And all these things…

A quick glance through any number of the recently published works of major Christian organizations, Christian media outlets and blogs, Facebook and Twitter debates between Christians, and you will find that seemingly everyone is on fire for social justice, whether advocating for this position or against that one. I certainly wouldn’t suggest that the people engaged in such debates are ever doing so from ill-will or bad motives, but many of these debates result in a tremendous amount of heat and very little light. Nor will I suggest that these debates or concerns have no place in Christian discussion. They most certainly do and are extremely important. It is precisely here that understanding the fact that the Ten Commandments were given to a people already saved out of slavery is critical.

First, contrary to liberalism (as described by Dr. Machen in Christianity and Liberalism), we need Christ for more than an example. We need to be saved by God. We cannot save ourselves by our social virtue. We cannot save ourselves either by flipping the tables of the money-changers or by playing the good Samaritan. We cannot find a savior in political parties or movements. No, God must reach from His infinite life across the absolute deadness of our sinful estate. Corpses cannot pull themselves up by their bootstraps before an infinitely holy God. Again, the Ten Commandments were given to a people who had been rescued by God. As Dr. Michael Horton would remind us, the indicative (who we are declared to be) precedes the imperative (what we are commanded to do).

Second, the Ten Commandments are given to a people who have been saved. We have always been obligated to obey God because we were created by Him and for Him. But now, we are doubly obligated because we have been re-created in Christ. In our former state, we could not obey because we were slaves to sin. We were saved in order to obey. The imperative does follow the indicative. We are not saved in order that we can continue to live hellish lives. We are called to holiness.

The reason why so many of these debates on social justice result in more heat than light is that we are prone to put the imperative before the indicative or falsely accuse others of doing so when they make us uncomfortable. Yes, alarm bells should be clanging in your ears when you see someone declare a particular social problem to be “a gospel issue.” In the same way, we cannot ignore the calls to the obedience resulting from the accomplished salvation we have in Christ. While we can never reverse the indicative and the imperative without endangering the Gospel and our very souls, we can honestly rejoice in knowing that getting them in the correct order means we will get both salvation and the blessings of obedience.