On the right side of the Law. How Gentiles can live the privilege of being God’s people I (Ephesians 4:17-5:20 and Leviticus)
Be Gentile with me, but not that Gentile
If we are awake to the themes of Gentile inclusion
running through Ephesians, 4:17 comes as something of a shock. Yes, it is wonderful
that Gentile believers are now included in God’s people, and yes, this time of Gentile
inclusion is a wonderful moment - God’s dwelling place is finally where it should be, but, for heaven’s sake, “you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their minds.” It’s wonderful that Gentiles are included, however, that
does not mean that Gentiles should be completely unchanged as they come into God’s
people. The great privileges of being God’s dwelling place mean that a change in
behaviour is necessary.
The simple question of the Old
Testament Law
At this point, there are several echoes of parts
of the Old Testament Law (the instructions in the first five books of the Bible).
Galatians and Colossians, which are in many ways quite similar to Ephesians, are
very clear that following the Old Testament Law can be hugely counterproductive,
and in fact completely anti-Christian, if done in the wrong way. They do, however,
both show that there are some aspects of the Law which have carried through into
New Testament times. Ephesians, which is not clearly correcting specific false teaching,
presents the same ideas but much more positively. The emphasis being “stay on the
right side of the Law” rather than “don’t keep going with the wrong side of the
Law”.
This issue has divided Christians for centuries:
how much of the Old Testament Law applies to us now that Jesus has come? The best
answers to that question are thoroughly New-Testament-driven, and hopefully we will
be able to see some answers by considering similarities between Ephesians 4:17-5:20
and Leviticus.
This is slightly different to previous links I’ve
made between Ephesians and Old Testament books, because here I am not claiming that
there are quotations or even particularly strong allusions in the text (though there
are a few weak ones). This section of Ephesians does continue to quote the Old Testament,
including Psalms (Ephesians 4:26) and Isaiah (Ephesians 4:30, 5:14, as discussed previously), so we can see that the Old Testament is informing Paul’s writing. However,
on a broad conceptual level, there are many similarities to the logic of Leviticus,
which I think will help us understand what a healthy attitude towards the Law might
be.
A gross simplification of the message
and structure of Leviticus
Leviticus is a wonderful but weighty book, about
the holiness of God, and the great difficulty and privilege of Him dwelling amongst
His people. It is possible to gain a lot from Leviticus by essentially reading it
as a large list of God’s difficult (but reasonable, given who He is) demands. However,
even more can be gained when we notice a slight development throughout the book.
There are certain points within Leviticus which move the drama on, and which alter
the type of demands that God makes.
For the sake of brevity, I will massively simplify
this: Leviticus 16 is a very significant chapter. It is the chapter which initiates
the Day of Atonement, which was an annual celebration which allowed God’s presence
to remain in the midst of his people, despite their unholiness and uncleanness.
It involved sacrifices of two goats, including the “scapegoat”, who was symbolically
given the sin of the whole people and then left to wander into the wilderness, taking
the sin outside the camp.
We can, very simplistically, divide Leviticus into
two: before the Day of Atonement, and after the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus 1-15,
before the day of Atonement, there are lots of stipulations about sacrifices and
offerings (e.g. of animals, wheat etc.). These were designed ultimately as a way
for God’s people to come into His presence, and, if everything was going well, enjoy a family meal with Him. There are also lots of rules about how the people can be
ritually clean enough to even consider going near God’s presence to bring a sacrifice.
There is a lot of emphasis on how the people could ritually purify themselves so
that they could be in an acceptable state (and avoid a repeat of Leviticus 10!).
After Leviticus 16, however, there is a slight shift
in emphasis. God’s presence in the midst of His people remains important, but there
are aspirations not only that God’s people might be able to go in to enjoy time
with Him, but also that the whole people might be holy enough that God could wander
out. If Israel are holy, then God says in Leviticus 26:12, “I will walk among you
and will be your God, and you shall be my people.” God walking among His people
is similar to the language used of the Garden of Eden, before the Fall. God is showing
His people a route for the whole congregation to be the place where He dwells, rather
than just a small tent in the middle of them.
The Ephesians-y-ness of the second
half of Leviticus
This end goal sounds very Ephesians-y! God comes
to dwell in His people. And what’s striking is that the means by which Leviticus
says this might happen is also very Ephesians-y.
The exact sorts of things which Gentiles ought to
do now they have become part of God’s dwelling place in Ephesians 4:17-5:20 are
also the exact sorts of things God calls His people to do in the second half of
Leviticus. This is nothing to do with offering animals or grain, and nothing to
do with ritual purity: that would be to go back to the Law systems that have been
abolished (see Ephesians 2:15), and it would be to go back to a time where God’s
presence was only in one physical place amongst one group of people. Instead, this
is to do with the relational purity which would enable God to make His living temple
within people. This is relational purity, both regarding relationship with God and
with other members of His people.
The two main categories God seems to care about
most in the second half of Leviticus, when giving instructions to the whole people
(rather than specifically to the priests for example) relate to loving one another
(e.g. Leviticus 19), and rejecting idolatry (e.g. Leviticus 17), including contemporary
idolatrous practices, such as different types of sexual immorality (e.g. Leviticus 18 and 20).
So, when Paul says “you must no longer walk as the
Gentiles do...”, it is no surprise that this sounds so similar to Leviticus 18:3-4:
“You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived and you shall
not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not
walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statues and walk in
them. I am the LORD your God.”
Areas of change for Gentiles in
God’s community
After setting this “don’t walk as the Gentiles”
headline in 4:17-24, Paul unpacks what he means.
Firstly, he focusses on what this means for their
relationships with one another, in 4:25-5:2. He contrasts the wrong, former ways
that they used to live (e.g. falsehood, theft and anger) and presents a better way
to live, based on the good news that has been rearticulated in Ephesians 1-3 (see
e.g. Ephesians 4:32). These better ways are similar to parts of Leviticus 19, such
as 19:11 and 19:17-18.
Secondly, from 5:3-20,* Paul goes into the ways
God’s people should reject idolatry. Now that they have become God’s dwelling place,
it is utterly unacceptable for them to continue in practices which idol-worshipers
continue in. This category includes drunkenness (5:18) and sexual immorality (5:3)
which is a massive theme in Leviticus 18, Leviticus 19:29 and Leviticus 20. What’s
interesting about this section is the alternative to living idolatrously. Other
than different ways of saying “avoid bad things” (e.g. exposing badness/idolatry
within your own life, as in 5:8-14), it seems that the main positive alternative
is to be thankful (5:4 and 5:20). The big way we can counter the allure of other
gods, avoiding the pull of the anti-God world around us, and the alcohol and sex
that seems so much better, is to cultivate thankfulness at the goodness of the gospel
that has been revealed, and in which all nations can now be included.
If we are thanking God regularly for the goodness
of being part of his new dwelling place, it will help us to live in this post-Atonement-day
world, whilst walking away from the path of the Gentiles and staying on the right
side of the Law.
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