Throwing The Book At Believers

"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God"  (1 Cor. 4:5, NIV).

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.  One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ... Who are you to judge someone else's servant?  To their own master, servants stand or fall.  And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand" (Rom. 14:1,4, NIV).

"...[B]ut my people know not the rules of the LORD" (Jer. 8:7, ESV).

"[F]or they do not know the way of the LORD..." (Jer. 5:4, ESV).

Some law enforcement officials like to throw the book at hardened criminals because they never seem to learn and could be repeat offenders and need an incentive to go straight.  Some overzealous police officers like to go for the maximum penalty for criminals they are offended by and they tend to get personally involved in.  We must seek to be like God who in wrath remembers mercy!  Jesus didn't exactly throw the book at the Pharisees but condemned their hypocrisy in obeying the letter of the law and ignoring the Spirit of the law.  We must never be so obsessed with minor points or the little things that we lose track of the main focus and issue of our faith, to love God and our fellow man through the power of the Spirit.

This is everyone's problem:  we don't always see our own sin.  We all have the tendency to overlook our own faults and be offended by the sins of others when we should be offended by our own sins!  The faith had degenerated into merely an externalism and Jesus intended to make it a matter of the heart and something that starts from the inside and becomes real and sincere, not just for show. 

The Jewish faith had devolved into externalism of certain favorite practices:  circumcision, fasting, Sabbath observance, tithing, dietary laws, hand-washing, and various sacrifices.  They certainly didn't impress Jesus with their religiosity and neither do we with our legalism and of going through the motions and memorizing the Dance of the Pious.  The Pharisees were rules-obsessed and also wondered what they had to do to earn salvation as if there was some merited work involved.  Jesus answered that the work of God is to believe in His Son!

Even today we still have the issue of legalism in our churches which does nothing but strike a wrong impression of our faith and create a paralysis of spirituality.  It is a parody of the real thing or life in the Spirit, walking with God.  Some Christians seem to reduce the faith to just following the rules and are just converted to the program, not to Christ Himself--they haven't yet realized the fullness of the Spirit in their lives and what it means to walk with God like Enoch, Noah, and Moses did.  According to the record in Genesis, Noah was a "just man, perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."  That's would look good on anyone's resume!  We have the resident Holy Spirit and the full revelation of Scripture and have no excuse for not doing likewise.  

Yes, we can become friends with God and know Him as our Father in our faith.  This is the Christian privilege and we ought to make our faith real and demonstrate or prove it by our good deeds or works of faith. After all, the faith you have is the faith you show!  Without any works, our faith is suspect; our faith must be validated by works and works must spring from faith!  The Reformers had the simple formula for our salvation of being saved by faith alone in this rallying cry:  Salvation is "by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone!"

An example of the legalism of the Pharisees was their fetish about the Sabbath Day.  There really wasn't any hard-and-fast rule as to what constituted work, but they concocted 39 additional definitions or categories to be construed as work or forbidden activities to do on the Sabbath.  Observance became a burden rather than the joy it was meant to be.  Jesus warned them that they missed the point of the intent of the holy day: in that, it was made for man, not man for it (cf. Mark 2:27).  We must not reduce our faith to simply following the rules or enforcing a code of conduct, for it's a relationship and way of a new, fulfilling, abundant life in Christ.  

Only Christians are truly free, the unbeliever is a slave to sin.  Christians are those whom Christ has set free--not free to live as we want but as we ought.  We may be free from the law but not from God's will!  The law was given to convince us we don't keep it according to D. James Kennedy.  It was never meant as a way of salvation but as a measure of a man and to show him where he falls short of God's standards.  Those who rely on the law are under a curse (cf. Gal. 3:13).

We must not be so confused with works and do-goodery that we lose track of the ultimate goal of our faith; i.e., enjoying fellowship with Him and getting to know God, the aim of our salvation.  In fact, being saved can be seen simply as knowing Jesus and making Him known!  We must not feel we have to do good deeds to impress others or show off like wearing our religion on our sleeves and flaunt it, nor should we privatize it; however, we ought to grow in our faith and make it real by a life that is honoring to our Lord and worthy of Him--free of all hypocrisy; for we don't need perfect, doubtless faith but only sincere, unfeigned faith.  We must realize that hypocrisy is what offends God, not a person who says, "I believe, help mine unbelief!"

