How shall we regard the new covenant scriptures? Do they constitute a body of laws, statutes and regulations, which spell out in minute detail every action we must perform in order to please God? Or, do they provide for us a revelation of the divine mind in love, enunciating certain great principles consistent with the exemplification of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ? The answer to these questions will determine our whole philosophy of Christian behavior. The way we treat God's children depends upon our concept of God. If we regard him in the role of a stern and inflexible lawgiver we will make the church a law-enforcement agency with about as much warmth and human compassion as one would find in the criminal investigation bureau of the local police station. If we regard him as a loving parent interested in the welfare of all of his dear ones, they will be treated with personal concern by ourselves as part of the family.
It is our conviction that the new covenant scriptures were never given as an arbitrary pattern in the sense that the term "pattern" is commonly used. It is a mistaken view at this juncture which has created most of our strife and division. Men have attempted to ride roughshod over the consciences of others under the false impression that they demonstrated fidelity toward the Father by laying a heavy hand upon His children. The love letters of the Spirit have been converted into an iron scepter and a whip of scorpions. The apostolic epistles have been regarded as a yoke to be riveted about the necks of the humble by clerical despotism. It has been made to appear that God has placed his subjects under martial law.
In no sense do we deny that the scriptures are the word of God. We respect both their origin and the authority for which they were given. We are not skeptical of the word of God but we are a little skeptical of the way it is employed by a lot of people in the world, some of whom are our brethren in the Lord. We do not conceive of the new covenant scriptures as supplying a rigid pattern for every exigency that can arise among us. If our view is correct, then to force them into a peremptory and rigorous role is to wrest them from the real purpose for which they were bestowed upon us by a beneficent God. It is actually, to run counter to the divine will by making that which was intended to unite us a divisive instrument. Let us catalog for you certain points which we believe to be of utmost significance to such a discussion.
1. God has always sought to insure the togetherness of his people. In previous ages he did this by law, he now accomplishes it by love. The law constituted a stockade inside which men were confined. It provided unity at the expense of freedom. "Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed" (Gal. 3:23). Such a system is not adapted to free men. "For freedom Christ has set as free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). We are not under law but under grace. We are held together, not by a wall or fence around us, but by a mutual attachment to our Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews were held together by that which enclosed them on the perimeter; we are held together by a magnetic power which attracts us to a common center. They were hemmed in, we are in Him!
2. The previous covenant was written upon tablets of stone. It was a legalistic system as unyielding and inflexible as the stones upon which the ten commandments were inscribed. The new covenant is "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor. 3:3). The envoys of Jesus were "qualified to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life." Observe that the man who wrote the majority of the new covenant epistles positively declares that he was not ministering unto us a written code. Those who take what he did write and convert it into a code of legalistic procedure violate his very purpose.
3. The difference between God's treatment of us and his attitude toward the people in previous ages is found in the maturity to which mankind has attained. While his people were children they were no better off than slaves. They were under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. When the time arrived, God sent forth His Son to redeem those who were under the law, so they might receive the adoption as sons. Confinement under law is slavery, freedom in Christ is sonship. "So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir." Few of us have recognized that if we seek to be justified by law we forfeit our inheritance. Only those free from law are sons, only sons are heirs! To convert the grace of God into a law is to deprive us of the very thing we hope to achieve by such action.
4. The coming of Christ made the difference! "The law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith." Sin separated man from God and broke up the personal relationship which existed between them. No law could ever be devised or imposed which could restore such a relationship as sin destroyed. Law can confine, keep under restraint, and act as a custodian. It can point out and identify sin and provide a penalty for it but it cannot give life to the dead. Reconciliation had to be provided by a person. The law was holy, but God was not in the law reconciling man unto himself. The righteousness of God is not revealed in a law but in persons. Since the new covenant is written upon our hearts, we are the righteousness of God. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, . . . For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:19, 21).
