Harry Potter: Innocent fun or destructive tool?
Steve Wohlberg
Witchcraft is on a worldwide march. Children, teenagers, and adults around the world are fascinated by mysterious energies flowing through witches. In increasing numbers, young and old are visiting popular witchcraft web sites, buying spell books, joining covens, mixing potions, and practicing magic. Wicca Witchcraft—also called the Craft—seems unstoppably on the move.
In the United States, so many teenagers are embracing the Wiccan Way that National Public Radio’s All Things Considered aired in May 2004 a story called, “Teens and Wicca.” The report drew attention to the growing number of teenagers secretly setting up witchcraft altars in their bedrooms, offering prayers to the goddess, and invoking the aid of spirits.1 A similar trend is sweeping Canada, England, Europe, Australia, Russia, and other countries.
Why this exploding interest—especially among teenagers—in witchcraft? One reason is clear: Both children and adults are now being exposed to a vast array of pleasantly designed books and magical movies that increasingly portray witchcraft as a safe, exciting, and spiritually empowering religion—especially for young women. Some of the most popular TV programs, films, and fiction books include:
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series): Features a “girl with supernatural powers” who learns “to use her witchcraft wisely.”2
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series): Stars a blonde teenager whose close friend Willow, nicknamed “The Willow Witch,” exhibits “an increasing interest and involvement in Wicca and Witchcraft.”3
Charmed (TV series): Features three sexy sorceress sisters who “use their individual powers as good witches to battle the forces of evil.”4
The W.I.T.C.H series (novels for kids): An internationally popular series that follows the journeys of “five ordinary girls just going into their teens” who have “super powers over the Elements.”5
The Daughters of the Moon series by Lynne Ewing (novels for kids). Titles include: Goddess of the Night, The Sacrifice, and Possession.
The Sweep series by Cate Tiernan (novels for kids). Titles include: Blood Witch, Dark Magick, and Spellbound.
Moving beyond these highly mesmerizing fiction productions, occult publishers are also capitalizing on the effects of movies and novels by churning out a growing body of how-to-practice-the-real-thing nonfiction works. Advertising dollars are netting results, and sales are soaring. Popular titles include:
Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation by Silver Ravenwolf (1997).
The Book of Shadows: A Modern Woman’s Journey Into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess by Phyllis Curott (1998).
The Wiccan Mysteries: Ancient Origins and Teachings by Richard Grimassi (1997).
Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland (1986).
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham (1990).
The list is endless. When you add media productions, captivating novels, and books about witchcraft into a spiritually dry and searching public, the result is: steady Wiccan growth. If you doubt the trend, just go http://www.walmart.com and do a search for books about “Wicca.” You’ll be shocked. Make no mistake about it: Real Wicca witchcraft is growing around the world.
But one series of novels and films towers above all others in popularity and controversy: Harry Potter. Most parents view the Potter books (written by British author Joanne Kathleen Rowling) as harmless entertainment not worth worrying about. They surely don’t see any subtle (or dangerous) Harry-Wicca connection. Others do; in fact, many are certain that dark spiritual forces lurk beneath those magic-made-funny pages. A Harry Potter debate is raging—in secular society as well as among Christians. Are Rowling’s novels fueling teenage interest in the Craft? “Don’t be silly!” shout Potter supporters. “Open your eyes!” counter Potter critics. Which side is right?
Pottermania
Beginning with their initial American release in 1998, Rowling’s first five novels (seven are planned)—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—have sold more than 250 million copies in 200 countries in 60 languages. Further fanning the flames of Pottermania is the commitment of Hollywood titan Warner Brothers, Inc. to make each Harry Potter novel into a full-length movie. Three films have been released so far internationally, with four more on the horizon. Bottom line: Harry’s gone global.
