PROPHECY and Our Lawless Generation
if these people disobeyed, it was lawlessness and it was sin. For instance, God gave Adam specific instructions as to what to do and what not to do. The posi tive injunction was for Adam to dress the garden o f Eden and to keep it (Gen. 2:15). For Adam to disobey God at this point would have been sin. The Lord also told Adam not to eat o f the tree of knowledge of good and evil ( Gen.2:17). This was a negative injunction, and for Adam to dis obey would have been lawlessness and sin. But this is the command that Adam did disobey, and the result was rebellion against the authority of God. He transgressed God’s law to him. God also told Abraham some things to do, the disobedience of which would have been sin. Of Abraham, however, it is said he “obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 26:5). What this revelation was to Abraham, we do not know, but he evidently obeyed it. We today may likewise rebel against the authority of God. God has given us His express com mands to believe and obey, and for us not to do so would be sin. For instance, some positive things for us to do are to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). For the believer not to do that would be sin. We also have nega tive injunctions like not to be con formed to this world or not to steal (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:28). If an action is not specified as to whether or not we are to do it, our Lord has left us with several all-inclusive principles, such as to walk in wisdom toward those that are without and to do all to the glory of God (Col. 4 :5 ; I Cor. 10:31). The point is that if we do not obey God’s Word, we are re belling against the authority of God. This is lawlessness and ac cording to the biblical definition is sin. What we are seeing today, then,
T he D efin ition of L awlessness
Webster’s dictionary defines lawlessness as that which is “without law; not regulated by the authority o f law; . . . not obeying the law; unruly; disor derly.” In other words, it is that which is against authority or just plain rebellion. But what does the Bible say about this term? The Scripture actually relates lawlessness to a definition o f sin: “Whosoever commits sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is transgression o f the law (literally, lawless ness)” (I John 3 :4). Here, a bib lical definition for sin is simply that it is lawlessness. There are people, however, who do not define sin in this way. Some define sin as an illusion or a myth. They think that the only sin man has is the sin o f the mind. The only problem with man is that he is weak and needs more education. These are the ones who cannot explain guilt feelings of sinners nor changed lives of be lievers. Others define sin as sel fishness. If a man steals food for his family but not for himself, these people would say that that was not sin. This is because he was not stealing on behalf of him self but on behalf o f others. But certainly this is not the way the court would view it, and is there fore another erroneous definition for sin. A correct definition of sin must in some way be related to God. This is why this biblical definition is so important. It simply states that sin is anything committed against God’s law; it is rebellion against the authority of God. T he D escription of L awlessness However, what do we mean by God’s law? What law are we talk ing about? Well, it depends on what people we are talking about and what revelation God gave them concerning what to do and what not to do. God told different people different things to do, and,
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W HAT WILL TAKE PLACE in the nex t few months? What city is next after Watts, Newark, and Detroit? When and where will the na tion ’s restlessness strike next? We are living in a day of op position. One of the more impor tant conclusions of the President’s recent Commission on Civil Dis orders is that lawlessness abounds on every hand and something must be done. A former secretary o f the Army and now Indiana University’s p res iden t, E lv is Stahr, says, “One of the disturb ing things we see today is the number of students who seek to be a divisive influence on the cam pus. They seek to tear the uni versity fabric apart. It’s like hav ing students say they don’t need football coaches; they can run the team and plan game tactics them selves.” In every area of life and in all areas of the world, that which characterizes this age is lawless ness. There is rebellion not only on the campus but also in the home, work, and country. There is rebellion among young people and older people, rich and poor, intelligent and uneducated. Re spect for law and order is rapidly diminishing. Respect for author ity is disappearing. For students of the Bible, the most significant aspect of this un rest today is its relationship to the prophetic Word of God. Fac ing this fast-changing world in which we live and the continual breakdown of authority, many are asking if there is any rele vance of the Word of God to this present world situation.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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