5. Many of us seem incapable of accepting fully the implications of such transcendent glory as that with which God invests us. We still want to view it through a veil. Consider the import of the statement, "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian" (Gal. 3:25). "The law was our custodian until Christ came." The very function of law is custodial. If we make of the new covenant scriptures a written code, or law, then we are under a custodian. We have merely swapped a previous custodian for a present one. When the apostle says we are no longer under a custodian, he simply means we are no longer under a law. We are free in Christ Jesus. To take the apostolic injunctions, admonitions, and commandments, and forge these into a law for justification and righteousness; to impose them as a written code to restrain men and hold them "in line", is to create another custodian as certainly as we do it.
6. All law requires interpretation and he who interprets it regards his interpretation as the law, or its equivalent. He may, or may not, enforce his interpretation, depending upon his temperament, zeal, and inclination, but whether he does, or does not, enforce it, he will regard those who do not conform to his interpretation as violating the law. The hope of securing proper reverence for all who are in Christ Jesus lies in a recognition that we are not under law at all, but under grace. "But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit" (Rom. 7:6).
Such a noble concept when enunciated always brings a question about the rise of anarchy. A goodly number of brethren trust themselves and distrust everyone else in Christ Jesus. They regard themselves as the divinely appointed "keepers of orthodoxy" and "detectors of heresy." By some indefinable means God has blessed them with such profound wisdom and proficiency in judgment that they can relay to the rest of mankind the official meaning of the messages from the Throne. They cannot furnish others with an unadorned copy of the sacred writings and trust them to understand what they read. They must embellish it, explain and emphasize it, and then "withdraw" from those who do not accept their interpretations as the divine law. It is obvious that they are much more frightened by anarchy than by tyranny, unless someone seeks to do unto them as they do unto others!
As for myself, I am not too fearful of any who are in Christ Jesus and who seek to walk "not after the flesh but after the Spirit." I rather suspect there would have been faithful children of God if I had never been born. Our real problem is that we have filled our congregations with people who know nothing about the indwelling Spirit and we have to continue "cracking the whip" over their heads to keep them coming and contributing to the support of their taskmasters. Let us not forget that only slaves require taskmasters to be "urgent, saying, 'Complete your work, your daily tasks'" (Exo. 5:13). Loving sons will do the wish of their Father, prompted by an inner feeling which no law can create.
Let us think together about the origin, nature and purpose of the new covenant scriptures. I consider these to be an expression of the will of God through chosen ambassadors. The Father gave this revelation to an age of the world which had attained its spiritual majority. This maturity was reached by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our pattern. It was not the intention of God to provide for us a detailed program for every spiritual activity. This would have been a reflection against those who were no longer slaves, but sons. Moreover, the Father desires to preserve the individuality of His children as does a careful earthly parent. It was never His desire to stifle our rational powers but to channel them. Can we agree on the following suggestions relative to the new testament writings?
1. The apostles wrote to deal with specific conditions which had arisen or which threatened. They did not specify the exact method in every instance for application of the principles they set forth but entrusted this to the sanctified hearts and consecrated commonsense of those to whom the messages were addressed. The administration of those same principles in our own age must be subject to the discretion and judgment of the saints.
2. The problems confronting the Christian system change from one generation to another and vary in different localities on the earth. However, all such problems resolve into questions of relationship and neither the categories of relationship nor the principles governing such ever alter. Any problem of relationship is always complex and latitude must be allowed in working it out. There may be more than one manner of approaching such a problem and we should not conclude that the employment of a different approach necessarily negates or destroys the relationship.
3. While the adaptability of divinely enunciated principles to our present state and needs is a demonstration of superior wisdom, their validity does not inhere from this, but from the authority of their author. As the source of all power, God is greater than any principle he has announced, and since every principle has been stated to secure a certain objective or goal, that objective is superior to any method which may be employed to attain to it. This in no sense affirms that the end justifies the means but it does warn us that when we become so involved in discussion of the means that we lose sight of the goal, we are sacrificing the greater for the lesser and our sense of values is distorted. It is astonishing how many debates have been held about modes and means by those who never pray together about the real goal to be achieved by such means.