Rowling’s series is an action-packed and highly imaginative sequence of fantasy novels chronicling the adventures of an orphaned wizard boy named Harry Potter who, as a teenager, attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to sharpen his sorcery skills in preparation for deadly encounters with “the greatest Dark sorcerer of all time, Lord Voldemort.”6 As Harry gets ready for wizard school, he purchases occult textbooks, a wand, a cauldron (for mixing potions), a telescope (to study astrology) and other sorcery-related necessities. Required classes at Hogwarts include: History of Magic, Divination, Charms, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Within the pages of each mesmerizing tale, Voldemort tries to kill Harry, yet the wizard boy always escapes through techniques learned at Hogwarts—by casting spells, through good luck, or through assistance from his dead parents.
At the end of each school year the young sorcerer regretfully returns home to spend the summer months with his non-magical relatives, the Dursley family—an unimaginative and droopy clan symbolizing perfect boredom. The Dursleys are classified as Muggles, or non-wizards, folks without “a drop of magical blood in their veins.”7 Throughout the Potter books, Muggles typically are represented as an unexciting, stick-in-the-mud group (with few exceptions), whereas witches and wizards who access supernatural powers are cool.
Harmless or destructive?
That’s the gist of Harry Potter—at least on the surface. The heated controversy swirls around whether these novels and movies are simply fictitious, harmless entertainment, or whether they might be whetting the appetites of kids and adults to explore real witchcraft. Personally, I believe the latter. Here’s why.
First, the Harry Potter books are being read by kids around the world, and the Wicca witchcraft is growing among kids all over the same world. While this isn’t proof that Harry enhances Wiccan interest, it seems naive to discern no connection between the two.
Second, while the Harry Potter books are filled with fictitious, goofy elements, they also contain plenty of references to real people, real places, and real practices performed by real sorcerers all over Planet Earth. Rowling herself has publicly admitted that fully one-third of her material is based on actual occultism.8
This isn’t hard to prove. Beyond mentioning real places like Great Britain, London, the Kings Cross Subway Station, Brazil, Egypt, France, Albania, Australia, Ireland, Bulgaria, England, Wales, Uganda, Scotland, Norway, Luxembourg, and America,9 real historical occultists like Nicolas Flamel10 and Aldabert Waffling11, real occult tools like wands, cauldrons, crystal balls, and tea leaves, the Harry Potter books overflow with references to real practices like spell casting, numerology, fortune telling, divination, astrology, palmistry, charms, crystal gazing, out-of-body travel, and spirit-channeling. However, here’s the catch: Rowling consistently mingles these references with silly, absurd, and obviously imaginary elements so as to make the entire brew appear harmless (that’s how the books sneak under the radar screen); yet this sober fact remains: All of these practices are real and are practiced by real witches everywhere. For proof, simply browse the occult section of any major secular bookstore.
Third, no matter what Potter supporters claim, real Wiccan philosophy does lurk within Harry Potter. For instance, Rowling’s magic vs. Muggles dichotomy (which provides the framework for her entire series) reflects what real witches actually believe. Bestselling Wiccan author Silver Ravenwolf, in her popular nonfiction book, Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation, lists the following as a core Wiccan belief:
“We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than is apparent to the average person…. Everyone has these abilities, but most don’t use them, and some people fear these powers. Witches, and other enlightened souls, strive to strengthen these natural gifts.”12
This key doctrine of the Craft is essentially the same teaching found within Harry Potter. “We acknowledge a depth of power,” Ravenwolf writes, “far greater than is apparent to the average person.” Rowling communicates this Wiccan concept when her books call all average, non-magical souls, Muggles. Ravenwolf says, “Some people fear these powers.” This is exactly what one of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts professors says about Muggles.13 Ravenwolf’s occult publisher is Llewellyn Publications, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Surprisingly, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rowling used the name of Ravenwolf’s publisher—Llewellyn—as the name of a hospital ward dedicated to healing the sick! See for yourself:
“Arthur Weasley?” said the witch, running her finger down a long list in front of her. “Yes, first floor, second door on the right, Dai Llewellyn ward.”14
Fourth, evidence shows that kids have become interested in real witchcraft as a result of Harry Potter. Case in point: The Pagan Federation is a well-organized promoter of Wicca witchcraft in England. Shortly after Rowling’s series hit the British Isles, the federation started receiving “a flood of inquiries” about the details of their religion—inquiries they attributed to “the success of the Harry Potter books.”15 A British publication, This Is London, reported the facts in an article bearing the sobering title: “Potter Fans Turning to Witchcraft.” The federation’s media officer, Andy Norfolk, testified: “In response to increased inquiries coming from youngsters we established a youth officer. . . . It is quite probably linked to things like Harry Potter, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Every time an article on witchcraft or paganism appears, we have a huge surge in calls, mostly from young girls.”16
“Potter Fans Turning to Witchcraft,” “the success of the Harry Potter books,” “linked to things like Harry Potter,” “a huge surge in calls, mostly from young girls”—these provide convincing evidence, at least for those willing, to see their significance.
