The Law of Defilement

“A brother offended [is harder to be won] than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” - Proverbs 18:19a

While teaching through the Old Testament, I stubbed my toe on a passage lost in the ancient writings of Haggai. In the second chapter of this two-chapter book is a life changing truth that I call, The Law of Defilement. A simple question is put before the priests regarding defilement. It goes like this: If consecrated (holy) food touches food that has not been consecrated will it make the non-consecrated food or drink holy? Answer: No. If an individual who has touched a dead body then touches food or drink, will that food or drink become defiled? Answer: Yes!

We see this law of defilement in every area of life. You would never take spoiled food and touch it to fresh food in hopes that the fresh food will make that which is spoiled fresh. The reverse, however, is true. Why is that? Don’t you wish it worked the other way? I’m afraid it goes way beyond food. It spills over into relationships. Build into a person’s life for 20 years and on a bad day speak harshly (defile) and all the good that you have done is now spoiled. The Scripture says, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city” (Proverbs 18:19a). Will it work in reverse? You have been an offense for 20 years to your spouse and then one day you speak kind, encouraging words. Will those consecrated words make all the past offenses consecrated? Will the good turn the bad into good? “Bad company corrupts good morals” (I Corinthians 15:33, NASB). So why don’t good morals consecrate (make holy) bad company?

This is the law of defilement; and if it is not reversed, it can make life seem quite bleak. Asking forgiveness can certainly reverse things, but what if you’re the one who has been defiled and the defiler never asks forgiveness? This law only works where there is sinful defilement. If a baseball player hits five homeruns in a row and then strikes out, the team does not feel defiled. You average how many times he gets a hit. The average is what counts. However, if a friend tells you the truth 999 times in a row and lies on the 1000th time, you don’t commend him on his average of telling the truth. You lose confidence in him totally! Can I ever trust them again is the big question in your mind even though you know you have lied. “…let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4a).

The law of defilement went into effect the day Adam and Eve fell. This law has run roughshod over all creation and all humanity. Just take a moment and consider the number of potential ways we taint the lives of others and how they do equal damage to us. You may also want to consider that our very biased nature plays down what we have done to others and exaggerates the hurt inflicted upon us.

Here is just a short list to consider. You offend others if you are habitually late, but you see it as no big deal. Sarcasm takes a bite out of close friends, but they never tell you. Procrastination hurts a business partner and delays progress. A raised voice damages your spouse or children. Making fun of someone is more hurtful than you might expect. Borrowing tools from your neighbor that are eventually returned upon his request builds friction. Quick decision makers intimidate those who are slower, and those who are slower frustrate those who are quick. People who see life as black and white are upset by those who live in the gray.

The list could be multiplied a thousand fold. Is it any wonder that God tells us “love covers a multitude of sins,” (I Peter 4:8 NASB) and it is wise to overlook an offense? Are we to just accept this as part of life and live with contamination?

As a pastor I have received my fair share of defiling letters, emails, and verbal assaults; some deserved, some not. If I give way to the law of defilement, then all I have to look forward to is a life that is slowly spoiling.

There is, however, another law, which is called, The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). This law supercedes the law of defilement just as the strength of my arm can overcome the law of gravity by catching a falling object before it hits the ground and breaks. The context of Romans 8 is dealing with Christ’s sacrificial death that now overcomes the law of sin and death. He took our place. This law extends into my life. “When he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (I Peter 2:23). Paul said he rejoiced and took pleasure in insults (II Corinthians 12:10). How could this be? The grace of God flowed out of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

We are called to appropriate the higher law or life will be most difficult. We will live with bitterness, anger, and hatred toward those who have defiled us, and this will only hasten our own demise.

This is no way to live. We must view people as fallen, flawed, and capable of defiling. The middle verse of the Bible says, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (Psalm 118:8). Why? Because people are defiled by nature and thus will defile those with whom they come in contact. Every spouse defiles his or her mate. Every parent defiles his children. Friends defile each other without even knowing it. So where do I go to wash and get clean? You bathe in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. You forgive without waiting for the offender to ask for it.

You can now see believers as forgiven defilers, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. You will see unbelievers who defile you as your mission field with a compassion to see them freed from the law of sin and death. Forever keep this truth in mind: there is only one place where this law is reversed. When that which is unclean (us) touches the Holy One, Christ, who cannot be defiled, His holiness washes away our soiled, sinful, defiled ways and makes them clean. That’s not just the way I see things, it’s what Scripture teaches.