4. In carrying out the divine Purpose the primitive saints made use of such means as were at hand to accomplish their objective. Their employment of such means was not intended to be either exhaustive or exclusive, and we are free to make use of such means as we have at hand in implementation of the divine will, provided that the use of such means is not forbidden, or is not contrary to some other feature of the divine will as expressed. The selection and utilization of such means must be by the function of human judgment and in its exercise one is accountable to the Master and not to other servants. In other words, one slave cannot sit in judgment of another slave. "To his own master he stands or falls." A member can exercise his own judgment to reject the judgment of another but he cannot reject the other Person. There is a difference in disagreeing with a man's judgment and in judging him as being unworthy of the family relationship.
5. Inasmuch as the Lord lived among men at a given place on the globe and at a given time in history, some of what he said, and some of what the apostles wrote, was directly related to conditions then and there obtaining, and must be understood in that frame of reference. All truths are equally true but they are not all equally important. The relative importance of certain truths may fluctuate in different eras and in diverse areas. A truth is not always equally relevant in every spot on our globe. Certainly that which is essential to being is more important than that which merely contributes to wellbeing.
6. The method of implementation of principles or truths may vary according to custom, environment or tradition. Such variations need not be assessed as a denial or abrogation of the principles, nor should a specific method be bound as uniformly required regardless of circumstances or conditions. We suggest two examples, one related to an act of Jesus, the other to an apostolic declaration, which may serve to illustrate our point.
Due to the terrain over which they traveled, and because men wore sandals or walked barefoot, it had long been a custom to set a basin of water before a guest that he might bathe his feet. Eventually this act was performed by a servant, or slave, of the household, who washed the feet of the visitor and dried them with a towel with which he had girded himself. In view of this, it came to pass that when a host wished to demonstrate special honor to a guest, he personally performed the task, thus relegating himself to the role of a menial in kneeling before the guest.
Jesus enforced the point of his action with the words, "You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you." He then added, "A servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."
Upon the basis of these words some followers of Jesus in an age and place remote from his time have felt called upon to practice the washing of feet as an ordinance to be observed by the congregation. We do not speak derogatorily of any sincere attempt to be like Jesus when we mention that the observation of such a practice in our present circumstances may have exactly the opposite effect of that intended. No longer is the custom followed generally in the homes and lives of the people. It has completely lost its significance in our culture. To offer a guest a basin of water and to volunteer to wash his feet as soon as he arrives in the home would only insult him.
Under such circumstances to make a ritualistic observance of such an act may actually engender pride in partisan orthodoxy. There is a possibility that a group may place so much value on externals as to say, "Lord, we thank thee that we are not as other men, even as those who do not follow the example of our Lord in the washing of feet." In such case the washing of feet may become a matter of sectarian glory and not be an exhibition of the humble spirit at all. It was the very casualness with which our Savior arose and carried out the ablutions which made his deed so outstanding. To arrogate to such an act a creedal significance and to bind it upon men as a ritual when it has lost all of its original instructive value is to foster partisan vain-glory. This is the ever present danger in all ritual observances. It is easy to display our faith to men rather than dedicate it to God from the heart.
No thoughtful person will deny that we need to recapture for our age that sense of genuine humility and concern which characterized the life of Jesus. We live in a world where "luxury's vile contagion" has affected the whole social structure. It is an era of braggadocio, bluster and boasting. From our international relationships to our local traffic congestion, it is often the biggest bluffer who wins. This makes for glorification of the artificial and superficial. It is precisely at such a time that men are tempted to place their trust in externals as the means for demonstrating intangible qualities. A ritual may be created which, when performed, will enable them to say, "That takes care of my humility for this week--or year." Under the group pressure to participate in such a ritual for ritual's sake, the truly genuine man may be the one who declines to do so.
You will note that we spoke of the humility which characterized the life of Jesus. We need to develop that type of character which will respond in proper fashion in every circumstance that may arise and which will exhibit itself in any recognized custom or procedure. It is absurd to suppose that if Jesus visited America this year that he would insist upon washing our feet as an indication that we should be in subjection to each other. He would adapt himself to our manner of existence and give force and meaning to our recognized modes of expressing values. He would demonstrate the difference between empty forms and vital requirements. The record of John is not authority for washing feet but for cleansing hearts of pride. The former was but incidental to the latter. He who takes such an incidental and exalts it into a law mistakes the purpose of the divine example. The grave danger is that one may give such emphasis to the incidental that he neglects the essential.