The only thing that interferes with our fellowship with God is sin in the camp or sin in our behavior and conduct.  We must keep short accounts of our sins and confess them as soon as we get convicted and realize them, not letting them stack up until we feel like making a confession.  Note that our fellowship isn't merely with the Father and the Son, but also with our fellow believers!  We cannot and must not become Lone Ranger Christians or go, rogue, because no man is an island and we all need each other in the body--no individual has all the spiritual gifts, but they are all given for the benefit of the body.

Now there are certainly gray areas or matters of personal conscience (and we all should be convinced in our own minds) and we are not to judge our brother nor flaunt our liberty and ruin their conscience or make them stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12). We must not judge our brother in matters of conscience and no one has the right to lord it over another.  The weaker brother needs to grow in knowledge, while the stronger one needs to improve in his love and understanding or sympathy.  We may have the right to do something but it's not always the right thing to do nor does it benefit.  

As Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:23, HCSB, "'Everything is permissible,' but not everything is helpful.  'Everything is permissible,' but not very thing builds up."  The important thing about our liberty in Christ, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17) is that we must not let anything control us or make us its slave.  As Romans 6:16 says, we are slaves to the power we choose to obey.

We all have a duty to obey our conscience, and to go against it is neither safe nor right according to Luther, though it can be wrong, it should be enlightened by the Word of God.    Jiminy Cricket told us to always let our conscience be our guide, but this is only valid if it's enlightened and informed by Scripture.  We must bear in mind that the old nature knows no law, while the new nature needs no law--we do what is right naturally and God convicts us when we go astray from the straight and narrow or the fellowship of God.

We must put aside the pointing of the finger and playing the blame game (cf. Isa. 58:9), for we only seem to condemn or judge in others what we are guilty of or is our weakness or area of pride.  What most offends us, we tend to look down on others for and we may have been guilty of it ourselves.  We must always give God the glory in our defeat of sin and of having a victorious Christian life--we can not walk with God in the energy of the flesh or without newness of life in Christ.  In the final analysis, I believe that man is religious by nature and tends towards legalism because he's incurably addicted to doing something for salvation as if it's a quid pro quo.

It's the job description of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and we should never attempt to try this ourselves because He does it good enough without our help using the Word of God.  It is said that if we live in a glasshouse, we should not throw bricks and Jesus also said that he who is without sin cast the first stone.  We need to stop being so offended by the sins of others and look within at our own hypocrisy and how repugnant our sins are to God and should be offending us.  We must always make allowance for each others' faults and realize that we are all works in progress and God isn't finished with us yet (cf. Phil. 1:6)!

NB:  Christians are not under the law as the Old Testament saints, but we have a higher law to submit to--the law of love! The law of love can never be satisfied or fulfilled, for we will always be in God's debt.  Grace does mean this:  we cannot pay it back, don't deserve it, and cannot earn it!   We have the privilege as believer-priests to go directly to God and seek restoration and continued ongoing fellowship.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Do We Need The Law?

"So the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good"  (Rom. 7:12, CEV).
"All those who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone is cursed who does not keep on doing all the things that have been written in the scroll of the Law"  (Gal. 3:10, CEV).
"Blessed condition, freed from the Law, now I can sin all I want and still have remission!"  (Old antinomian ditty.)  [We are free to obey the Spirit of the Law, not to disobey.]
"We know that the law is good when used correctly" (1 Tim. 1:8, NLT).  

Does the Law serve a purpose?  Yes, if one uses it lawfully!  Don't desire to be a teacher of the Law or to lord it over others by putting them under the Law (cf. 1 Tim. 1:6-8).  The main usage of the Law is to make us realize we don't keep it, and to convict us of sin, for "by the Law is the knowledge of sin"  (cf. Rom. 3:20).  The Phillips renders it:  "...indeed it is the straightedge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are."  It was "for freedom that Christ set us free," and we are not to be entangled in a yoke of bondage again (cf. Gal. 5:12).   Israel had promised to keep the Law (cf. Ex. 24:3), when God expected them to beg for mercy and realize they could never keep it.

Scholars, including Martin Luther, have mentioned that the Law is a whip to drive us to Christ, a mirror to show us our real self, and a hammer to smash our self-righteousness.  The Law's Ten Commandments, known as the Decalogue, as the guide of moral principle has not been rescinded; because morality is not relative, but absolute, and doesn't change with respect to time or dispensation;  murder is always wrong with all its implications--character assassination, anger, bullying, pushing your weight around, et cetera.

