(All scripture references are NASB and all references to “Law” are Torah (Mosaic law) unless otherwise noted. I usually capitalize “law”, only because I am using it as a proper noun, not as a special status.)
Finishing the Introduction Quickly
I realize that these introductory posts are leaving more loose ends than I would like, so I am going to do my best to finish them up as quickly as possible.
I also recognize that in this Christian life journey there will always be loose ends, and our discussion and discovery never ends.
Disclaimer #2: Perhaps You don't Need My Musings
One concern I have is that perhaps you have learned and are learning Christ perfectly well!
The Spirit is an amazing teacher! I am willing to be used by Him, but He does not need me.
As I mentioned in a side-note from my first post - we should certainly be self-aware enough to know if our faith is working. You will “know it by your fruit” - the fruit of the Spirit.
A Believer is no longer A Sinner by Nature
Christ always makes this black and white - it is about identity. You are either a good tree or a bad tree; you are either a sheep or a goat. It is a person's very nature that is in question.
When you become a new creation, it is a work done by Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit. He makes you into a good tree. You cannot become a “bad” tree no matter how hard you try! Yet, here on Earth, we can be influenced to act like a “bad” tree. Paul calls this the parasite of sin “in our members”.
But for a believer, when this happens, we are faking it. This is not our nature any longer. We are being influenced to act like someone we are not. A sinning believer is a hypocrite.
As Paul puts it in Eph. 5:8, you are children of Light (a fact - God's reality), now walk as children of Light.
The reality of our identity empowers our walk - our walk does not change our identity.
The reality that we are a “good tree” is something we must put faith in. This is one of those promises within the gospel that we must believe by faith.
Yet, as Peter indicates in 2 Peter 1, if you are not bearing fruit naturally and growing, it is because you have forgotten who you are.
You have forgotten your identity. As he puts it, you forgot that you are “forgiven and cleansed”. This is the gospel, the promises of which we need reminding constantly.
By nature, a new creation is someone reborn as “the righteousness of God” and fully cleansed. Yet, this is a reality we must use faith to realize. We struggle every day with the flesh - old mindsets and ways of obtaining “life” that don’t match our new true identity.
Faith takes God at His Word, Even When our Sight Sees something Different
Thus, we look at our struggles and stumbles, and think how can scripture be true when it says we are the “righteousness of God”? But what takes more faith, to look at our stumbles (sight) and still take God at His word about us as new creations?
Or to give into the enemy accusations, often using out of context scripture? When the enemy tempted Christ, what did he say? “It is written”. Just because an idea uses scripture, doesn't make it true. That is the enemy's favorite thing to do, twist scripture and use it to hurt believers because he knows it works.
As an example, two old testament passages compete, yet only one is confirmed in the epistles for believers. I'm sure you have heard Jeremiah 17:9 - the heart is deceitful and wicked - it is ubiquitous in spiritual communities.
Yet, Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 predicts a new covenant where God will give us a “new heart and spirit” and put His Spirit within us. This is confirmed throughout the epistles.
We must walk by faith, not by sight - especially when it comes to ourselves and our struggles. And this works both ways: we become less condemning of our stumbles, yet, we don't stumble as much in the first place.
When you truly know who you are (a pure cleansed saint) then you will begin to act like it. However, if you are convinced your very nature is a sinner, then whether you admit it or not, you do what you believe. Someone who is by nature a sinner, can't help but sin.
It amazes me how often people believe that God expects us to live from a place of spiritual and cognitive dissonance. We must dutifully say “God is good” even while believing things about Him that are not good at all.
Many believe they have a “wicked” heart, yet God expects them to act like someone they are not. That is a cruel and capricious god, not the God of the scripture. He gives good gifts.
As Christ said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. The miracle He wrought is that you are no longer divided from God, you are the same family. We still battle the parasite of sin in our members and in the world, but we are not divided against ourselves. You must know the enemy - is is not you.
