While there have been times in our history when our concern for law has been an unhealthy obsession, an appreciation for law remains one of the treasures of Adventist spirituality. A high regard for law is utterly essential for healthy societies and relationships.

If you are acquainted with the people of Latin America, Africa or the Middle East, you know the citizens of these societies are every bit as generous, noble and virtuous as individuals in the United States. Maybe more so. But the political, legal and commercial life of these societies is tragically dysfunctional, and much of this dysfunction has to do with their weak legal systems. In these societies personal relationship is everything. When the law offers no check on the use of position for personal advantage and offers no leverage for individuals without connections and power, all of life is degraded. Against this backdrop the relative strength of American law and courts is seen to be a good and welcome legalism.

But it isn't just in civic and commercial life where a high regard for law promotes healthy function. Satisfying spiritual life is dependent on the order and reliability associated with law. And human sexual attraction, which offers the most wonderful sense of connection and intimacy, becomes dysfunctional and even abusive outside the guidance of law.

What Is Law?

Adventists have given a lot attention to the ten commandments because they are given a unique prominence in the Bible and include the Sabbath commandment, which is the most public marker of our community. Jesus referred to the ten commandments as authoritative and pointed beyond them to the "two commandments"-love God with your entire being and love your neighbor as yourself. (It is important to note that both "the ten" and "the two" first appear in the Books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.)

Often when Adventists speak of "the law" they are not referring to either "the two" or "the ten," instead they have in mind the fundamental notion of right and wrong. Law is shorthand for duty and obligation. It is what others expect; it is what God requires; ultimately it is what is congruent with the moral field of the universe. In this large sense, the Bible itself is not "the law;" rather, the Bible bears witness to the law. I take this to be the meaning of Jesus' statement that all the law and the prophets hang on the two commandments of love (Matt 22:40).

Law and God

Some people have an instinctive, deep confidence in God. "God said it. I believe it. That settles it." Their faith is simple and untroubled. But for many, the question, "Can God be trusted?" is intensely problematic. Is God good? Is God fair? One of the major projects of Adventist theology has been to address this question.

Adventists believe that law in its most fundamental form is not an arbitrary imposition of rules by God upon humans; rather, law is a description of the habits of God, or, in the language of Ellen White, "law is a transcript of the character of God."

God is not right merely because he says so. God is right because there is an absolute congruence between what he requires and what he is/does. The very structure of the universe is a reflection of God. Our inescapable human sense of right and wrong is a reflection of God. God himself operates within boundaries, within limits. God must do right. Not simply in the sense that if God does it, it is right, but in the sense of holding himself to the norms which he expressed in creation and which govern our best thoughts and sensibilities.

One stream of Christian theology argues that human questions about divine justice are simply irrelevant. If God calls something right, it is right just because God said so. There is no objective, universal criteria by which the Creator can be evaluated. Adventists, on the other hand, believe the Bible shows that human questions do matter. Every human question about justice and fairness will be dealt with before history is finished and we enter the eternity of bliss. Law may be a divine creation, but having created it, God himself is defined in part by law and will not violate it.

The Bones of Beauty

I collect bones. Over the years I've picked up the skulls of deer, elk, a bobcat, a beaver, mice and rats. I've collected ribs, vertebra, pelvises, phalanges and leg bones. I'm fascinated by the massive strength of an elk femur and the tiny grace of a mouse tibia. Bones are beautiful. But their beauty pales in comparison to the loveliness and grace of the body forms they support.

I was talking with a friend after church. In the far corner of the parking lot, a couple of teenagers I knew were talking. He had a nice car and she was sitting on the front fender. There was evident chemistry between them, and I wondered if I was observing a casual conversation or a budding romance. I had a hard time keeping my eyes on my own conversation and noticed my friend was having a hard time, too. The truth is, neither of us was looking at the car or the guy. The problem was the young woman: She had very long legs, and she was wearing a very short skirt. And that combination was working its very predictable magic.

For all my documented interest in skeletons, no one would believe that I was glancing across the parking lot because of that young woman's tibia, fibula, patella and femur. But the enchanting beauty that drew my eyes was utterly dependent on the strength and rigidity of a healthy skeleton. Humans possess neither beauty nor health apart from a sturdy skeleton.

Law serves as the skeleton in spiritual life. We like stories about spiritual life that feature ecstasy, wonder and miracles. But most people do not find their lives characterized by frequent miracles or continuous rapture. At times God seems distant, the Bible appears uninteresting or untrue and faith feels like fantasy. In these spiritual "dry times," 
the skeleton of spiritual habits and religious practices becomes indispensable.

We do not argue that law and duty are more important than sweetness and faith. That would be silly. No one falls in love with a skeleton. Spiritual disciplines must not be the essence of our spiritual life. The purpose of the skeleton is to support the life and beauty of the body. The role of duty and obligation, of spiritual disciplines, is to provide a sturdy framework of support for faith, hope and love.

A friend of mine once argued that genuine Christianity knew nothing of duty. A follower of Jesus should never do something just because he or she was supposed to. Instead, authentic Christians did only those things which arose from within as spontaneous and glad impulses.

Of course, he was not a parent. Changing heavy diapers, cleaning up vomit from some little person's bed at 3:30 a.m. or saying "No" to a teenager's tearful demands does not feel like "a spontaneous and glad impulse." These are loving actions. They correspond to our deepest desires to do our children good. But sometimes, we do them only because they are the right thing to do, not because, at the moment, we feel like it. When we think of love, the first thing that comes to mind is not years of attending our beloved as she battles cancer or he descends slowly into the nightmare of Alzheimer's. We don't think of the terribly difficult, almost impossibly painful work of rebuilding a marriage after an affair. But these things are every bit as much love as kisses and birthday parties, flowers and bedtime stories.

At some point in their married life, nearly all people encounter a prospective partner who seems more desirable than their spouse. Sometimes it is only the stern word of the law, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," that saves the marriage. Obviously a marriage that is only duty and obligation is far less than God's ideal. God's purpose for husbands and wives is that they will experience a union that reflects the very union of the Trinity (Gen 2:24). But a 50-year-old marriage rich in affection and shared history never happens if couples do not allow law to keep them during times of strain or illicit attraction. Law cannot create love or build rich, intimate relationships. But law builds the fence that protects the garden of love from the assaults of competing lovers, restless hormones, boredom or exhaustion. Law is a friend of love. Truly beautiful love requires the skeleton of commitment and the habits of caring.