In the same category as we see it, Is the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. No doubt there are a good many things the apostle had in mind which we may never clearly understand. Without a complete knowledge of the circumstances which called forth the letter we can only surmise its direct application. It seems that certain of the sisters in the congregation were praying or prophesying without wearing a veil and this practice was bringing reproach upon them and upon the community of the saints. We think that a careful study of the passage will show that its central theme is the subordination of the woman to her husband. There is no degradation involved in this for "In the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God" (1 Cor. 11:12).
In Greek cities, as well as in Eastern cities, it was the custom for women to wear a veil in public. This was a visible token of the fact that the woman recognized a status of social subordination. It was a badge of authority on her head (verse 10) and was indicative of that becoming modesty associated with the finest quality of feminine grace. Only the women of bad character who depended upon their physical charms to enhance their profession appeared without the veil. Apparently, the women in the community of saints at Corinth, mistaking certain aspects of the apostolic instruction, concluded that Christianity was intended to disregard all customs and abolish existing social structures. Their action created a scandal in the eyes of the heathen populace and if persisted in, would have rendered the divine message useless and ineffective.
Christianity did not have as its goal the destruction or abrogation of social customs. It did not interfere with funeral customs, wedding customs, or legal proceedings. True, it has had an effect upon traditional patterns by the gradual dissemination of truth about human relationships, but Jesus and his apostles were not "social reformers" in the current usage of that term. Therefore, those who were Christians conformed to social customs which were without moral significance when considered objectively, but which would have made those who disregarded them liable to moral stigma.
A great deal of writing has been done about whether or not the women in our society must wear a veil in the public services of the saints. It is not at all my plan or intention to enter into controversy over the matter. I have read all that has been written on all sides of the question and which has been available to me. In most instances, brethren are willing to settle for women wearing a hat (quite a gaudy creation in many cases which would really have created a stir in Corinth), or a token covering of some sort. I do not believe that either modesty or subordination is judged by our society on wearing a veil or hat. Since the criterion no longer obtains it would be a useless gesture. The veil is not now regarded as a badge of authority and a woman who appears publicly without a veil does not thereby dishonor her husband.
The principle of subordination will last as long as time continues. The distinctive differences between the sexes must always be recognized and maintained. We must differentiate between improving a state and abolishing it. Christianity has worked as a constant leaven to elevate woman from the plane of a chattel to that of a companion, in all the fulness of meaning and dignity attached to this latter term. But the overt demonstration of subordination will vary in different social structures, and to bind upon all and sundry, traditions which have been out-grown or lost their significance, is merely to rivet a yoke which God has not authorized. To use as a measuring rod of modest behavior a standard which has been discarded or outgrown would be like insisting upon paying your taxes with a denarius because Jesus did. Standards of social judgment change as do those of coinage.
Of course the real danger lies in the literal adoption of a thing as a symbol of a state of heart. Modesty and subordination are inner qualities of Christian character. It is possible that we may become so involved in discussions about a covering for the head that we fall into the error of supposing that the mere act of wearing such a covering constitutes the proper attitude. Thus a woman may sit in a public meeting with a hat on her head and a heart full of hate and revolt toward her husband. It is one thing to wear a veil in a society where it is universally regarded as a symbol, but a wholly different thing to wear one in conformity to a legalistic procedure where society is wholly oblivious of whether one has a hat on or not. A short time ago I was in a congregation where a husband affirmed in class that he did not believe a woman needed to have her head covered in the public assembly. His wife disagreed. Alter the service she said to me, "You just wait until I get him home!" She wanted to get her hat off before she started in on him.
The new covenant scriptures are authority for a recognized standard of subordination. "The head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." They are also authority for conformity to recognized social customs which publicly demonstrate the Christian character of modesty and humility. But the church of God is universal. It is ageless and timeless. It must exist in every clime and amidst varied cultures and traditions. It must not be made the excuse for that arbitrary action whereby one nation or people impose their own culture and traditions upon all others. It is a little difficult for some people to separate their loyalty to Jesus from their patriotism!