I will get more into our new heart and the scripture that confirms it in later posts, but this is the center of who we are as new creations. We were literally birthed by God into something new. This is our “salvation”.
This is why we can't lose it. God doesn't “abort” His children. Once you are a new creation, it is a permanent work. What God has done, man cannot undo.
A Good Tree bears Good Fruit
Again, as I mentioned before, this fruit is all attitudes, thus not easily measured. We cannot simply say, because we are acting “thus and thus”, or checking off our list of activities, that we are truly bearing fruit.
That would be nice though wouldn't it! Check off the list and please God. I was lazy much of my life, so I operated this way. While it may seem disciplined, often checking boxes is really the easy way out. Actually living in relationship is a lot of work.
HOWEVER - if you are genuinely expressing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control - naturally and effortlessly - then keep on keeping on! You don't need my advice.
Obviously none of us do this perfectly, I'm talking the general trend of your life. If you are growing in grace and knowledge of Christ then don't add anything else to the mix, including (or especially) my musings.
Again, however, don't be like the lady I mentioned earlier who was so stressed out over her perception of her lack of fruit. Think about all the small ways in dozens of daily interactions that these attributes can display themselves.
If you are truly a believer, then you may be bearing the fruit of the Spirit in ways you don't even realize! The enemy may just have you so discouraged that you can't even see it.
He loves to make the standard so high it is impossible to meet. This is why thinking “fruit” is only manifested in specific “spiritual” categories is so harmful. You can bear this fruit in every situation.
While we always want to grow and be aware of mindsets that help or hinder growth, we should also recognize that we are a good tree. Because we are in-dwelled by Christ - He will work His way out of us (Phil. 1:6).
If you are leaning into Christ's power and bearing fruit, it is not “humble” to act like you are not or let the enemy accuse you otherwise.
You are not bragging on yourself, you are bragging on Christ! There is nothing more humble than that.
Side-note #1 - Detour back to Legalism
By the way, I must ask, if you are demonstrating, reflecting, and thus bearing this Spirit fruit in your life - are you lying, cheating, or stealing, etc.? You cannot do both - it is impossible.
This is why Paul says in Romans 3:31 that “faith lifts up the Law”. The idea is that it improves upon the Law - it does what the Law could never do. Again, as Hebrews and Paul emphasize, it replaces it.
As Hebrews would say, why go back to something “weak and useless” to live under, when you have something so vastly superior?
Most likely if you struggle with a legalistic mindset, then you probably struggle with consistently bearing fruit. One goes with the other. Either way, my writing could be helpful.
Even though grace through faith replaces the Law, when it comes to what the Law was trying to accomplish but failed (true righteousness), the new grace covenant far exceeds the old. Romans and Hebrews vividly illustrate this truth.
Yet, by even framing it this way, it is easy to get into the mindset that the Spirit or faith is helping us “keep the Law”. I get into this more later, but that is not the way it works.
It pleases God when we live in a healthy way, because He loves us that much. He wants the best for us, but a Law based mindset is not the way to accomplish this.
Still, do You “Need” my Musings?
Frankly, nobody needs advice beyond scripture itself, and as the early church proves, you can have a vibrant relationship with Christ and be totally illiterate!
The indwelling Christ is what matters most or as Paul says, the “new creation is what matters”.
There is a simplicity in the gospel that opens the door for everyone! Hebrews and 1 John have verses explicitly stating that we don't need anyone to teach us because of the new covenant promises and the Spirit within.
I believe that there is a negative aspect to an overemphasis of spiritual “book learning” vs. the natural way of learning to live according to the Spirit. I have experienced this.
The more bad ideas we get into our head, the harder it is to have the proper faith mindset.
But, I'm still not saying you cannot learn from my writing (or others) - obviously the Spirit most often uses externals like scripture and other believers to teach us. He used the apostles visiting and ministering in the early churches to teach them. I'm not advocating some kind of mystical only internal learning.
However I never want to disrupt your mindset of faith and accidentally introduce doubt or ideas that you may not have thought of yet.
