C.S. Lewis on Psalm 119:
On three occasions the poet asserts that the Law is ‘true’ or ‘the truth’ (vv. 86, 138, 142). We find the same in Psalm 111:7, ‘all his commandments are true.’ (The word, I understand, could also be translated ‘faithful’, or ‘sound’; what is, in the Hebrew sense, ‘true’ is what ‘holds water’, what doesn’t ‘give way’ or collapse.) A modern logician would say that the Law is a command and that to call a command ‘true’ makes no sense; “The door is shut” may be true or false but “Shut the door” can’t. But I think we all see pretty well what the Psalmists mean. They mean that in the Law you find the ‘real’ or ‘correct’ or stable, well-grounded, directions for living. The Law answers the question “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” (119:9). It is like a lamp, a guide (v. 105). There are many rival directions for living, as the Pagan cultures all round us show.
-C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, Sweeter than Honey
Lewis is getting at the idea that the ‘truth’ of the Law of God is not only in its concreteness and congruence to reality, but also in its superiority as a way of life. Loving God and loving neighbor is just plain better than any other system of morality.
As I was digging for a specific quote last night from this section of Reflections on the Psalms, I found myself stopping at the above quote. One thought gripped me, and I share it with you. If we are going to show the beauty and supremacy of Christianity, specifically of what the Book of Acts calls ‘the Way,’ the issue will not simply be that we obey the 10 Commandments. The difference is going to be not only our keeping of the Law, but how our keeping of the Law forms a way of life that is contrary to the way of the world around us.
Our culture, here in modern America at least, and I am sure in much of Europe, is steeped in Darwinism. It sounds like a cliche, but ‘survival of the fittest’ is the way. You are taught from the cradle that you are special, that you are fit, and encouraged to increase though it may cause others to decrease. Sure, you will perform charity. But you will do it that you might increase all the more – padding your own self-esteem and notoriety at the expense of a few dollars dropped in someone’s guitar case.
If our Way is to stand out, it will be because of the ‘truth’ of the Law in the sense that the psalmist used it and Lewis understood it. It will not only be that we do not kill, but that we do not kill when we ourselves are threatened (think how this stands against the Hunger Games mentality). It will not only be that we do not commit adultery, but that we genuinely love our spouses and have mortified the desires of hearts to lust for others at all, we desire no spousal upgrades. It will not only be that we do not steal, but that we do not covet what is not ours, have no desire to climb ladders, and instead are willing to humble ourselves and give sacrificially. It will not only be that we do not lie, but that we are known as those who stand on concrete principles and do not sway, we let our yes be yes and our no be no and refuse to play games with words for the sake of political correctness or faux-offense.
We will testify to the truth of the Law by going against the grain of Darwinism, but also by going against the grain of Pop-Culture. Not only will we not kill, but we will not kill even for the sake of attention, mass attention. Not only will we not commit adultery, we could not care less if anyone is lusting after us beside our spouse, we won’t twerk for attention. Not only will we not steal, we will not covet riches, porsches and mansions and spots on MTV’s Cribs. Not only will we not lie, we will not lie to make ourselves look better, or more glamorous, than we actually are, we will detest self-aggrandizement.
Law-keeping, for the modern Christian, must have a conscious counter-cultural beauty about it. And when it does, we will illustrate what the psalmist says about the law – that the Law is truth.
How are we going to get there? Only by seeing how Christ kept the Law (for us) and abiding in him. For he says, ‘Apart from me, you can do nothing.’ This is no cookie cutter do this, don’t do that type of law-keeping. This is living with wisdom as we discern the signs of the times. This is Jesus Christ, the great counter-culture in one person, living out his life in us by the Spirit. Living out the truth – that if one seeks to gain his life he will lose it, that if one desires to be great he must be a servant of all. This is loving God and loving neighbor by living for them, dying for them, and serving them. And this way is greater.
Beautiful!
Thank you.