2009-12-16

The Wrong Use of God's Law

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come and stand here." And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?" And after looking around at them all he said to him, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luk 6:6-11)


Herein lies one of the most grievous offenses of the Pharisees. They used God’s Law as an excuse to injure God’s people. The previous example of Jesus allowing His disciples the common nourishment of food on the Sabbath to sustain their lives is here complimented with Jesus miraculously healing a man on the Sabbath to “do good” to him.

God’s moral law is not meant to be taken as a theoretical concept, looked at in a vacuum without consideration for real human need. Rather, God’s moral law is meant to be the matrix through which we interact with both God and man.

When we study God’s Word we must be very careful not to fall into the same error as the Pharisees. It is easy to get caught up in the academic rigor of study and miss the whole point that Scripture is meant to draw us closer to Christ. As we are drawn closer to Christ we are drawn to a deeper love and concern for each other. After all…

If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1Jn 4:20)


When we are focused on the scholarship of Scripture without being concerned with our relationship with God and others we end up missing the forest for the trees, as they say.

If you find your relationship with other Christians being strained the more you study Scripture…if you are becoming more distant, more critical, more unloving…then take a step back and re-evaluate how you are approaching God’s Word. Repent and beg forgiveness for making God’s children the grinder by which you sharpen your theological acumen.

May God grant us all a deeper love for Him and His children as we plunge to the depths of His Word. May He keep us far from the hypocrisy of the Pharisees as we seek His glory rather than our own.

…"knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up. (1Co 8:1)

No comments:

Post a Comment