Let’s talk about enforcing the Law of Christ:

In the blog post, The Law of Christ, we talked about what the Law of Christ actually is and why it’s important. For this Theology Thursday I thought it would be a good idea to talk a little bit about how that law is applied in the church.

As a reminder, the Law of Christ is essentially:

To love as Christ loved.

(See Jhn 13:34, 15:12)

Because it’s a law, that means that it ought to be enforced. But how does that look? How do we enforce a law like, “Love as Christ loved”?

Here lies an important difference between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches. The former virtually claims authority to enact laws that are binding on the conscience, and the transgression of which carries with it the same penalty that is annexed to any breach of the divine law. The latter disclaim any such authority to Christ, the true King of the Church. However, they maintain the right to enforce the law of Christ. They claim nothing more than a ministerial or declarative power, they regard the law as binding only because it’s backed by the authority of Christ, and apply no other punishments than those which He has sanctioned.

What “punishments” have been established by Jesus? Is it imprisonment? Is it to be burned at the stake?

In Mat 18:15-20, Jesus tells us how we are to enforce His law. The most extreme being in verse 17. We read:

It’s important to note that Jesus said, “as you would”. Jesus is talking to His disciples prior to their conversion. This is also prior to them receiving the revelation that the gentiles were to inherit salvation along with the Jews (see Acts Chapters 10 and 11). The fact that the gentiles were to inherit salvation was huge change in the thought process of the early Jewish Christians (Act 11:18). Prior to that, Peter expresses how the Jews were to associate with gentiles:

So… Not at all. And that’s how they treated tax collectors as well; even though tax collectors were fellow Jews.(1)

1Th 5:11 exhorts the church to love as Christ by "encouraging one another” and to hold each other accountable to this type of love by “building each other up”. Each member of the body of Christ processes the power and bears the responsibility to enforce the Law of Christ. The strongest punishment from a Christian being not to associate with that person. This type of enforcement can be seen in passages such as 1Co 5:9, 11 and 2Th 3:14. Sorry Calvin, but you can’t burn people at the stake. Even if they don’t believe that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father.

So, what do you think? Have you ever had to enforce the Law of Christ? Do you have a small, close knit group of brothers or sisters in Christ that you encourage? Don’t forget that we aren’t meant to go through this alone.

NOTES:

(1) The Roman system of taxation was frequently characterized by “tax farming” where an individual would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government throughout an entire district and then add a surcharge or commission (often exorbitant) which they kept for themselves as their profit. The tax collectors referred to in the NT were generally not the holders of these tax contracts themselves, but hired subordinates who were often local residents. Since these tax collectors worked for Rome (even indirectly), they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked. In addition, the system offered many opportunities for dishonesty and greed, both of which were often associated with local tax collectors.

SOURCES:

• Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology (p. 511). Eerdmans Publishing Co - A. Kindle Edition.

• https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+5, Note 59