Polarization
Enemies
No doubt, we have enemies.
Let’s hope that God is not among them.
The Law, love God and keep His commandments,[i]
is also the exact opposite of political polarization. If we are politically polarized, we cannot be
loving God. Abraham was the friend of
God: we are supposed to be Abraham’s children.
God hates slavery, and wages war against every form of
slavery. That is the explicit message of
Exodus 20:1-2
“God spoke all these words, “I am Yahweh your God, I have
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
The Ten Commandments detail God’s declaration of war against
slavery. In their exact center, He says:
“Honor your Father and your Mother: that your days may be
long upon the earth which Yahweh your God gives you.”
So, standing in the center of these Commandments is the Son,
the Prince, Jesus Christ Crucified, the only One Who ever honored Father and
Mother perfectly. He is the One Who has
brought this Law to pass. All the rest
of Torah is details and explanation.
Augustine speaks of the Law of Faith, as opposed to the Law
of flesh. The Jews mistakenly supposed
that they could fulfill this Law in the flash: they failed bitterly. Very many Christians believe, that they need
pay no attention to this Law, that it doesn’t apply to them. But, St. John (in 1 John 5) will not let us
off the hook so easily: for he repeats verbatim, the same Commands found in
Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Old Testament.
We can try to repeat the experiment of the Jews in the
flesh: but, we will fare no better than they: we will also fail bitterly. What Augustine suggests, God declares openly,
that the Law of God will be written on our hearts. What once was the stone-written power and sentence
of death; has now become the central life giving force within us: Christ is in
our hearts, the Spirit is within our hearts, the Father is within our hearts:
in Christ, we have fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law; in Christ,
we are a new creation. This is the Law
of Faith.
Ought we now suppose that what was once written on stone, “You
shall not murder”, now has God’s approval, we are free to murder without discretion. Or is the Law of Faith many magnitudes
greater than the law of flesh? Is it not
the case that persistent murderers have proved their unbelief by their actions? So, every form of lending and usury bonds our
neighbor to us as our slave; being just another form of murder: as also are idolatry,
abuse of God’s name, false worship, adultery, theft, perjury, covetousness, and
the like.
Or are we now more free than ever to nurse our grudges, harbor
our bitterness; refusing to forgive even the slightest offense?
Or is political polarization waging war against God; selling
our neighbors back into slavery? We don’t
seriously believe that we can win a war against God, do we?
Polarization is all its forms is a soul-destroying enemy; it
pits neighbor against neighbor: but, it also pits humanity against God. We cannot be the friends of God and still be
polarized….
[i]
Yes, it does say exactly that: Deuteronomy 7:9; 11:1, 22; 19:9; 30:16; Joshua
22:5; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; 1 John 5:2-3
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