Why We Fight Against The Law's Revelation

When God's Law comes to us it means “nothing but trouble for the understanding of sin and freedom. Furious defenses must be constructed to prevent complete collapse.”[1] Ironically what this means is that our defensive spirit towards trying to protect and advocate for the doctrine of free will is actually evidence that we are truly bound. Gerhard Forde comments further on this saying, 

 “Our very claim to ‘free choice’ in what is ‘above’ us is ironically the mark of our bondage. In defiance of God we claim to be free. Such ‘freedom,’ of course is only a faith in ourselves over against God, our defense mechanism against God. In effect we say to God, ‘God I cannot trust you with my destiny, therefore I must claim at least enough freedom to control it myself.’ But such a claim to ‘freedom’ only describes our bondage in the things that are ‘above.’”[2] 

For us as sinners, “we cannot bear the idea that only God has free choice; we must claim it, seek it, usurp it for ourselves.”[3] We fight the idea of the bound will and defend our spiritual free will turf.

This defensive spirit of trying to prevent the collapse of our spiritual empire of free will theology inevitably results in us trying to tame the Law. When the Law is spoken we neuter it, removing its teeth and reducing it from the perfect, absolute, and Holy command of God to mere guidelines or worst yet, motivational principles. Tragically we do this subconsciously. We are often times not even aware of these ramifications due to the constant pressure and distraction of trying to fortify and protect the god of self and its companion free will.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy on us.

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[1] Gerhard Forde, The Captivation of the Will, 70.

[2] Gerhard Forde, Theology is for Proclamation, 46.

[3] IBID, 47.


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