Just follow the rules. For many, that’s the way to approach moral-ethical living. It’s all about getting to know the rules and regulations, and then putting them into practice. Many have a biblical or Christian inclination to accomplishing this task—for example, singling out the Ten Commandments as their “rule of life.” And when they feel they’re pretty close to keeping the commandments, then all is well.
Some may become quite aggressive in holding out and defending the rules. We firmly believe in the rules such that we insistently impose them on everybody else. We become rather ungracious toward those who do not share our outlook or who falter too often in keeping the rules.
Rules are good. They are very helpful in providing structure and order to life. They are necessary in a broken world. Yet, I do believe that the gospel leads us beyond mere rule-keeping and brings us to God, the Ruler himself. From a Christian perspective, true moral-ethical living is not just about following the rules but more about loving the Ruler. An “obey-the-rules” approach can easily make the Ruler irrelevant. The rules can become the end in themselves. Then it’s just about living a good life without any reference to the One who gave the rules.
Jesus rebuked the people who were so caught up in upholding the rules that they failed to recognize the Ruler (John 5.39-40). The “rules” were supposed to introduce us to the Ruler, to give us a sense of who he is and what matters to him.
In a short recommendation of Matt Papa’s book Look and Live, Meredith Yakel shares some key thoughts: “One has to behold the glory of God in order to truly worship. Recognizing the glory of God should be a constant acknowledgement—not just a weekly check off the theoretical Christian checklist. By beholding the glory of God, the behaving naturally follows. It’s not a calculated or premeditated behavior, but a genuine overflow of what we love.”
The writings of John make it clear that authentic keeping of the rules springs from a genuine love of the Ruler. “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14.15 NJB). “Loving God means keeping his commandments” (1 John 5.3 NLT). Love for the Ruler comes first. Then the keeping of the rules flows as a spontaneous and natural expression of that love. In fact, it becomes less a following of the rules as an external obligation and more the embodiment of the rules in a life whose character has been transformed in the image of the One who is loved.
\—Keith Y. Jainga