https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/19/doing-what-needs-to-be-done
Today’s ODB raises an interesting point on what it means to sacrifice for the good of others based on Galatians 5:22-26 on the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.”
The background to Paul’s arguments is the debate then whether the new believers can have their sins forgiven by faith in Christ alone or do they need to also adhere to the law of Moses. Thus if we have the fruit of the Spirit, through Christ, can the law of Moses then nullify Christ’s forgiveness of our sins through our faith in Him.
In this pandemic, the parallel question then is whether we are willing to self isolate for the sake of others? We may have freedom to move about as the Movement Control Order is now lifted, but will we be willing to self quarantine and only go out for necessities? For countries where everything is now back to normal, will we be willing to put our masks on for the sake of others? The ironical thing about this pandemic is that self protective actions like self isolation/quarantine and wearing of face masks protect us as much as they protect others. This is because when we wear face masks and self isolate, we prevent others from getting the virus from us in case we are asymptomatic carriers ourselves. It’s the same with vaccination, will we vaccinate for the sake of ourselves and others? Vaccination will not 100% prevent deaths but it is good enough to prevent serious illness and even if we may still carry the virus, it will be a mild one too. The vaccine in our body would have helped our immune system fight the virus and thus it is unable to cause serious harm to us or others. However, we are still at risk even with vaccination or we are infected with a weak virus if we have comorbidities as our immune system would have been weakened.
I believe the thrust of Galatians 5 is that while the law is the law, it is the spirit of the law that’s more pertinent. So if we are not following the law of Moses to the letter but we live by the Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit by our faith in Christ, are we in transgression? Will God still forgive us our sins?
The rules for the pandemic is an excellent picture of what Paul is trying to convey. The MCO have been lifted. We are now free to travel inter-state. But will we still self isolate for the sake of others? Will we follow the letter or spirit of the law? Is Christian life about following rules and regulations or is it about following Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour?
Ronnie's Thoughts 