If you understand that the only reason we exist in a fallen world is to glorify our Creator, then a major question is, “What should we do?” The Bible as a whole seeks to answer that question by offering examples of how God wanted things done in certain contexts. The biggest problem is getting a grip on the context, because without that, you cannot begin to understand why He said, “do this and not that”.
From beginning to end, the Bible assumes the context of ANE tribal feudalism. God chose this frame of reference. Had there been any point when something He said promoted any other form of human organization, we could say that the feudalism was a historical context. However, there is not a single reference to democracy of any flavor, nor any other political structure. Instead, there is a condemnation of any form of human organization except ANE tribal feudalism.
We must assume that the context for ANE tribal feudalism is Creation itself as a whole. The Cross did not change this. We evaluate all human activity from that perspective. Thus, anything that varies from that model is wrong from the start. If we approach God and His revelation from any other angle, we have failed. The Devil will have won in keeping us from God’s privileged blessings.
It turns out that this model has implications across the whole gamut of questions about what we should do in this life. Our duty to the Creator is to make use of whatever gifts He has granted to promote His ways. Now, while it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend the whole, the Bible itself demonstrates that there are ways to establish indicators of where to look for answers. You can internalize the outline to save time and respond quickly.
Never once in the whole history of biblical events do we see God laying down what we could call an “iron law” in the western absolutist sense. Everything is couched in terms of priorities and context. The flesh definitely prefers to deal in intellectual terms of iron law. That’s part of how the flesh promotes itself, by pulling things down to its own level. But the heart and spirit are designed to operate in terms of personal connection to God. If you cannot avoid thinking of God without thinking of iron law, then you have never met Him.
It’s not a question of finding God, but of discovering that the only way you can know Him is in your heart. He will not address your intellect, because it is fallen. He addresses only the heart. And just in case you forgot, that’s “heart” in the sense of your moral will, not in the western sense of “repository of sentiment”. Intellect is not simply useless on its own, but is quite dangerous until it is in subjection to the heart. Again: God can be encountered only in your heart, not in your head.
Once in service to the heart, the intellect can discern a pattern and structure of what constitutes the distinction between good and evil. In our hearts, we do not take our intellects too seriously, because intellect is inherently fallen. It is our equipment, but it not our self. It is untrustworthy and requires constant reinforcement, a constant reminder of its limits.
So, when you people ask questions about how we should do things, the meaning of what is good and evil in human conduct must first come from a heart-level moral reckoning. The heart tells the mind what is good and evil, and the mind then attempts to incorporate that ruling in its structure and implementation. There are limits to the mental ability, and this why the heart must keep reminding the brain that it does not understand fully, and never will.
So, when I use the term “Biblical Law” I refer not to some iron law, but to a structure of thinking that we already know is only an approximation. It reflects the priorities God has revealed in the Bible, and His personal preferences are the real issue. Not only that, but we should expect that, once we get into the task of living by His will, that it turns out His will is alive and active, not static and locked down. There are no propositions, only His Person. His Law is His own heart and character, and you had better keep an active link to His Spirit within you, or you will be wrong before you even start.
It’s not a sequence of events, but a logical sequence that you must first know the record of His preferences (AKA, the Bible) in order to get to know His Person. That is a major part of what biblical feudalism is all about.
