Without Law

Eastertide

April 16, 2021

Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:1-7

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. –1 John 3:4-7

Pilate asked, “what is truth?1” with the inference that truth is relative. What is right, for many, may fall in the same category. The words right and righteousness refers to what is deemed right by the Lord (after [the Lord’s] examination), i.e. what is approved in [the Lord’s] eyes2. Truth and righteousness come from the same source and require that we seek the vision of God in all aspects of our lives.

The Greek word, anomia3, translated here as lawlessness, means without law, not against established law. Sin is acting without recognizing God as the author of both truth and righteousness.

Like Pilate, our society is having problems discern what is true and what is right. Perhaps our blindness or confusion results from our failure to gain clarity from the One who defines truth and righteousness. Have we reached the point that we feel we are beyond God’s righteousness? Are we now a people who think we are beyond God’s laws? Jesus identified the most critical laws as loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. Families are struggling from the impact of COVID. In the USA, poverty impacts 1.4 million people, mass shootings are occurring across our lands, and families are fleeing other countries because of starvation and violence. Where are the laws of love to address such needs? 

I have always appreciated M. Scott Peck4‘s definition of love as wanting the very best for another, which I think is defined by God and includes all others. We have a living Savior and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us how to turn away from the distractions that are separating us from God, restoring us to keepers of the faith, ruled by God’s truth and righteousness.

Prayer:

 Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise
. 5 Amen

1John 18:38
2https://biblehub.com/greek/1343.htm
3https://biblehub.com/greek/458.htm
4 Author of The Road Less Traveled
5First verse of Dear Lrod and Father of Mankind by John Greenleaf Whittier see at John Greenleaf Whittier

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.