Think this through and you will see that I am right.

As hesitant as I am to pull my topic from the Gospel of John, this quotation really struck me.

When defending Himself from the Pharisees for working on the Sabbath, Jesus states that many Jews work on the Sabbath by performing circumcisions on the Sabbath, if the timing fits for the child to be circumcised that day. His response was this:

"So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the Sabbath? Think this through and you will see that I am right." John 7:23-24

So, how do we think this through? Well, it goes back to the moral authority of legalism. We have two choices when it comes to Bible interpretation. Biblical commands and edicts are either NOT open to interpretation, or they are. If one believes that they are not open to interpretation, then every single command of the bible must be followed. This would be the legalist's stance. If the Lord tells us to forgive our debts every seven years, then we must do this. If the Lord tells us to celebrate the year of Jubilee, then we must do as He says. The bible cannot, in this system, be a Chinese menu of options. I'll have the 1st, 3rd, and 5th commandments, please... You can hold the rest...

No, the legalistic stance, which was the stance favored by the Pharisees, was that biblical commands were not open to interpretation, and therefore holiness could be gauged by one's adherence to these commands. However, if even one of those proscriptions is violated, where is one's moral authority to pick and choose which command to follow and which command to neglect?

In other words, once a person decides to let one of the commands slip, say, Saturday circumcisions, how does one then justify a blind adherence to legalism in which one then would be committing sin by performing such an act? By ignoring the proscription about circumcision, the violator has two choices. He has to either acknowledge his action as sin, or state that it is not a sin, thereby opening up the bible to interpretation.

If he acknowledges his action as sin, then he is condemning the child, circumcised in sin. But if he opens the bible to interpretation, then he has no "God-Granted" moral authority to deny another's right to interpret the bible as he, or He, may see fit.

By telling the crowd this truth, Jesus encouraged them to use their intellect to see through the smokescreen of oppressive, abusive, legalism, and find a new path to God.

But that is the problem. Once one starts down that slippery slope of interpretive excess, where does it stop? Left unfettered, the process tends toward Derrida's deconstructionist stance, and we lose God in the process. Jesus preemptive response, given before his encouragement of intellect, was to state, "I'm not teaching my own ideas, but those of God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own." John 7:16-17

Jesus speaks of a dedication to God, even while breaking the culture of legalism imposed by strict adherence to Judaic law. Interpretation of the bible must always be performed with an earnest desire to follow God. The interpretive meaning gained is only valid if it is in accordance with the "one who sent them" (John 7:18).

Here's the final trick. How do we know God's will? If we have established that we are unable to know it from legalistic means, as Jesus demonstrated by the example of the discordance between legalistic interpretation (circumcision is okay, but healing is not, in this example) then the only other avenue to seek God's will is non-legalistic, or highly personalized. The highly personalized approach to biblical interpretation, so that it is not left chaotic, is to ensure that the interpretation follows the will of God, and the only way to do that is to ask Him.

Ask God. In all one does, all the time, every day. Seek His will.

Seek His will, but, think it through. Pray, but also use your brain and learn His book. Don't adopt a legalistic response, but also don't reject biblical instruction. Pray, and seek his will in the setting of biblical study. Jesus promised that you will see that He is right.