In the Beginning

Think about it: in the beginning there was just man (then woman) and God.

If we're going to take a model for life from that, let it not be for what "marriage" should be, but how our relationship with God was intended to be - that's the real intent of Genesis.  There was no church, no Bible - just man with God.  And they simply spent all their time together.

The original intent for mankind was that we would not need religion or any of its mean to bring us to God, but that we would just always be with Him.  Laws weren't necessary, for He was right there.  Even the commandment not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was less of a law and more of a choice: "be with Me or apart from Me."  The ultimate choice that colors our entire lives: God or self.

If the law is written on our hearts by God, then shouldn't being with Him be enough for our sanctification?  I think the issue is that we don't put the time and dedication into spending enough time with Him.  So church, the Bible become short cuts, but I suspect that if we just communed with Him enough, we'd learn the same things directly from Him that we depend on pastors to teach us.  (We were given the Holy Spirit as a Teacher, after all.)  We use Scripture to know what we should do, how we should be, but if we abide in God, God abides in us.  Then naturally we will do what we should and be who we should without being told because it just becomes who we are.  Being with God makes us more like Him.

We take on more of His qualities - mainly His love.  When we experience Him directly and often, we become so sure of who He is.  We know Him certainly, breeding a deeper faith because we see no reason to doubt because we known personally who He is.  Furthermore, we see no reason to stray from him because we certainly know that He is the best option.  I think that's the root of all of our spiritual problems: not knowing God well enough.

This isn't to downplay the importance of His Word.  Just that if you left a dedicated person with just the Holy Spirit and devotion to knowing God above all else, he or she would learn from God directly everything he or she would need to know and live out in Godly virtue as a natural result.  Is that not what happened with Paul, who spend three years alone (and prior to the writing on the New Testament, which he wrote the majority of) before beginning his ministry?

A natural effect of closeness with God is righteousness.  We don't have to stress over following rules, but put that energy into being with Him as a result.  We were never meant to attain our own righteousness. The whole point of this was always that we could really be with God.  That's why Christ took care of our sins - so we wouldn't have to worry about sin management, but rather enjoy the presence of God uninhibited by such.  The issue is that we don't at all spend enough time in the presence of God.  Be still and know Him.