3D Law By Rev. William M. Cwirla
As we have learned it from the questions and answers
attached to the Small Catechism, the Law serves three functions: to curb the sinner, to mirror our sinful condition, and to guide us in the way of holiness. While curb, mirror, and guide is a fine way of looking at the Law, I’d like to try a little different perspective. So put on your 3D glasses and let’s consider the Law in 3D: Damage Control, Diagnosis, and Discipline. Damage Control. Curbs are great but not always effective. Vehicles routinely run over them into people and buildings. A little four-inch curb at the side of the road won’t stop much of anything. God’s Law is much more than a curb to scuff your spiritual tires. It’s divine damage control. Without it, there would be nothing but anarchy in the world as everyone tried to have it his own way. That’s why God established the temporal authority structures of home, society, and church. The Law acts as a fence, boundary, and limit to our sinful behavior. It does damage control. I was hurrying to get to the installation of a pastor friend of mine and was traveling on a two-lane highway where the speed limit was 55 mph. My speedometer said 70. Then I saw the flashing Mars lamps in my rear view mirror, and before long, I was going zero at the side of the highway. Busted. The Law snagged me and reigned me in, doing some damage control on my reckless driving, not to mention on my wallet and ego. Imagine if everyone drove at whatever speed he thought was best. The highway would become a demolition derby. The Law protected others, and myself, from my distracted driving. There were farm workers on that road. I should have thanked the highway patrol officer who wrote the ticket, but I didn’t. My old Adam hates the Law.
H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 8
Diagnosis. We hate being diagnosed. We put off going to the doctor and we lie about our symptoms. We minimize our condition. Blood tests, MRIs, CAT scans, biopsies. No one wants them. We’re afraid of the results. We don’t want to know the truth. The truth is that sin is much more than superficial thoughts, words, and deeds. Those are the symptoms, but the condition lies much deeper, in the deep recesses of the heart where only the Spirit of God can see. We tend to think of sin as sins—the stuff we do and don’t do. But the Spirit lifts the veil and peers into the depths of our hearts. The Law becomes a spiritual CAT scan revealing the ugly truth: We have an inherited disease—sin. It has its origins in Adam and has been passed down to us.
