My daughter and I were discussing the Bible the other day, and the question of other cultures and their accountability under the Law, the Torah, came up. Among Christians who have delved beyond the basics, certain questions, including the idea of our responsibility to follow the laws of another culture, laws we might not even know, come up a lot. The question comes up from a concern for those who have not come to faith in Christ.

This concern often brings up the question, “is it reasonable to hold those who do not know the Law responsible to keep the Law?” Here are some issues inherent to this question which can provide a structure for any discussion of it:

1. People who do not come into a relationship with Jesus through faith will perish.
2. It is desirable that others, who not in a relationship with Jesus, gain a positive eternal state.
3. It is desirable that those who do not follow Jesus avoid a negative everlasting condition.
4. Is it just or fair to holde someone accountable for failing to act in accord with the Law, if it is a law they may not know?

The first, second, and third issues are generally not in question. The New Testament makes it clear that the pivotal concern of God is reconciling flawed humanity to Himself. The fourth one is where we most often feel friction. How can God hold people accountable for something they didn’t know? In American law, people are often held accountable for laws they may not know. We accept this assignment of this guilt for two main reasons:

1. If it causes harm, one should know better.
2. Too many people could avoid the penalty for breaking the law by claiming ignorance.

The idea that breaking a law can cause harm, is widely understood. The idea behind people avoiding penalty by claiming ignorance is ripe for ethical discussion. Personally, I am mostly OK with the second, especially under certain circumstances. The issue is that our laws are not always cohesive or seemingly coherent, and some are even contradictory. For me, it is the laws that seem contradictory to ethical behavior that create the hardest questions.

Should a person be responsible for the specific Law of God whether they know it or not? My daughter’s thinking was that all people had revelation of God. Without the teaching of God’s Word, this revelation fades, creating cultures where people don’t know His law. Regardless, the revelation left an imprint on every human mind, creating a set of individual beliefs and ideals, the psychological “superego,” and
providing every person with a set of norms that reflect God’s law. And yet, we all fail to live up to our own superego, our own individual internalized ideals, whether we ever knew the law of God or not.

The Law of God is available to everyone. We can see it in nature and we can see it through our own practical reasoning. What we cannot know from nature, what we do not have available through our practical reasoning, is the supernatural revelation that after we fail, and all fail, there is redemption available in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. (If this area is of interest to you, see ‘general revelation’ and ‘special revelation’.) What we know is that, whatever code we are living by, we break it regularly, and this knowledge causes us to feel guilt.

Paul, one of the writers of the New Testament, identifies guilt specifically with the knowledge that one has acted in opposition to a code, rather than with the act of breaking that code. This is why announcing and proclaiming the Law brings/increases guilt. Without knowing a specific set of laws, we feel guilty when we fail to live up to how we think we should live.

Guilt can be positive, as it can aid us in recognizing how we should live. Pain can have the same effect. The New Testament calls us to live beyond the Law given to Moses, as expessed in the ten commandments. We are called to live the “Law of Love,” as expressed by Jesus when he commanded us to love God and love our neighbor. We feel ourselves breaking the “Law of Love,” whenever we feel remorse as we pass the beggar or oppressed without sharing the love of God with them.

Love is expressed as one fruits of the Spirit, agaist which there can be no law:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

According to Scripture, those who do not know the law will perish but will do so apart from the law. It is those who know the law who will be judged by it. Society has an abundance of laws, as do sub cultures. Religion brings on an abundance of guilt. If we add rules beyond the “Law of Love” we can cause people to stumble or even stop their growth. Rather than causing stumbling, we need to make straigh paths, build up, and encourage. Rather than letting people know where they fail to act correctly we need to encourage them to know and live out God’s “Law of Love”.

We should ask, “What expectations do I have that bring unnecessary guilt to myself and others.” Which of these codes are manufactured by cultural norms, having nothing to do with living the Law of Love with the Lord of the Dance? Let’s not fall in with the lying scribes described in Jeremiah 8:8, adding to the law given by God for others to follow, “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us?’ But in fact, the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception.”

Our focus needs to be on acting in love toward God and our neighbor, rather that focusing on breaking the law. Focusing on ourselves or others breaking a code actually creates a playground for sin and weighs the encumbered down in guilt.

* Notes and versus used in writing. Romans (2:12-16, 5:6-17, and 7:7-13)