My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
- James 1:19-21
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
- Proverbs 2:1-11
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
- Romans 1:18-20
“Moral rules are directions for running the human machine. Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine.”
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
On my favorite television show, Hard Questions, on Cornerstone Television Network, they have four pastors and a moderator. They answer hard questions from the Bible.
One recent rerun, they had a question about odd rules in Leviticus that are “ignored” these days and the person calling in asked what other of God’s Laws could also be ignored.
One pastor immediately said that we should never “ignore” any part of the Bible. Jesus fulfilled the blood sacrifice, but we should not ignore those laws. We should learn from them and discover how Jesus paid the penalty once and for all while the Levitical sacrifices were only a covering of our sin and they had to be repeated.
Then, another pastor talked about the three types of laws in the latter half of Exodus, throughout Leviticus, and into Numbers, with a lot being repeated in Deuteronomy. There was ceremonial law, and that was the portion that Jesus fulfilled. There was a social law (maybe I am getting the word wrong here) where God set His chosen people apart from the pagans around them. Within those laws, we get the unclean animals, that I contend that in many cases, required special preparation or handling. In eliminating those things from the Jewish diet, it avoids those parasites, worms, bacteria, etc. that can be destroyed if you know how to do it and have the technology.
But then we have the moral law. The moral law is woven into the fabric of our minds. We intuitively know that murder is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Lying under oath (bearing false witness) is a miscarriage of justice. And when we covet someone else’s stuff, it can lead to those other moral laws. We have no excuse for ignoring moral law.
Of course, those who are used to using their intuition are safe drivers. They look out for their own safety on the road, but they are courteous to other drivers to make the roads safer in general.
Lying about the capability of the product you are trying to sell can backfire on you. We simply know that we step onto dangerous ground when we do such things.
The Scripture from James is the only mention of the word “moral” in the NIV, but only the first half of Proverbs 2 is quoted above. The entire chapter is about a father teaching his son to love wisdom by living a moral life, just not mentioning the word.
And Romans 1:20 speaks of how through nature and our own human nature, we have no excuse. We know when we are doing wrong. Anything that leaves our neighbor short on the stick or harms someone else, while we gain, that is ill-gotten gain. I have been short on cash much of my life, but I have turned down get-rich-quick schemes. Almost always, the person getting rich is doing so at someone else’s expense.
But when we live in a civilized society where a Moral Law is manifest, we have that machine that C. S. Lewis mentions that can keep that community going in the right direction.
And the best way to keep that machine going is to keep our eyes on the Savior. I recently read where someone equated repentance as turning to God and keeping our eyes on God. Indeed, when we glance away, sometimes only for a second, we set ourselves up for a fall.
Keep your eyes on the One without sin, Jesus Christ, and the moral law will flow through you.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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