Perhaps it would be well for some of us who think we have a correct understanding of the relationship of foot-washing and veil-wearing to Christian character, to take a second look at some of the other things which we regard as vital to fellowship with God and Christ Jesus. It could well be that we are making the word of God authoritative in matters where it was not intended to be such at all. Few of us would be willing to place the scriptures in the hands of others without some commentary and explanations accompanying them. Our plea for the authority of the scriptures means that they are authoritative "as explained by us." The real authority, in the final analysis, is not the scriptures at all but our interpretation. If you doubt this you need merely to observe what happens to a man who questions the orthodox and traditional viewpoint. Regardless of how godly in character he may be, or how much he loves and values the word of God and seeks to emulate it, he is driven forth as a pagan and publican.
We do not trust the rest of God's children as much as he trusts them. He gave them his revelation unencumbered by our interpolations and footnotes. Apparently thousands of saints died for the faith, and in the faith, before we came along. They did not have the advantage (?) of our erudition and interpretative skill. They were forced to go to the stake with only the Bible for comfort and without one of our debate books clutched in their hand. In this generation the word is authoritative as it has been digested, collated and officially explained by partisan heroes and editors. If we immerse one into Christ we hand him a Bible and give him a subscription to a partisan journal. It is the word as filtered through that journal which is authoritative. The word as explained in other and rival journals is not authoritative at all.
What sect or party would simply send the word of God, the revelation of God's will, to enlightened parts of the world, and tell men to obey its teachings? The American Bible Society has as its mission the publication of the holy scriptures in the language of the people, without note or comment, and most of those who plead the loudest for the authority of the sacred scriptures would not even support it in its mission. They would not announce its programs and they might "withdraw fellowship" from any who supported it. The word of God is not enough to save the world. Men go to the very countries from which they import many of the Bibles they carry and announce that they are taking the gospel to them for the first time.
The Wycliffe translators are doing a tremendous job in translating the scriptures into the languages of tribes which have never had the Word of God. Young college students are devoting their lives to going among savage peoples, living with them and sharing in their lives. They exist among these primitive folk in almost indescribable conditions. Through use of tape recorders and other means they capture the gutturals and grunts which constitute a mode of communication and from these construct an alphabet which may be employed in translating the message from heaven into another language of the world. It is doubtful whether we would support a brother who felt called upon to labor with the Wycliffe group. The constituents do not all belong to our party. It would be considered a compromise to give the heathen the message of God unless it was sponsored by "a faithful church."
Yet, every translation of the sacred scriptures that we so readily employ in our own study and services, was the result of painstaking labor by men who were not connected with "our movement." We do not hesitate to use the King James Version despite the fact that it was commissioned by a foreign monarch and those who gave it to us were all connected with the Church of England. We will stand before an audience and read the J. B. Phillips' translation, but if Phillips himself visited us we would not call upon him to stand up and read it in our hearing We are not averse to warming ourselves by fires that others have kindled provided the others do not attempt to stand with us and warm themselves.
It is true that we spend hundreds of dollars sending the inspired scriptures to other lands but we spend thousands in sending uninspired men along to give the natives our "official" slant on the Book. This also includes the transportation of our feuds and fusses into remote areas where they have little relevance. We must be sure that primitive headhunters not only find Jesus, but also find out the correct way to break the bread, so they will be "loyal." In no sense am I criticizing the ambition of humble men to go into all of the world and take the gospel to all who are enslaved by sin. However, most of the brethren are confused by what constitutes the gospel over here. It is not to be marveled at that they manifest the same confusion over there. It is for that reason we have sent our missionaries from a half dozen different kinds of "Churches of Christ" to create division in Christ of those who were relatively united as heathen. Our history is replete with incidents in which the long arm of American domination has reached across oceans to exercise control over congregations made up of simple people whose humble and unadorned devotion to the Master should shame us in our theological sophistication and pride.