The Bible and witchcraft
Let’s shift gears to God’s Word. Is there a real devil? Wiccans don’t believe so. Silver Ravenwolf and other Wiccan authors think Satan is a figment of misguided Christian imagination. Yet the Bible plainly says, “The great dragon was cast out,… called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9, NKJV). Satan not only exists, but he “deceives the whole world.”
In Scripture, sorcery isn’t imaginary. Moses warned that anyone “‘who practices witchcraft…or a sorcerer…or one who conjures spells’” is “‘an abomination to the Lord’” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12, NKJV). Paul pinpointed “sorcery” as one of the “works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19, 20), and John clearly predicted that “sorcerers” will meet their final destiny in “‘the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death’” (Revelation 21:8, NKJV). This is serious stuff.
Because Satan exists, and because real witchcraft and sorcery come from him, here’s a key question: How likely is it that Lucifer himself has nothing to do with the most popular series of books ever written, which portray witchcraft, sorcery, potions, and spells as fun and cool for kids? Paul wrote, “We are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11, NKJV). Don’t be fooled. By portraying witchcraft and casting spells as fun and exciting, Harry Potter desensitizes youngsters to the dangers of the occult. This is the devil’s plan.
John wrote, “‘By your sorcery all the nations were deceived’” (Revelation 18:23, NKJV). This non-fiction passage warns that real sorcery coming from a real devil will really deceive real nations in the end-times. Should we not take seriously the Lord’s warning? Should we not flee from witchcraft in any form, including the most modern version of so called harmless entertainment? Should we not lead our children to the truth as found in the Scriptures?
Deuteronomy 18:9 says we shouldn’t even “learn” about wicked occult practices. As a wholesome alternative, Jesus says, “‘Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’” (Matthew 11:29, NKJV). He is the alternative to witchcraft!
Steve Wohlberg is Speaker/Director of Endtime Insights Radio and TV Ministry, and Pastor of the Templeton Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church in Templeton, California. His new book, Hour of the Witch: Harry Potter, Wicca Witchcraft, and the Bible, explores these issues fully and is available from Endtime Insights or Adventist Book Centers. To contact Pastor Wohlberg or learn about his ministry, visit http://www.endtimeinsights.com.
REFERENCES
1. National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, report by Barbara Bradley Hagerty: “New Religion in America: Alternative Movements Gain Ground With Flexibility, Modernity…Part 4: Teens and Wicca.” May 13, 2004. Available online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1895496.
2. See http://tv.yahoo.com/tvpdb?id=1807777356&d=tvi&cf=0.
3. See http://www.witchcraft.org/video/buffy.htm.
4. See http://www.witchcraft.org/video/charmed.htm; http://www.tvtome.com/Charmed/ (official web site).
5. See http://disney.go.com/witch/main.html.
6. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, (Scholastic, Inc., 1999), p. 4.
7. _______, Chamber of Secrets, p. 3.
8. Rowling interview on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU, National Public Radio, October 20, 1999, available at http://www.wamu.org.
9. Rowling, Goblet of Fire, pp. 62-64.
10. ________, Sorcerer’s Stone, p. 297; Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: Horizon Books, 2001), p. 26; See also Maurice Magree’s Magicians, Seers, and Mystics (Kessinger Publications, 1997), available at http:// www.alchemylab.com.
11. _______, Sorcerer’s Stone, p. 66; Abanes, p. 28; Leslie A. Shepard, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology (Detroit: Gale Research, 1991), pp. 6, 7.
