Law

1 Timothy 1:9 (NASB)

Realising the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless.

How do we define the law? Is it merely that which is in print as passed by legislative bodies? Or is it the intent and the spirit of the law that is meant to serve and not merely prosecute? The Pharisees had so perverted the law of God that they used it as a tool to maintain their hegemony and control over the population. The Lord Jesus revealed the true intention of God's law: not merely to judge sin, but to free the human race from bondage to sin and to prevent its decay. When people say, "I'm doing something because the law says so, instead of saying, "because the law intends for me to do so", they have become fanatical. Blind adherence to the law without understanding its intention creates fanatics, not the faithful. Hitler's Nazi Germany is a good example. Are we witnessing that today? Instead of mass exterminations, we are witnessing mass deportations. These are not restricted to one nation, but are ubiquitous. When community leaders, such as pastors, are being forcibly removed for no crime other than an illegal entry, the implementation of the law has become fanatical and not faithful. Such an act would be legal. True. But is it also ethical? Is it moral? Isn't the highest purpose of the law to satisfy the moral intention of it and not just the literal statement? This is an issue that should concern the Church in the present age.