Mark Galli: Why the Bible is Not a Book of Moral Laws

Another excellent piece from Mr. Galli. Check it out.

From Christianity Today online:

I find it interesting that when we conservatives defend the “authority of the Bible” or “biblical values,” we usually are trying to get other Christians to submit to some doctrine (like the Virgin Birth or substitutionary atonement) or some ethic (like forbidding extra-marital sex or R-rated movies). We use the Bible as leverage to get others to submit.

Let me be clear. I believe in the Virgin Birth, in substitutionary atonement, that sex should be reserved for marriage between a man and a woman, and so forth. I’m on board with the classic orthodox doctrines and ethics because I believe they are taught by or inferred from the Bible, which I recognize as divinely inspired revelation.

But I don’t believe the Bible is fundamentally a moral power tool. The Bible is not a law book as much as it is a gift book, not so much about living right as about being right with God because of what he has done for us in Jesus Christ.

To be sure, the Bible is in part given for “reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” But the goal is not to get people to toe the line but, as Paul puts it, that we all “may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17, ESV). It seems to me that if such instruction is to lead to “good work,” it will need to be grounded in the forgiveness of God, in the gracious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only then will our work be grounded in love, and only then will it will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Otherwise the instruction will turn into mere law.

Read the whole thing.