Christian Legalism is Hopeless
“For Jesus, the requirements of the Shema cannot be fulfilled in ritual or sacrifice but in unfeigned love of God, wholly and genuinely. The Shema must also be complemented by the love of neighbor. Love of neighbor, moreover, is the chief means of loving God, and is received as love of God; likewise, love of God expresses itself in love of neighbor (1 John 4:20).”
“Whoever does not find the source of love in God will fail to exhibit God’s unique love to one’s neighbor. Love of God is prior to love of neighbor and establishes its possibility. For Jesus, love fulfills the law: love for God releases the love of God.”
“Even the most sacred duties, in other words, may not take precedent over agape love- and they have no meaning unless they are expressions of it.”
-James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, pgs. 372-3.
Oftentimes, I employ the KISS method in my life. KISS, a.k.a.- Keep It Simple Stupid, is helpful in that once the complexity is removed, I find a task or skill more easily accomplished. Essentially, that is what happens for the expert in the law as Jesus not only summarizes but identifies the superseding command. “Love God, love others” is a simple enough formula. Jesus even gives the how of our loving which does not confuse but grants greater clarity. We are to love God with all of our all and we are to love neighbor as self. Our inability to love God with all of our all will always fall short of the mark. Our love for neighbor will always come up short of our love for ourselves. And now, someone is thinking how unhelpful it is to have the law succinctly summarized if even the summary leaves us despairingly defeated. But, in part that is Jesus’ point. He does not present new information (though it is thought that Jesus is the only Rabbi whoever brought loving neighbor to such a high priority level). The expert in the law’s answer makes clear though, that on some level, he knew before asking Jesus. His problem, like ours is not in the information or the complexity of it. His problem is he cannot fulfill the law, KISS method or not. This is where, most of the time Christians go wide of the mark. We think Jesus’ summary was for us to create a new legalism. 611 commands set aside for these 2, love God, love others. But, Jesus and the legal expert are saying that the law is captured in totality by these 2 commands. Nothing is ‘set aside’ in the final reckoning. No, to be right with God will require keeping these two and as we’ve said, that is not humanly possible. This then should create clarity around a key idea, Christian legalism, just like its Jewish predecessor is hopeless. It is infinitely practical to carry forward the idea of love God, love others. And we should not discard these commands. It is not my hope to take something immensely practical and turn it into inaccessible theological theory. Rather, it is my hope to take something entirely impossible and show the only hope we have in realizing it, in this life, is by moving the gospel into everyday existence. It is only by Jesus that I can love God. It is only through Jesus’ love that I can love others. If I set out to do either of these under my own power, it will miss the mark, every time. Human love is completely unequal to the task of the greatest command. We do not love God with all of our all unless God enables us to love Him. We do not love neighbor as self unless God’s love has transformed us and is flowing through us.
The Sanhedrin is a powerful reminder of this in the most vivid way. Here are men whose lives have been centered around the study of God and His law and the right application of that law to everyday life. An entire tradition was built around the law with just that aim. But, when God’s greatest display of love is before them and their opportunity to love God and love neighbor as self is legitimately wrapped up in One person, they show their inability to do either. They have the beloved Son in the Temple and instead of showing Him love, they demonstrate their brokenness. They would rather play one-upmanship in legalism than make room for the One who fulfills the law and makes it possible for others to do the same. We need not think them unique in this but rather representative. Humanity will embrace a system, even an impossible system of self-rescue before they will embrace a cross. And this is why it is such good news that Jesus embraced the cross for us that we might not be left to our own devices. Legalism is futile. Christian legalism included. The Gospel though is infinitely practical. By applying the Gospel, I can fulfill the command to love God and neighbor.
Bonus: here is a video explaining more fully the Shema that is worth the listen.