Biblical Law Is Wisdom Before It Is Rule Application

Biblical law is first and foremost wisdom literature. It forms a people capable of discerning faithful action in particular circumstances, rather than supplying simple rules for mechanical application.

This connects with John Walton’s The Lost World of the Torah and the ethics chapter in Helen Paynter’s Blessed Are the Peacemakers. The question is not merely, “What rule applies?” but, “What kind of wise, faithful and peaceable people is this instruction forming us to become?”

Related seedlings

• Biblical Wisdom Contains Internal Tension
• Child-Centred Reading Can Expose Harmful Interpretations**