Ok…here’s another humble attempt to put some more words to the depth of my faith, specifically trying to grasp with the concepts of “law,” and “sin” and their fulfillment through Love.
When we focus on sin only as behavior and law only as an imposed set of rules, discussion of this “sin” or that “sin” can go in endless circles. Yet, when we can understand the Law of Love upon which God designed and created the world, it changes everything. It reminds us that our story begins with original goodness in Genesis 1 rather than the concept of original sin in Genesis 3 (BTW “original sin” as a term didn’t even appear until the third century). The focus then becomes the fact that we were created in God’s “very good” image to manifest the continuous flow of Love (with a capital “L”) in the world.
“Sin” is a condition born out of “Adam and Eve’s” distrust, and became engrained in our DNA — our unLoving behavior is only a symptom of our sinful condition. Thus “sin” is a disease, a condition separate from who we are. It takes hold of us by promoting selfish and defensive attempts to secure our own identity and security separate from who we are as God’s beloved.
It has been said, “Jesus didn’t come to changes God’s mind about us, but to change our mind about God!” Jesus the Christ, as the second Adam, came to restore our trust in God by exemplifying and redeeming perfect, selfless, beneficent love back into humanity through his life, death and resurrection. Jesus went beyond fear of anything we could ever face; beyond anything that we could conceive would separate us from God’s love, beyond death itself to restore us into trusting relationship and God’s Law of Love — to us, in us and through us. And now, through the Holy Spirit, God continues to dwell with us, always reminding us who we are and what it means to Love.
“Forgiveness” mean that we are longer defined by our disease, but rather by Love. The Christ, who ate with sinners, had already forgiven then (“Forgive them for the know not what they do”) and sought to restore their trust in God who loves them for who they are as God’s beloved. Go and sin no more is Jesus saying, “You don’t need to secure or defend your own identity anymore. You were made from Love and for Love. Remember who you are and that Love flows to you, in you, and through you. You are free from the power of your dis-ease.”
“Salvation” then isn’t a ticket to go to heaven when we die, but the invitation and freedom to individually, corporately and uniquely partner with God in restoring the Kingdom on earth and it is in heaven – an experience of perfect Love in and throughout the world. Yes, we may not experience it in its fullness yet, but This is why Jesus said the Kingdom in now and it is “in you.”
When we can understand the Bible through the lens of the Law of Love rather that our more typical black and white, legalistic mind, we can begin to see that this is the central message of Scripture, expressed in a variety of ways, settings and through God’s beloved children – but especially in and through the life of Christ!
Now, to be honest, I am still processing all of these things so I share them humbly, but years of trying to faithfully follow Christ in my daily life and encountering Christ in others continues to lead me in this direction. I will never claim to have it all figured out (the minute I do, I am boxing God into my image), but I appreciate opportunities like this to try to articulate something so deep — that is likely beyond words.
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