One of the ways I like to parent is through incentives. When my son was having difficulty behaving at school, I made his daily allotment of screen time dependent on whether he received negative points on his school’s behavior tracking app. On the first occasion where he lost his time due to a negative note, he attempted to renegotiate the terms of the rule to make it a sliding scale of loss dependent on how many offenses he received. I didn’t go for it, but I appreciated the cunning attempt. 

It’s in our nature to look for loopholes. In benign ways, we hire specialists to minimize our tax liabilities. In the worst ways, we cheat others to unfairly pull ahead professionally or competitively. This type of thinking assumes that if it isn’t forbidden, it’s acceptable. 

But our culture generally does not accept those premises. Attend any sporting event and watch how quickly and loudly fans bemoan a questionable uncalled foul. Follow a political rally where the rich are lambasted for their financial schemes. See people react when someone cuts ahead in a grocery check-out. None of these are explicitly forbidden, but they are understood broadly to be important. Western cultures have a heavy sense of fairness until we personally benefit from a bent rule. 

It’s funny, then, how strictly so many of us view the rules of God. We obscure facts in order not to lie. Youths come up with sayings that rhyme with phrases forsaking God’s name to feel more adult-like without taking that name in vain. Teens push the boundaries of premarital sex so long as certain lines aren’t crossed. Media labels softcore nudity as “gritty,” “real,” or “natural” to defend our lust. We define cells with human DNA as something less than to avoid the implication of murder. We weave through twisty moral roads to live our desired life while tricking ourselves into believing our righteousness. 

I suppose we assume that tactic because the Bible has many written rules. Critics of Christianity draw attention to the extensive list throughout the first five books (collectively, the “Pentateuch”). Yes, there are a myriad of prohibitions on commercial, sexual, dietary, and even fashionable perversions. Many of them seem outdated and unviable in today’s world, and many are met with the death penalty. If God is so graceful, why are there so many rules for the early Israelites, especially with such severe punishments?

We modern believers must remember that at the time the Hebrews received these instructions, they had lived in Egypt for 400+ years, many of those in bondage. In a culture where pluralistic gods were worshipped, generations of slave children were easily slaughtered (see Moses’ origin story), entire courts of officials were murdered and mummified when a leader died, and sons deposed fathers’ thrones by sleeping with their mothers, there were few of the moral standards as we know them today. Humanity was still in its moral infancy and needed to be taught the utmost basics of righteousness. They were not ready for more abstract thought. 

Enter Jesus at the turn of the age, and things are different. Not only were the Jews upholding their ancient standards, but they had also added hundreds of additional written and oral directions from religious leaders over the centuries. In many ways, their legalistic culture was much like our modern Western experience. Instead of simplifying as they went, new situations required new regulations. First-century Jews were winding through their divine instructions, cultural additions, and pagan influences just as we try to today. 

Thus, the background is set for a Pharisee’s question to Jesus about the commandments. The Pharisee sect was a competing Judaic order akin to a Jewish Puritan, resting on the Torah’s text more than tradition. One such leader asks Jesus which commandment is the greatest. “Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

The Pharisees were attempting to trap Jesus into blasphemy to convict Him. If He picked any of the commandments, He potentially indicted the others as lesser. Instead, Jesus boils all the Law down into two simple commands that still represent the heart God wishes us to have while removing the loopholes. 

Critics also attack this response, suggesting Jesus is merely parroting earlier philosophies. To quickly rebuttal, Jesus is the earliest archeological example of putting the “golden rule” into a positive phrase. Earlier societies advised against doing anything that you wouldn’t want to happen to yourself. However, Jesus twists that into the positive “do unto others,” suggesting there is more than just abstinence—there is an expectation for gracious action. Also, just because others may have found a form of truth earlier does not negate an eternal Jesus as the ultimate source of that truth. But I digress…

We are left to ask what God wishes for our hearts. The Bible answers this as well. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NIV) Micah was written approximately 800 years before Jesus, yet Israel could not comprehend the simple instructions. Love God. Love others. 

God takes great care to dispel any future concerns by blatantly declaring all animals as clean foods to eat (Acts 10) and blessing Gentiles with the Holy Spirit (also, Acts 10).

Keep it spiritually simple. Our God weighs our innermost thoughts. He calls us to act in charity, not just abstain from violence. The more effort we put into twisting our way through a moral code, the less we acknowledge the true weight of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Instead of following the winding road of moral loopholes, let’s choose the straight and narrow path. (Matthew 7:13)

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