If we believe that we were CREATED, the underlying assumption by default becomes that there is a historical relationship between us (created) and our Creator. And this is the sense that the narratives of Genesis 1-3 make.
The historical relationship between us and this creator indicates that our relationship was fractured and shattered beyond repair (Genesis 3) and our obedience (if possible) could only reverse our disobedience but not its (disobedience) consequences (Genesis 2:17) which is nothing but DEATH.
This death affected not only man but also his environment (Genesis 3:17) and therefore man is not only infected with death but also surrounded by death, and it doesn’t matter whether he is obedient to his creator or not, the man still dies.
The historical relationship between the creator and the created indicates that while the guilty man hides and walks away from his creator, his creator pursues the man (Genesis 3:8-13,15,21-24) to save him, not from his wrong acts, but from DEATH.
So this God got incarnate (Mathew 1:20, John 1:1-3, 14, Philippians 2:7) became the man he wanted to save and represent. And this God/creator morally did in the same body and nature, what the man/creature he had come to save had failed to do (Romans 5:19).
Whoever attempts to obey the Law, therefore, must understand that the righteousness of the Law, yields salvation from disobedience but not from death. Yet death is the real problem.
God obeyed the Law in thought and in practice, something no sinner could do (Mathew 5:27-28; James 2:10-11), God did it for us. We failed because obedience to the law means obeying it both in THOUGHT and in PRACTICE.
If we fail in thought, then we are by default guilty regardless of what we practice. Only God in flesh did that and credited that obedience to our account and therefore, the obedience by which we are let off the hook of disobedience is Christ’s obedience credited on our account, which essentially has no thread of our performance.
With all this perfect obedience, the perfect God was still vulnerable to death and yes he died (John 3:16, Romans 8:32, 1Peter 1:18-19, Isaiah 53:3-5, Luke 23:23).
In other words, our obedience does not solve the death problem but as I pointed out up there, it solves our disobedience problem but still, we die and die eternally.
Our obedience to the ten laws in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 has nothing to do with our final destinies. Jesus obeyed in thought and practice but the cross was waiting and yes he died with all that reputation.
Many saints from the section of the Pharisees who had kept the Sabbath day and all the Torah, still died and many holy and morally pure historical saints are in the grave as we discuss these matters today.
Am I saying obedience is bad and wrong? Not at all! Obedience, in a life-threatening world like ours (Genesis 3:17), is the number one essential for both functionality and order.
The ideology of Law Abiding Citizenship is not original with the Israelites and neither is it special with us Christians. Both ancient and modern civilizations appreciate the importance of the Law though none argues that obedience solves death (Romans 2:13-14).
Our Obedience to the Law is important for the social order of our communities and exclusively for our good and not our God’s good.
The ten laws of the Bible as listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are essentially about two relationship angles that have nothing to do with God but the man who obeys them.
The tradition-relational division of the ten laws is 4 to 6. The first four laws are oriented to the vertical relationship of man and the last six are bent to the horizontal relationship of man.
The vertical way of life is MAN AND HIS DEITY and the horizontal way (last six) is MAN TO MAN.
In the first four, when a man gets God wrong and worships a wrong deity or actually even dismisses the existence of God altogether, it is not God who is hurt but still the man who believes and acts so.
We all have seen and know victims of worship. The first four laws are for man and not for God. Again it is the man who is the victim of the last six horizontal poor relationships. We should obey the law for our safety.
The Obedience to the Law is, must and ought to be our way of life here in this chaotic world. And before we obey any law, we must seek to understand the Judge who issued that law (John 17:3) and then ensure we got the purpose and extent of the law right.
The Law is the way to safety in this chaotic world and this law-way matters (John 14:15,23; Romans 6:1-2; Romans 13; Proverbs 28:9-19; Ephesians 2:10; James 2:12-17; Titus 3:1; Mathew 5:17-19).
This first way (Law), has nothing to do with our salvation squarely.
The second way is the one mentioned in John 14:6:
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
Unlike the way of the Law that saves us from the damage of this chaotic world, the way known as Jesus leads us out of the chaotic world altogether. The law can help you with social Order but not lead you out of chaos.
You need Jesus, not the Law. The law has no life but Jesus is life and life eternal (John 10:10). You need Jesus and not the Law for the Law is not the TRUTH.
Any honest lawyer will tell you that the law is subject to interpretation, precedence and the Judge’s ruling. So the truth of the law is not in itself but with the interpreter.
The law is subjective truth but not absolute truth. However, Jesus is the truth. He is not just right but the truth. His truth is not just a CONCEPT but a BEING.
He is not the truth (being) that needs to be in you, but instead the truth (being) you need to be in. This is why he said:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:4-6)
Now watch this; Jesus is the life that solves our death. He is also the way that leads us out of this chaotic world, and finally, he is the being in which we are and while in him we bear fruit and where that fruit is: there is no law. (Galatians 5:23)
God bless you, I invoke, TRUTH, REASON and FAITH
Pr. ITM WHITE
The Gospel Hawker
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 