Jewish Noise

When did Obedience Become Legalism?

We seem to be living in a time in the present Christian era where people seem to feel that all that matters in Christianity is love and God’s grace, that obedience is simply legalism, and that people do not have to obey Bible commands for salvation (except, of course, for the command to believe in Jesus as the Savior).

Grace is made cheap.  Live as you like, call yourself a Christian, and God’s grace will cover you.  It is said it is what is in the heart (generally defined as the emotions) that counts.  Feelings and emotions are defined as love for God.  God’s grace will cover a life of sin just so a man believes in God in some abstract sense.  I might add if you doubt this just attend a few funerals and see if you can learn of any deceased who are not already in heaven based on the conversations you hear and the preaching and that no matter what kind of life the man lived.

People talk about love for God all the time.  It is in their heart (their emotions).  Yet, quote a passage to them like 1 John 5:2-3, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.  And his commandments are not burdensome” (NKJV) and you immediately have problems for that is not what they want to hear.  It is not how they want love defined.  The preference is for emotions rather than obedience. 

In 1 Cor. 13 we have Paul discussing love in verses 4-8.  In verse 6 of that chapter he says love “does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth.” (NKJV)  Iniquity is the opposite of obedience.  One can no more join love with iniquity than he can a lamb with a lion.  But, we have come to believe God’s grace covers everything and obedience is not necessary.  We now accept iniquity because we are no longer willing to accept the Bible as the standard of authority for what is right versus what is wrong.  We often still claim for ourselves the mantle of Christianity but must twist the scriptures (2 Peter 3:16) to suit modern conceptions of what is acceptable conduct and behavior.

To condemn sin as did John the Baptist, Paul, and Jesus is today seen to be unloving, intolerant, and judgmental and thus unchristian in the minds of many.  Yet, in the New Testament Paul, by the Holy Spirit, commanded Timothy to reprove and rebuke (2 Tim. 4:2 NAS) and not go along with or to hold his silence in the presence of men sinning.  Titus was told not only to rebuke but to do so sharply (Titus 2:13, see also Titus 2:15).  The Ephesians were told, thus meaning it is applicable to us as well, to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Eph. 5:11 ESV)  But, today that is seen as sticking your nose in where it does not belong and we are no longer to call anything short of murder, rape, or robbery sin and some even object to that at times.  The case of Roman Polanski’s rape of a 13 year old girl and the outcry now heard against bringing him to justice is an apt example.

Yes, obedience to Bible standards of conduct (commands) is now seen as legalism.  Sin is renamed and given polite names or, as is often the case, simply dropped off the radar screen altogether.  Fornication is an example of a sin that has dropped off the radar screen and out of sight.  Hardly anyone takes it to be a sin today.  It is commonly expected that just about every young person is going to engage in it and certainly every unmarried adult.  It is just taken for granted as being a normal part of society and not a serious sin at all.  What happened to the Bible?

Other sins we rename or perhaps a better way of saying it is that we recategorize it.  Homosexuality is gradually being moved out of the category of iniquity.  We now call it a committed and loving relationship.  To any who object we speak of intolerance and hate.  We call it a civil right and will work to doom’s day to make it a matter of law and who can say but what objectors will eventually be subject to hate speech legislation.

The religiously liberal Christians (if there is such a thing) say God loves all men (true) so we say we can rejoice in Christian fellowship with those actively practicing homosexuality – no repentance required.  Of course in doing so we destroy the Bible as written but the national desire today is to either abandon the Bible altogether as a standard of conduct, to say nothing of authority, and to write our own Bible. 

The way we do that is by making the Bible we have mean anything we want it to mean and abandon all rational exegesis.  We simply say it does not mean what it says.  It means what we say it means and of course all our conclusions are based on real love, love the way we, not God, define it.  We are perverting the faith and making up our own religion as did the Jews of Jesus’ day.  They were “seeking to establish their own righteousness” (Rom. 10:3 NKJV) and we seem to be doing the same thing.

Jesus said, “But why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46 NKJV)  Does anyone have an answer?  Love means obedience and obedience, despite the cry to the contrary, is not legalism.

Did you ever give it thought that if obedience is legalism that Jesus was the biggest legalist of all time?  He kept every commandment, never sinned once.  He said, “I always do those things that please him.” (John 8:29 NKJV)  He was obedient to death (Phil. 2:8).  He was the only one that ever kept the law of God perfectly, obedient in every detail.

Jesus never condemned the Pharisees for keeping the law, not once.  He condemned them for hypocrisy, for not keeping the law, for making commandments and adding them to God’s word and making them of equal force with God’s word binding them on men.  We often today say they were legalists and I do not object to that designation of them but I add this for clarification – their legalism was not for God’s law but for the law they had made and added to his.

