Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “Joseph, Master of Dreams”. A good lesson on this familiar story. Remember, the purpose of this whole quarter’s lesson is to “not only read and study the book of Genesis – but we also will enjoy its beautiful stories and learn to walk better with the Lord of Creation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (quarterly introduction on page 3). In this spirit, I would like to write this week on the temptation to Joseph from Potiphar’s wife to ‘lie with me” (Genesis 39: 7,12). And to look at Joseph’s response, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (verse 8). We need to understand what “(sinning) against God” really means.
So often, sinning against God is interpreted in the same vein as “making God angry”. But as we know, that is not the problem with sin. That is not what makes “sin”… well… sin. To “sin against God” (Ibid) is to sin against what He stands for. And He stands for love and truth. But I suspect that “love” was not going through Joseph’s mind when Mrs. Potiphar was enticing him.
In this story of Joseph, we see a validation of Paul’s conclusion stated in Galatians. In that first recorded epistle in the New Testament we read, “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3: 23-25). Until faith in Christ comes, we are kept under the law. But when we are motivated by true faith in Christ (when we are motivated by Godly love), the law becomes irrelevant. When we are motivated by true faith, there is no need for rules imposed upon you from outside you. Because you are motivated by love (the law) within you. This is a most sublime revelation to mankind. A most sublime truth.
The corollary to this concept is also evident. When we are not motivated by Godly love, when we drift from trusting God and His truth-filled, love-filled ways, then the law once again becomes active. It comes to our rescue to keep us safe. To keep us from engaging in full-blown destructive sinful actions that can fatally wound us and others. The law comes as a tutor to watch guard over us when we resort to our pre-Christian behavior.
Did you notice in Joseph’s response to Mrs. Potiphar, he does not say that doing this would be a violation against her or even a violation against her husband. No. He says it is a violation against God. Therefore, Joseph was not being motivated by love for her and her husband (so he states). He is motivated by something else. “How can I violate God and His law” is essentially what Joseph is saying. This is an example of how the law can come to our aid when true love for people (true faith in God) lapses. It is at those moments that law can restrain us rather than true love springing from us.
The “law as our tutor” is not a matter of time and place. It is a matter of condition. Anytime we wander into self-centered rebellious thinking, the law can keep us from destructive thinking and acting. It worked for Joseph. It can work for each of us. Especially at a moment of crisis. But operating from a regard for “law” is so far from God’s ideal. His ideal is not to restrain you but to free you.
“The Scripture has confined all under sin” (Galatians 3:22). And so, the law came so “that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful” (Romans 7:13). So that any act (like laying with Mrs. Potiphar) would be seen for the destructiveness it truly is. But the very law that confines you from any act has no power to free you and empower you. The law can keep you safe. But it will never make you free to love as our Father loves. The law can keep you secure, but it will never make you strong in the unstoppable strength of true love. Joseph refrained from laying with Mrs. Potiphar. But he failed in truly loving her and her husband. Love that would’ve helped her and her husband. Love that would lead them to regard Joseph’s God of love. This is the work of love. To save others from their loveless-ness, not just keep yourself from wickedness.
Let us not be content to be motivated by law. But be so tight with our Father that His super-abounding love can convert us from sin-avoiders to love-expressers. Convert us from standing pure and white as pillars of piety, into lovers who get dirty as we truly love our dirty brothers and sisters. Convert us to be just like our Father. Just like their Father.
With brotherly love,
Jim