Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Law
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin
abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death,
even so grace might reign through righteousness… Romans 5:20-21.
What is the Law? And is that a capital “L” or a lowercase “l”? It may depend on who one consults. If the law is merely a human institution, then anarchy will be the end result of human history. Why should I follow the law, if the law is merely a product of the leaking ink of some person’s pen? However, if a divine Creator gives the Law, then one has an obligation to attempt to follow the Law. In either case, man has free will to break the Law or law. God gave the Law to demonstrate to man the condition of man’s sinful and less than perfect heart. However, by the time of Jesus, man had mastered the art of corrupting the law for his own purpose, by obeying the letter of the law but violating its spirit. In this piece, I would like to define the Law’s relationship to people and how, in the light of one’s relationship to the Law, how one is to treat “thy neighbor”.
A free society has a responsibility to be a moral society. Morals tend to have religion as the primary ancestor. If man does not meet his obligation to be moral, then human government must impose some sort of morality on him. Benjamin Sells, approaching the topic from the standpoint of the Law, (as if it were a persona) says, “Human nature has to be restrained” (353). Human nature indeed needs to be restrained. People either have self-control given by God (cf. Galatians 5:23), or government must restrain them. “Mr. Law” (or Mrs.) would be correct in that regard.
However, those who are supposed to revere the law tend to get too much of a sense of importance. The Pharisees in the days of Jesus are very similar to the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. today. The letter of the law has become god and the spirit is broken. A prime example is campaign finance reform. The politicians must make a rule against taking money for themselves, but cannot of their own free will stop it without regulation. Contrast this to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29). Jesus said that the letter of the law was not the point, but the spirit; that merely by thinking of sinning (breaking the law) one has already broken all of the law. The Pharisees had too much of a sense of importance about themselves. They appeared to be “clean” on the outside but inside they were still “dirty”. Then the law gets angry because you aren’t as “clean” looking like them. Hence, the sinners are in the hands of an angry law. The abuse (maybe plural) of the law led Albert Alschuler to state “Law is too important… to be left to the people who do it for a living” and “the jury offers an essential check against overzealous prosecutors” (376).
The pristine looking law now looks for the bad in everyone. Where then is the compassion of the law? Is not God who gave the Law compassionate? God is compassionate, and the Law (or law) is not. The Bible states in the book of Romans that the Law condemns every person. How then should the lawbreakers (of which those in law professions are a part of) treat each other? I believe Leon Kass reaches the right conclusion when he opines, “Yet we should not judge Cain too harshly; even God treats him mercifully” (363). What is God’s standard for compassion? It’s one to which one should aspire, but human frailties prevent one from attaining:
… Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous will one die; yet perhaps for a good
man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:14)
Wow. Whether or not we act stupidly or not, God loves us in our “stupidness” and our sinfulness. God does save by His grace; however it should be noted that consequences still have to be faced. Cain still had stiff consequences.
Breaking the law, Law or the laws (as one might perceive them) of common sense can indeed have profound consequences. Persons in violation of the “Law” indeed pay the consequences. However, those sworn to uphold the law have corrupted it. They confiscate money to redistribute it to the poor. The intention is good, but it deprives man the satisfaction, and the demonstration of charity using his own free will. Good things are now forced on persons in society. And persons must obey every minute rule or the sinner will be in the hands of an angry law. People should not be bailed out of every situation. However, a balance must be found in teaching persons responsibility and demonstrating the Grace that God showed mankind by sending His only Son. Correction should be borne out of love and the law does not love… people do.
Works Cited
Morrow, Nancy and Clarke, Marlene, ed.s. Currents of Inquiry: Readings for Academic Writing. Mountain View, California: Mayfield
Publishing Company, 1998.
Sells, Benjamin. “What Does The Law Want?” Morrow and Clarke 350-358.
Kass, Leon. “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” Morrow and Clarke 360-375.
Alschuler, Albert W. “Our Faltering Jury.” Morrow and Clarke 376-384.
Holy Bible: New King James Version. Nashville: Word Bibles, 1997.