Love

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave-traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. 1 Timothy 1:8-11

I find it interesting here that Paul lays down an idea what the law is good for - who exactly it helps. Law is there to restore order where there is none. Law helps those who cannot construct for themselves lives in good conscience. He instructs Timothy, in this letter, to teach for certain aims:

But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:5

So Christian teaching, that aims for the laws of the heart, is toward the goal of true faith, a sincere heart, love.

I have often pondered why, for some Christians, the "straight and narrow" of dos and don'ts, what others would call something more akin to the law, is a creed that helps them in their lives. All of my life it seems that my "instruction" that truly helped me was quite the opposite, to learn more of love, the abundance of instruction made in love, correction that is patient, and always for my good. And I think here that Paul perhaps hits this paradox on the head. Quite often I've found that those who need laws laid down are those for whom chaos shaped a great deal of their early lives, including crime. The do's and don'ts hold down a life out of chaos, to be shaped by what is better. It helps them to have faith in a better future.

But inevitably when it comes to faith there may be those in yet another category: those who do harm but do so out of ignorance.

Paul says,

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:12-15

Mercy, abundant mercy, is also for the sinner. Paul goes on to say that among them he was chief - and so God acted to redeem many through him, who was the worst of all. I think here we have three schools of thought about discipline, about what it means to be a Christian, and Paul has laid down the benefits of each. Where we religious often clash on which system is best really may be simply mistaking different ways in which God helps. But we should never forget that chief of all of these, the divine character behind them all, is love. Nor that the aim of all teaching, as Paul says, is "love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith." If we forget those things, we have forgotten who we are, and we are not who we claim to be. We have left our God out of the picture.