I am already concerned that some could read what I have written and begin to worry if they have a “legalistic mindset”. You can become “legalistic” about not being legalistic!
It is hard to warn of something without putting a negative idea in someone's mind.
Obviously, if you do have a legalistic mindset, you need to be aware, however if you don't, don't get one! The whole point is that a proper understanding of Christ and the gospel relaxes you - not give you more stress!
I have seen believers who have an easy confidence in Christ and their salvation, yet someone comes along and starts the “but what-about” scenario and suddenly their easy walk with Christ becomes harder.
The enemy can use anything to condemn us. Sadly, a lot of “Christian” teaching helps in this endeavor.
I repeat, if your journey and walk is “easy and light” and you are not in some way self-deluding or making excuses, then awesome!
I do not want to overlay my issues on anyone, or assume my struggle is the same. My goal is to help those who are like I was. Their walk is hard and isn't producing much fruit. I simply want to point to mindsets that for me were making it hard and fruitless.
If that’s you, and you continue to read, I will be grateful and blessed.
My goal, especially once I begin a more direct exegesis of scripture, is to simply point you to Christ and the gospel. To help your mindset align with gospel truth.
Vehement Disagreement is not Edifying
Along the lines of wasted time, it is also a waste of time if you are in vehement disagreement with my interpretation of the gospel of grace. You may already realize this or will shortly if you keep reading.
I always hope I can be at peace with anyone who claims, like me, that Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. I hope that we can maintain unity and love even in polite disagreement. This is my goal.
However, I recognize, while in this fallen human shell, disagreements about even minor things can become unhealthy very quickly.
If my perspective offends you beyond the point that you would ever change your mind or you cannot even consider my musings because they immediately conjure up “false teacher” vibes then it is most likely a waste of your time to keep reading. That is up to you.
If you feel strongly enough that something I have written is wrong in the sense that it diminishes the gospel, then say so. The comments are open.
My point is to stay true to the gospel and discuss mindsets that I have found diminish the power of the gospel in my life.
I certainly hope and plan to show my reasoning directly from scripture. We may still disagree on the interpretation, but that is the foundation for everything I am writing.
Yet, I fully acknowledge that my own biases can interfere.
Thus, I am always open to constructive criticism or a friendly discussion. I discuss “iron sharpening iron” a bit later. Avoiding differences of opinion is not edifying, as long as it is done in a loving manner.
But the point is for you to think, hmm, that's an interesting perspective, let me consider this more from that angle. Is that really what scripture says? And be willing to admit when it is, or carefully discern if it is not. “Well, this is what I always believed.” is not enough.
Unfortunately, some cannot seem to face differences of opinion graciously. I hope and pray that this is not the case with you.
Legalism Continued - More on the Two Sides of the Same Coin
I have recently demonstrated that in some cases the opposite effect can be had from a legalistic mindset. Some could mix the idea that “only the Law can prevent lawlessness” with “those who are in Christ are not under the law” in a very unhealthy way.
However, again, in my experience - self-righteousness is much more common.
It just seems more obvious that open debauchery is wrong - very few believers can justify this in their own minds, and rightly so.
Scripture backs this idea of self-righteous asceticism being more prevalent - Paul wrote more churches combating the ascetic mindset than the debauched one.
Specifically in Colossians 2:20-23, Paul addresses this clearly and directly! He indicates that those who would put restrictions on themselves in order to help with sin or become more spiritual are wasting their time. Verse 23 is worth quoting. I like the way the BSB puts it:
“Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
I love that phrase “self-prescribed worship”. That aptly describe the legalistic mindset; it always claims to be worshiping God through it's guilt, condemnation, and rules.
Pretty much only Corinth had the “anything goes because of ‘grace’” mindset to such a degree that Paul wrote them two very long letters. Again, no one should dispute the harm in an actively debauched lifestyle. I am in no way justifying or excusing debauchery.
