What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” – Romans 7:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 30, 2018): Romans 7

I have to admit that the idea of modesty has always fascinated me. And, by in large, modesty is taught to us at an early age by the society in which we live. It varies from place to place throughout the world, and it also varies by age. I recently read the remarks of an older actress about some of the things that she had worn when she was younger, and to one outfit her only reply was “not bad, but what convinced me that I did not need to wear a bra under that.” The answer is that her definition of modesty had changed through the passing of the years.

Culturally modest apparel in my culture is largely based on place – and weather. Most workplaces would see a bikini on a woman – or a man – in the corporate office situation as a violation of modesty. But on a hot summer day on the beach, the dress would be quite appropriate. I was surprised as a teen at a Christian conference that, largely because of modesty, boys and girls had separate swimming times, something that never occurred where I lived. An acquaintance of mine once argued that if she couldn’t bare her breasts while she was doing lawn work in her backyard, then men shouldn’t be allowed to show theirs either. To be honest, I think her argument was more that she was tired of seeing “fat, old men without shirts” than it was that she wanted the freedom to go topless while she worked in her yard. But all of this is culturally defined.

And the goal post on all of these issues is also movable, which is what sometimes makes it difficult to stretch outside of our cultures. One of the cultural hot buttons of our contemporary world is found in the idea of a woman covering, or not covering, their hair. The head covering is a modesty question, and the truth that many of us do not seem to realize is that for a woman, or under some circumstances a man, to go out in public without their hair covered would be very similar to a woman in my culture going out in public topless. While modesty might be culturally defined, it is very difficult for most of us to violate our cultural learning, even when we venture into other cultural spaces.

Paul argues that this is the way of all law. Law is culturally defined. Law is not sin, but rather it reveals sin because sin is what does not measure up to its standard. And as readers of this ancient document, we need to understand that the idea of Law was largely in flux in Paul’s world. All of sudden, things that had been considered against the law were now being re-evaluated, especially within the non-Jewish church. As a result of this debate, The Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) had made this declaration:

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things (Acts 15:28-29).  

With this one declaration, the non-Jewish church was released from vast swaths of the law that the Gentile cultures did not share with Jewish culture. The main object of the change was circumcision, a barrier to non-Jewish cultures because they defined circumcision as immodest. But it also reflected a change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, it wiped out various food delicacies that were enjoyed by non-Jewish culture but were forbidden in Jewish culture, and many other regulations found in the Law of Moses, but not in the journals of the Law in other culture.

Paul’s point is that people could no longer be considered to be sinful just because they violated Jewish law. Romans is written to a largely Gentile audience, and they needed to be free to follow the laws of the land as they understood them, without being accused of sin.

It is something with which we still struggle, and the reason why Christianity is expressed culturally in very many ways. One form is not better than the other. But we all need to follow the dictates of our moral law as we understand them. And yet, with all of these differences, we are still followers of Christ – and still brothers and sisters in the faith.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 8