The Universal Norms of Love

After having discussed the “forms of love” Jones spends the next chapter describing the “norms of love.” His discussion begins with the Ten Commandments, a brief history on the way they have been understood throughout Roman Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Reformed, Orthodox and Anglican Traditions. But the questions still begs, “Do the Ten Commandments apply to Christian today? Aren’t Christians under the new covenant?” Jones does a wonderful job of providing an answer to this question. He points out that in Romans 1 Gentiles are shown to be guilty without special revelation of God’s law because it is a natural law, they knew better. Therefore it can be understood that God’s law is the will of God for human life and because of this, the commandments still have a particular function in the life of the church.

However, this function is now slightly modified. While under the old covenant, the commandments functioned as stipulations that must be kept in order to remain in good standing with God and within the covenant people, now that the new covenant has come; the commandments no longer determine our standing with the people of God. Our obedience to the Ten Commandments is important, and good, but it is not the grounds for our right standing within the covenant family. The Christian understands God’s law to be directive and helpful in determining God’s will for their behavior and life as redeemed people.

This was one of the most helpful things that I’ve read in this book. For a long time in my Christian life I wasn’t sure what to do with the Old Testament laws. Are they still binding on the Christian? What about food and dietary laws? Jones does an excellent job answering the first question however; I wish that he had spent some time addressing the second issue. Are food and dietary laws from the Old Testament really evidences of God’s will for the Christian? I’m assuming based on my own knowledge of the New Testament that they are not. In many of Paul’s letters he refers to these things as shadows of the coming Messiah that have been replaced by the advent. But the issue still seems a bit hazy and elaboration here would have been greatly appreciated.

Jones’ main point in this chapter was very good, even though he didn’t spend time addressing some of my specific questions. His goal was to show how the Law of God revealed in the Old Testament and finally in Jesus is not a condemning or constraining law for the Christian. It is however, a picture into how the Christian is to love God through obedience. This obedience to the will of God, revealed in His law, is the universal norm of love for the Christian.

The Characteristics of Love

Jones’ fifth chapter centers on justice, mercy and faithfulness as the primary forms of Christian love. This was definitely an interesting way of thinking about love. I had never read a long discussion about the actual inner workings of love. To read this chapter was both helpful and surprising to an extent.

In asking the question, “what is justice?” Jones gives a brief but excellent definition, “To render to each his or her due.” This discussion of justice at first glance looked to me to have nothing to do with love. However, after some thinking, it became clear that Jones is simply arguing that one aspect of love is to deal justly with people. He gives an example from Proverbs where it is stated that God hates for the guilty to be acquitted and the innocent to be condemned. But love certainly does not stop at justice, it also must entail more because, “to think of love in terms of obligations…yields a minimalistic ethic…[which] falls short of what God is calling us to be and to do in response to his love” (86).

Mercy then is what Jones brings us to next. In his discussion Jones often seems to be describing mercy along the same lines as grace. This was interesting for me because I often think of mercy and grace in systematic theological categories where mercy is the withholding of due punishment and grace is a free and undeserved gift. But Jones recognizes the overlap between mercy and grace as an attribute of God. He describes mercy as something that is constrained by the love of Christ. It is those that have experienced the free grace of God that are then called to walk in mercy toward others. This mercy attitude of the Christian is personified and championed in James 2:13 where the author writes, “Mercy triumphs over judgment!” This for James is the bedrock of why the Christian walks to mercy towards others, because the Christian has been shown great mercy by God! Mercy is therefore just as important to Christian love as justice, in fact it is even at times to triumph over justice because God will deal justly and the Christian is called to be merciful and longsuffering, or patient, towards all.

The third aspect of love as Jones defines it is faithfulness. He first summarizes God’s faithfulness, especially to His covenant promises of the Old Testament. This faithfulness of God is found also in the obedience and faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the one whose faithfulness both achieves and defines the salvation of God’s people. Jones again shows the relationship between this characteristic of God and its manifestation in the life of His people. Jones describes Christians as those who, “live by trust in the faithful God…[and] whose entire salvation depends on the faithfulness of God are disposed to practice the same in their own relationships and responsibilities” (94).

One interesting thought came to my mind after reading Jones’ quote above, the Christians are disposed to faithfulness. The Christian life is not an effort of willpower and exertion to try harder at being faithful. The Christian is actually transformed by the grace of God into a faithful covenant member. This is essential to Christian ethics because without the above qualification, the Christian might find himself, or herself, trapped in the despair of an achievement based relationship with God and others. But in realizing that you are actually being transformed to a “long obedience in the same direction,” as Eugene Peterson puts it, relieves the burden of achievement and frees you to live a life of love towards God and others.

Thoughts on the Direction, or Rule, of the Christian Life

Having just read the fourth chapter of Jones’ book I must say I feel refreshed. Jones begins his chapter explaining that, “the Christian life [is] characterized by obedient love” (59). He continues on to explain that our obedience is the result of trust and faith in Christ’s obedience in our place. He is quick and sure to explain that our obedience, while it does take place and is important, is not what gains us right standing before God. Our sole basis for right standing before God is in Jesus.

After establishing this, Jones returned to the Westminster Shorter Catechism and discussed question and answer number two, “‘What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?’ ‘The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.’” (61). This question and answer, as well as 2 Timothy 3:14–17 is used by Jones to explain the ways in which Scripture functions in the life of the believer. He highlights three basic functions:

1. Making known to us the salvation offered in Christ

2. For teaching/training in righteousness

3. For correcting/rebuking us.

It is these three simply but often glossed over functions that prove so valuable to the Christian life. Often we want simply to have some area of our life “fixed” rather than allow God to speak to us, through His Scriptures, and have our life-style corrected and then reconfigured into Christ-likeness.

Jones then briefly discussed the seven different forms of biblical direction: prohibition, permission, mandate, counsel, precedent and example. This section on prohibition was helpful because Jones claimed that, “Biblical direction in the form of prohibition requires discernment as it is necessary to determine from Scripture as whole—not isolated prooftexts—what God has actually forbidden” (63). I have always felt this was the most important way to go about understanding anything in Scripture but I realize now that prohibitive commands are even more important to understand within the context of the entire biblical story. For instance, one might see a Levitical law that states the people of God are to refrain from eating shellfish. This could easily become a “prohibitive command” for someone who believes they are following God’s will by not eating crab and clam like the sinners, but in reality all this person would be doing is misunderstanding a law which was meant for a particular people in a particular time.

Perhaps the most timely insight from this chapter by Jones came in his section on the role of conscience in the Christian life. He both affirms the role of conscience in the Christian walk, and also qualifies this by saying that conscience is sub-ordinate to Scripture. This might be the most counter-cultural thing about the Christian life, that what a two-thousand plus year old text is considered the Word of God and therefore, holds far greater weight than personal conscience. Even in Christian dominated cultures like the south and the largest Baptist University in the world, one’s personal conscience is often held above the words of Scripture, either out of downright disagreement or laziness. In either case, Jones’ argument is a much needed reminder that, as Christians, we are called to submit the totality of our being to Christ, including our presuppositions about right and wrong.