faith for faith

The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions … One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rm. 14:1, 5). Now, this is not an invitation to quarrel over opinions, but it is an invitation to understand the Revelation of God more clearly by considering the opinions of others who love and cherish the Word of God.

Having taught through Romans, I know the potential response to this text, and I have heard responses outside of that context. Many times the initial response is not, “What does this text mean?” but it is, “Paul is not speaking of the Sabbath here.” Well, the text clearly says that some esteem one day better than another, and others esteem all days alike, yet the apostle’s response is not that one person is wrong and the other is not, but it is that each must be convinced in his own mind. Now if all in this text means every day, then that naturally would include the Sabbath. But if the argument is that Paul does not mean to include the Sabbath in this, then the burden of proof falls upon those who think that Christians are still obligated to keep the Sabbath.

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Being that in our course of questions we have to the question, “Why then the Law?” it is fitting that we remain with the one who drove us most quickly to the point—the apostle Paul. He answers this question, writing:

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal. 3:19-22).

To answer our present question, “Why then the Law?” the most obvious course is to unpack the answer that the apostle gives. However, before we begin to answer that question, it is good to reiterate what has brought us to this point.

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When we speak about the Law in Christianity, it is an extremely touchy subject. It is such because there are so many varying understandings and applications of it that one can scarcely make any comment on the subject whatsoever without offending someone. And because the responses to critiques are such, few venture to comment on it not wishing to dirty their hands in the process. Therefore, we have little in way of healthy discussion upon the Law and its implications on Christian life, and we see bits and pieces taken from the Law applied here and there in church settings without much explanation as to why some laws are valid and why others are considered annulled.

However, when we turn to the New Testament and especially in the writings of Paul, we find that the authors are not hesitant in the least to address the matter. Paul’s letter to the Galatian church, for example, is almost in full an explanation of the Law and a critique of the Galatian church’s view and practice of it. Since the New Testament writers (i.e. those who lived and wrote after the coming of Christ) are not silent on the Law, why have we become so? And even if we have not been silent, why is there a seeming disparity between our own interpretations and applications?

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Fire is the most ravenous force in nature. Its very existence is contingent upon that which is feeds, and it feeds upon its prey until it is brought to nothing. And when its prey is exhausted, the fire, as powerful as it might have been at one point, is exhausted as well and disappears into nonexistence.

When it is controlled, fire is to men a useful tool to eliminate that which is waste so as to free up space for that which is not. When it is not controlled, it is a decimating force that feeds and feeds until all of its resources are spent and all that is left in its wake is in utter ruin. It is a force to be harnessed, and it is a force to be feared when it is untamed.

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I do not know about you, but one of the scariest things for me is to sit through a Sunday school class where an Old Testament narrative is being studied. It is not because I do not esteem biblical narrative as I do the rest of the Scriptures or that I do not believe that its lessons are any less applicable to Christians today, but it is because there seem to be few teachers who understand how to read and how to teach biblical narrative. For instead of reading the text and searching for the intent of a particular author, many who teach biblical narrative treat them as nice little stories about a particular aspect of morality and apply Western moral concepts to its application.

For this reason, we have erected unbiblical conclusions and teachings about biblical stories and characters. Thus we teach that Abraham wavered in faith when he took Hagar as his wife and through her bore a son, though Moses does not make that judgment of him, and though Paul writes later of Abraham, “No distrust made him waver concerning the Promise of God, but he grew strong in faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Rm. 4:20,21), and though Paul teaches that the birth of Ishmael happened to demonstrate God’s sovereign choice in election (cf. Rm. 9:7-13). From the misinterpretation of biblical narrative we also have created other false teachings as “listening to small, still voice of God” from the narrative of Elijah in the storm (cf. 1Kngs. 19:12), and have falsely judged other characters such as Rahab and the Hebrew midwives who, out of fear of God, told untruths to save the lives of God’s people, who were then not condemned but commended by God for their actions (cf. Josh. 2; Ex. 1:15-22).

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