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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
What is a paradox? That's easy; two docs in a row! OK, I admit it is a groaner! However, the text which we are considering in this series (James 2.1-13) is based on a paradox. Today's message along with the next two will take a brief look at this paradox and some lessons that should be derived from it. First we will quote the foundational verse of which we speak. “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1.25; emphasis mine, jb).
Law and liberty may seem paradoxical. However, civilization is founded upon law; in fact the word civilization derives from the concept of law as opposed to barbarity. In a perfect universe (such as was created by God in the beginning), liberty did not mean the absence of law; rather, liberty was guaranteed by law! The key thought in understanding this concept is contained in the phrase “perfect universe.” In reality, the only way such a thing can exist is as it comes from God's hands! When man produces it, adjusts it, tweaks it, molds it, etc., the perfect becomes imperfect. As long as a thing remains as God made it, it remains perfect. As soon as man determines that he can improve that which God has made, his universe becomes imperfect. Only Deity creates and exists in a state of absolute perfection.
So, contrary to what some want us to believe, among mortal beings, liberty is not the absence of law; in such an existence liberty is guaranteed by law! The perfect law of liberty is the complete, whole, and finished law that assures liberty (that is, when it is followed). There is but one perfect law of liberty; think about it! There may be other laws that are good, wholesome, and beneficial to humanity, but there is but one perfect law of liberty. Any law that is made by man, authored by man, enforced by man, altered by man, or in any way subjected to the direct influence of man is an imperfect law. Time and circumstance will prove all such laws to be lacking in some aspect or another. That is one reason why there will be an ultimate judgment at which time all wrongs will be addressed and the entirety of God's creation will be subjected to the faultless and final judgment of its Creator.
This concept of perfect law is totally foreign to man's capability to imagine or implement. The most perfect governments in the world exist on foundations of change; even governments which were well planned and thought out, have been amended and altered over the course of time. In the Bible we read of a particular form of government in which the ruler's edicts were never to be retracted or modified (i.e. the law of the Medes and Persians). Under that system, Darius signed a decree that eventually came to condemn Daniel, a man whom the king greatly admired. However, having signed such a decree, he was forced to stand by it when his subjects said, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.” (Daniel 6.15). While the ego of the king may have been stroked by such power, the ink was hardly dry on the paper before Darius realized the futility of such thought. With man there are no perfect laws, but not so with God; He is the author of the perfect law of liberty.
Grace and mercy are not external to the law of God; they are one with it! It is here that some needlessly see a paradox (or even a contradiction). However, God is the author of all law and for Him it is no feat at all to determine that law and grace are complementary and not contradictory. Man cannot design nor implement such a scheme, but God, the author of the perfect law of liberty, can and did!
Questions:
1. From a purely human standpoint, what is wrong with the concept of “perfect law”?
2. What unchangeable law did Darius make? Was he wise in making such a decree? Why or why not?
3.As great as the constitution of the United States of America is, has it ever been altered? What kinds of things were overlooked or improperly perceived by the original framers of the constitution? Does this support or undermine the conclusion that man is not and cannot be the author of perfect law?
4. Are law and liberty paradoxical? If not, what ingredient makes them compatible rather than contradictory?
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