I am not certain whether it is God's revelation or orthodox American Church-of-Christ-ism which is our real authority. Many of our missionaries must keep one eye fastened on heaven and the other on Texas or Tennessee. The reaction in the latter places to any move or teaching will generally determine "heaven's will" in the matter. This is not written sarcastically. It is a simple statement of conditions as I view them. Our brethren are sincere but they are victims of a system of exclusivism and legalism unparalleled in our age outside of the Roman Catholic Church. They employ the same tactics of enforcement--boycott, censorship and excommunication. They are frequently coerced by the very clergy to whose support they must contribute under threat of eternal damnation. All of this is done (as by the Catholic Clerics) in the mistaken view that such an attitude is pleasing unto God.
Our real mistake was to confound the church of God with the restoration movement launched by Presbyterians and others on American soil. This has led us to think of Christianity in our age as a sort of American possession to be shared with less fortunate regions of the earth. That it is a kind of "white man's religion" is evident from the attitude of many in the United States who will contribute copious sums to take the gospel to Negroes in Africa while refusing to allow them in their meetinghouses over here. Our hypocrisy in refusing to develop the kind of character Jesus came to reveal, while at the same time insisting upon the authority of divine revelation, ought to prove to us that Pharisaism is not dead. "The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but do not practice" (Matt. 23:23). When we send missionaries to other lands it is not to share with them what is ours but to take to them what is also theirs.
It is rather astonishing how we have learned to "explain away" those things in the sacred writings which we do not wish to accept or practice. Take the "holy kiss" as an example. Here is something for which we have repeated command of the apostles. In addition to the commands we have the actual example of the primitive saints in conjunction with an apostle (Acts 20:37). We need not depend upon a "necessary inference" with regard to it. The last half of Romans 16:16 is very precious to a lot of us. "All the churches of Christ greet you." But we have a clever way of evading the first half, which says, "Greet one another with a holy kiss."
The average "Church of Christ preacher" when confronted with this, seeks to evade its force by ridicule. He may say, "It's all right with me if you want to kiss me provided you don't chew tobacco or dip snuff." Or he may arouse levity by saying, "I'll let you kiss me if you insist on it, if you'll let me smell your breath first." This approach to what the apostle may have written as tears streamed down his cheeks, is unworthy of one who professes to be a teacher of God's will. If the word of God is our pattern in every particular, and if what the apostles wrote to the congregations, constitutes an exact absolute guide for every Christian action, why do we dispense with this command?
The truth is that the strict legalist can neither laugh this off nor scoff it out of application. If the new covenant scriptures constitute a specific law, compiled as a written code, the holy kiss is obligatory upon saints today. When the legalist explains it away he forfeits in the process that which is vital to his "blue print" concept. When it is stated that the command is to greet, the regulation is expressed by the word holy, and the custom was by a kiss, and that we are free to substitute our own custom as practiced in our culture, it is evident that the scriptures must be interpreted (for this is an interpretation), and they may be interpreted (at least in some instances) in the light of contemporary customs. Who is to be the Supreme Court and determine which scriptures can be so regarded and which may not?
In my own concept of the divine purpose, which is simply that Jesus is our pattern and the development of a character consistent with the divine nature is our goal, this scripture presents no problem. If Jesus went among the Chinese he would shake hands with himself in greeting; if he went among the Eskimo people he would rub noses with them. Whatever he did would be holy and free from guile. The Christian character must be exhibited in various forms and methods dictated by the recognized customs of the time and place. While it is true that we are free we must willingly submit to regulations and restraints. In this we exercise our freedom.
"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law--though not being myself under the law--that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law--not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ--that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."
What is the law of Christ to which Paul alludes? Note that it is one which obligates a free man to become the slave of all and to do this voluntarily to achieve a greater cause--to win the more. The law of Christ is not the new covenant scriptures for these had not been written when Paul declared himself to be under it. Moreover, Paul was beheaded before all of these scriptures were written, so if they constituted the law, he was never under it in its perfection.
Any law acts as a restraining force for this is the nature of law. It restricts one in the exercise of freedom by bringing him up short when he reaches its bounds. What law is it which makes the welfare of others superior to your own and thus compels you to sacrifice your own inclinations in order to win others? On this point there can be little question. "You, my friends, were called to be free men; only do not turn your freedom into licence for your lower nature, but be servants to one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Gal. 5:13, 14).