Jesus said, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:19 NKJV)

 I give people credit in a place where perhaps some others would not.  Some would say we have come to this place because people today are just ignorant of God’s word.  Well, there is truth in that for sure but why is it so?  Is there a shortage of Bibles?  No, that is not it.  There is a lack of will to read them – that is for sure.  And there is a lack of a will to believe them and obey them.  Peter said there was such a thing as people who are “willingly…ignorant” (2 Peter 3:5 KJV).  If we will not read and study how can we keep from falling into the category of those who are willingly ignorant?

But, as I said, I am more inclined to give people credit in the knowledge department than some others believing that for the most part people do know right from wrong.  I believe the cry “legalism” against the teaching of obedience is in reality a smoke screen to cover up and make an excuse for a life lived for self, a this worldly life.  It is my life and I want to live it the way I want to.  The claim of saved solely by love and God’s grace provides the cover one needs for such a life to legitimize it before the public.

We all have a tendency to try and hide the wrong we know we are doing and one of the best (?) ways of doing that is to legitimize it – get everyone else to think what we are doing is not wrong.  Hey, everybody else is doing it – right?  How can it be wrong then?  The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were full of sin and yet to the general public they appeared to be righteous.  “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men.” (Matt. 23:28 NKJV)  They had gotten the people of their day to swallow their religion with all the additions and manmade commandments they had made.

The standard for a righteous man has been so lowered over the years that in the public’s eyes today even if you have not worshipped the Lord in a regular assembly of the saints for the past 20 years you are still headed straight to heaven. 

If you had opportunity to get a hold of an old church roll book from say 100 years ago you would probably be shocked as you would see notations made in the margins of people being withdrawn from as per 2 Thess. 3:6, “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.” (NKJV) 

Since we today have decided what love is and have taken it out of God’s hands it is no longer considered to be an act of love to withdraw from sinners who will not repent even though the purpose was “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Cor. 5:5 NKJV)    That is about as noble and as loving a reason as one could have and yet today if we were to practice discipline in the church by withdrawing fellowship from those living in sin and who will not repent it would be considered unloving and unchristian even though an inspired apostle commanded it.  It would be considered legalism gone wild. Have we made our own religion as did the Pharisees and scribes and lawyers of Jesus’ day?

One act of disobedience that is prevalent everywhere today is adulterous marriages and many congregations have people involved in such marriages but who are considered by the membership to be faithful.  What have we come to?  Listen carefully to Paul.

“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:  fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you once walked when you lived in them.” (Col. 3:5-7 NKJV)

I want to point out two things.  (1)  The word translated “fornication” in verse 5 includes adultery.  It is a broad term that has reference to more than one sexual sin or activity.  It is easy enough to check out for yourself online if you do not trust me.  (2)  Verse 7 teaches one can live in these sins thus adultery is not just a onetime act as some few teach.  As long as you remain in the adulterous marriage just that long you continue to live in adultery.

What is adultery?  “Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” (Matt. 19:9 NKJV)  The phrase “sexual immorality” is in the older translations the word “fornication.” (KJV, ASV of 1901)

Does God not forgive?  Certainly he does but only on the condition that one quit the sin in repentance.  If we continue to live in an adulterous marriage we continue the sin.  Remember, Col. 3:5-7 teaches one can live in this sin.  Besides, why did John the Baptist lose his head if it was okay for Herod to continue to live with Herodias, why did he preach it was not okay?

But, this is another example of how we take a sin out of the category of iniquity today and recategorize it.  God is love and “we get to define love” not him.  Leaving adulterous couples alone even in the church is now the loving thing to do.  To talk to them about the need for repentance is now seen as sinful, judgmental.  We have flip flopped everything and come up with a manmade religion.

It is getting very hard to be a preacher today unless you do not mind going along with the crowd.  The trouble is the crowd is heading to a hot, hot spot and the preacher will be going with them if he goes along with it all and if there are any such things as degrees of punishment in hell (I believe the bible teaches there is) there may be an especially warm spot awaiting him.  He is to preach the truth and support it, not go along with the crowd.

My whole point in this article is how we have come to the point in faith where the faith we have is no longer associated with obedience and obedience is now seen as legalism.  The truth is disobedience is sin.  Obedience is faithfulness.  There are far worse things that can happen to a man than to be called a legalist by one who does not want to obey.

“And having been perfected (Jesus-DS), he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” (Heb. 5:9 NKJV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21 NKJV)  Do you want to be like Jesus?  If so start condemning sin and be obedient.  You will not be working your way to heaven in doing so.  You will simply be an obedient Christian, not a disobedient one.  Of the two whom do you think will receive God’s grace in the last day?

 

 

About the Author

Visit Denny Smith’s web site dennysmith.net to read more of his articles and also listen to over 110 audio sermons on many different subjects from “Where Are the Dead?” to “The Weaver’s Shuttle,” to “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”

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