Bruce Cameron: Luther, Life, and Law

“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”

– Martin Luther

Martin Luther’s statement not only informs our theology of grace, it should also inform our attitude about life and the law.  Many people find themselves with the wrong allies because they make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Take, for example, the matter of church-state separation. The belief that the state should not dominate the church and the church should not control the state is shared by most citizens.  However, the most strident separationists are often allied with outright enemies of the gospel because their goal is “perfect separation.”  Why not make allies with those who favor “righteousness,” even if “perfect” is not the immediate goal?

Bruce N. Cameron is the Reed Larson Professor of Labor Law at Regent University School of Law.  He is also on staff with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.