Have you ever wondered how many laws there are in the United States? The number is incredibly high—but more importantly, it is UNKNOWN. The Congressional Research Service, a government office filled with professors, researchers, and librarian-types, was once asked to determine the number of laws in America. Their eventual report basically said, “it cannot be determined.”
Can you believe that? A child can count the ten commandments. And the number of laws in the Old Testament is known: 613.
But according to the U.S. Library of Congress, no one can count the laws in America. “Trying to tally this number is nearly impossible.”[1] The task is complicated because in addition to the thousands of federal statutes spanning decades, there are rules created by court opinions and worse, the rule-generating machinery of federal agencies with the power to expand a single federal Act into thousands of rules implementing that act. I would sum it up this way:
Man’s ability to break laws is exceeded only by his ability to make laws.
We do it too. What parent has not reacted to a challenging child by creating pointless rules? My mom used to make posters with stickers for good behavior and bad—she would try anything. Every teacher does the same at least once in a career: driven to extremes by an unruly class, you show up with some complex behavior-management plan that is ambitious but unworkable. We do it to ourselves too. We attack our bad habits by making up rules. Nothing wrong with that—some rules are healthy and appropriate. But be aware of man’s obsession with crafting rules for every situation. Rules may create structure and security, but they can also create problems.
Jesus obeyed and honored rules. But He also broke them—the sacrosanct Sabbath rules especially. And He warned the disciples not to become rule-makers like the Pharisees.
“Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” Matthew 16:6.
Yeast is an essential part of bread. It is a tiny bit of healthy bacteria that can quickly spread through an entire lump of dough, causing the bread to rise when it is baked. When Jesus mentioned yeast, He was talking about the teachings of the Pharisees—legalistic teachings that can spread like wildfire through a community, Matthew 16:12.
To be more specific, the Pharisees loved to make up rules. As do we all. But Jesus warned us to keep that impulse in check.
He is not suggesting we live without rules or boundaries. But be aware that we humans love to take rule-making way too far. You cannot walk by the spirit if you are bound by law.
“You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the law. YOU HAVE FALLEN FROM GRACE … a little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough” Galatians 5:4, 9.
Paul affirms the words of Christ: man’s contagious rule-making distracts us from walking in grace.
Grace is better than law because grace gives us freedom to follow the Spirit and bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control, Galatians 5:13, 16-23.
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[1] See https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/03/frequent-reference-question-how-many-federal-laws-are-there/
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