"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).
Human nature characteristically inclines to a loss of objectivity. Cause and effect are frequently confused; matters of consequence become lost in pursuits of the peripheral; and the ephemeral often takes on qualities of the substantive and significant.
Jesus repeatedly addressed concerns of this nature by emphasizing that: (1) divine requirements exist for meaningful purposes as opposed to the imposition of rules for mere rule's sake (Mark 2:27); (2) that fundamental principles take precedence over tangential interests (Matt. 23:23); and (3) that differentiation between greater and lesser concerns is essential to faith's interests (Luke 13:15-16).
To many of Christ's day such distinctions had become largely obscured. Convinced that God was vitally interested in their hand and dish washing routines and tithing of mint leaves, their abandonment of "the weightier matters of justice, mercy and good faith" had led to a legalistic self-focused "spirituality" that Jesus compared to "straining out gnats while swallowing camels" (Matt. 23:23-24; Mark 7:4f).
Nor are we immune to predispositions of this nature. While presently not the issue of days past, the following will nonetheless suffice in demonstrating the point. We well recall the time wherein a primary concern of "holiness" emphasis centered on the wearing of jewelry. (Indeed, my own mother would not wear a wedding ring.) Prohibition purportedly existed in I Peter 3:3 despite the fact that such interpretation necessarily proscribed one's wearing of clothes as well - the "putting on of apparel." That the apostle's intent was clearly defined by the verse's context (i.e., beauty in its greater sense derives, not from pretentious show and extravagance, but rather quality of spirit) seemed to little bear upon the matter. (Then, of course, there were those who permitted the wearing of jewelry - of any kind and in any amount - so long as it was not worn on the ear. God only knows where that came from.)
What really counts in the life of faith? Throughout his ministry Jesus emphasized, above all, quality of spirit and relationship in terms of both God and man. Herein, indeed, lay the consistent thrust of his expositions upon the "weightier matters of justice, mercy and good faith."
In terms of source and outworking, the issue finds essential definition in the "fruit of the Spirit," i.e., outliving of the indwelling Christ by agency of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25) - so serving the interests of an increasing "conformity to the image of [God's] Son" (Rom. 8:29).
Are there prohibitions in "walking humbly with one's God?" Of course. In contrast to the "fruit of the Spirit" ("love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"), the "works of the flesh" include "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outburts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these" (Gal. 5:19-21).
Again, "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9-10.)
Simply stated, biblical spirituality involves an inward reality from which then emanates godly demeanor, attitudes, behavior and quality of character - as opposed to an inner state created by external observance. In the reversal of this order, one soon becomes vulnerable to legalism, spiritual pride and self-initiated externalism as substitute for that "true holiness" to which the apostle makes reference in Ephesians 4:24. It was here that the Pharisees failed.
Once understood, the foregoing will clarify many things.
Burl Ratzsch
