Western Christians typically say things like, “Words mean something.” Words are not truth, nor even containers of truth. Words are, at best, mere signs pointing out a path that brings you to God. God is truth. All truth is God’s truth. Truth is merely a reflection of God and His revelation. So sometimes it’s a bit of fun to poke at Reformation or Enlightenment Christians by denying their prissy distinction between Law and Grace.
Jesus said the Law could be summed up in giving God His due as Creator and handling Creation in the same sacrificial love as He did. When the Father began revealing His love, it was through His Law. Not the Law Covenants — those were mere snapshots in time of what His divine justice looked like in some limited context. Jesus made it plain that His Father’s divine justice was quite a bit higher than the Law of Moses, and certainly far higher than the Talmud.
About the only folks in Scripture that might agree with “words mean something” would be the Pharisees. I’ve noted previously that mainstream Christianity after 300 AD reflected the success of the Judaizers and Gnostics in subverting the original faith Christ taught. Western epistemology is no less than a blatant denial of Christ. It attempts to capture and strip the life from revelation so that mankind can take authority over it using fallen intellectual reason.
The revelation of God’s divine justice was epitomized in Christ. Christ was the Law personified. Nothing He said or did was contrary to any of the Law Covenants except where those came up short. Walking in the Spirit means also walking in the spirit of the Law. I can assure you I never knew God’s power half so well as when I committed myself to walk in that truth.
Primary example: I was previously a captive slave of my appetite for food. Certain particular favorites would call my name and I was helpless to resist. As a child it was far worse; I’d even steal to get my hands on sweets. While I outgrew that level of desperation, I was still a slave to my sweet tooth, right up until a few years ago. All my efforts at iron discipline meant nothing, because sooner or later I would cave and binge.
Not so very long ago, God found me ready to hear His truth. I was struck by the realization that the Law Covenants reflected a crucial element in Creation itself. Moral truth is woven into the very fabric of the universe. If you can see moral justice and cling to it, Creation itself acts differently. Suddenly, my whole existence changed. Never mind what the world was like for me; I began finding the power within to do what I knew was right. The food cravings died before I changed any of my dietary habits. So eventually I began the long path back to fitness, and far beyond to a level of fitness I’ve never seen before. Today, at my annual doctor visit, he had nothing to say, no advice about improving anything at all because I am now in better shape than he. Everything changed when I understood what the Law Covenants were meant to do.
When God revealed His Laws, it was an act of grace. When God revealed His Son, that was grace and truth walking in sandals. Grace includes the Law and fulfills all its purpose. Embracing this will take you outside of Western Civilization. I remain ever more an alien in this Western world, not a voluntary participant. Words are just a tool to indicate something which cannot be told.
