Love and the Law
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the November 1, 2014
Sabbath School Lesson
“When the thousand years are over, Satan
will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the
four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In
number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth
of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But
fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown
into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been
thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Anyone whose
name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of
fire.” Revelation 20:7-10, 15, NIV
Many have
found it strange that a God of love[i]
should be in the business of throwing people into a burning Lake of Fire and
eternal torment. Since we are not immortal, does He perform some special miracle
to keep some eternally alive in order to suffer unending torture? This seems
contradictory, since He apparently took away mankind’s opportunity for
immortality as a result of sin.[ii]
If the idea of an immortal sinner was so reprehensible then, why would God
create such a thing in the future? And why would that appear in any way as
loving? Simply killing someone and putting an end to their pain would seem more
merciful and loving than prolonging it for all eternity.
Some may
look forward to a universe free of sin, but as long as even one sinner lives on
in eternal torment can sin ever be gone? By definition, that is not possible. One
cannot have a universe with sinners alive in it, no matter what their state,
and claim that the universe is free of sin. We used to have white-glove
inspections when I was in the Army, many years ago. When the sergeant put on
his white gloves and ran them over the surfaces in our barracks, it became
painfully obvious that as long as one speck of dust remained, the barracks was
not clean. In the same way, as long as one speck of sin remains, sin has not
ended. So this begs the question, where might this idea of eternal torment of
sinners have originated. Perhaps it begins with the Law.
The
understanding that many have of law is that it demands justice. The Law was
never intended to be merciful, only condemnatory.[iii]
Many have no problem with that. Some even take comfort in that. This can be
especially true for those who are oriented toward a faith that consists of
works of obedience. It does not seem fair to such individuals that there should
not be a severe punishment for those who did not commit themselves to
obedience, sort of a balancing out of the joy that the wayward had in this life
that the faithful could not also have due to their strict regimen of obedience.
This is not a new concept, nor is it limited only to the Christian era. Pagans
felt the same way, and may even be credited with originating the idea of rewards
for a Spartan or ascetic life as opposed to the follies attendant on the lives
of the carefree. As early as the 7th century BC, Aesop was writing
morality tales or fables, including one about an ant and a grasshopper. It was
intended as a lesson on the perils of frivolity as opposed to denying oneself
for future rewards. For pragmatic reasons this idea apparently found its way
into Christianity and eventually into Protestantism where it became known as
the Protestant Work Ethic. We see it cropping up biblically in passages such as
Paul’s “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”[iv]
Strangely we
find no such sentiment in the words of Christ as given in the Gospels. Rather
we find an entirely different sentiment. For instance, Jesus shares a parable
about workers hired at different times of the day. In that parable those who
only worked a short time at the end of the day received the same wage as those
who worked the entire day. Those who had worked all day felt that this was
unjust and perhaps rightly so. However, as the parable makes clear, the Kingdom
of God is not about justice, but compassion. Perhaps this parable is telling us
that those whom our sense of justice would want to see in the Lake of Fire, God
may just well save, not because of their works, but because of His mercy. And
dear reader, if that thought offends you, then perhaps you can understand the
indignation felt by those laborers who had spent the entire day in the fields.
We perhaps
find a sense of appropriateness toward living in a world where justice rules
and evil gets its due. Maybe when we get passed by a reckless driver and later
on, down the road, see him pulled over by the police, we tap our horn in a show
of schadenfreude that he or she is
now getting justice for that rash act. Rather than going in search of the “lost
sheep,” we all too often say such things as “He shouldn’t have wandered off in
the first place,” or “She got what was to be expected for her behavior.” While
these sentiments are not in harmony with how Jesus would have us relating to
these lost souls, they may also be an affront to a God who endured the cross
for those lambs who have gone astray.
Perhaps we
would do well to remember that it was not so long ago that we ourselves were
wandering sheep. Those who were raised in the bosom of the church may have a harder
time understanding this, especially if they have never felt themselves apart
from that fellowship. Even though Paul told the Roman church that all are
sinners,[v]
some of these may find it hard to identify a moment when they transitioned from
lost sinner to saved Christian. Surrounded and embraced by so many other
sinners, some baptized, some not, it may have actually been more difficult to
feel that separation from God that sin produces. After all, everyone else
claims to be on the path of salvation, and they were more than willing to
assure the children in their midst that they were on the path to salvation as
well by virtue of their membership in such a select family. While this may make
it hard to recognize one’s “lostness,” it may help to know that god’s mercy
overrules any problems we may have with perspective as He seeks us out with the
call to salvation. The lost sheep depend not upon the justice of God, but upon His
mercy, and indeed He is merciful. Interestingly, while that mercy may offend some
who would rather have the justice, it is theologically necessary.
You see, if
we believe that Jesus died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin,
then any requirement of justice for punishment would have to be necessarily abrogated
or else His sacrifice would be incomplete. In other words, He took all of the
punishment upon himself. This leaves no punishment remaining. If He did not do
this, then He could not offer salvation to all. He could only offer it to those
he died for. While this may not be a problem for the Calvinist viewpoint
regarding election, it may certainly be for the Arminian concept that free will
is exercised by all in regards to salvation. The cross is perhaps what enables
the mechanism of mercy.
We, who have
deserved so little and received so much grace at the hand of God, should
perhaps talk less of what others deserve and model the mercy that we ourselves
have received. As I wrote earlier, the Law cannot model compassion. It cannot
deliver grace. It can only condemn. Some speak of Jesus as the embodiment of
the Law, yet He did not come to condemn but to save,[vi]
therefore the condemnation of the Law had nothing in Him. It could neither
condemn Him, for He was sinless, nor could it bring condemnation on others
through Him, for that was not His purpose. Even on the cross, He breathed
forgiveness and not judgment.[vii]
Jesus knew that the natural way of this world was to seek judgment and justice.
Perhaps that is why He cautioned against it.[viii]
In spite of
this, some take perverse delight in hammering others with the condemnation of
the Law. This is their work. Grace is notably absent from their dealings with
others and often even with their dealings with themselves. Little is said about
the power of grace, but much is said about obedience. But if the works of God
are compassion, grace and mercy, these three cannot be commanded or enforced by
will. They must flow spontaneously from a transformed heart. The God of all
grace transforms that heart according to His purposes and timetable, not ours.
For that reason, our judgment can never be exact for we cannot uncover all the
workings of the Holy Spirit in the heart of another. Better we act with
compassion and grace toward others, for whatever we choose to put in our
measuring cup, that is what the cup will be filled with when it comes back to
us.[ix]