12. Silver Ravenwolf, Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation (St. Paul: Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2003), pp. 5, 6.
13. Rowling, Prisoner of Azkaban, p. 2.
14. ________, Order of the Phoenix, p. 487 (Italics added).
15. See http://www.paganfed.demon.co.uk; reported in This is London, article entitled, “Potter Fans Turning to Witchcraft,” August 4, 2000, available at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk; referenced in Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, p. 66.
16. Ibid.
sâmbătă, 30 ianuarie 2010
In the name of the law! By Roberto Badenas
In the name of the law!
By Roberto Badenas
Of all discussions that arise from the Bible, none is more controversial or polemic than the subject of the law. Perhaps not everyone knows, but the best legislations in history have had their roots in the biblical concept of the law. The reverse is also true: In the name of this law, many abuses have occurred, holy wars have been fought, slavery has been justified, family planning is condemned, women have been held subordinate, figurative arts have been excluded, and blood transfusions forbidden.
How did law—a fundamental element in God’s order for life—become such a controversial issue?
The unlawful use of the law
Our difficulties with God’s law come not only from our transgression of it but also from our errors of perspective concerning its functions. Many of these problems can be traced to what George Knight calls “our unlawful uses of the law.”1
Despite the fact that it is holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), God’s law may be used in a way that is bad, unholy, and unjust. It may be employed for purposes for which it was not given. In fact, one of the constant temptations of the believer is to use God’s law in a wrong way. For example, in the name of the law, a group of men brought before Jesus a woman caught in adultery—not so much to uphold the law but to trap Jesus in a theological and legal tangle (John 8:1-11). “Should He acquit the woman, He might be charged with despising the law of Moses. Should He declare her worthy of death, He could be accused to the Romans as one who was assuming authority that belonged only to them.”2 The rabbinical plea to the law in this instance was a mere pretext for condemning two persons. But Jesus took the incident and turned it to expose the hypocrisy of the rabbis, to stress the sinner’s need of the forgiveness of divine grace, and to point in the direction of a new life.
To Jesus, holding to the letter of the law is not enough (Matthew 5:20).
True respect for the law requires respect for the spirit behind every precept. Thus the commandment “not to kill” requires also not to hurt or attack even verbally (Matthew 5:21-26). The precept concerning adultery speaks not only against the physical act, but also the thought and the look (Matthew 5:27, 28). What this suggests is that the only right way of understanding the law is seeking for the principles behind the precepts.
Another unlawful way of using the law is to find in its obedience the means of salvation. Many Pharisees were guilty of this. The Galatian heresy had to do with such misrepresentation of the law. Paul knew well this problem. Having lived as a Pharisee until his encounter on the road to Damascus, he prided himself in legalism—blameless in respect to the keeping of the law (Philippians 3:4-6). But when he accepted the good news of Jesus, Paul understood that legalism cannot save a person, and that salvation is possible only through faith in Jesus (Romans 1:16, 17; Ephesians 2:8). The law in itself has no power to save, and to attribute such power to it is a theological farce that does great damage to our understanding of God’s appointed way of redemption.
But, then, does not the law have a role in the life of a person saved by God’s grace? One of the most common and most serious confusions in salvation history “is the failure to make a clear distinction between what one must do to be moral and what one must do to be saved.”3 That was the blunder of the Pharisees. Their optimistic view of human nature led them to an erroneous perception of sin. They thought that any human being could overcome sin on the same basis as the unfallen Adam. They believed that everyone could still live according to God’s will by faithfully keeping the law. This limited view of the power of sin (Romans 3:9) affected the Pharisees’ understanding of the purpose of the law, by advocating that obedience to the law was God’s appointed way to obtain righteousness.
Although Paul and the Protestant Reformers demonstrated the fallacies of this belief, this optimistic view of humans and this distorted view of the law are still alive among Christians of all denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists.