However, my concern is that a self-righteous lifestyle is more subtle and insidious, and as Galatians illustrates, perhaps even more harmful to the soul. Awareness is essential.
Those who willingly endeavor to live a debauched lifestyle don't usually try to use the gospel to cover it. The Corinthians were some really confused believers.
Galatian vs. Corinthian Mindsets
That was not my issue with legalism, so I will not emphasize it as much in my writing. My issue was much more of the Galatian kind.
Even though this can still lead to hidden debauchery, the person struggling with this mindset is genuinely trying to follow God's “rules” to the best of their ability.
Failure is not an option. Their entire identity is wrapped up in minimizing failures. Every failure is devastating because the stakes are so high. For some, they feel that even salvation is on the line! For me, my worth and value was. You can see how stressful this mindset can be.
The way this leads to debauchery is that every stumble becomes an overwhelming hit to the conscience, causing extreme shame.
After awhile, you are unable to deal with this emotionally, and it simply causes you to give up fighting. And often you feel those in your spiritual community would “kick” you while you were down if they knew.
(This is why one of the promises of the new covenant gospel is a “heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Heb. 9-10). Another promise we must believe by faith.)
When all your striving ends in repeated failures for years upon years, and you have tried every Christian “formula” you have learned over the years, where do you go next?
Often, the initial stages of failure may not even be legitimate sin! The hallmark of a legalistic community is to find sin everywhere. Scripture is twisted to find ways to increase the “sin list”, because the more sin you avoid, the “holier” you are!
Thus the enemy traps you in a cycle of failure and shame, without understanding true gospel power, causing you to give up and begin to give in. When the activity you are struggling with is not even truly sin, even the Holy Spirit cannot help you defeat it!
As Paul says in Romans 14, you must be “convinced in your own mind.” If you think some activity is wrong or sinful, and yet you end up doing it anyway, it will harm you.
This is the enemy game, causing you to feel such shame over petty, nitpicky, and/or natural ways of living, that your conscience gets seared over those things, which then brings you down to the point that the true sin that harms you and others seems like the natural next step and becomes easier to take.
Once you get trapped in the cycle of real sin, (depending on how much fear you have of consequences which may serve to hold you back from the worst lies you have begun to believe), this path can take you really far down the road to temporal destruction.
Faith and Worry Cannot Co-exist
The Lord is our creator, He knows what makes us tick and what is healthy for us. He is brilliant in this, and the gospel is His clearest message of healthy living we have.
A legalistic mindset has an obsessively unhealthy focus on sin. The person dealing with this is often constantly worried about whether they are sinning or not.
Because their status with God (or their own self-worth) depends on not sinning, this must be their focus. A Law based mindset must be focused on whether you are properly keeping the Law (or whichever laws you have defined for yourself).
But a simple question? Can you be expressing faith and worry at the same time? I believe the answer is no. Again, this is a clear, plain, real world type observation that confirms Paul saying the Law is “not of faith”.
You must gain a clear understanding of whether your sin is bigger or is your Lord Jesus Christ bigger? “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Takes away! Not simply covers. This goes way beyond old testament “atonement”.
The gospel will take away your worry about sin if you let it. The gospel will show you what true wholeness and health is - to no longer worry about sinning because the Lord has taken it all away, past, present, and future.
The gospel is not too good to be true; it is simply truth. I have experienced this. The more I worry about my sinning, the more I stumble into it. We often do that which we are focused on.
Yet, the more I trust the finished work of Christ, the less I worry about sinning, and the less I stumble into it. Amazing how God's gospel way actually works!
Hiding a Struggle Doesn't Make it go Away - it only Makes it Worse
While the Corinthians flaunted their stumbles openly, those struggling with the more common legalistic mindset do everything to hide their struggles.
Depending on their particular “flesh pattern”, they may or may not be very successful at this.
(It's a lot easier to hide a critical spirit than something like lying or adultery. Some flesh patterns are only internal and/or more socially acceptable.)
