Why do we need so many rules?

How is it that when God put Adam in the garden of Eden, He only gave him one rule to follow (Genesis 2:15-17), but by the time Jesus was born, the religious Pharisees of His day had upped the number to 613?  But wait, it gets worse!  The 2016 California Penal Code is 3,350 pages long and only God knows how many different rules those pages contain.  What in the world has happened to us, that we need to be so specific about what it means to be good to others and do what’s right?

It didn’t take long for Adam (and Eve) to break the one rule God had laid down, so eventually God thought it necessary to quantify things a bit more.  So two or three thousand years later God directed to Moses to take His TEN Commandments to His people.  Why ten?  Because that’s all it took to share the essence of God’s heart:

Then God spoke all these words:  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.  Do not have other gods besides Me.  Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.
Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.  Do not murder.  Do not commit adultery.  Do not steal.  Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.  Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exo 20:1-17)

Whether you read all this or just jumped to this line, step back and look at the text.  The first paragraph just deals with who God is and how we should relate to Him.  That little section at the bottom is about how we should relate to one another.  Does that make a point with you?  If not, here it is:  God knows that if you are in a right relationship with Him, how you relate to others will just fall into place.  That’s why when Jesus was asked, He summed up all of what God wants from us into just TWO laws: Love God first with everything you’ve got and then show that love to everyone else (Matthew 22:37-39).  That’s the same thing that God had Moses share with his people – God’s “10-step Plan” for the thick-headed! 

So…why do we need so many rules?  Because we don’t seem to be able to respond to the loving character of God.  God says, “I’m God and you’re not, so live to honor me; respect those in authority; see how precious life is; work for what you want; and don’t take what’s not yours to take!”  (My paraphrase of the 10 commandments).  If we all did that, we wouldn’t need all the other rules.  You see, those rules aren’t there to trip us up – they’re there to show us God’s heart.  That’s what life is all about.  That’s what the Bible is all about.  That’s why Jesus came.   So we could see God and His love for us.  God put us here and He’s been working to show us His heart ever since.

Why do we fight so hard to make our own rules when giving up and loving the God who loves us is so simple?  Beats me, but I’m guilty as charged…. 

So grateful for the forgiveness of Jesus,

Jacob