Understanding Paul Non-Dually
Grace and Law, Part II
Monday, April 13, 2015
Why did Paul come to the subtle but crucial understanding of the limited and dangerous possibilities of law/requirements? Probably because Paul himself had been a man of the law, and he saw where it led him: to “breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). As he tells us in Philippians (3:4-8), Paul was a perfect law-abiding Pharisee. “As far as the Law can make you perfect, I was faultless,” he says. He seems to be wondering, “How could such perfect religious observance still create hateful and violent men like me?” That was Paul’s utterly honest question, and he had the humility to answer it honestly. (Many folks today would be wise to ask the same question of themselves.)
What is the law really for? It’s not to make God love you. God already loves you, and you cannot make God love you any more or any less by any technique whatsoever. The purpose of spiritual law is to sharpen your own awareness about who you really are and who God is for you. Then you will recognize your own radical insufficiency and, in that same movement, find God’s fullness. If you have ever tried to get rid of a negative thought by mere will power, instead of by a “Higher Power,” you have surely experienced this reality.
God not only allows us to make mistakes, but even uses our mistakes in our favor! That is the brilliant Gospel economy of grace, and it is the only thing worthy of being called “good news and a joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). When you come out of the boxing ring of the creative tension of law and grace, you will know that you have finally won the match; but ironically, you will have won it by losing!
Gateway to Silence:
“When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
References:
Adapted from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, pp. 82-84;
New Great Themes of Scripture, disc 4 (CD)