There are many misuses of the Law:  Judaizers added law to grace and works to faith (Romanists follow suit today).  We are not saved by the works of the Law (cf. Rom. 3:28), but saved so that we can keep the Spirit of it; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (cf. 2 Cor. 3:16);  we are not under any obligation to keep the Sabbath day holy as Christians, though the principle of periodic rest from our labors still stands and for regular spiritual renewal.  The Sabbath was merely a sign for Israel (cf. Ezek. 20:9-12, 20; 31:13-17; Neh. 9:12-15).

We don't judge by this precept: see Col. 2:16; Romans 14:5!  Where in the NT is the believer told to keep the Law?  For the New Covenant means that the Law is written in our hearts and we know right from wrong (cf. Heb. 10:16).  Even the pagan has the Law in his heart as a conscience (cf. Rom. 2:15).  One could argue for the keeping of the Decalogue but note that the only precept not repeated in the NT is the Fourth or the Sabbath.

The Law is merely a shadow of things to come (cf. Col. 2:17) and looks forward to being guided by the Spirit in our hearts because Christianity is not performance-based, but relationship-based.  Paul said repeatedly (cf. Rom. 13:8, 10; Gal. 5:14) that love is the fulfillment of the Law or that the Law can be summed up in love. The Law was merely our schoolmaster/tutor to show us the way and to lead us to Christ (cf. Gal. 3:23-24)--but as adults, we no longer need one and are emancipated, as it were.

We weren't given the Law to keep, but to break (cf. Rom. 5:20), for it made sin worse and aroused sin in us; people always have a tendency to violate prohibitions and to give in to temptation, not to keep regulations and rules.  As believers, we are dead to the Law and it has no power over us (cf. Rom. 6:14).  "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law" (cf. Gal. 5:18)--in fact, there's nothing more musical in God's ears than to hear a sinner realize he cannot keep God's law and to beg for mercy, because he realizes the futility of saving himself and needs God's grace.   The Law wasn't given to show us how to get saved or that we were good enough to be saved, but that we needed to be saved and couldn't save ourselves.

And so you are slaves to the one you choose to obey (cf. Rom. 6:16); the Law has no power over you (cf. Rom. 6:14) as believers set free in the Spirit of the Law.  But we still thank God for the Law, since it gave us the knowledge of sin and made us realize we are sinners.  Its purpose is not to give us the impression we're good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation!  The Law was never intended to be a guide or way of salvation, but only to show us the need for salvation.  "Now we know that the Law is good if used appropriately.  We understand this:  the Law isn't established for a righteous person but for people who live without laws and without obeying any authority.  They are the ungodly and the sinners.  They are people who are not spiritual and nothing is sacred to them..."  (1 Tim. 1:8-9, CEV).

As believers, we are no longer under the yoke of the Law, but under the yoke of God's will; Jesus said that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (cf. Matt. 11:30).  "For Christ is the goal of the Law, which leads to righteousness for all who have faith in God"  (Romans 10:4, CEV).   In other words, Christ is the end of the Law for believers.

We are not under the Law, are we lawless?  "Sin is lawlessness."  No, we keep the Law in the Spirit.  Jesus bemoaned the fact of the Pharisees being entangled in the Law legalistically, and were neglecting the "heavier matters of the Law," which were "justice, mercy, and faith" (cf. Matt. 23:23, NLT).  The immediate purpose of the Law was to put a restraint on sin, and to convict of sin--a diagnosis of sin, not its antiseptic or panacea! The Law was never meant to be the way of salvation, but to show us our need for it!

In contrast:  the Law lays down what we must do; the gospel what God has done!  We show that we know Him by obeying His commandment; "This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us"  (1 John 3:23, CEV.  We are bad, indeed.  But not too bad to be saved!  Rejoice that Christ kept the Law on our behalf, living for us! 

In summation, Christians live by a higher law, the law of love and this law's requirements can never be fulfilled; one can meet the demands of a law, but never pay back, earn, nor deserve the demands of love (we hold a debt of gratitude forever!)--Christ raised the bar!  "You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'--but not everything is good for you.  You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'--but not everything is beneficial'" (1 Cor. 10:23, NLT).  "You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'--but not everything is good for you.  And even though 'I am allowed to do anything,' I must not become a slave to anything" (1 Cor. 6:12, NLT).   Soli Deo Gloria!