Unless their mindset changes to a more gospel focused one, their success or failure at hiding their stumbles ends up controlling the outcome of their walk.
Those who can hide their stumbles (or their stumbles are more socially acceptable) often go for years maintaining their “cover” and even excusing themselves that they are actually walking quite well. Many become spiritual pillars in their community because others judge their spirituality by externals.
There have been several examples of this in the news recently - some covers not even being discovered until after the person dies. In every one of these examples, there were elements of legalism involved in the person's teaching and thus their belief system.
Those who cannot easily hide their stumbles usually don't last very long in a spiritual community. This may or may not be because they were never truly a child of God.
It may be they never learned Christ well; they never understood grace as the power to say no to sin; thus they fell under such condemnation from a self-righteous community that they could not handle or stand being in it.
Sadly, believer communities are full of friendly fire. It breaks my heart.
Ironically, it is often the emphasis of the teaching in this very community that inhibits learning Christ! And thus, those who can hide their fleshly struggles are lifted up while those who can't feel rejected. Again, man looks on the outside, God on the heart.
Publically Embracing Long-term Failure is not a Virtue Either
I have seen in some occasions where someone will embrace their failures openly and begin to basically celebrate their “brokenness”.
They end up going from one person to another, bemoaning their constant struggles, seeking attention.
They turn their inability to use the power of Christ to overcome into something moral or good, like “humility”. This is still a symptom of the same legalistic mindset.
(This is not the same as admitting our struggles and seeking help from a select few trusted people. There is a different element to this mindset. The goal is not really to get help.)
For these people, celebrating their “brokenness” is a sign of humble godliness and acceptance of grace. They never recognize that it is actually a lack of faith in the power of Christ to help them. They end up a bit like the Corinthians.
The signature of both the hiders and the flaunters is a cycle of failure that is never quite resolved no matter what they do. Thus, the promises of God held within the gospel never seem to hold true for them.
Both haven't learned Christ very well.
Much Teaching encourages Legalism
Sadly, this is because our teaching often encourages an outward morality (usually using God in a threatening way) without teaching the proper “good news” or gospel manner in which to achieve it.
There is a “behave or else” thread to this teaching. Thus, people will try everything to avoid the condemnation of God or maybe even more, their religious community (which often is blended together as the same thing.)
This leavenous teaching will often have basic elements of the gospel and use the name of Christ. It will even come from scripture. But there will be extra stuff mixed in -requirements beyond simple faith that corrupt the message. Bad news is mixed in.
The “good news” or gospel must remain good in order to be effective. The Law, by definition, is “bad news”, and there lies the issue. The Law brings death.
We Need Life - Not Law
Christ made His mission clear in John 10:10: “…I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” His mission was to bring us life. When we become new creations, we receive this life that He came to give. It is what makes us new.
The bad news of the Law (Paul calls it a “curse” - Gal. 3:10-14) is that you are condemned completely with a death sentence the very first time you break the smallest law.
However, even if you think you have kept them all from birth (here's looking at you, rich young ruler) you are still spiritually dead - disconnected from God. Because Adam rejected life - we are born in Adam, condemned to death from birth.
The Law has no power to make you alive, only show your death. You need life - not Law.
The Focus is God's Kindness
The simple and easily understood statement in Romans 2:4 seems to get around our understanding for some reason.
The “kindness of God leads to repentance.” I repeat, it is God's kindness, not severity, that leads to repentance. This is for believers too!
(It is a puzzle to me that we often think God is kinder to outsiders than to His own family.)
We use verses like Romans 5:1 (peace with God through Christ) in an evangelical way (free gift), yet once we gain peace with God as a free gift, suddenly there are all these hoops to jump through in order to maintain it!
Again, I realize there are churches out there whose teaching end up resembling Corinth in some ways - an anything goes “gospel”. But that has not been my experience, so I have less to comment on it, and it's harms are self evident. (Again, 2 Peter 2 - yikes.)
If anything, those who hold to a Galatian type Law based gospel will quickly point out the harms of those “liberal” churches while completely ignoring the harms of their own teaching!
