When we talk about the law in theology, we are referring to the Law of Moses. That harsh thing. 600 odd commands. How oppressive. Not.
It is very hard to talk about the oppression of the law when the current tax and health laws in the US run to thousands of pages, a woman gets arrested by the alcohol police (Alcohol police?) after buying a six-pack of water, and a man is facing jail time for writing anti bank slogans on the footpath. With Chalk.
Which brings me to the comment of a rational man, who married a certain member of the blogerati who is returning to her husband’s native land. from the USA.
Yes, my husband is counting down the days. I was like, “Well, you’ll have to come back occasionally to visit my parents.” He gave me a long look, “No, you have to come back occasionally to visit your parents. I’ll stay home and pray for you.”
But we were not called to be slaves. We were called to be free. We bled and fought to gain freedom for all, to remove slavery from this world. So that we would be able to seek God, not so that the state would again enslave us.
13For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 23Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
1For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
13For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
16Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Now, there is a spirtual application here. We are not to let ourselves get distracted. For the larger states, like tyrannies from time immemorial sell security, bread and circuses: security to get the cooperation of those who are educated, and bread and circuses to keep the ruling elite secure from the mob.
It is therefore not surprising that the elite keep the educated and licensed in fear. They require a clean criminal record so you can practice as a lawyer, a doctor… and the make most skilled trades require the same level of probity (down to a beautician) and make almost everything a criminal act.
The law of Moses was not nearly as oppressive as this anarchistic state. I live in a country with many laws, and many of those laws are ignored. They are on the books for symbolic purposes. No policeman would take them to court, in front of a jury, because it would get out and there would be a reaction. But I live in a small country, where many people are educated, and where the politicians have to interact with the rest of society — simply because their children go to the same schools, they eat at the same cafes, and (the minority) worship at the same churches — about the same proportion of our politicians are Christian as the general population.
But in the USA and Australia and the UK and the EU the political class can live apart from the people, who they consider as children, requiring guidance, or as slaves, whose labour can be exploited. We can keep them content quite cheaply with professional sports, celebrity gossip, and trashy movies.
We are to be free. And this may require that we go somewhere where we can be so.