We never get a version 1.2 of Gods Law.

I was reading in I john with Jamie the other morning and was struck by this passage….

1Jn 2:3-8 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

Which brought me back to what I keep rolling around in my mouth, Gods Law. I have to keep stacking up books to stand on, metaphorically speaking, to embrace this with my mind and heart, with my whole being.

When I think of history, I look at it and think of it as just taking note of something that has happened. Lots of times I look for wisdom or truth that I can bring forward to today and find application. This week I noticed that I would look at my old testament and think history, which it is, and when I would then go through where God lays out his law, it was lumped in with my understanding of history. I am just seeing what I have been doing and it has been a big error for me.

When we go through the Old Testament it is history. But when history intersects with where God Lays out his standard, his perfection , his righteous character and mercy and the infinite, intersects with us in the finite. You have to stop and put your mind into a different gear, you have to realize what God is doing, what it is, that is really happening. When he gives the Law, it is his everlasting truth of himself, being made tangible for us. The Law is a reflection of Gods perfection, equal weights and measures, balanced, wholeness or holy, lacking nothing, it is the perfect standard for any area of life because it measures all against God himself. This is what Gods Law is.

Because the historical narrative of Gods people continues even as God reveals his Law it kind of muddies and hides what God is doing as you get distracted by the goofiness of Gods People. I also have carried around the incorrect thought that Jesus had made it all kind of moot. Yah, yah don’t kill anybody or make idols but the rest had become minutia rather that seeing that it really reflects, who and what God’s character is.

God had maneuvered all of creation to this place where God had chosen a people and brought them out of bondage and they are just 3 months out of captivity when in the book of exodus he reveals his Law to mankind, and as God, only his Law is valid. Because he truly is the Lord of all. He alone has authority. It is put, pretty close to the front of the bible for a reason. We also never get a version 1.2 of Gods Law.

We do get new downloads,patches concerning how we access God through Jesus.

Here is where modern Amergelicals have had a kindred spirit with the Pharasees of Jesus day. Jesus spends a big chunk of his time defending His Law and peeling off what Jewish culture had imposed onto it. The Pharisees and Sadducees had made it “relevant” superseding it with their traditions. I used to incorrectly think that every time Jesus said “you have heard it said…” that he was taking Old Testament Law and turning it into something new. Instead I think every time he says “ you have heard it said…” he is referring to what the Pharisees and Sadducees had been teaching, which was their traditions, by which they made His law, null and void. (I think Bahnsen makes the case for this...)

It is a testimony against me that I am pretty comfortable, I am use to myself figuring it out as I go. Making the best decision that I can. I should get nervous real fast if my mind doesn’t quickly see how whatever choice or direction I’m going should somehow line up at least principally with his word.

Gods commandments when understood and applied will give you a bullet proof worldview. You will not be shaken as you will be standing on the very nature and character of God himself. We need to get this down. Because where God gives his Deut 6 calling to us fathers, it is in the context of his Law being taught.