Lawlessness -- Good or Bad?

“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style, –
In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas –
Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile,
And on every street corner, you hear … Silver Bells….”

It’s a Currier-&-Ives or Thomas Kinkade sort of town. Not a Norman Rockwell sort of town – no cops, no stop signs, no lists of rules anywhere, no law books, … because there’s no need of them. Everybody does what they’re supposed to do. Everything’s beautiful… until …

One day, a guy takes a cobblestone from Kinkade’s cottage, takes his brother into a field, and bashes his head. The snow of perfect texture and temperature is now blood-red around the fallen body. This throws the town for a loop. Nothing is done to the murderer … because there is no precedent, no law, no authority with which the townsfolk might bring about justice. The murderer still enjoys his wonderful life in this wonderful community.

But obviously something must be done to discourage such behavior. So the townsfolk come up with their first law: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” (Gen. 9:6) Of course, many of the folk don’t need the law written on paper because it is already written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It is a part of their divine nature, you might say; goodness just flows out of them, that is, out of their hearts where the good, divine law resides. As Christ put it, “from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,” desires, and actions: “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark 7:21-23). The law written on paper or stone then serves as a witness against the defiled ones, showing them the nature of God, “so that they are without excuse” when they do “that which is against nature” (Romans 1:20, 26).

Perhaps this will help us begin to understand how “that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers …, whoremongers, …, menstealers, liars, …” and so on – I Timothy 1:8-11.