What is The Law of Moses?
Answer: God's revelation that man's view of righteousness is wrong
The Law of Moses is God's revelation that man's view of righteousness is wrong.1 In it, Moses embodied many of the religious rituals and principles of morality held by humanity from earliest times. Then he offered the people of Israel a choice: judge one another according to these and you shall surely die; or be merciful as God is merciful and you shall live.2 In other words: Judge not, and you shall not be judged.3
Consequently, although the law usually refers to the commandments Moses gave concerning religious rites and morality, it also required that men show mercy and forgive as God is merciful and forgiving.2 To observe the whole law, therefore, Israel needed to set aside judgment and condemnation.
The most famous part of the law, the Ten Commandments written on tables of stone, began: I am the Lord thy God… You shall have no other gods before me.4 With this charge, those who judge others would destroy all that is good in the world. They see their way as right and themselves as instruments of righteousness called by God to rid the world of those who disobey or do not believe.5
God is love, John wrote.6 He has manifested himself among all people and throughout all ages. When Christ spoke of judging the nations, he applied no test of doctrine or precept of belief. Instead, he spoke only of acts of kindness toward one another that reveal those in whom the heart of God dwells.7 Paul, therefore, spoke of Gentiles who loved one another, doing by nature what is written in the law.8
Because the commandments of the Law of Moses embody the righteousness of man, they cannot give life.9 Those who teach in the name of God but do not know true righteousness will cling to them until the end. They would have them posted on the door of every courthouse and written in every stone. Nevertheless, God has made a new covenant and founded eternal life upon love and mercy, for his mercy endures forever.10 The laws that bring eternal life, therefore, are written on the tables of the heart.
References
1 Is 64:6, Eze 20:25, Mt 15:9, Rom 3:20
2 Deut 30:15-16; Ex 34:6-7
3 Lu 6:37
4 Ex 20:2-3
5 Rom 2:1,17-23; Jn 16:2
6 1Jn 4:16
7 Mt 25:32-46
8 Rom 2:14-15 |
