In the last reflection, we focused on the second half of Romans 3:20: by the law is the knowledge of sin. But we cannot ignore the first half of the verse in which Paul claims that the deeds of the law cannot justify a man. This raises a philosophical question.
Didn't God give the Torah to make the Israelites a kingdom of priests and a holy nation?
Is the Torah not an effective tool? God forbid. It must be an effective tool. Otherwise, God is to blame for our failures.
Or is the Torah too idealistic so that nobody is able to attain the moral heights it specifies? Nay. If it were an impossible mission, again God would be blamed for our failures.
So, the problem must lie with us.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). We would have been like God and shared His eternal life had our first parents not fallen into temptation. Sin entered the scene, polluted God's creation. Man had lost the original innocence and grace. We call this state: the Original Sin. Our strength (physical and spiritual) is weakened by concupiscence. So, we are incapable of fulfilling the standard set out in the Torah. If we were able to fulfill completely the standards set out in the Torah, we would be justified before God. Or so we think.
With no intention to offend the Jewish readers, the Torah, from the Christian perspective, turns out to be inadequate. Then, was God guilty of not giving an effective tool to the Israelites? Not at all. When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, they had just barely left behind 400 years of idolatry life in Egypt. Therefore, it would be unrealistic to expect them to perform according to a "first class" moral system. God had to give them more manageable "elementary" moral systems. Therefore, the Torah is really not adequate in justifying the Israelites before God. When Christians turn their attention to the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5-7, they will read how Jesus made more demanding requirements on the moral integrity of Christians.
Ye have heard that ..., but I say unto you ... (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44 etc.)
While the Torah forbids external actions (murder, adultery, divorce, swearing and revenge etc), Christ demands internal discipline (anger, lust, violation of one flesh, telling the truth and not to resist evil etc). People who attain purity in their hearts shall be able to see God (Matthew 5:8). That is why the taming of our heart should be assigned the first priority in our daily transactions.
Beyond the naive understanding of putting the Torah in the pigeonhole of "elementary" ethical system, the late Pope John Paul II explained a deeper understanding of the problem of the Law in his "Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body". The focus is on the spousal meaning of masculinity and femininity.
When God created man, He created male and female, not simply male only or female only (Genesis 1:26). And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:30). In the second Creation story, God made a helper for the man out of the man. The man exclaimed that she was the bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (Genesis 2:23). From this the author of Genesis 2 concluded that a man shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh (Genesis 2:24). From this, the late Pope John Paul II developed the spousal meaning of the body. The body is a gift freely handed over to one's spouse and forms a communion of two persons, the communion of two hearts. However, when sin enters the world, our body is contaminated by concupiscence. Instead of longing for a communion of persons, sexuality becomes an object of possession, of gratification and a dominion over the spouse. All sorts of perversions, such as fornication, prostitution, homosexuality, bestiality and divorce etc. arise and the Torah is given to contain these evils instead of restoring the original innocence and communion. That is why Jesus drew our attention away from the letters of the Law and brought our focus onto the heart. Our conscience is in constant struggle against our concupiscence. No written law is able to tame a heart which has run wild. That was why Confucius opposed inscribing the laws on bronze tripods, why Ezekiel prophesied that God would exchange our stony hearts for a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), why Paul asserted that the deeds of the Law could not justify sinners before God, why Christ had to be crucified on the cross and had his heart pierced.
Paul continues to explain that God has decreed that justification is obtained through faith in the blood of Jesus (Romans 3:25) and not by the deeds of the law (Romans 3:28). It is faith that makes circumcision effective. Without circumcision, a man is still justified through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:30). Then, does it mean keeping the Torah is useless? Paul dared not to abolish the Torah. After all, the Torah was handed down from God. Though its effectiveness in transforming the heart is questionable, it is better than none. Therefore, Paul still upholds the Torah (Romans 3:31).
Dear Lord, from Your bleeding heart may we obtain the spring that runs to eternal life. Amen.
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