Moral laws are like physical laws. When we violate them, we
suffer. If we jump from a building, thinking that we can fly, we will learn a
painful lesson. It is the same way when we violate moral laws. When we hurt
others, we suffer. Instead, when we help them, we feel good about ourselves. In
light of this, the late Christian philosopher, C.S. Lewis had written:
·
Moral rules are directions for running the human
machine. Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a
friction, in the running of the machine. That is why these rules at first seem
to be constantly interfering with our natural inclinations. (The Joyful Christian, 11)
Therefore, when I exaggerate a point beyond the allowable
evidence or use a verse incorrectly to make a point, I subsequently feel badly,
and I’m glad that I do. These painful feelings are my instructors. Therefore, I
want to be in touch with my conscience, however uncomfortable this may be.
On the positive side, I find beauty and experience psychological
integration when I live in harmony with the implanted moral laws.
However, there is a danger when we are content with just
learning addition and subtraction. Without multiplication and division, we are
very limited and might even come to the wrong conclusions. It is the same way
when we merely follow the external lessons of the moral law. By stopping there
and suppressing the weightier moral lessons taught by our conscience, we become
self-satisfied, self-righteous, and even arrogant about our moral attainments. We
will be inclined to think, perhaps subconsciously, “I just contributed one
million dollars to build a child care center. Therefore, I am better than other
people.”
This danger seems to have been a preoccupation of our Lord,
especially in regards to the religious leadership of His day. They had mastered
addition and subtraction but had left the weightier matters of the Law undone. With
tough love, Jesus sought to expose their moral corruption:
·
“They do all their deeds to be seen by others.
For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love
the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings
in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” (Matthew 23:5-7)
Jesus had wanted to humble them, but this is the last thing
in the world that they wanted. Instead, they were very content to excel at
addition and subtraction and had no inclination to take the moral law to the
next level to examine their conceit.
What lessons were to be learned at the next level? Above all
else, humility and the knowledge that we cannot truly keep the Law! Instead,
the Law was given to teach us that we fall far short of even the moral demands
of our conscience. Consequently, Paul had written:
·
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks
to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the
whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human
being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of
sin. (Romans 3:19-20)
Paul had argued that the main purpose of the Law was to elicit
feelings of shame by showing us our moral depravity and, in this way, to lead
us to the mercy of our Savior (Galatians 3:22-24).
When we face the facts that we have done wrong and confess
our moral failures, we know that we have done the right thing and feel relief,
even when the offended party refuses to forgive us. But how much more freeing
it is to know that God accepts our apology, forgives, and entirely cleanses us
from the resulting filth of our sins (1 John 1:8-9)!
Interestingly, God’s imprinted moral law demonstrates
intelligent Design, similar to the laws of science. These laws written upon our
conscience might be harder to see and to measure, but we can directly
experience them, and, with some practice and instruction, we can even perceive
their gracious workings.
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