Moseloven som torn, form og norm: skitse til en etisk brugervejledning

Abstract

The law of Moses as thorn, form and norm: an outline of a user guide for ethics. The current debate in Danish society and theology (e.g. Thorkild Grosbøll, Egon Clausen and Søren Krarup) challenges us to consider whether the Law of Moses is completely done away with as far as Christians are concerned. The author rejects the view that the law metaphorically speaking is like a thorn in a finger to be removed, and instead on the basis of Qohelet 12 compares the law to nails arranged in a row – like thorn in a form – that teaches us to fear God and keep his commandments – the form. The law, which served as judgment on Israel, is thoroughly contextualized in the Pentateuch, and is acknowledged in the ethical teaching of the New Testament. The author then proposes guidelines for ethical interpretation of the Pentateuch that are genuinely canonical and Christian, hermeneutically valid and culturally relevant for a postmodern society where Christians live lives shaped by the Scriptures. The law is first described as a condemning thorn in the setting of the revelation at Sinai in Exodus 19-24 and onwards, where it functioned as test and teaching and this is confirmed in Galatians 3, 2 Corinthians 3, and Hebrews 12. Second, the law is explained as a contextualized and historically situated form. In the Decalogue, as well as in the other more elaborate corpora, the laws are expressed in response to specific situations, and it is impossible to sort their content into groups of moral, religious and civil laws. Rather all the laws are elaborations in different ways of God's nature and will from the creation to the future life in the land and beyond. The law is a flexible application of God's will which is constantly addressed to new situations. Third, the law is traced into the New Testament as a norm for Christian ethics within a biblical-theological reading of Paul and his use of the Decalogue and the Pentateuch in its entirety. From this follows ethical advice for Christians who are guided by canonical Scripture. After Christ the law functions as instruction on the basis of a responsible exegesis that (a) distinguishes between the function of laws for the courts and the role of ethics in individual lives; (b) recognizes who were addressed in the original situation; (c) looks for principles to be applied in a later situation. The idea of a ladder of abstraction from Walter Kaiser is proposed along with the notion of paradigm (Christopher Wright) and the importance of biblical theology (Elmer Martens). The user guide is exemplified in cases like women slaves (Ex 21:1-11), death penalty (20:13) and marriage. It is possible then to set out ways to read the Pentateuch for instruction on issues of personal ethics once we realize that this contextualized and canonical instruction is given to Israel in the desert – not as instruction to Christians today, but as instructive for Christians.