Love is the law of Christ. In one of his final discourses, Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you so you are to love one another. If there is this love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples" (John 14:34, 35). Love is the only absolute within the Christian framework. Augustine was correct when he declared, "Love God and do what you please." This is a perfect law of liberty. The exaltation of any other law or code must always infringe upon this. I have never known anyone who regarded the new covenant scriptures as a legalistic code who did not violate the law of love--the law of Christ. When anything except love becomes law, love is restricted or excluded by that thing, for that is the function of law. It is only when love itself is the law that it is uninhibited and unrestrained.
The new covenant letters were not written to comprise a legalistic code for the people of God. If they were, the community of saints existed for some sixty years without part of that law and for two decades without any of it. The epistles were written to commend those who observed the law of love (e.g., the one to the Philippians), or to call back to that law those who deviated from it. Nothing is clearer from these Spirit-filled letters than the fact that Jesus is our pattern and love is our law. This runs like a golden thread through all of them without exception. They constitute for us a norm of Christian behavior because they reveal how a character founded and grounded in love should react under given circumstances.
These scriptures were not written in full and imposed upon the saved ones as a law from the inception of the community of saints. From the beginning they were under the law of Christ--love. "Dear friends, I give you no new command. It is the old command which you always had before you; the old command is the message which you heard from the beginning. And yet again it is a new command that I am giving you--new in the sense that the darkness is passing and the real light already shines . . . Only the man who loves his brother dwells in the light: there is nothing to make him stumble" (1 John 2:7, 8, 10). As difficult as it may be for those who have been reared behind a fence of legalism to admit the truthfulness of what we write, it is our conviction that it is true.
The commandments are the outgrowth of the love of the Father and they should be kept out of love for Him. It makes all the difference in the world whether you regard these commands as the statutory requirements of a police state or the uplifting requests of a loving parent. Jesus did not say, "If you fear me you will obey my commands," but "If you love me you will obey my commands." Legalism is always concerned with the precept; love is concerned with the person. In the former, if there is any conflict between mercy and law, the law must he fulfilled regardless of circumstances. Judgment rejoices and triumphs over mercy in such a system, because it is the dignity of the law, not the dignity of the person which must be maintained.
This is not true of the law of liberty. "Always speak and act as men who are to be judged under a law of freedom. In that judgment there will be no mercy for the man who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:12, 13). The law of liberty is the law of Christ. It allows one the liberty to show mercy. No one requires mercy who keeps a law in its perfection. It is only when honest intention and purity of motive fall below the legal standard that mercy is required. The thing that makes "a perfect law of liberty" is its provision for imperfect beings. We must ever speak and act as those who will be held responsible for showing mercy. If there is a question as to enforcement of law or extension of mercy, the law of freedom makes love for men, not love for law, our chief objective.
The translation of this passage by J. B. Phillips is a very fortunate one. "Anyway, you should speak and act as men who will be judged by the law of freedom. The man who makes no allowances for others will find none made for him. It is still true that mercy smiles in the face of judgment." It is not amiss to cite his translation of Ephesians 4:1-3 at this juncture. "As God's prisoner then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling. Accept life with humility and patience, making allowances for each other because you love each other. Make it your aim to be at one in the Spirit, and you will inevitably be at peace with one another."
It is our intention, in our next issue, to deal practically with some of the problems confronting those of us in the non-instrument segment of the disciple brotherhood. For instance, I believe that in conjunction with the Lord's Supper, some have elevated certain incidentals and made of them essentials, and that this course has been divisive and disruptive. I do not intend to speak censoriously of those who have done this, because their action is simply an expression of the "specific pattern" philosophy which is generally characteristic of all of our factions. Some exhibit it with reference to certain details, while others do so with reference to other details. All of us have been guilty in certain aspects.
My intention is to help all of us to re-evaluate our current condition in the light of God's purpose for our lives. We will gain little by biting criticism or accusation. I am not so much concerned with assessing fault as with alleviating it. We believe that all of our readers will welcome the next issue of the paper which will be sent forth "with malice toward none; with charity toward all."