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ReVision

Principles to Practice

The Law of God is rich with principles to guide us for love.

An Economy of Love (7)

Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 1 Corinthians 9.8-11

Lawless, loveless
The Lord Jesus foresaw a day when people’s love for one another would grow cold. People would be so bound up in themselves and their wants, that they would take advantage of their neighbors, maintain a studied indifference to suffering, let competition rather than cooperation be the watchword of their experience, and lie, steal, or do violence to their neighbors if they could calculate some advantage in doing so for themselves.

He must have been looking into our times, for certainly love like Jesus showed has grown cold in our secular age, even, to a shocking degree, within the household of faith.

What’s the cause of this? Jesus explains: “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24.12).

The longer believers neglect the Law of God, the more lawless and loveless our world will become, and the tares of the world will spring up throughout the household of faith, unrecognized. We must recover the Law of God, and its abiding principles of love, if we are to cultivate an economy of love throughout the field of the world.

Principles
In our text, the Apostle Paul was taking the Corinthians to the woodshed because they failed to support him when he was ministering among them. Paul served in Corinth for some 18 months, evangelizing the lost, teaching the converted, building the church, and training leaders. For the whole time he was there, he was forced to hold a day job – making tents – because it didn’t occur to the Corinthians that they should support him in his spiritual ministry.

Now, in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul was trying to get the Corinthians to make a contribution to the suffering Christians in Jerusalem. As Paul later wrote to the Romans, after this gift had been collected and he was preparing to deliver it, it was altogether fair and proper for them to give it, since they had been blessed spiritually by the Judean believers (Rom. 15.26, 27). In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul was not auguring for them to catch-up with him on some unpaid salary; he had decided not to exercise his right to be paid for ministering. He was simply telling the Corinthians not to make the same mistake again.

But notice how his argument proceeded: Paul appealed to the civil laws of ancient Israel, in particular, the law, in Deuteronomy 25.4, which says that you must not muzzle an ox while he is treading out the grain. The ox is working hard for you, so he should be allowed to munch on the grain in payment for his service. It’s only fair, Paul went on to say, that those who work in sowing and harvesting should expect to reap some benefit from the crop. This in itself was an extension of Deuteronomy 25.4 from fairness to oxen into a general principle of fairness with respect to workers and their compensation. But then Paul extended the principle again, applying it to himself as a worker in spiritual sowing, who should expect to be supported materially by those among whom he ministered.

Practices
All the ancient laws of Israel contain principles like this, principles which, if rightly understood and faithfully practiced, could serve to bring more respect, fairness, justice, and love into the economic practice of a powerful nation such as ours.

Our approach within the household of faith must be to learn the various civil laws of Israel, perhaps grouping them under common headings. Then, we can look to the prophets of the Old Testament and the teaching of the New Testament to observe any applications made of these laws. That will allow us then prayerfully to discern the principles that have enduring application to economic practice in our day, and to decide how best to practice these laws of liberty and love.

Now we will be put off by some of these ancient laws – such as those permitting the taking and keeping of slaves. Those laws were valid for their day, but if we follow the principle of later revelation, as in the prophets and the New Testament, helping us to understand and apply earlier revelation, we will see that the New Testament, while it acknowledged the institution of slavery in its day, already laid the foundations for the abolition of this practice. Similarly, the New Testament can guide us in understanding all the laws of Israel, so that we make proper and loving application of the principles embedded therein.

Finally, we should look to the practice of our Christian forebears, to see how they understood the use of these statutes and rules in their day. In every age of Christian history leaders within the believing community can be seen applying these laws in their day to address economic and other kinds of ethical questions. We can see in their practice ways to derive the principles from those ancient laws, as well as examples of how those principles might be put to work.

By approaching God’s Law diligently, faithfully, expectantly, and prayerfully, we may prepare ourselves to make a positive contribution to nurturing an economy of love throughout the field of the world, so that our common experience begins to be based less on getting-and-spending and more on unalterable truth and love.

For reflection
1.  What can we learn from Paul about using the Law of God within the household of faith?

2.  Meditate on Matthew 22.34-40. Should we expect more teaching and practice of God’s Law to increase love for God and neighbors within our churches? Explain.

3.  Learning and keeping the Law of God, and encouraging others to do so, is the way to greatness in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5.17-19). Why don’t we seek such greatness in our churches?

Next steps – Conversation: Talk with some fellow Christians about suggestions they might have for learning the principles and practices of God’s Law together.

A free PDF download of this week’s study is available by clicking here.

For a free overview of the teaching of God’s Law and how to apply it, write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and request our Kingdom Catechism.

The Psalmist says the righteous person meditates on the Law of God day and night (Ps. 1). Do you? If you had a compendium of all the laws and statutes of God, would you be more likely to do so? Order your copy of The Law of God and begin taking up the discipline of daily meditation in God’s rules for love (click here). And if you need convincing that the Law of God still matters, order a copy of The Ground for Christian Ethics by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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