What was the purpose of the law (Torah)?
March 12, 2009
I can’t remember how many times where I’ve only heard “the law” spoken of in a negative way. Of course, there was a “hard edge” to the law – the fact that not a single individual Jew could keep the entire law. But, was that expected of every single individual Jew? I haven’t really thought much about this, though I’ve heard many people say it: “The purpose of the law was to show that we couldn’t keep it, and therefore we needed Jesus to keep it for us.” Of course, I’m sure many different people explain this in many different ways. But, that seems to be a basic, “Reformed” viewpoint toward the law. Again, I’m not saying that wasn’t part of the purpose of the law, but was it the main purpose of the law?
Something Wright says here seems to throw a wrench into most of the things I’ve heard about the law:
Torah, of course, included the sacrificial system through which Israelites could atone for their sins, so that one did not need or expect to be always perfect in all respects.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard someone say, “Jews weren’t expected to be perfect.” At the moment, I can’t think of exactly the foundation upon which the expectation of perfection has been built. But, I’m posting this to ask the question really..
Were Jews expected to be perfect? Or, was the sacrificial system to be seen simply as “making up” for the fact that Jews would sin?
March 21, 2009 at 4:20 am
No. Kind of.
There are provisions for sins committed unknowingly. It’s odd that no one ever taught that from a pulpit in any church I grew up in. I always heard that sin was a willful act of disobedience or rebellion against God. Maybe that needs to be rethought.
It doesn’t seem like the law is merely a tool meant to regulate human behavior. It seems that the intent is to create something. A community where people love YHWH and each other. Hence, the Law mediated human relationships and humanity’s relationship to YHWH. But the law was the pedagogue; it could never create the love. I suppose it was meant to be the shock to the system that created the right conditions for that love. It never failed, per se, it was superseded (as was Israel), by Jesus.
“Or, was the sacrificial system to be seen simply as ‘making up’ for the fact that Jews would sin?”
I think that might be a bit glib. It wasn’t mere actions that the law was intended to be a response to. It’s one of those, “do these things and you’ll understand why you do them.”
Check out Mudhouse Sabbath, Lauren Winner covers this stuff pretty well. Also, Krister Stendhal has an essay on this in Paul Among Jews and Gentiles. You can never go wrong with a little Leviticus too.
Grace and Peace,
Jared