Whether it is through an innocently directed question from a
small child, who is working through the Q/As in a catechism, or it is the
implicitly rebellious
behavior of a
teenager, acting as though obedience to the Lord's ways is a trifling matter or
wondering why participation in church is so important, or still, we adults are
facing an ethical dilemma at work or home, and are struggling with the choice
of obedience, we quickly learn that the law simply does not have the power to
overcome the flesh.
However, especially when we are catechizing our young’uns,
whether formally or informally, we often communicate to them, whether
implicitly or explicitly, that it is law for law's sake. They should obey, because it is the right
thing to do, after all! In and of
itself, however, the law doesn't transform but deforms our spiritual
growth. This gross moralism is rampant
in the church's culture, civil American (especially here in the South)
religion, and unfortunately our families.
Of course the law has its proper place in the Christian
life. As the Belgic Confession puts it,
"we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to
confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in honesty,
to the glory of God, according to his will" (Art. 25). In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism spends
questions 92 through 115 expounding the Ten Commandments. However, by itself, the law only reveals,
illuminates, and aggravates our manifold "sins and misery."
Last evening, as Fanny and I were discussing and studying
the scriptural basis for catechesis, we of course covered Deuteronomy 4 – 6,
the first commands to catechize. With
respect to the law/gospel distinction in Christian praxis, we should ask St.
Paul's rhetorical question, "Do you not hear what the law says?"
(Gal. 4:21). Deuteronomy 6:20—25, the
law itself, turns our law-for-law's-sake tendency right on its head.
When your son asks you in
time to come, "What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the
rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?"
then you shall say to your son, "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And
the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great
and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before
our eyes. And he brought us out from
there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to
our fathers. And the LORD commanded us
to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that
he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.
And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this
commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us."
So, when our young disciples ask, or our young people act
contrary to the commands of God, or we even ask ourselves whether there is any
significant meaning in our obedience in the face of an ethical choice, what are
we to say? Gospel, gospel, gospel! Gospel first! Moses, the lawgiver, tells us
gospel first. The response to child's
hypothetical inquiry in this passage is a detailed summary of Yahweh's mighty
deeds in Israel's salvation, their deliverance from the iron furnace of
Egyptian bondage...it's gospel first.
Paradoxically, gospel first is obedience to the law! This is likely
close to what St. Paul meant when he said, "Do we overthrow the law by
this faith? On the contrary! We uphold
it!" (Rom. 3:31).
We too, then, must live gospel first. When facing these questions of life and
practice, we answer: Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the
Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day, he arose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits
on the right hand of God the Father Almighty!! We must think and act gospel
first!
Theologically speaking, the law here also cut right to the
heart of dispensational theology. Because of its popular level influence,
dispensationalism is responsible for causing many to believe that Israel and
the Church are completely distinct and discontinuous entities in the history of
salvation. Moreover, that God has two
distinct programs for these two peoples.
For the Hebrews, it is law; and the gospel is for the Church. Balderdash!!
In the passage above, Moses himself refutes such wrongheadedness. It is and has always been gospel first—to the
Jew first under the Old Covenant economy and also to the Gentiles through the operative grace in the New Covenant!