We need to realize, as Ellen White wrote, that “it was possible for Adam, before the fall, to form a righteous character by obedience to God’s law. But he failed to do this, and because of his sin, our natures are fallen and we cannot make ourselves righteous. Since we are sinful, unholy, we cannot perfectly obey the holy law.”4
The intended use of the law
If our sinful nature is unable to fulfill God’s requirements anymore, what, then, is the purpose of the law? Paul mentions several.
The first function is juridical. Like any other code of laws, God’s law has a “civil” role. Paul says that the law was given “because of transgressions” (Galatians 3:19, KJV)*. The first goal of the written law is to limit, avoid or prevent human transgressions as much as possible, in order to restrain evil. In this sense, “the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient” (1 Timothy 1:9).
The second function of the law is theological. “By the law,” Paul wrote, “is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). He further argued that were it not for the law, he would not have known that he was a sinner (Romans 7:7). One of the most humiliating realities of life is that we are not always aware of our shortcomings. In this context, the law functions like a mirror (James 1:23), revealing us as we really are. The mirror reveals our blemish and our need for improvement, but it is unable to remove the blemish. So it is with the law of God. It reveals our problems, it tells us we are sinners, but it cannot bring about any change. It accomplishes an important role—that of revealing sin—but it cannot remedy the situation. For the remedy, we must turn to Jesus.
The Lutherans have traditionally tended to deny to the law any other role than the civil and the theological. Whether the law has a third function has been much discussed among Protestants. The third role is a spiritual one. If the law comes from God and if it is the transcript of His character, it must necessarily reveal God’s will for us. If God commands love and condemns injustice, it is because He Himself is loving and just. Paul observed that “the law is…holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12, 14). The law shows that God’s ideal for every human being is to reflect His character. And since God does not change, the principles of His law are also the permanent standards of judgment, from Eden to the end of time (Romans 2:12-16; Revelation 14:6-12).
No wonder the New Testament affirms that Spirit-led believers are those who respect God’s will (Revelation 14:12). According to John Calvin, this “third use“ is the “principal use of the law among believers in whose hearts the Spirit of God already lives and reigns…. Here is the best instrument for them to learn more thoroughly each day the nature of the Lord’s will to which they aspire.”5
None of the three uses of the law has anything to do with our justification. While the law does not provide salvation, it does offer ethical and spiritual guidance for the believer. “The law sends us to Christ to be justified, and Christ sends us to the law to be regulated.”6
On the one hand, the law always points to the gospel for assurance of salvation, and on the other, the gospel always invites us to a more sensitive respect of the law. That is why Paul could state that faith establishes the law (Romans 3:31).
The insufficiency of the law
The law itself points out its own limitations. The entire sanctuary system of the Hebrew dispensation teaches us that. The law shows the transgression and convicts the sinner of that transgression. But the law cannot do anything to expiate the transgression. Until Jesus came, the sinner had to turn to the services of the sanctuary. In the name of the law, the sinner was invited to seek salvation outside the law (Romans 3:21). Expiation for sin is God’s affair (Leviticus 16). The blood provided for expiation was to be given by God (Leviticus 17:11). It is God who justifies. It is God who sanctifies (Leviticus 20:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24).
The New Testament shows that all redemptive work, shadowed in the earthly sanctuary, was accomplished through Christ (Romans 3:27-31). Thus “Christ is the end of the law” (Romans 10:4). In Him culminates the law as revelation, and through Him all that the law demands becomes a reality.
As Ellen White states, “Through the imputed righteousness of Christ, the sinner may feel that he is pardoned, and may know that the law no more condemns him, because he is in harmony with all its precepts….By faith he lays hold of the righteousness of Christ and responds with love and gratitude for the great love of God in giving His only begotten Son, who died in order to bring to light, life and immortality through the gospel. Knowing himself to be a sinner, a transgressor of the holy law of God, he looks to the perfect obedience of Christ, to His death upon Calvary for the sins of the world; and he has the assurance that he is justified by faith in the merit and sacrifice of Christ. He realizes that the law was obeyed in his behalf by the Son of God, and that the penalty of transgression cannot fall upon the believing sinner. The active obedience of Christ clothes the believing sinner with the righteousness that meets the demands of the law.”7
Human resistance to the law
Despite the fact that the principles of the law reveal God’s will for us, we tend to see the law mainly as an obstacle to freedom. While we recognize the advantages of respecting a certain order, our human nature resists any restriction. We expect others to respect the law, but we find it hard ourselves to submit to its discipline.
