Is it Prescriptive, Proscriptive or Descriptive?

“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Mark 10:5–8

Mankind has a long history of distorting the Bible to make it say whatever we want. So, when we read Scripture we need to make sure we're understanding it rightly. How do we do that? Here's a helpful question to ask yourself when you read a passage of Scripture. Is this passage prescriptive, proscriptive, or descriptive?

Some passages of Scripture are prescriptive. They tell us what we should do. “Honor your father and mother” (Ex. 20:12). That’s prescriptive. It tells us what God’s ideal or God’s best for us is.

Other passages are proscriptive. They tell us what NOT to do. They forbid or ban certain actions. “Thou shalt not murder” (Ex. 20:13). That’s proscriptive. These kinds of passages help us avoid worse sin but don’t necessarily reveal what God’s best for us is.

Lastly, some passages are nether prescriptive nor proscriptive but are merely descriptive. They simply tell what happened without offering any moral judgment on it. Genesis 4:19 for example says, “Lamech married two women.” That’s descriptive. It tells us what Lamech did without revealing how God felt about it.

Jesus suggests that Deuteronomy 24 is proscriptive not prescriptive or descriptive. It was written because of the hardness of our hearts to prevent us from committing even worse sins. It's job is to prevent the worst type of outcomes, not tell us what God's best for marriage is. Jesus essentially says, "If you want to see God’s best, His ideal for marriage, you don’t look at Deuteronomy 24, you look at Genesis 1 and 2." 

I‌‌'d love to talk to you more about God's ideal for marriage in Genesis 1 and 2, but that's beside our point today. Today's point is that to interpret and apply Scripture rightly to our lives, it's very important that we understand what kind of Scripture we are dealing with. Is the author prescribing something for us to follow? Is he proscribing something for us to avoid? Or is he merely describing something for us to know? Paying attention to this will go a long way towards helping us understand God's word better.

Our Closest Friend

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land... Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

Deuteronomy 34:1, 4-6

Moses once spent 40 days in God's presence on Mt. Sinai receiving the law. Now, at the end of his life, Moses climbs another mountain to be alone with God again. Moses will never enter the Promised Land because of his failures. God holiness will not allow Him to ignore Moses' sin, but he does call him up on a mountain to see the Promised Land before he passes. Then Moses' God ends his life. Notice the tenderness here. The passage implies that God cares for Moses' body like a friend would. His body was born up from the mountain and taken down and buried in the valley. Whether it was the hand of God or of angels that did this, we do not know. But God saw to it that his friend received a proper burial.

It's fitting that Moses' life should end this way. Elsewhere Scripture says of him that "the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (Exodus 33:11). He enjoyed an uncommon communion with God, often entering into God's presence alone. This brings to mind a proverb. "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy" (Proverb 14:10). Our most cherished loved ones are often physically present with us at the significant events in our lives, yet even they cannot truly be ushered in to share the experience in our heart. Just like Moses, there is a sense in which we all experience our highest and lowest points alone. But it doesn't have to be this way. Scripture teaches that human hearts lie open before the Lord (Proverbs 15:11). There is a communion the believer can have with God that far surpasses any earthly relationship. Those who believe in Jesus have the very Spirit of God dwelling in them. Who can know my heart better than me? The Spirit within me can! Through His Son Jesus, God has made a way for you to enjoy nearness to Him that is even greater (in some senses) than what Moses enjoyed. God can be your closest and most trusted friend with whom you truly can share the big and little moments of your life. 

So I encourage you to make time to spend alone with God. Cultivate a relationship with Him. Make it a priority. Get up early and spend time in prayer and Bible reading. Find a method or a rhythm that works for you and keep doing it. It takes time to build an intimate relationship with a person; shouldn't we expect it to take time with God as well? So stick it out. Set aside thirty minutes a day for seeking God in Bible reading and prayer and don't give up. If you are honestly and humbly seeking Him, He will meet you halfway. (James 4:8).

Wade through Regret

Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

Deuteronomy 9:7

This past week I vacationed with my wife's family in California. One day as my daughter played in the sand, I watched a surfer struggle against the tide to get into deeper waters where she could catch waves. I had never considered how difficult it must be before, but she appeared to struggle to manage the bulky board as she jumped over the waves crashing into her. Working through the shallows didn't look like much fun, but of course it was necessary work to get out to depths where one could catch a wave before it folds over on itself.

Regret is like this shallow water that meets the shore. It crashes into us in waves, reminding us of all our failures. It fills us with shame as we try to manage all the baggage of our poor choices. Most of us would rather avoid it altogether, but we can't. Regret is the only approach to God's grace. We must wade through the shallow waters of regret in order to plunge ourselves into the deeper waters of God's grace. 

You simply cannot appreciate God's grace until you have considered your own sin. Remembering your sin enables you to realize how good God has been to you. When you make light of your sin or ignore it altogether, then you make light of God's grace. How can we declare the glories of God's amazing grace to us, if we do not occasionally consider how undeserving of it we were and are? Don't forget your sins! Remember them. Even though they are already forgiven, periodically call to mind your current and past sins. This will help prevent you from making the same mistakes over and over in life, and it will help stave off a presumptuous attitude before God. 

Truthfully, I hardly ever think about my sin. Sadder still, when I do kneel in prayer to confess my sin, I can hardly think of anything to confess. This isn't because I am so saintly as to no longer need confession, but rather it's because I am so oblivious to my own sin that I live practically as if I had none. Theologically I know I am a sinner, but I have turned a blind eye to that truth in my every day experience. Jeremiah 6:15 scares me in this regard:

"Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord.

Father, please do not allow me to become so hardened to my sin that I no longer know how to regret it. I know that I can't repent of my sin without being sorry for it, so teach me to be ashamed of my sin, so that I might repent and experience more of Your grace. Most of all, Father, help me to understand and be awed by Your grace.

Jealous God

Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:23-24

God has made a covenant with us that is no less significant than the covenant He made with the people of Israel. The old covenant was established with the blood of goats and bulls, but this new covenant has been established with the precious blood of man's only Savior Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:13-14). If God was jealous for the worship of those living under the old covenant, how much more will He be jealous for the worship of the redeemed living under His new covenant bought with the blood of Christ?!

God is a jealous God. By that I do not mean that God is a paranoid stalker. He's not like some celestial boyfriend who constantly steals your cell phone to read all your text messages. No. God is like a righteous husband who rightly refuses to allow His spouse to cheat on Him. God has gone to great lengths to purchase believers for His own. He will not allow us to begin bowing down to the god of money now. He will not stand idly by as we worship at the altar of lust and sexual promiscuity. Nor will He remain silent as we act as though other gods and religions are equally valid. Allah is not God. The Hindu Brahman is not God. Judaism's understanding of God apart from Christ is an incomplete and inaccurate understanding of who He is. Mother Nature is not God; He is not in the trees or the grass all around us. Nor is He a myth thought up by man. God is real. He is alive and He will not be ignored by His own followers. He is jealous for the Christian's love and faithfulness.

So if you call yourself by the name of Christ, ask yourself this: Are you giving God a reason to be jealous? Are you worshiping false gods either literally by courting other religions or figuratively by bowing to sin in your life? The Bible says draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). If the believer does not do this, if he forgets that He is God's betrothed and begins to run after other gods, then he will soon experience the judgment of the God who is a consuming fire. 

For further reading...

• Hebrews 9- Especially vs. 13-14.
• John 12:42- Do you bow down to the fear of man or man's opinion of you?
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5- There is only one God! Give Him your all.