Lesson 17: Does Jesus Base Ethics on Laws of Creation?
Last week, I suggested that people who are going to church to find a basis for ethics are often disappointed when they find churches do not agree on fundamental laws. In fact, the seekers often believe some of the laws they hear are immoral. The churches seem to reflect the many different stories in a democratic society. Because I received such interesting responses, I would like to expand my points in the next few weeks.
When decades ago I was asked by my synod to do an in-depth study of Pentecostals, I was surprised to find an ironic characteristic. Although they taught that Christians needed a personal relationship with Jesus, even claiming they spoke directly with him, they continually reduced everything to very impersonal teachings. Sometimes Pentecostal preachers would become very academic, claiming God responded to prayers only when you used proper names they found in the Old Testament.
Sometimes, Pentecostals described their personal relationships as laws of creation. Some of last week’s respondents referred to Joel Osteen. At first, Osteen’s message seems very personal, but then you find it reduces Christianity to automated laws leading to personal success. He is fond of defining faith as expectation, claiming expectation gets God’s attention. He and others condition God’s action on very specific behaviors, saying for instance God can not open his hand unless we open ours. Perhaps the worst is Kenneth Copeland’s explanation for his father remaining poor even though he tithed. He maintains his father did not know the techniques for drawing from his bank account in heaven.
Perhaps another irony is the claim that this is biblical teaching, pointing to the Mosaic covenant that says we shall be blessed if we follow the law. They make this an automatic, mechanical transaction while the biblical setting is a personal relationship in which the blessing is based on God’s promise. There is nothing automatic about this. In fact, throughout the Old Testament, God changes his mind. And sometimes, people, such as Abraham (Genesis 18: 17-33) and Moses (Exodus 32: 7- 14) support this by arguing that God should be more compassionate.
A more dangerous problem in basing our faith on laws of creation is that it ignores the new covenant Jesus establishes. Grace is based on blessings God gives freely, not on what we do. John had it right when he included only one law in his whole gospel, love your neighbor. Paul had it right when he described love as based on personal relationships rather than laws.
In addition, the biblical teaching is never confined to an individual and God. It always deals with a relationship that includes God, me and others. Jesus’ law always includes love of God and love of our neighbors. At least in our day, the laws of creation are presented as individuals getting what they want.
Having said all this we are left with questions such as 1) Does our concept of God allow for God’s change? 2) Does our concept of love allow for adjustment to meet the needs of different situations? And 3) Are there any laws of creation that apply everywhere at all times?
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Can God change is probably the wrong question for most people. The right one is “do you want a God who changes”? It is a short move from an omnipotent, absolute God to an immutable God. Some will always take that step. People want different things from their religion. It may be that for some Christians in the USA another religion really is closer to what they want than Christianilty, but because in general Christianity is the dominant religion in the USA, people will try to bend Christianity to serve their desires rather than look for a different religion. I heard a guy say on the radio that the parable of the workers in the vineyard shows that Jesus opposes labor unions since unions want equal pay for equal work, There is no end to the distortions that people can make to the Gospel. In the USA it is not “what does Jesus want” but “what Jesus do I want.”
We can look for what we believe is the true meaning of the Gospels, but don’t expect to be convincing others who want a different Jesus.
Lesson 17: As I was reading this lesson, the image in the portrait of the Good
Shepherd holding the Lost Sheep came to mind.
Why would we want this image-belief to change?
There are different sizes, shapes, colors of sheep, and they can get lost in many places and ways. One lost sheep is found and brought back to the group. For me, this image of The Good Shepherd answers the questions in the lesson.
Studying Bonhoeffer and his travails in Nazi Germany provided a more informed insight for me:
God does not change, yet we are forced to stay in his Word, find the Path that he lays out at the time and place that we find ourselves at, and Move in his Spirit. THe law of truth can clothe a cynic in “sheep’s clothing” when in fact it is not in love that they obey the law, and not in meeting some ethical standard, but to shame others, and disallowing grace for the sinner and those of us who come up short — – THat’s every single one of us. THe author of the latest Bonhoeffer biography – Eric Metaxas – states the Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount, said ” You have heard it said……but I say unto you.” and interprets it as – – Jesus took the old testament laws to a deeper level of meaning and obedience – from the “letter of the law” to the “Spirit of the Law.” Obedience to the law deceives ourselves, by believing in our own eyes that God is satisified with us and our behavior. The reality is that Jesus’ ultimate command – to love God and Love your neighbor requires the ultimate ethic – live in God, and as Jesus would, and in relationship with God and make that your ethical compass.
A word on the 10 Commandments as the Law – yep – they are in Luther’s Catechism – yep they are the law, – yep they are inextricable with the rule of love……………..but…..Leviticus and the 600#### rules – no thanks