Moral theology...

Two weeks ago Dr Kania focused on conscience. Last week his commentary focused on "The Way of Christ". To complete this trilogy, this week Andrew explores the tension that exists in finding the correct balance between the excessive legalism involved in slavishly following the letter of moral law and the licentiousness that some at the other extreme seem to advocate in an unbounded belief that the spirit of the law allows one to follow whatever feeling comes into one's head. He argues that Jesus points to the correct balance between these two extreme positions.

The Roman orator and lawyer, Marcus Tullius Cicero is recorded as taking a case with the desire to test the extent of his powers of persuasion. The scenario in question involved a young man who had brutally murdered his elderly mother and father. Cicero, looking forward to the challenge, stood in the youth's defence. His talents of oratory and legal acumen were so great that after his closing comments, the court was filled with people wailing in distress for the plight of the poor young man, who deserved the mercy of the court due to his forlorn status of being an orphan.

The irony of Cicero's legal victory lies in how it highlights the precarious tension which exists between the prescriptive following of the letter of the law, and the ambiguous application of the spirit of the law. It is quite evident that if either is taken to its extreme, cruel justice abounds, or no justice is dispensed at all. Certainly there is ample evidence in the Gospels of the upholding by Christ of spirit of the law and Christ's revulsion to the prescriptive and hypocritical Pharisees who: "clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness" (Luke 11: 39). Yet conversely there appears to be an equal amount of evidence in Sacred Scripture for Christ strongly defending the truth of the Mosaic Law: "In truth I tell you, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved" (Matthew 5: 18). So how should the Christian view the letter and spirit of the law?

The precedence of the spirit of the law over the letter of the law...

St Basil the Great

The notion of the precedence of the spirit of the law over the letter was developed by the Eastern fathers, such as St. Basil the Great and St. John of Damascus; the latter going as far as to say in his On Divine Images, that one should never forget "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life".

The 17th century French Statesman-cum-Cardinal, Armand-Jean du Plessis Richelieu, provides an interesting, and unwitting gloss of the writings of the Damascene when he concludes, "If you give me six lines written by the most honest men, I will find something in there to hang them". Richelieu hones in on the fact that every human is fallible before the Law. The Eastern fathers understood this well before Richelieu made a career out of its application.

	St John of Damascus

The Gospels clearly reveal Christ's intent, the calling for a tempering of the Law so as to bring the Truth to its fulfilment: "Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them" (Matthew 5: 17). Contrary to contemporary belief, Christ broke no Law, but fulfilled and revealed the original purpose of the Law, according to the mercy of God and the plan of divinization for the human person. One cannot apply the spirit of the Law without first understanding and loving the letter of the Law; and further, a defence of the spirit of the Law must always be integrated with, and not alienated from, the letter to which it subscribes. To reject the Law by over-emphasizing the spirit to which it pertains is like writing a novel without a plot.

Jesus urges a balance...

The teaching of Christ is firmly bound in the nature of His Incarnation. From one perspective we see His divinity, from the other His humanity; at one point his perfection as God, at another point, the frailties which are bound to the human condition. We must accept both in order to come to the realization of the nature of Christ. Christ can be depicted as the friend in denim jeans, but even so, at the same moment he is no less the Pantocrator. The Christian can not disembowel the letter of the Law from its spirit, nor vice-versa, for they are as entwined as the nature of the Incarnation itself.

Yet the notion of the spirit of the Law must be tempered, lest it become an excuse as that described in François Rabelais' witty writings of lewdness disguised with good intent. In fact Dante in The Divine Comedy succinctly points out that the road to Hell is often paved with the best of intentions. The precedence of the spirit of the law is neither a euphemism nor carte blanche for sin. God is utterly merciful, but not supremely naïve.

God in Christ, who shared our condition is more than aware of our ability to fall, as He is with our capacity to rise. In the formula of the Rite of Reconciliation in the Byzantine tradition of the Catholic Church, the penitent often uses the prayer: "God be merciful to me a sinner". The emphasis here is placed on the frailty of the human condition, that the penitent is in need of spiritual bearings.

If we extend this latter analogy further, we are all vessels cast upon the vast ocean of life, each of us in search of the same far off port. The Law is the star by which we regulate our vessels to this distant harbour. From time to time, the conditions and circumstances we find ourselves in, rely on the patience and mercy of those waiting for us. In the case of our lives, God has given us the star, he is in the wind pushing us to our destination, and is also our welcoming party on our arrival.

Aristotle teaches us of the golden mean, and its key to the virtuous life. The falling away to either side of legalism or liberalism with regard the Law are equally dangerous. In the former we have religion turned into scrupulous moral accountancy, the journeyman too petrified to embark for fear of the journey; a person who like the Pharisees may indeed check all the boxes but, "does unto others, before they can do him".

In the alternate case we have uncodified happy clapping, a pleasant journey to nowhere, a situation which can lead to the maxim that "God loves a cheerful sinner". It is perhaps the greatest of all challenges faced by Christians to transcend such notions of religion which see us fall to extremes. Perhaps this is the reason that when on being asked how to simplify the Law in order to fulfil a righteous life, Christ responded with absolute clarity both on how to maintain the letter, as well as sustain the spirit of the Law: "This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12: 31). How often are the simplest Laws the most powerful, and the most difficult to fulfil.

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©2007 Dr Andrew Thomas Kania

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