"For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing on another;..." ~ Romans 2:13-15 (KJV)
In the first four chapters of his book Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis sets out to establish by means of reason that there is a moral law, which he calls the Law of Nature, to which all human beings throughout all time are subject. I found this to be extremely interesting because the Apostle Paul refers to the law that the Gentiles were subject to even in the Old Testament when only the Jews had the special revelation of God's Word. This is still true today; those who do not believe in God, or perhaps do not even know of the Gospel, are still without excuse because their conscience bears witness to the law. Here I quote a few phrases from Mere Christianity to see what Lewis has to say about this moral law:
"This law was called the Law of Nature, because people thought that every one knew it by nature and did not need to be taught it. They did not mean, of course, that you might not find an odd individual here and there who did not know it, just as you find a few people who are colour-blind or have no ear for a tune. Bu taking the race as a whole, they thought that the human idea of decent behaviour was obvious to every one. And I believe they were right."
Lewis continues on in the course of the four chapters to further establish that this moral law is there, and that if it is there, it must have been given by someone or something, else the reason we humans feel pangs of guilt when we disobey that moral law (which is all the time) would be vain.
As I mentioned before, I find this to be intensely fascinating. I see the argument of Lewis, namely "There is a moral law therefore there must be a lawgiver" as an irrefutable proof for the existence of God. This fact concerning the moral law demonstrated to me that everyone, even those who do not have the Gospel message, know that they are guilty. Now, this is where we Christians ought to be humble as well as thankful to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 13 of Romans chapter 2 plainly states that only the doers are just before God. Everyone hears the law because their conscience bears witness of it, but only the doers of that law are just. The hard reality of this is that we all, every last human being by nature, hear the law but do the opposite. Lewis points this out in the first chapter of his book:
"It seems, then, we are forced to believe in a real Right and Wrong. People may be sometimes mistaken about them, just as people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table. Now if we are agreed about that, I go on to my next point, which is this. None of us are really keeping the Law of Nature."
So, there is a moral law, with a lawgiver behind it, and we all do the opposite by nature. Does this mean that we will all be condemned by the law? This is how the Christian is humbled and why he must be thankful. Jesus Christ died on the cross, satisfying the His justice by pouring out His wrath on His Son, who is the perfect and spotless Lamb of God. This is amazing! We are by nature condemned by that same moral law described by Lewis. We are hearers only and not doers, by nature. But then Christ comes in a satisfies God's wrath and so God sees us as doers of the law and not hearers only. He sees us this way in Christ alone. Thanks be to God!
No comments:
Post a Comment