Details Matter... Thank God for Grace

I was having a conversation the other day on a subject which seems to come up quite a bit in Christian circles: does God care if we obey the speed limit? The normal outline of the conversation goes like this: (1) what God is really concerned about is reckless driving, (2) what the government really wants is safe driving, (3) I can drive safely at X miles per hours therefore... I am not sinning when I do not obey the speed limit. Alternatively, when I have disagreed with this argument people have wondered if I am a 'legalist.' Getting wound in the details can only mean that you are taking obedience way too seriously and obscuring grace.

This argument can be (and is) used to blunt the edge of many friendly challenges and rebukes. And therein lies the real danger.* The human heart is very resistant to the idea that we have real need of the grace of God. We are okay just the way we are. Even Christians... who ostensible confess their need of and belief in the grace of God... don't like to be shown how they specifically need that grace. To divert the blow, we accuse our 'accusers' of being 'too concerned about the details,' 'not focusing on grace,' 'legalistic.' A seminary professor of mine once pointed out to our class that legalism is not about trying to obey God in the details, but by attempting to earn heaven through obedience whether the rules are complex or simple.

The Lord is a god of details... in fact He gives us great details of case law to ensure that we cannot become self justified. Anyone serious about trying to obey the law in its details as a means of securing God's favor will be crushed by that law. The alternative path to self justification is antinomianism (anti: against... nomos: law). "The law doesn't really matter." Without the law, we would not know what righteousness looks like. We would not know the depths of our need before God. We would never know the profound nature of God's mercy. So, in this way the argument that the details don't matter.. that details obscure grace... is actually the very thing that obscures grace. Details do matter. God still holds us to a standard of perfection. That is why the grace of God in the life, death and resurrection of Christ is so sweet.

*I could make a well reasoned argument about God instituting government and 'obeying Caesar' even when some rules seem arbitrary but this is actually not as important as the danger of obscuring our need for grace by pitting grace against law.