Biblical Law Is Organic

It’s alive; it is the Person of Jesus Christ.

Westerners struggle with any use of “law” in the context of the Bible. Automatically the Western mind imposes the image of law as objective truth, when there simply is no such thing as “objective truth.” It is a myth, an artificial construct of fallen minds.

Reminder: Biblical Law is synonymous with God’s will, divine justice, Christ’s Law, divine moral character, the Person of Jesus Christ, the New Covenant, ultimate reality, Creation and cosmic moral code. It’s all one thing and the terms are interchangeable. For example, Christ is the living law of God; get to know Him and you know God’s will.

But it remains a living thing; reality is a person. Thus, some human agency can disregard some part of Biblical Law without getting immediately into trouble. Unlawful conduct chafes the Person of Christ. He might be patient with it, or He might not. Too much depends on the Father’s ultimate plans in revealing Himself through how He guides human events. We are in no position to ascertain such things without a direct revelation, often in the form of a prophetic word. Even then, it tends to be a partial revelation. It’s functional; it’s enough to help us decide what God requires of us. It’s never enough to satisfy our curiosity.

So, for example, we can say with all confidence that all empire building is sinful. You cannot build an empire righteously. However, God can decide to tolerate it for His own ineffable purpose, or because the imperial forces manage to avoid complicating things because they are going about it in a tolerable manner. It is possible to do imperialism better or worse; Biblical Law can explain the range of mistakes that make it so. Thus, an imperial government that sends its own citizens to colonize and improve life in some conquered territory is better than one that merely maintains garrisons to oppress.

Eventually every empire will be broken down, but the length and quality of that empire’s life can be expanded by doing things well, making it something God can use. It’s rather like the difference between a good wrench and a broken stick, when the need is to turn bolts. In the final analysis, neither good nor bad empires will be remembered once Christ returns. Still, the whole business of divine law in the first place is getting between here and the Final End of All Things.