Either the Law or Love

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

EITHER THE LAW OR LOVE

Acts 23:23-35

23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix." 25 He wrote a letter as follows: 26 Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. 31 So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. 34 The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers get here." Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace.

NIV

And so the long-drawn-out set of circumstances that will bring Paul to Rome had begun with this letter to the Governor Felix. The case against Paul will soon begin, but he must wait for those accusers, those liars, to come and present their false charges. Paul will be able to speak up about Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, but the righteous and the wicked. We will get to that soon enough, but what can we learn from this narrative? The letter made it clear that the accusations were based on Jewish law, not on any action against the government under Roman rule or against Caesar. We wonder why, then, a Roman governor sits in the judgment seat against a dispute among the Jews. Of course, the Jews have no authority to sit in judgment because they are an occupied people, under the rule of Roman law. What comes to mind is that we appear to live under two sets of laws, but in reality, there is only one. There is the law of God that demands we obey the law of the land. Nevertheless, we should not confuse the law of God with some set of rules and regulations we set upon ourselves. Jesus made that clear enough when he was questioned by an expert in the law about the greatest command in the law. Jesus told him that the greatest command was to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, and the second was to love others as we love ourselves. We wonder why we put ourselves under the yoke of bondage to the law, or some set of rules we think makes us look holy or righteous. Sure, we want to live in a manner that pleases the Lord, but if we live under the principles of love, then we would be pleasing the Lord. All the laws we could come up with, some of the truths in the scriptures that we want to apply to ourselves, and others, are all covered under the law of love. It always comes down to either the law or love.