Why God is an anarchist at heart, and why most Christians don't get that about Him.

Modern day Christianity shuns the idea of “legalism” within its ranks.  Legalism can be generally understood as an underlying attitude among believers that judges other believers for certain things they do or say.  An example would be drinking alcohol.  Some Christians would view drinking alcohol as wrong for Scriptural reasons; “Do not get drunk on wine” (cf. Ephesians 5:18), while other Christians would point out that Jesus himself turned water into wine at a wedding party; (cf. John 2:1-10). 

Popular Christian salesmen often start with the law of Moses (aka “the Ten Commandments”) to build their legalistic framework .  A typical pitch between a Christian salesman (S) and a Christian consumer (C) might go something like this: 

 S: “Do you believe in the Ten Commandments?”
 C: “Yes”
 S: “Do you know that the commandments say not to lie?”
 C: “Yes”
 S: “Have you ever told a lie?”
 C: “Well, yes”
 S: “What does that make you?
 C: “Um... a liar?”
 S: “That's right.  You've broken one of the Ten Commandments” 

Even the story of Adam and Eve from the very beginning is often framed by Christian teachers in an entirely legalistic framework.  Adam is told by God not eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – and yet, God permits Adam the choice of whether to actually adhere to this command, or not.  When Adam eats of this “forbidden fruit”, it amounts to a death sentence for him, because “he broke God's law”.  This despite the fact that the same Christian teachers suggest that prior to this transgression, Adam was somehow “perfect”.    

Regardless, what is most obvious about the story is that God does not meet the transgression with use of deadly force (even though death will be the ultimate consequence for “Adam” - which in Hebraic root language is synonymous with “man”, or “mankind”).  God permits Adam the freedom to choose to follow His admonition, or not.  There are no supernatural cops or soldiers there to enforce any kind of “law” against Adam. 

A better understanding, that I am entirely crediting to a friend of mine – Robert Hach – with opening my eyes to, is that real transgression of Adam was not in the act of eating the fruit per se.  Rather, Adam's “sin” (which in Greek means literally to “miss the mark”) was in that he did not believe God's words in the first place.    

Which is to say that genuine “righteousness” in the sight of God has nothing to do with following rules, but everything to do with “keeping faith”.  If God says something, it ought to be believed, and subsequent actions ought to therefore correlate to that belief.  But it appears that God, in the ultimate interest of human freedom, does NOT enforce His will on anyone. 

Humanity, in its rush to “be like God”, has exchanged the revelations that God gives for humanity's betterment, in exchange for governing itself.  As a consequence of this, God has “given humanity over” (cf Romans 1) to itself.  Necessarily, there are civil laws in place now, acting as the agent of God's “wrath”.  Not that God is angry or has a vendetta, but rather that God, in the interest of not interfering with human freedom, has allowed humanity the consequence of governing itself.  Human laws, whether religious or secular, are the manifestation of a world not governed by faith in the promises of God. 

It's our own fault the world is the way it is. 

God, on His part, is an anarchist.  Indeed, to love one's neighbor as oneself, is a manifestation of human capability against which there is no law:  “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.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

 
Moreover, freedom is an end in and of itself – the ultimate anarchic expression of God's love poured out in His son Jesus. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ” (Galatians 5:1)