THE SIX FUNCTIONS OF GOD’S LAW
Understanding the Six Functions of God’s Law
by Traver Dougherty
Function 5: To Recognize the Good
The Torah helps people recognize righteousness and its narrative. Good works are good, but the function of good works isn’t what many think. The world’s logic goes something like this: because I do good works, I must be good. Christian logic goes something like this: although I occasionally do good works, I’ve done enough wrongdoing to disqualify myself from the good category. Therefore, I need a Savior. And that’s right. “There is none righteous,” says Paul, “not even one” (Rom 3:10). But then, I’ve seen some Christians take the no-one-is-righteous logic a step further. It goes something like this: any attempt on a Christian’s part to keep the Torah’s commandments negates the cross.[1] That’s not true. If it were, Paul would not have told the Corinthian believers to “keep the Festival [of Unleavened Bread]” (1 Cor 5:8). He wouldn’t have repeatedly emphasized that God’s Laws (instruction) never misses the mark. “Is the Law sin? May it never be!” (Rom 7:7).
We do good, not because works make us good, but because the works exalt His goodness.
What then, post-salvation, is a right use of the Law? Why good works? To elucidate the answer, there’s an important detail of Vermeer’s Girl I’ve yet to disclose. In the world of art, she’s a tronie — a composite image, one girl comprised of many, created in Vermeer’s mind. She’s distinct, but she’s also Vermeer. It’s a relationship I can’t quite define. A mystery. So too is the bride of Messiah (Eph 5:32). She’s a composite of all who have ever called on the name of the Lord (Rom 10:13). Together, she forms the oils — the ochres, the lapis lazuli, the bone black, and the lead white. And when we obey, it’s as if the Painter, via the Spirit, picks up His brush. With each stroke, the Kingdom comes into view — for us and for the world.
Torah observance, mitzvot, good works — however you want to think of it — has nothing to do with a works-based righteousness. Righteousness is bestowed, not earned. Instead, good works are a response to God’s grace, a way of pressing into the Kingdom’s narrative. We do good, not because works make us good, but because the works exalt His goodness. You see, the Law isn’t about right and wrong any more than Vermeer’s Girl is about right and wrong. Yes, there are rights and there are wrongs, but thinking of the instructions (laws) given at Sinai in terms of dos and don’ts is as absurd as thinking of the Girl as random globs of oil on canvas (or dos and don’ts). Synergistically, the Torah’s aim is the true good; its brushstrokes heralding a good and righteous King, the substance and trajectory of his kingdom, and the bride who’s made beautiful because of Him.
[1] Traditionally, Christianity has separated the Law into three parts: moral, civil, and ceremonial (see Introduction, footnote 28). While not all laws are applicable in every circumstance, the efficacy of any one law for Christian living has nothing to do with these three categories. All of the Torah is efficacious for all people, for all times. Whether or a person or group observes a specific law, however, is circumstantial. Leviticus 21:21a reads, for example, “No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire.” Although I support the law, and though the law is still in effect, the law is not applicable to me in any direct sense because (1) the physical Tabernacle does not exist, and (2) I am not “among the descendants of Aaron.”