The need for the law is clear and logical, but we tend to minimize its obligations. Nature demands the presence of the law, and human nature knows the need for it. But knowing is one thing, and doing is something else. Human happiness is the instructive function of the divine law. The law is meant to focus toward that which is good, to show the difference between good and evil, respect and violence, justice and injustice. The law draws a security line between these polarities, and provides us with a fence to keep us secure. The law’s imperative mode is nothing but God’s expression of love.
Law’s didactic function
Paul compares the function of the law to the task of a schoolmaster who prepares the child to follow the instructions of a higher teacher. He says the law was “to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
In the Bible, often prohibitions precede orders. For instance, the commandment “‘You shall not murder’” (NKJV) comes before any development about love toward our fellow men. For we could not realize the value of life if any previous prohibition did not oblige us to refrain our violent passions. The prohibition of killing stops our aggressive impulses and obliges us to meditate on the consequences of our decision.
While life constantly obliges us to choose, the law helps us to choose well. It teaches us that failing to choose is a dangerous option and that asking for God’s guidance means more, not less freedom. This is the reason why the Bible calls the law “the perfect law of freedom” (James 1:25, Jerusalem Bible).
In its didactic function, the law teaches us where our values are. Each prohibition and each command asserts a specific value: not lying reminds us of the value of the truth, not committing adultery underlines the importance of faithful love, not using violence highlights the uniqueness of life, etc. The law tells us that the lives and feelings of our fellow human beings are as precious as our own lives and feelings. The mission of God’s law is, in this sense, more didactic than imposing, more revealing than legislative.
Realizing the profound values of the law, but also its definite limits, helps us to see it no longer as an obstacle to our freedom, but as a precious help in our journey. It guides us, like a map or a chart, but the way itself is no other than Jesus. He Himself has clearly stated that in these troubled times of history, true believers will remain faithful to both God’s commandments and their trust in Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
Roberto Badenas (Th.D., Andrews University) is dean of the seminary and teaches theology at Saleve Adventist University, France. His latest book is Más allá de la ley (Madrid: Safeliz, 1998).
By Roberto Badenas
Of all discussions that arise from the Bible, none is more controversial or polemic than the subject of the law. Perhaps not everyone knows, but the best legislations in history have had their roots in the biblical concept of the law. The reverse is also true: In the name of this law, many abuses have occurred, holy wars have been fought, slavery has been justified, family planning is condemned, women have been held subordinate, figurative arts have been excluded, and blood transfusions forbidden.
How did law—a fundamental element in God’s order for life—become such a controversial issue?
The unlawful use of the law
Our difficulties with God’s law come not only from our transgression of it but also from our errors of perspective concerning its functions. Many of these problems can be traced to what George Knight calls “our unlawful uses of the law.”1
Despite the fact that it is holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), God’s law may be used in a way that is bad, unholy, and unjust. It may be employed for purposes for which it was not given. In fact, one of the constant temptations of the believer is to use God’s law in a wrong way. For example, in the name of the law, a group of men brought before Jesus a woman caught in adultery—not so much to uphold the law but to trap Jesus in a theological and legal tangle (John 8:1-11). “Should He acquit the woman, He might be charged with despising the law of Moses. Should He declare her worthy of death, He could be accused to the Romans as one who was assuming authority that belonged only to them.”2 The rabbinical plea to the law in this instance was a mere pretext for condemning two persons. But Jesus took the incident and turned it to expose the hypocrisy of the rabbis, to stress the sinner’s need of the forgiveness of divine grace, and to point in the direction of a new life.
To Jesus, holding to the letter of the law is not enough (Matthew 5:20).
True respect for the law requires respect for the spirit behind every precept. Thus the commandment “not to kill” requires also not to hurt or attack even verbally (Matthew 5:21-26). The precept concerning adultery speaks not only against the physical act, but also the thought and the look (Matthew 5:27, 28). What this suggests is that the only right way of understanding the law is seeking for the principles behind the precepts.
