Welcome listeners to our second talk - Talk 2 of our series of 16 talks. Today our topic is “What is law?” Last week, in our first talk, we noted that the meaning of “Law” in its common usage in everyday life refers to “black or white, right or wrong, justice & enforcement, penalties for wrongs & rewards for right, societal code of ethics we are to uphold for an orderly society”.

Today, we want to look at what is “Law” in the Bible or in Christian Understanding. This gives us a perspective in the common everyday understanding of law. Looking at how the Bible defines the law, we begin by understating what the Bible is — Bible is the word of God that reveals to us what God's definition of Law and Grace is. It teaches us how these apply to us as human beings in our personal, communal, societal, ethical, moral, legal and spiritual life.

It is good to take a look at these dimensions that what the Bible reveals to us about God applies to our personal life, meaning to each of us as human beings. We need to remember that God created us, and each one of us is made in His image. So, what His word reveals to us applies to each one of us at the personal level.

Then, there is also a communal level that refers to how we relate to each other as persons in a group or fellow human beings. That is the community, a local group of persons or humans in interaction. God’s words apply to us at this interpersonal group level. It also applies to us at the societal level because beyond forming local groups, we form into larger and more complex units that we call societies. All these dimensions are parts of our life as more complex human groupings that we call a society. God’s law applies to us at this level as well.

God’s law is also associated with ethical and moral, meaning the stance of right or wrong, good or bad. God’s law also gives us a bearing on these vital aspects of what makes us human. For example, we wouldn’t say animals have morality or ethics. But for us, this makes us human and differentiates us from animals. So this sense of good and bad, right or wrong is distinctively human and vital part of our makeup.

Beyond moral and ethical is the legal which we encodes into laws that are enforceable by force or some authorities to ensure all the members of society follow the same rule with penalties for breaking it, and perhaps rewards for keeping it. That is the legal. 

Apart from all these, you have the spiritual aspect that has to do with our relationship with God, and in particular on how we relate to one another in the light of the fact that we are all related to God. This is the spiritual dimension. Therefore, the Bible gives us vital new insights that take us away from a purely human perspective to bring in God's perspective; this brings new light into the whole subject of law. In particular, the Bible makes it clear that God's perspective is the Absolute Truth.  Human perspectives are relative in terms of the fact that one group of human beings are different from another group of human beings in terms of all these standards. So, human perspectives are relative, and the Bible tells us more than that: our perspectives are corrupted by our fallen sinful nature. God created us. He is the one who gave us the absolute values and the absolute truth. We NEED Him and His revelation to sort out rightly the way Law and Grace are related.

So, what is “Law” in the Bible or in Christian Understanding? Law, in the Bible, refers, not to human laws but to the Laws that God revealed to humankind. In the Bible, we are told that Israel was the first recipient of God’s law. And as God-given truth, it is the standard that governs all lives. In other words, it is not simply the word given to one nation, but it is given to all human lives. Even though Israel is the first recipient, it is not the only recipient.  We all receive God’s given truth.  The basis for true worship of the One True God, and the spiritual and moral basis for human life at all levels – personal, communal, legal, moral, spiritual - all these aspects are governed by God’s law. Because God's Law applies to all dimensions of human life, it may have become confused with the common idea of Law as human societal, legal or penal codes, social rules and regulations. So, this is the distinction we need to bear in mind that God’s law applies to human life, and not generated or based on human life. It comes from above and beyond us. This is the Bible’s revelation of God’s law.

Here we must stress that Israel is the first recipient of this law, but not the only recipient. Or, we may say that Israel is the first recipient on behalf of all human beings. God's Law was initially given through Moses to Israel as His Covenantal People. It governs true Worship to the One True God. It governs righteousness in relationships between fellow Israelites. It governs moral & ethical standards. It governs legality and the penal code. So in summary, it is God's rules of righteousness in all areas of life – from how to relate with God to how to relate with our fellow human beings, to how to relate with the creations that God gave us to live in which includes animals, plants and the physical environment. So, you can see that God's Law extends far beyond human law and our common understandings of law as simply governing society and conduct because God’s law applies to human society and conduct extend far beyond that to the law of nature. The law of nature governs the animal life, plants and physical environment such as the sea, land the sky—all these are under the rule of God’s law. This is a far more extensive understanding of law than the common sensible understanding that is only confined to human society and human level.  

God’s law extends to the church today. The church is the new Israel, and as the New Testament reveals to us, it applies to All Humankind in Christ! Because Christ came not only for Israel; not only for church; Christ came for all humankinds. So, these laws apply to all aspects of life; in that sense the rules and regulations of God covers social law, natural law, all aspects of social moral life. And it extends to opposite direction in terms of how we as human beings and all the other things in creation are related to God as our creator. God is God of all creations and all humankinds. So, His law governs all life, not just human beings but all of life and all of creations. Of course, human beings are integral parts of creation. In terms of New Testament revelation, Christ is the Head of the Church. So, God’s law extends to how we as believers in Christ, as Disciples of Christ and people of God are related to God in Christ. God's Law defines all that is Righteous and Good for all as designed and given by the One True God of all. So God’s law governs all that is good and defines what is wrong of all creations of life.

In our Next Talk, we will look into the definition of Grace in comparison and contrast to Law.  We would then have identified both Law and Grace.  In the Talk after next, we will compare and contrast the law vs grace.

Let us pray, “Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness that you govern all life in your loving kindness. We pray that as we continue in this series, you will open our eyes to the extent of your sovereignty and your law and grace. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.”