Protected by the Word, Part 3: Meaning of the Law

In my first two "Protected by the Word" posts, I discussed how people protected themselves through their obedience to God's word. For the catastrophes in 587 B.C.E. and 70 C.E., God gave his people commands that saved their lives.

I both cases, God's word was practical. I like that. Seeing a practical goal or objective in God's commands certainly strengthens my love for them. God really does aim for our good. As one radio preacher told me when I called into his program, "The Bible is for you."

Years ago, I read N.T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God, and I was impressed when he tied Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to the political situation of first century Judea. According to Wright, Jesus was commanding his contemporaries not to resist their Roman enemies but to turn the other cheek. We know from history what happened to Jerusalem when many Jews tried to retaliate against the Romans. For Wright, Jesus' commands had a relevant, practical objective.

Practically speaking, many of us can see benefits from keeping God's law (the commands throughout the Bible). One book that has been popular over the years is S.I. McMillen's None of These Diseases, which contends that obedience to God's law is actually healthy. This is true with regard to avoiding sexually-transmitted diseases or ulcers that can result from anxiety or bitterness.

Many might object to such an anthropocentric understanding of the law, and they would have a point. God's law is God's standard. God's attitude to the law is not, "Well, you can keep it if you want to be healthy and live, but I do not require obedience." God's law is not really in the same category as avoiding fatty foods or smoking. God's law is holy, and so God punishes sin.

Moreover, the law is in some sense a transcript of God's character. Jesus told his contemporaries to turn the other cheek, and that would have helped Judeans in their relationship with the Romans, but his command went far beyond that situation. Not surprisingly, this sort of command is repeated in other places in the New Testament, such as Romans 12:19-21 and II Peter 2:18ff. One reason that we forgive and love our enemies is that God in Christ has forgiven us, and God (for his own reasons) wants to move us beyond a carnal approach to life so that we can become more like Jesus.

The issue of whether or not the commandments have practical or rational meaning has been debated within Judaism. Some, such as Maimonides (twelfth-thirteenth century C.E.), sought rational reasons for as many of the commandments as possible. Others have argued that some of the commands have no apparent meaning. Examples of such laws (according to those who argue this) would include the laws about unclean meats and not mixing different fabrics. For this group, pigs are not unhealthy, and there is nothing inherently harmful about wearing a mixed garment, so the laws' meaning is a mystery. Ironically, even people who do not seek a reason for such commands still assert that they have a practical value: to encourage us to obey God our master, whether or not we see any apparent meaning in his laws. In short, God, not our rational understanding, is to be our boss.

The issue of meaning came up in my class on intertextuality yesterday, only from a different angle. The comment was made that many of the customs that made their way into the Hebrew Bible may not have had a deep meaning. They could have been customs that people just did. Even in that context, though, there seemed to be a desire to attach to them a purpose, namely, to bring people together.

How do you see God's commands? Is your attitude "God said it, I do it, and that settles it for me"? Or do you seek practical or rational reasons that God gave them?