Another unlawful way of using the law is to find in its obedience the means of salvation. Many Pharisees were guilty of this. The Galatian heresy had to do with such misrepresentation of the law. Paul knew well this problem. Having lived as a Pharisee until his encounter on the road to Damascus, he prided himself in legalism—blameless in respect to the keeping of the law (Philippians 3:4-6). But when he accepted the good news of Jesus, Paul understood that legalism cannot save a person, and that salvation is possible only through faith in Jesus (Romans 1:16, 17; Ephesians 2:8). The law in itself has no power to save, and to attribute such power to it is a theological farce that does great damage to our understanding of God’s appointed way of redemption.
But, then, does not the law have a role in the life of a person saved by God’s grace? One of the most common and most serious confusions in salvation history “is the failure to make a clear distinction between what one must do to be moral and what one must do to be saved.”3 That was the blunder of the Pharisees. Their optimistic view of human nature led them to an erroneous perception of sin. They thought that any human being could overcome sin on the same basis as the unfallen Adam. They believed that everyone could still live according to God’s will by faithfully keeping the law. This limited view of the power of sin (Romans 3:9) affected the Pharisees’ understanding of the purpose of the law, by advocating that obedience to the law was God’s appointed way to obtain righteousness.
Although Paul and the Protestant Reformers demonstrated the fallacies of this belief, this optimistic view of humans and this distorted view of the law are still alive among Christians of all denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists.
We need to realize, as Ellen White wrote, that “it was possible for Adam, before the fall, to form a righteous character by obedience to God’s law. But he failed to do this, and because of his sin, our natures are fallen and we cannot make ourselves righteous. Since we are sinful, unholy, we cannot perfectly obey the holy law.”4
The intended use of the law
If our sinful nature is unable to fulfill God’s requirements anymore, what, then, is the purpose of the law? Paul mentions several.
The first function is juridical. Like any other code of laws, God’s law has a “civil” role. Paul says that the law was given “because of transgressions” (Galatians 3:19, KJV)*. The first goal of the written law is to limit, avoid or prevent human transgressions as much as possible, in order to restrain evil. In this sense, “the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient” (1 Timothy 1:9).
The second function of the law is theological. “By the law,” Paul wrote, “is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). He further argued that were it not for the law, he would not have known that he was a sinner (Romans 7:7). One of the most humiliating realities of life is that we are not always aware of our shortcomings. In this context, the law functions like a mirror (James 1:23), revealing us as we really are. The mirror reveals our blemish and our need for improvement, but it is unable to remove the blemish. So it is with the law of God. It reveals our problems, it tells us we are sinners, but it cannot bring about any change. It accomplishes an important role—that of revealing sin—but it cannot remedy the situation. For the remedy, we must turn to Jesus.
The Lutherans have traditionally tended to deny to the law any other role than the civil and the theological. Whether the law has a third function has been much discussed among Protestants. The third role is a spiritual one. If the law comes from God and if it is the transcript of His character, it must necessarily reveal God’s will for us. If God commands love and condemns injustice, it is because He Himself is loving and just. Paul observed that “the law is…holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12, 14). The law shows that God’s ideal for every human being is to reflect His character. And since God does not change, the principles of His law are also the permanent standards of judgment, from Eden to the end of time (Romans 2:12-16; Revelation 14:6-12).
No wonder the New Testament affirms that Spirit-led believers are those who respect God’s will (Revelation 14:12). According to John Calvin, this “third use“ is the “principal use of the law among believers in whose hearts the Spirit of God already lives and reigns…. Here is the best instrument for them to learn more thoroughly each day the nature of the Lord’s will to which they aspire.”5
None of the three uses of the law has anything to do with our justification. While the law does not provide salvation, it does offer ethical and spiritual guidance for the believer. “The law sends us to Christ to be justified, and Christ sends us to the law to be regulated.”6
On the one hand, the law always points to the gospel for assurance of salvation, and on the other, the gospel always invites us to a more sensitive respect of the law. That is why Paul could state that faith establishes the law (Romans 3:31).