I am probably offending everyone at this point, but the harm in my own life compels me to be honest about this condition.
Most believers truly want to behave well (frankly most humans do too.) Yet, we can all have a poor understanding of the source of that power to be truly righteous and the mindset required to enact faith in our lives.
To the extent that we do, we will be a failure at the Christian (or any) life, no matter how well we might behave outwardly.
And this is the goal of my musings, to share the mindsets I have discovered that both prevented and encouraged a proper knowledge of Christ for me. To share my discovery of mindsets that allow genuine fruit.
Legalism - Final Thoughts (for now)
Legalism in a nutshell: We have peace with God when we behave well; we don't when we don't. We gain and maintain our relationship with God through “good” behavior or mess it up with “bad”. Legalism is very “we” centric.
Again, my issues and the issues with most of the teachings I have absorbed don't deal with gaining relationship with God through works.
Thus, I will not be focused on that much, even though clearly that is the root of the attitude and the most dangerous aspect spiritually as it could prevent peace with God entirely.
However, those are not my direct audience or focus. My goal is to “feed the sheep” - the true family of God, and help them understand the mindsets necessary to enact true faith.
Many are able to admit we don't gain relationship with God through behavior, but many think we do maintain it. A legalistic mindset measures the status of relationship with God by how well the rules are being kept.
In this case, the believer already has peace with God, yet they simply don't know it or believe it. They lack faith in this gift. They use their “sight” to view their stumbles, and thus believe that because of them they don't have peace with God.
And then the cycle of guilt and shame begins, the stress of having to perform or else, as I have already described above.
Again, this is the same mindset. It is believing that our works (or lack thereof) is what maintains or breaks peace with God. But the scriptural truth is that if we are in Christ, we have peace with God, period, no matter our performance.
Legalism is an Unstable Mindset
Since your spiritual status with God is based on the unstable roller coaster of your daily performance, then your thinking and emotions are anchored to the instability of your own ability to perform or even in your ability to use Spirit power to perform (a more subtle variation). It is all about your abilities.
Some rightfully recognize that we cannot be “self-powered”, so they say we must use Spirit power to enable our performance (true).
However, a legalistic mindset can turn this into yet another law and condemnation. It still becomes about your performance, but they take it down to a more root level.
Instead of it being directly about your ability to keep the Law itself, it is now about your ability to use the Spirit to keep the Law!
Again, this is still self-focused on your own ability to perform; your righteousness is still being measured by your performance - rather than faith in the gift of righteousness you have been given through Christ's work.
Side-note #2: Recognizing Spirit Inspired Healthy Living is not Legalism
There is a vast difference between a recognition that certain behaviors are healthier than others and please God vs. the idea that our stumbles impact our peace with God, gain curses from God, or that our good works engender blessings from God.
We don't maintain our relationship with God by our works, our works flow from our relationship with God! It is the difference between root and stem.
Christ is the only Vine; only He can produce true goodness. We are created to be receivers of His goodness, not produce our own.
We don't have to try and be the Vine in order to please God. Once you understand Christ as the Vine, it is obvious that we will massively displease God when we attempt this.
We dishonor the work of Christ when we try to replace Him, however ignorantly, with this mindset. Yet, so much teaching has believers convinced they must try and be the Vine.
Awareness of Signposts that Indicate Natural Fruit Bearing is not Legalism
There is also a difference between being aware of whether your spiritual mindset is working well or not vs. feelings of guilt, shame, and condemnation over stumbles.
The whole point of Ephesians 4 is to understand whether you have learned Christ well! There will be signs of this fruit. We should be aware of these signs. Being aware of these is not a legalistic mindset.
My whole point (and the point of the epistolic authors) is a recognition of the internal motivation for these signs.
We are not just doing things because we “have” to or God said to, as we grudgingly check some box. He is motivating us from within. True Spirit motivation will be filled with joy and excitement! Not “ginned” up!
