faith, and we cannot hope to ever follow God’s Law in all its particulars.
God’s Law gives us the rules for choosing right over wrong, and good over evil. God’s Law gives us the “how” and the “what” of our choices, and so it is left to faith to gives us the “why” of those same choices—and without that “why”, the choices simply would not happen.
Wise, beautiful, and well said, Peter!
There is something I think of as ‘First Premise’ in spiritual matters, and I try to always keep it in mind. It is that God, in His true majesty, power, glory, and love is simply beyond our comprehension, at least while we are in earthly form. So however we conceptualize Him, it is inadequate. You and I are analytical, and want to figure things out, but no matter how we try to nail down what exactly God ‘is’, it’s beyond us. So Go, in His wisdom, has given us the Law and guidance, but then we must have faith in the rest of His attributes and plans.
You wisely follow the principle that ALL facts matter, and that includes the ones that we can’t - at least for now - ‘prove’ to be facts. It’s tricky. How do we ‘know’ that God exists, loves us, and has a Plan for us? How do we ‘know’ that the miracle of Creation is beautiful beyond words? We can ‘experience’ these things, and trusting in God can intensify and magnify the experience. Anyone who has experienced God’s love ‘knows’ that it is real - but we can only believe it as ‘factual’ through faith.
This is one of the reasons that I hold you in such high esteem, Peter. You are rigorously fact-based, but you are wise enough to know that we mortals can’t ‘know’ all of the facts of God’s Totality. We figure out what we can, but then must trust God through faith. So many intelligent atheists can’t grasp that.
I’ll bet that in your youth you knew people who compared you to Mr. Spock of “Star Trek”. Remember when Spock said, in one of the movies, that (paraphrasing) “logic is only the beginning of truth”? You, Peter have evolved from being Spock to being more like someone on the Q Continuum. Magnificent!