The insufficiency of the law
The law itself points out its own limitations. The entire sanctuary system of the Hebrew dispensation teaches us that. The law shows the transgression and convicts the sinner of that transgression. But the law cannot do anything to expiate the transgression. Until Jesus came, the sinner had to turn to the services of the sanctuary. In the name of the law, the sinner was invited to seek salvation outside the law (Romans 3:21). Expiation for sin is God’s affair (Leviticus 16). The blood provided for expiation was to be given by God (Leviticus 17:11). It is God who justifies. It is God who sanctifies (Leviticus 20:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24).
The New Testament shows that all redemptive work, shadowed in the earthly sanctuary, was accomplished through Christ (Romans 3:27-31). Thus “Christ is the end of the law” (Romans 10:4). In Him culminates the law as revelation, and through Him all that the law demands becomes a reality.
As Ellen White states, “Through the imputed righteousness of Christ, the sinner may feel that he is pardoned, and may know that the law no more condemns him, because he is in harmony with all its precepts….By faith he lays hold of the righteousness of Christ and responds with love and gratitude for the great love of God in giving His only begotten Son, who died in order to bring to light, life and immortality through the gospel. Knowing himself to be a sinner, a transgressor of the holy law of God, he looks to the perfect obedience of Christ, to His death upon Calvary for the sins of the world; and he has the assurance that he is justified by faith in the merit and sacrifice of Christ. He realizes that the law was obeyed in his behalf by the Son of God, and that the penalty of transgression cannot fall upon the believing sinner. The active obedience of Christ clothes the believing sinner with the righteousness that meets the demands of the law.”7
Human resistance to the law
Despite the fact that the principles of the law reveal God’s will for us, we tend to see the law mainly as an obstacle to freedom. While we recognize the advantages of respecting a certain order, our human nature resists any restriction. We expect others to respect the law, but we find it hard ourselves to submit to its discipline.
The need for the law is clear and logical, but we tend to minimize its obligations. Nature demands the presence of the law, and human nature knows the need for it. But knowing is one thing, and doing is something else. Human happiness is the instructive function of the divine law. The law is meant to focus toward that which is good, to show the difference between good and evil, respect and violence, justice and injustice. The law draws a security line between these polarities, and provides us with a fence to keep us secure. The law’s imperative mode is nothing but God’s expression of love.
Law’s didactic function
Paul compares the function of the law to the task of a schoolmaster who prepares the child to follow the instructions of a higher teacher. He says the law was “to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
In the Bible, often prohibitions precede orders. For instance, the commandment “‘You shall not murder’” (NKJV) comes before any development about love toward our fellow men. For we could not realize the value of life if any previous prohibition did not oblige us to refrain our violent passions. The prohibition of killing stops our aggressive impulses and obliges us to meditate on the consequences of our decision.
While life constantly obliges us to choose, the law helps us to choose well. It teaches us that failing to choose is a dangerous option and that asking for God’s guidance means more, not less freedom. This is the reason why the Bible calls the law “the perfect law of freedom” (James 1:25, Jerusalem Bible).
In its didactic function, the law teaches us where our values are. Each prohibition and each command asserts a specific value: not lying reminds us of the value of the truth, not committing adultery underlines the importance of faithful love, not using violence highlights the uniqueness of life, etc. The law tells us that the lives and feelings of our fellow human beings are as precious as our own lives and feelings. The mission of God’s law is, in this sense, more didactic than imposing, more revealing than legislative.
Realizing the profound values of the law, but also its definite limits, helps us to see it no longer as an obstacle to our freedom, but as a precious help in our journey. It guides us, like a map or a chart, but the way itself is no other than Jesus. He Himself has clearly stated that in these troubled times of history, true believers will remain faithful to both God’s commandments and their trust in Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
Roberto Badenas (Th.D., Andrews University) is dean of the seminary and teaches theology at Saleve Adventist University, France. His latest book is Más allá de la ley (Madrid: Safeliz, 1998).
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