We see a sign, "Wet Paint. Do not touch." What is the first thing we do? Naturally, we touch it to see if it is really wet.
We suspect that rules and regulations are there to deny us something good. We assert our rights and protect our freedom by disobeying. The fact that we look both ways first is an indication that we know we are asking for trouble.
God sees his laws differently. They define reality, based on his own character and his love for us. They protect us from ways we could harm ourselves and others. He gives them to mark out the best path toward fulfillment of our greatest potential and joy.
In Eden, God underscored his loving relationship with Adam and Eve through open communication and generosity with his blessings. His "law" was expansive and permissive, "Of all the trees in the garden you may freely eat." Then came the exception, "But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is dangerous. Trust me, for your own good, do not eat of it" (my paraphrase of Genesis 2:16-17).
Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent, assumed that God was jealously holding back something good from them. Before pointing a finger of blame at our first parents, remember that we also test how close we can come to the edge of the cliff and still be safe.
Legalism
In every religion throughout all history, people have figured out ways to "keep" God's laws in some technical sense, but actually violate the spirit and heart behind them. Then we can boast of being law keepers (self-righteous) while having no intention of living in the reality of God's character or love for us.
Biblical prophets and apostles, and Jesus himself, strongly condemned legalism, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy. They had no use for behaviorism. They called people instead to a relationship of trust. Reality flows from who God is. God wants us to bear his image. True righteousness must be God's righteousness. All other ground is sinking sand.
As I grew through my teen years and into adulthood, I was a good rule-keeper. I had enough confidence in God to know that if he said I should do something, or I should avoid doing something else, the smart thing was to obey him.
A famous saying of mine in those days was, "Obeying God does not make me better than other people, but it makes me better off."
What I learned from Abraham
In Genesis 26:1-5 God talked to Isaac (after his father Abraham was dead). He based his promises to Isaac on the example of Abraham, who "kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
When I read that, I scratched my head in astonishment. That list of God's "charge, commandments, statutes, and laws" refers to the Law of Moses later in the Torah. But, surprise, they had not yet been announced.
In Abraham's and Isaac's day there were no ten commandments. There were no 613 laws spelled out. There was no sacrificial system, no Tabernacle or priests, no Ark of the Covenant. No regular assembly to hear the reading of the law. How in the world could Abraham have obeyed and kept all of them?
The quick answer is clear in the life of Abraham as described in Genesis 15:6, "Abraham believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." Abraham kept all God's laws the same way we do--by faith. When we trust God and enter into a loving relationship with him, God counts (imputes) his righteousness to us.
This is spelled out by the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:7-9, "That I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith."
But wait, there's more
Abraham was not only a sinner saved by grace. He also learned about righteousness. He lived it from inside out. He passed it on to his descendants (spiritual, not physical). It was not merely a theoretical, invisible righteousness. He too pressed on to make it his own.
The call to righteous living, flowing out of a relationship of faith and love, is expressed in Genesis 17:1, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless." That actual righteousness had to be learned and lived in specific situations. Abraham made mistakes. He made bad decisions. He also learned from his mistakes and grew into righteousness.
God told Abraham in Genesis 18:17-19 the key for him (and for me) to grow into a righteous life. Abraham had to rethink good and evil in order to receive what God had promised him. We call that the renewing of the mind.
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."
Does this work for me?
So I made a study of Abraham's life: all the incidents recorded in Genesis; each slice of his life; the good choices and the bad. These stories illustrate the nature of righteous living that flows out of the character of God himself. This part of the Torah is not a list of rules and regulations, but a narrative approach to living rightly. We learn along with Abraham as we study his spiritual journey.
It instructs us about justice and mercy and how they relate. It teaches us about repentance and faith, about judging and forgiving, about restitution and resolution, about commitments and promises. It highlights the importance of faithfulness in holding true to what we have attained. We learn how to see what we are looking at and respond productively. The teaching of righteousness is a lifetime of being changed.
I later learned from an Old Testament professor that nearly all the Hebrew words for righteous and righteousness used in Moses occur in the Abraham section. So, that is the place to study these "weightier matters of the Torah."
Then Why all the Laws and Limits?
Jesus said all the law and the prophets can be summed up in two "great" commandments:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength
Love your neighbor as yourself
If we understand and keep these two, we will not violate any of the other commandments. Since we don't understand everything, we ask, "What would that look like?" And the "law" explains by giving guidance in specific situations.
Righteousness will be lived out in worship (no idols, no fake confessions, no mindless ceremonies, satisfied in him alone)
in respect for people (no murder, no hateful actions, no deception)
in respect for property (no stealing, no moving boundary stones)
in sexual morality, business, justice, inheritances, etc.
So, we study God's laws, not to look for loopholes, but to look for opportunities to be God's righteous representatives in any situation.
As I encounter any new regulation in the Law, I can choose to be frustrated by seeing it as another locked door, limiting my freedom. Or I can choose to be excited at finding an open door, to express my love for God and for people.
Law Keeping vs. Law Abiding
This means that God's love is connected to being a "law abiding citizen." It is not mere law-keeping, but law-abiding. We start with the purpose of loving God and loving people, not with legalism. Then we realize that the law is liberating, not confining. Our purpose is to know the Lord's will well enough to do it.
Jesus said, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full" (John 15:10-11).
There is no way I want to stop now.