Law and Gospel

When I was in fifth grade I was at that wonderful age of awkwardness.  You know that age.  It’s a time when you desire so greatly to be “like everyone else” but in reality no one is alike.  It’s that strange world of not being a kid but also not being a teenager.  One day that awkwardness got the better of me.

The playground was an emotionally dangerous place.  There were some around me who bullied me and though they wanted nothing to do with me they would never leave me alone. But I wasn’t the kid in the school who was picked on the most.  There were others who were in even worse circumstances than me and one day I found myself standing with the bullies and not against them.  They were teasing a fellow classmate and I joined the throng.  Looking back on that situation I know I was in the wrong.  And even in the moment I knew that I was joining the group that I desperately despised.  Theologian Derek Thomas has a very wise and provocative statement that describes people in who find themselves in such a situation.

“To do what others do, or what others tell you do to, when deep down one knows it is wrong is moral cowardice.”

This week we will be exploring and studying Acts 21:17-26 where Paul finds himself in such a situation.  James and the elders of the church of Jerusalem ask Paul to purify himself through a ceremony to quell the murmurings of the Jews against him.  Paul complies and in doing so seems to place the Law of Moses higher than the gospel message.  Why?  Is Paul being a moral coward to do such a thing that he seems to teach in his letters to avoid?  Is Paul forsaking the gospel and clasping on to the Law of Moses?

These are very difficult and yet important questions for us to ask of Paul and of our own hearts.  May we be prayerfully prepared for what the Holy Spirit will reveal to us through His Word and may we be willing to honestly see any moral cowardice that may be alive and well in our own hearts.