GERHARD FORDE ON THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW IN THIS LIFE
From Gerhard Forde, "Lex semper accusatl Nineteenth-Century Roots of Our Current Dilemma," in ,
A More Radical Gospel, ed. Mark C. Mattes and Steven D. Paulson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2004.
There is little chance, too, then, of really arriving at a positive attitude
to law. For it is the supernatural pretension of law, its unbreakable absoluteness
that makes it unbearable and drives man in his endless quest to be rid of it.
When it has an end, however, a real end, one can see its positive use. In view of
the end in Christ we can see that the law is intended for this world and that a
new kind of goodness is possible, a goodness in and for this world, a "civil
righteousness." Faith in the end of the law establishes the law in its proper
use.
To say this is not, it must be insisted, to defend the status quo or to fall
into the old trap of unqualified obedience to the state. That kind of thinking
arises only when one has not grasped what faith in the end of the law means
both on the part of its proponents and its critics. For faith in the end of the
law leads to the view that its purpose is to take care of this world, not to
prepare for the next. That means that we do not possess absolute,
unchangeable laws. If the law no longer takes care of this world, it can and
must be changed. As even Luther put it, we must write our own decalogue to
fit the times. Furthermore, whenever anyone, be he reactionary or revolutionary,
sets up law or a system by which he thinks to bring in the messianic age, that is
precisely the misuse of law against which Christians must protest. That is why,
I would think, not even revolution is entirely out of the question for the
Christian if that appears the only way to bring about necessary changes. But it
must be a revolution for the proper use of the law, for taking care of this world,
in the name of purely natural and civil righteousness and not in the name of
supernatural pretension. That is to say, it must be a positive revolution and not a
revolution of negation.
It is too much (or perhaps too little?) to say, I think, that respect for law
must be the political religion of the nation. That seems to imply that law is an
absolute before which we must all unquestionably bow. It would be better to
say that care for the proper use of the law must be our constant and never ending
concern in this world. For we are not called merely to be law-abiding,
but to take care of this world, and law must be tailored to assist in that task.
