We try to obey specific laws to keep us on the path of righteousness and Godly life. Just, think about it a minute. All we do is obey laws. If we do not we are given punishment or are ostracised from society as a result of going against the grain of societal laws and normalcy. Interpretation of scripture being what it is means that everyone has an opinion but often it is a political decision as to which opinion is of importance. The same can be said for the Christian church as each denomination holds various interpretive view points and in Anglicanism this often devolves down to the classical split between Liberal and Conservative thinkers. In Roman's, Paul suggests that when there is law it is natural that it will lead to the law being broken (Rom 4:15) for if there is no law there is nothing to break. The law is there to provide a boundary and those that go beyond that boundary go beyond what God has ordained. However, the interpretation of the boundary is a political matter and one of legal interpretation, which is up to the person doing the interpreting.
The covenant is not a law but rather a promise between two or more people. God covenants with Abraham and Sarah changing their names at the same time (Gen 17:1-). The basis of the promise is not a basis that is set in law but in faith keeping. There is no boundary set as each party places their faith in the other to uphold the agreement. The idea that there are no limiters on what is required means that each person within the covenant must make up their own minds as to what to do. They are not forced by law and then have to break the law to find expression. They are required by the covenant to do what is right in the eyes of God without a boundary. What then stops us from doing that which is not correct in the eyes of God? Nothing. But there again if we are wishing to do that which is not right a simple law is not going to stop us as we know from those that do just that on a continual basis.
So what makes us maintain the covenant or even want to continue to do what is right? In reality it is the consequences of our maintaining the covenant with Christ. We pick up the crosses of our own making and attempt to bring what is right into being. There is no rule or law that constrains our actions only our conscious decision to follow God and Christ in a promise. The consequences of our actions whether good or bad are felt in the community. Consequences that are bad may attract the civil rule of law and the approbation of our neighbours. We turn from God and find ourselves on the outside of love. We become isolated and alone unable to connect fully with those around us. In obeying our promise and holding to what we have said we will undertake we become surrounded by the love that is God and encapsulated within the community that is God's love.
Christ rebukes Peter in Mark's gospel for challenging what Christ is about to undertake (Mk 8:32-33). In not taking on faith, Peter sticks to the law and tries to argue that Christ's way is against the law. What Peter does not know is that to take the way of faith is a much greater cross to bear than the cross that enables our keeping the law. It is a much more difficult thing to maintain our faith than it is to maintain that which has been given to us in black and white. Because the covenantal promise is such a nebulous thing we are more easily side tracked into doing something that is against it than we are when we are confronted with the black and white law. The law is an easy excuse for us, it is something we can point at. I am sure that Peter had a number of arguments in terms of the Jewish law which he used, not that we are told, but Christ immediately tells him to not bother in no uncertain terms. The devil is in the details or so the saying goes. Once we start with law we begin to open up all sorts of detail to argue over. The simplicity of faith is that there is only one thing to be concerned about and that is our promise before God.
Our faith has been split into a multiplicity of denominations with a multiplicity of interpretations which has as we all know driven the world apart. If we were but to stick to one faith that of obeying God and keeping his covenant made to us through Christ, no interpretation needed. What can be simpler, love God and love our neighbour? The scriptures guide us towards living as Christ, it is our interpretation that creates what we deem to be law and thus create division. It is the consequences of leaving the covenant that should concern us for only when we begin to become like Christ will we begin to bear the burden of faith to the fullest.
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