There are no chapters in the Bible specifically dedicated to the word legalism ... but the concept can be found throughout the pages. In a nutshell, it's the human effort to acquire God's acceptance and approval while being rewarded with eternal life and other blessings. There can be varying degrees of legalism, sometimes mixed with at least trace elements of the gospel of grace. But a little bit of leaven (religious law) will affect the entire lump of dough. Whether it's subtle or overwhelming, grace and law were never meant to be mixed.
How does one escape such a monster of a phony gospel message when it seems to be everywhere in a mixed-covenant culture? What is the cure for such a contagious epidemic? Just reading the Bible won't get it done. It will need to go beyond "solid grace teaching" and contextual understanding from the Bible ... which changes with the weather. It is by revelation from the Spirit of God, who assists in helping to grow in our understanding of grace and the Savior who will not allow us to take any of the credit for what He has done.
1. Moses. Charlton Heston. The Ten Commandments. 603 other commandments. Mount Sinai. The Passover lamb. Many sacrifices. Works. Hearing and doing. Sins temporarily covered. Reminded of sins.
2. Jesus. The Lamb of God. Grace. The gift of salvation and righteousness. Faith. One sacrifice. Easter. The Resurrection. The Holy Spirit. Eternal forgiveness. Sins taken away. Sins remembered no more.
The above is a nutshell version relating some headlines to two very different covenants. How is it that the church culture has embraced combining various portions of these covenants that were never meant to be mingled? Perhaps it's because the Bible is often considered "one book," or wrongly assuming the New was meant to be some type of addendum to the Old. Let's take a look at how badly the target has been missed with such a mixture of law and grace. God's grace (apart from law) is the recipe for us to reign in life and teaches us to deny ungodliness ... not advocating for an old or revamped law that was fulfilled and abolished by Jesus.
"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."
When we discover a revelation of God's grace, Christians who have been inundated with doctrines of doing in order to maintain right standing with God will be confronted with something that may challenge their past mindset.
Under a legalistic, self-righteous, mixed-covenant church culture, it was more about 'doing things' in order to please God; to receive blessings, to keep from being punished, or to be noticed by others (all in the name of having a good testimony). We were programmed to think it was up to us and our obedience to remain tethered into fellowship with God. Many came from a mindset where failing to do 'enough of the stuff' might risk how God will react to them. The motivation was based more upon avoiding God becoming angry with them or withholding blessings.
While living in the unchangeable grace and perfect love of God at all times, what is our motivation compared to the above? Now that we know blessings and forgiveness are secure and complete in Christ by the gift of His grace, what is the motivation for loving and helping others and doing good things? In short, we'll find it in knowing and believing in God's perfect love and who we already are in Him.
When we consider the Bible as one book (instead of many books), we begin to jumble things together within the two primary covenants that were never meant to be mixed. When we see God’s commandments with conditions attached throughout much of the Old Testament, and when we assume Jesus was always speaking instruction to us who would become future believers, it can easily result in us filtering new covenant writings from the apostles through a particular mindset that leads us away from grace and back to a foundation of works.
This week’s program will help to differentiate between requirements which demanded perfect results … compared to exhortations delivered by grace. The former would seek to establish identity by trying to work at becoming something we haven’t achieved. The latter starts at the finish line, as we realize we have been made new and are already declared the righteousness of God.
The bad news police who are established in a legalistic mindset will caution believers in Christ that too much teaching about God’s grace will lead to an unhealthy and perilous plight. Their tangled view of the testaments wrongly assumes grace needs to be balanced with law.
We’ve been supplied with an abundance of grace for a reason and it has no connection to law or a rules-based religion.
After the death of Jesus, we find that the first covenant made with Israel came to an end and was replaced with a New Covenant that would be unlike the old one. It's not an amendment or continuation of the Old Covenant. The writer of Hebrews stated the law from the first covenant was weak and useless and could make nothing perfect. The New would be a better covenant established upon better promises. Why? Because this time God wasn't going to make the covenant with us (the people), but rather with Himself so that it could not fail. Our participation in this new way is to simply believe.
Just for kicks - Something we mentioned during the podcast:
Even after the cross where we abide in Christ and have entered into a new and better covenant, the religious crowd will advocate that Jesus now empowers us to fulfill the law. They claim the law from the former covenant did not end and the commandments within that law are still meant to be followed by Christian believers in order to acquire or maintain life, righteousness and sanctification. The question that never gets fully addressed is this: Exactly which of the 613 laws are to be followed and which are no longer meant to be applied? We discuss the inconsistencies with this type of mixed covenant teaching.
The mixed covenant culture found in the church world has brought a wide variety of confusion among believers in Christ. As Gentiles who had come to faith in the early church, what were they instructed by the lovers of the law from the Jerusalem church who still believed the law was in effect? Even those elders shared that Gentiles were not to be troubled with keeping the law. What we fail to realize is there was no list of old rules given to the church from the law, because in Christ we have no relationship to that law from the former covenant because it was replaced with God's Spirit in us.
