Laws, Principles, and the Christian Life
Written by David W. Hegg | Senior Pastor
The Bible is filled with both laws and principles given by God to the authors of Scripture who wrote them down for our instruction and benefit. For example, in Genesis 2:15-17, God gave the first law:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
If we distill the fundamental elements of God’s command to Adam, we can generally define law as: A command that prescribes specific actions in specific situations along with specific penalties for disobedience. As a result, it is generally true that obedience to law is motivated by fear of the consequences of disobedience. For example, obeying the speed limit is often motivated by the fear of being pulled over and fined.
Throughout human history, God has restrained the depravity of our human hearts through common grace. That is, God’s benevolence to fallen mankind is mediated through several things including human government and the rule of law. While saving grace is apprehended by faith alone in Christ alone, common grace is shown to all.
“Even as law has been used to keep civilizations in check, the fact is, external compulsion is never as good as internal compliance.”
That is, the best “law” is that which individuals apply to their own lives through the application of principles.
For example, in Ephesians 4:31-5:2, we find the Apostle laying down several guidelines for godly living:
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Generally, we can define a principle as: A foundational truth that defines and directs acceptable behavior. Most often, adherence to principle is motivated, not by the threat of external punishment, but by an internal belief that principled living is the best, most God-glorifying way to live.
“It is essential to understand that God uses both law and principle to guide us down the path of righteousness.”
At the risk of oversimplification, in the Bible, laws let us see the heart of God and respond in obedience. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, the Apostle Paul re-states the heart of the 7th Commandment:
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.
(Note: The question of the New Covenant believer’s relationship to the Law of Moses will be taken up in a forthcoming article.)
On the other hand, principles give us the added opportunity to reflect the character of God voluntarily in the changing situations of life as we are motivated, not by fear, but by a desire to be “useful to the Master of the house, ready for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
Principles are God’s gift to the believer whereby we can willingly and powerfully demonstrate the transformational power of the Gospel in our lives.
Let’s look again at the principles the Apostle Paul lays out in Ephesians 4:31-5:2:
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Notice that these principles lack specific actions, specific situations, and most importantly, specific penalties. Paul expects the Ephesian believers to recognize that bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice are the major impediments that keep us from forgiving one another and act to eliminate them so as to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
But here’s our problem: The remaining sinfulness in our hearts actually wants to make a law out of principle. We think it is easier to live by law, and in many cases, it is. Take the example of the speed limit. The law gives us an external standard to obey, but it doesn’t demand that we desire to obey. The pressure is external.
In the case of forgiving, as Paul outlines above, many have made up their own law that says, “when he apologizes and asks for forgiveness, then I’ll forgive.” Notice that this effectively negates Paul’s principle. This legalistic addition actually allows us to feel good about acting contrary to the Apostle’s exhortation.
This is how legalism starts. Did you know that the only one from whom we are to ask forgiveness is God, for only God can forgive sins? And notice that in the text from Paul above, we are told to forgive even though there is no mention of being asked to do so.
“Principle-based Christian living will demand that we delight in doing what most reflects the heart of God. It will also require situational analysis.”
For example, in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul lays out the principle of not eating food sacrificed to idols if it will offend the uneducated conscience of another believer and cause them to go against their conscience and eat what they consider to be spiritually defiled. But in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul exhorts his readers to eat whatever is set before them if they are invited to an unbeliever’s home, even food previously offered to idols. So, which is it, Paul? The answer is found in applying the principle correctly in different situations.
This principle-based Christian living demands spiritual insight and a heart maturing in the truth and character of Christ himself. Living out the principles we are given in the Bible demands more than external compliance to our invented legalistic laws — it demands that we have well-formed consciences. It will require spiritual minds that are maturing, hearts that are increasingly growing in humility, and the desire to glorify God in all things. It will require a deeper understanding of God’s truth and a radical belief that the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to do the work of God in our hearts and lives. And most of all, living out godly exhortations will require maturity in Christ and the ability to see, in different situations, how to apply the principles of Christ-likeness.
So, let us go on. Let us grow, both in knowledge and grace. And let us seek to be those whose obedience to Christ in all its forms is motivated by love for Jesus, by love for his church, by love for our neighbors and even our enemies. Only in this way, as we apply the truths of God’s laws and principles to the stuff of daily living, can we be “useful to the Master, ready for every good work”!