Legalism, Lawlessness, or Love?

PRESENTER'S NOTES

LEGALISM, LAWLESSNESS OR LOVE?

Google Dictionary

le•gal•ism
Noun:    

     1. Excessive adherence to law or formula.
     2. Dependence on moral law rather than on personal religious faith.

So, I thought to myself, if you obey a law, how do you measure excess? And the second definition is far too ambiguous. What is the dependence on moral law over personal religious faith?

Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged

le•gal•ism
Noun:    

1. strict, often too strict and literal, adherence to the law.
2. in theology, the doctrine of salvation by good works.

Now, the first definition causes me to ask the same question I asked earlier. If a law is designed to be adhered to, how can you be too strict or literal with it? But, the second definition, I believe, speaks to the best use of the word

“In theology, the doctrine of salvation by good works.”

I wanted to talk about legalism, today because I believe it is used inappropriately against many keepers of God’s law in our modern society. All you have to do is confess your obedience to the food laws, or holy day commands, and, now, even the ten commandments, and you might very likely be accused of legalism. Especially, if you also confess that you believe you will not be in God’s kingdom if you don’t practice those laws. In other words, your obedience to rule’s is immediately attributed to being saved by the things you do.

This is where I believe the first definitions might actually come into play. In other words, people who do not keep the law, or as many laws, as you, conclude that you keep too many laws, which they might define as Google did, “excessive adherence” or as Webster, “too strict and literal” in your behavior toward law.

But what really gets them riled up is thinking we believe we earn salvation by obedience to the law. Truly, you and I also should get riled up if someone is teaching or believing their good works will save them.

But here is their logical fallacy. They equate keeping law with earning salvation, but keeping law does not have to be related to earning anything. Instead, it can be a reflection of the belief in the value of law, us being willing subjects of the Lawgiver as citizens of His kingdom.

Let’s imagine for a few minutes a few different familial circumstances:

“The family business, the household, and chicken.”

Example #1: I don’t need to follow the rules, because I’m already assured the inheritance.

Example #2: I must follow the rules so I can receive the inheritance.

Example #3: The rules are what make things work. Because I am going to inherit these things, I want to follow the rules that make it all work.

Galatians 3

New King James Version (NKJV)

Justification by Faith

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth,[a] before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you[b] as crucified?

John 17: 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Ephesians 1: 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both[a] which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[b] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

It is important to understand at this point, much of the subject of the letter, not just this chapter. In chapters 2, 5, and 6, we know that the subject of the discussion is a response to the attempt by some to impose circumcision and keeping of the law as sufficient to salvation.

5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[c] 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”[d] 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Romans 4: 4 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?[a] 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[b] 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

(from Psalm 32:1-2)

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

So, was David ahead of His time, able to see that the law is unnecessary?

Psalm 119: 97 Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102 I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.

The Law Brings a Curse

10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”[e] 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”[f] 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”[g]

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”[h]), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Changeless Promise

15 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.

Deuteronomy 4: 2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Also, Deuteronomy 12:32

Matthew 5: 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,”[i] who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ,[j] that it should make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Purpose of the Law

19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

Hebrews 10: 1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Christ’s Death Fulfills God’s Will

5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’”[a]

8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.”[b] He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Sons and Heirs

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

You and I should be confident in the fact that we are not legalists if we are like the third person I gave as an example. We, like David, should feel completely free to LOVE God’s law and think on that way all the day long. We can love that law and practice obedience to all of God’s commandments with joy. Why? Because God’s law is not a means to an end. Our goal, the end, is the Kingdom of God. We DO have a destination in mind. But that destination is not an end unto itself but will be the beginning of a perfect life, without transgression of the law. In truth, it is Christ’s sacrifice that became a means to an end, because if we do not accept His sacrifice on our behalf, for our inability to perfectly keep the whole law, WE WILL NOT BE IN HIS KINGDOM.

Philippians 2: 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Romans 8: 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Remember again, 1 John 2, where we read:

1 John 2: 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

There is only one way to be person #3. That way IS Jesus Christ. Because in accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, Lord, and Master, we accept that we are born to sin, and that sin brings death. We accept that only through Christ’s perfect sacrifice will our sin’s be blotted out. And, only by accepting Christ, will God give us His Holy Spirit, which is the only way to love God’s law and joyfully live by it, not as a means to an end for salvation, but as the way of life that we desire with all our hearts to practice in anticipation of the promise that we will be made perfect, no longer practicing obedience, but being all that the goodness of the law is. It is only by the Spirit of God that we can understand how to obey the law, not just in the letter, but to fulfill the true meaning of loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourself.
So, let the legalists compare themselves to you by saying that they are more righteous by the law, and let the “illegalists” judge you as seeking salvation through the law. For only you and God know if you love dearly the law of God and accept the sacrifice of Christ to cover your insufficiency to live perfectly by the law. Only you can determine in relationship with God our Father and Jesus our Lord that you see God’s way, not as a means to an end, but as the definition of living, thankful for the means to eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.