Tidings for Tuesday
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Galatians 3:25
One of our high school teachers was a stickler for proper decorum and respect. Nobody spoke out of turn in his class; nobody addressed him in anything but the most respectful manner. He made sure we understood his authority in the classroom was absolute. He was a good teacher, and he deserved the respect he demanded. Several of our classmates were gathered at the drugstore one day, after we had received our final marks, and were graduates. Our teacher came in the door, and we all addressed him respectfully, as we were accustomed to do. He broke into a grin and declared, ‘You aren’t under my thumb anymore, guys, You can call me Bob now!’ Calling him Bob was difficult to do, after calling him Mr. for so long. It was also hard for the Jewish believers of Paul’s day to step out from under the schoolmaster they had been subject to.
Our school teachers had authority over us as long as we were in school. But when we reached graduation day, that authority ended. The very purpose of those teachers was to bring us to that point in our lives when their authority was to end. It was the same with the law. Its purpose was to take the adherent to the day of faith, the aerrival of a better covenant, the fulfilment of all that the law and the prophets spoke. Letting go of that law was difficult for many in t5he early days. In fact, they sought to mingle law and grace as requirements for the Gentile believers. One of Paul’s major struggles in his dealings with the early Assemblies of his day was to get through to them that the law had completed its purpose and held no more sway. The law even today is a stumbling block, and even among our Assemblies today it arises. But it should not.
Someone told me of an Assembly where the men are required to wear black suits; no other colour is permitted, and a man not wearing a black suit is not allowed to break bread. Sisters are likewise under a rigid dress code. That is wrong. Those who enforce such unscriptural rules are violating the truth of our text. They are adding to the doctrine of faith, making it no more faith. We need to be very careful when we apply rules to God’s people that we do not overstep the Word of God.
No, faith does not give us license to behave unseemly in the House of God. But it also does not give us license to impose on God’s people an unscriptural burden of rules and restrictions. -Jim MacIntosh