God and the Law
by p. Arne Marco Kirsebom (priest in the Catholic Church)
Legality as a Universal Phenomenon
Laws and regulations, or legality, seems to be something that has always accompanied human thinking. I do not have the necessary expertise to date a possible origin, but it is striking that to this day all societies are based on legal systems, regardless of wether they are actually complied with to the letter or not.
But it is not only in the social sphere that we find legal thinking. For example, natural science has sought to find legal principles to deepen the understanding of how the various elements and components at the many different levels in nature relate, in many different scientific disciplines.
For a long time, work has been done to find a law of nature that can “explain” everything. Legality is something that seems to be assumed as an important description of reality.
Therefore, it is not surprising that there are also laws and rules in religious contexts. It seems like man must have legality to regulate life.
Old Testament Laws
Within Christianity, it is natural to look to the Bible when we have questions about laws and rules, not only for the individual, but also for human cohabitation and society.
Already in the very first text of the Bible, called Genesis or the 1st book of Moses, God gives Man rules after Man (human) has been created: God blessed them (man and woman) and said to them: “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Gen. 1,28.)
This can be interpreted as a first law, or command; as a mission. God wants people to do this.
In the second account of creation we encounter original laws expounded with a clearer basis in biblical thinking. The first is again an assignment that also contains a law: The Lord God took the Man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Gen, 1:28)
The word adam originally means “human”. The Latin Vulgate Bible translation (used by the Catholic Church since Roman times), correctly translates adam as human (hominem), and not as “man” (vir): “tulit ergo Dominus Deus hominem et posuit eum in paradiso voluptatis ut operaretur et custodiret illum.”
The first human, or Man, must both work and guard the garden. The verbs used in the original Hebrew text can also be understood within the official theology of the Temple of Jerusalem. Eden is the ancient temple, and the man in the garden, Adam, is the first high priest. Guarding the garden means, among other things, preventing the snake from entering. This already sets the stage for the upcoming drama.
God gives man this one commandment: “And the Lord God commanded the man: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Gen: 2: 16–17). Man receives a commandment, a law, which is the only one necessary to regulate life in Eden. It was that simple for human life in its origin acc. to the old creation story.
What the old theologians of the Temple in Jerusalem tells us through this myth, and which in my opinion shows a high level of theological reflection, is that the reality they lived in, with distress, suffering, hunger, disease, sin, immorality, violence, war, etc. was not God’s original creational intention for Mankind. It is not God who has created all these problems, but Mankind itself by not following the original law that God gave Man after putting him/her in the garden. But why God does this is not explained further. The original law is simply God’s decision.
Note that the original law is given before the woman’s creation, acc. to the second creation myth. In other words, the man is more to blame than the woman for what happens later in what we call the “fall”. But that’s not the topic of this article, so I will not go into details.
But what is important for further Biblial reasoning, is that God did not leave Man to himself/herself after they were cast out of the garden. Further narratives through the Old Testament show us a God who repeatedly seeks contact with Man in order to establish covenants with him, to give him new opportunities to live God’s laws and commandments. Here we can include the idea that God who created Man knows better than Man what Man needs for life.
Due to the limitations of this post, we cannot sum up the entire legal development described in the Old Testament here. It is necessary to stop at the event on Mount Sinai. Here Moses and the Jewish people receive the famous Ten Commandments, as a platform for the new covenant between God and the chosen people.
Many more tribal laws follow, which are summed up in Leviticus and Deuteronomium. We can understand this as God giving His people a law to help the people live the way God wants them to live. But the law was also given so that the lands around Israel would recognize in the way that the Jewish people lived and acted that their God is the real God. The fact that the Jewish peple were chosen, did not mean that they should keep God exclusively for themselves, but that they must make God visible to all people through the fulfillment of God`s laws and commandments. This is also the meaning of God`s word to Man, that he is to subdue the earth, as mentioned earlier (Gen. 1:28). To subdue the earth is to spread the glory of God over the whole earth. Therefore, Man should become many so that all “corners” of the world could be filled with believers in God. (To subdue the earth does not mean to exploit it, harm it or destroy it).
The law springs from God`s deep love for the people God has voluntarily chosen to represent all peoples. God`s love will reach all people, but one people should be an exemplary role model for all others. God is not only God for a people, but through one people, all people should find God. This was the positive idea behind the law, which Moses appeals to the people to live by.
Jesus` Criticism of the Law
But in the many centuries that had passed since then, much had happened and much had changed. The people had not lived up to God`s plan and expectation. To bring a new approach, the Son of God was incarnated and became human in Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels of the New Testament show us Jesus in a prophetic light as one who has the authority to interpret the Law of God. As the Son of God, Jesus has a power that transcends the powers of all previous prophets.
The Lord’s criticism of the Law centers on the message that the place of the heart has been forgotten, and instead the law has been reduced to action, such as about washing and avoiding so-called unclean food, among other things. The Pharisees and the scribes do not honor God with a heart devoted to God, but with the lips by making sure that nothing unclean enters them through the mouth. In other words, they have turned the law from the inside out and made it a matter of carrying out certain external actions.
The law has always been meant to shape the hearts of those who obey the law. In this way the law can make people clean and able to live in the presence of the Lord. The law was given so that people could live and enter into the inheritance that has been promised — the Kingdom of God, eternal life.
The Lord says he has come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17). But he does something ingenious: He combines two sentences (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18) from the Old Testament to formulate a new law: the double commandment of love. “Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 37–40).
Compare: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and “Do not seek revenge or bear grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18).
If it were possible for a human being to be able to say that by complying and fulfilling all laws and regulations from earlier times,they were living in full accordance with the law, then this is no longer possible with the double commandment of love. For who can say of oneself that one fulfills love fully and completely? That`s the genius of this bidding. It will always require a continued effort in human life, so that we can never settle down as if we had come to the end of the road. It is always possible to grow further in love. Clearly, God wants people not to compare each other in who is best at keeping the law, but that each one is challenged in his personal way and in his personal life. But of course, that does not mean that we cannot guide and advice each other. One aspect of the Christian life is “correctio fraterno”, the fraternal rebuke. It is a dimension of charity to help the one who goes astray or wants to find the right path again.
Canon Law — The Legal Regulations of the Catholic Church
This is the reason why the Church also has laws and rules in place for shaping Christian community life. As a visible and operational institution, the Church needs a legal system to regulate its operations. The legal platform chosen is the classic Roman law, which became the Canonic Law under the interpretation of the Church. The Church chose Rome as its center when the Church’s first head, Pope Peter, was executed in the kingdom’s capital. Throughout the nearly 2000-year long history of the Church, Canon Law has been an instrument for building the structure and leadership of the Church across the world. No one can fulfill his service correctly and justly who do not follow church law. Without a law or a system of law, the ecclesiastical community would not be able to be united and visible as witnesses to Christ towards the world. The latest edition of the Canon Law is from 1983, but there have been additions and some improvements and changes to it since then.
But the Church has also, of course, chosen to lead the believers pastorally with Christ`s double commandments of love and also recommends the Ten Commandments as an ethical and moral guideline in the life of the individual. This is how Christians are called to witness the death and resurrection of Christ as his brothers and sisters for the world to believe. No one is a Christian for himself, but for everyone. This is how God`s existence and love should be able to reach everyone.
