Laying Down the Law
A Series on God's Law - Part 2
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
Training in Righteousness
Has there ever been a time in your life when you had to train for something? A job? A competition? A test? I imagine that if you have been alive for longer than a few years, your answer would be yes. Yet I also imagine that if you had not trained for the event, you would not have done well and perhaps would even have failed.
The importance of training cannot be understated. Without training, athletes either lose or get injured. Without training, workers either make poor products or get fired. Without training, armies either suffer defeat or get destroyed. Training is necessary. And while training is not fun, it pays off. It involves following a set of rules that are seemingly unrelated and require tedious repetition. Yet it all comes together to enable a person or a group to accomplish a specific task.
Of course, the task dictates the training. Someone who is training to play soccer is probably not going to excel in a tennis match. Similarly, an army that is training to engage in trench warfare is not going to succeed against an enemy equipped with aircraft, tanks, and mechanized infantry. All training, therefore, must serve a purpose.
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Apostle Paul informs Timothy that all of Scripture is profitable, or useful, for a variety of things. One of those things is “training in righteousness.” Like other types of training, righteousness-training is designed to serve a particular purpose. In this case, the ultimate goal is to fully equip the people of God “for every good work.”
What does Paul highlight as the tool for righteousness-training? Scripture. Paul encourages Timothy to study and to remember the “sacred writings” that he had been acquainted with since childhood. Here Paul is referring primarily to the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e. the Old Testament), since the New Testament was still being written. This means that the Old Testament was considered essential for righteousness-training within the Church. In other words, if someone were to ask the Apostle Paul what the best resource would be for a Christian to learn righteousness and pursue good works, Paul would point to the Old Testament.
Reflecting the Righteous One
Now, I imagine that my use of the phrases “learn righteousness” and “pursue good works” might raise a few eyebrows. But rest assured that I am not teaching that we can be saved by our own efforts. Rather, Scripture makes it clear that good works are the fruit of faith. They are the result of a changed heart, not the cause of it.[1] Christians are to engage in righteousness-training because they have inherited the righteousness of Christ and are being conformed to His image.[2] As adopted sons and daughters of God, they are now expected to act like they are part of the family. They are expected to live a life of righteousness.
Yet, what is righteousness? What does it look like? Well, it looks like a reflection. As Christians, we are to reflect Christ, who is Himself the perfect imprint and image of the Father. This is the full and complete understanding of the image of God. Humans, being made in the God’s image, were designed to reflect God’s character and nature. After falling into sin, humanity began regularly engaging in idolatry, reflecting the image of the false gods that they worshiped. Yet Christ restores the true image of God in mankind, reflecting His Father’s character and nature perfectly.[3]
But what does it mean to reflect God’s character and nature? Well, Christ Himself gives us the answer clearly when He commands us to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”[4] The context of this command is in regard to loving our enemies, a high calling that is quite contrary to what we prefer to do. Yet Christ uses that example to highlight the perfect character of the Father. In other words, to look like the Father is to act like the Father and to obey what the Father commands. This is something that Jesus did perfectly throughout his life, repeatedly highlighting His desire to do what He sees His Father doing and to complete the mission that His Father sent Him to complete.[5]
Put a different way, God determines which actions and behaviors either are or are not righteous. God is “holy, holy, holy” with righteousness and justice as the foundation of His throne.[6] He is the Creator, Sustainer, Protector, and King of all the universe. How he decides to act flows out of his nature and is a reflection of who he is.
Sin is Lawlessness
While it is often the case that a person’s behavior reflects their inner character, the same can be said regarding how a person expects others to behave. Each command given by a person demonstrates what that person cares about or considers to be valuable. Quite simply, these expectations, or laws, are a reflection of the law-giver. We can easily see the truth of this by considering some human examples.
For instance, the demands made by a business owner on his employees reveal what the owner considers to be valuable. It might be something as common as showing up to work on time. Or it might be something as seemingly nitpicky as selecting a certain format in the Microsoft Power Point slides that are used.
In the military, the success or failure of a mission is often measured by whether or not the commander’s intent was met. The demand, or requirement, made by the commander sets the standard. If the commander requires that all enemy combatants be killed or captured with zero civilian casualties, that becomes the standard of success.
Of course, grumbling and complaining are the responses that we often give to any standard placed upon us. Sometimes we complain because we think that the standard set by our superiors is stupid, unnecessary, or perhaps even wrong. Other times we complain because we are lazy and do not want to do what we have been told. We would rather be our own commander and set our own standards (which are usually lower than what others would have us do).
When we act this way toward our superiors, we are demonstrating a heart of lawlessness. That is, if our boss sets expectations that we kick and scream against, we are engaging in lawless behavior in his eyes. This does not mean that his expectations are good or that we have no grounds upon which to voice our concerns. The point I wish to make is simply that lawlessness, broadly defined, is the breaking or violation of a standard of behavior (i.e., law) established by a superior authority.
Conclusion
In connecting this to our discussion of God’s law, it is important to keep in mind that God’s law reflects God’s character. It reveals what God cares about and what He has deemed to be valuable. Furthermore, sin is the breaking of God’s law. It involves “missing the mark,” which is what the Hebrew word for sin, hamartia, generally means. The Apostle Paul utilizes this concept of missing, or falling short of, the mark in Romans 3:23, where he declares that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Yet sin is not merely just missing the mark that God has set in front of us. It is an act of lawlessness and rebellion. John makes this point clear in 1 John 3:4 when he states that “everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.” In fact, John reinforces this point by making the succinct declaration that “sin is lawlessness.” If that is the case, then knowing God’s law is key to knowing what sin is. As citizens of God’s kingdom, if we want to know what the king values (and what he hates) then we need to pay careful attention to the king’s laws.
Again, this is not to say that law-keeping is our golden ticket to paradise. We can neither earn God’s love nor pay off the debt that we owe to him due to our sin. Yet while God’s law is a reflection of his heart, our obedience to God is a reflection of our hearts. As Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”[7] This teaching is echoed by the Apostle John when he says, “by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”[8] The takeaway from this is that we need to know what God’s commandments are and how to keep them, not to earn God’s love but because we love him and wish to obey him.
[1] Matthew 7:15-20.
[2] Romans 8:29.
[3] Hebrews 1:3.
[4] Matthew 5:48.
[5] John 6:35-40; 14:8-14.
[6] Psalm 89:14.
[7] John 14:15.
[8] 1 John 2:3.