Many times I would hear about the Ten Commandments and think, “Why is God giving so many rules and they’re all so negative? ‘Don’t do this…don’t do that…don’t murder…don’t lie…don’t steal.’ Then Jesus takes it to another level when He says the spirit of the Law is to not even do these things in my heart (thoughts, attitudes). ‘Don’t hate…don’t envy…don’t lust…don’t have greed.’” My first reaction is, “Good grief! No one is perfect! I can’t help it sometimes. I’m only human.” Then it occurs to me. That’s exactly what the Ten Commandments are trying to get me to see: I’m not perfect. No one is perfect. I can’t be perfect. In fact, the harder I try, the more I’ll become aware my very nature is to violate God’s law. As someone once said, “He says, ‘Do this’ and I don’t. He says, ‘Don’t do this’ and I do.”
At this point many people will say, “Well, no one is perfect. We’re all in the same boat (as if there’s security in numbers). I’m okay. You’re okay.” If we were talking about being accepted by each other, “I’m okay, you’re okay” might be okay. The problem is we are talking about acceptance by God and He says we’re not okay. His standard for acceptance is moral perfection. He cannot lower the standard and say, “That’s okay, just do your best.” God’s standard remains the same because God’s character remains the same. His standard of moral perfection cannot be met by us; therefore, it is a barrier to us.
This barrier reveals the fallacy in the way I answered my friend’s question regarding why I thought God should let me into heaven. I hoped that if the deeds of my life were measured on moral scales, my good deeds would outweigh my bad deeds. I was hoping I could live an “okay” life and that would be the basis upon which God would accept me. If I am hoping (trusting) that the life I live will be morally good enough for Him to accept me, I am basically trying to approach God by keeping His commandments. I am trusting He will see the moral effort I am making and be pleased enough to accept me on this basis. If I’m going to approach Him in this way, I must know what He has said about the way His law/commandments work. The Scriptures tell us this is the way His law works: if I keep all the commandments and break one, I am guilty of breaking them all.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor (violator) of the law.
This standard of perfection is foreign to us. Think about walking into a classroom to take a test and the teacher says, “Here’s how I grade. If you get all the questions right except one, you have missed all of them. It’s all or nothing. If you don’t get all of them right, you have gotten none of them right.” Even as I write these words, a part of me wants to say, “That’s not fair. That means you have to be perfect. There’s no area in between. I either get a grade of 100 or zero and there is no way to get 100.” If I cringe at reading this, I am getting an accurate glimpse of my moral dilemma before God. The tension I feel is appropriate. It is literally impossible to measure up to His standard of moral perfection. It is pure fantasy for me to think He will grade on a curve or that a “good effort” on my part will make the grade.
If I remember this moral standard must be kept from the heart, it drives home even further the helplessness of my situation. Lust is committing adultery from the heart. Hate is committing murder from the heart. Although I may restrain my outward actions (adultery, murder), my inner thoughts (lust, hatred) are not so easily controlled. Even attitudes of the heart I perceive as admirable may be found lacking when compared to a standard of moral perfection. James 2:8 tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves (His perfect standard). Verse 9 says if we show partiality to someone, we are committing sin (falling short of His perfect standard and missing the mark). As a result, we are convicted by the Law as transgressors (law-breakers). Showing partiality falls short of loving perfectly. He loves everyone equally without partiality at all times. We don’t. This “minor transgression” in our eyes is considered a violation of the whole law in His eyes. Violation of one…guilty of all.
His moral standard must be kept from the heart. I must be perfect in every way at all times. If I’m honest with myself, I know it’s already too late. I can’t undo yesterday or all the days before. I know I won’t be perfect at all times in the future. Basically, the Law says to me, “This route to God (thru good behavior) is closed to you. You are not perfect. No entrance granted.” It’s like going through the metal detector at the airport and the beeper keeps going off. The perfect moral standard of His law blocks my entrance because it says only the morally perfect can enter in and no man qualifies.