Paul never shys away from describing what the character of Christ within us should produce. (Hint: it doesn't produce lying, stealing, and adultery - ironic!)
We must take great care that in trying to avoid a legalistic mindset we aren't legalistic about it! Good behavior can happen from self effort, but the Spirit always inspires goodness.
And, it is always best to make healthy choices even if our mindset is not always in the right place. Again, I have heard of folks who refuse to do something good because they aren't sure they are being Spirit powered! How ludicrous!
That defeats the purpose. We must allow for room and time to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. We can't just sit still in an inactive state while we wait for growth!
The gospel frees us to move forward in our life and walk, even though we will make mistakes. I don't want anyone to get stalled trying to determine that all their motives are correct.
However, my point is there are mindsets and truth that allows the Spirit to power more and more of our life as we grow. OR, there are mindsets that interfere with that growth.
As we grow, this just begins to naturally happen more and more. The whole point is to relax in Christ. Trying to walk according to the Spirit should not stress us out any more than trying to keep the Law!
This is all a process…learning better mindsets is part of the process, but only God gives growth (Colossians 2:19).
A mindset that cooperates with His work within us recognizes that it is not the mindset doing the growing - the mindset just helps us get out of the way so God can grow us!
At the same time, the life I am experiencing is so amazing and exciting I want everyone to experience it! And changing your mind (repentance) is a huge part of it.
Gaining new mindsets and repentance are exactly the same thing. I will get into that a bit later.
Christ's Life in us is Active
Christ has given us His life. Yes, this life means we will go to Heaven, yet it also means power to have your best life here on Earth.
Romans 8:11 indicates this Spirit life within can bring life to your “mortal body”. Paul specifies “mortal”. This is the body you have now. You can express Christ's life in this body.
This life is indicated by the fruit of the Spirit.
My entire discovery of learning Christ better is to enable this “best life” as much as possible. I am writing this to maybe help others learn Christ better too for the same reason. This requires “grace through faith”.
Col. 2:6 - “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…”
You received Him by “grace through faith”.
You walk the exact same way - you grow the exact same way - you live the exact same way!
This begins with changing mindsets that may be preventing the action of grace through faith in our lives. Legalism is but one of those, though it is a big one. Any idea we have that contradicts clear gospel truth interferes.
Discernment is needed to see the difference between a condemning legalistic mindset that is trying to perform for all the wrong reasons and a faith mindset that allows the power of the Spirit to give you your best life.
Because the “results” of both of these methods can look very similar, understanding your own mindset is crucial. Why are you doing what you do, and why are you thinking what you think? Motivation is critical.
One mindset holds something over your head and uses “carrots and sticks” to motivate behavior (God will punish or bless you). At its root, this mindset requires performance to obtain some or all of the gospel gifts that Christ is offering us for free. The gifts are conditional upon us and our actions.
The Gospel only Works as a Gift
It is destructive every; single; time we turn God's gift into an obligation. Everything Christ offers is a gift; when we treat it as debt or feel obligation, that is the harmful mindset I am describing.
The proper mindset recognizes the love of Christ as a motivation (we have every blessing as a gift, not earned - Eph. 1:3). It recognizes that these have been given to us without conditions.
One mindset is faith; one is not. One pleases God; one does not.
Poor Mindsets are Everywhere
Learning about the true gospel of grace is tough. It puts you at odds with so much - even cherished old hymns. This saddens me. Yet, do we fill our minds with subtle lies or not?
An example: “Jesus paid it all…” - absolute truth. “…all to Him I owe.” - a subtle lie. The very sentence is cognitively dissonant.
Owing someone means you have a debt. It means there is a wage required. It means that this description can no longer be considered a gift. This word “owe” is insidiously bad. I hope the writer just did not realize.
Am I nitpicking? If you have even a rudimentary understanding of the gospel, you know this is a lie. Granted, a sincere one, perhaps one born out of ignorance, but a lie nonetheless. Is it a harmless one?
All we owe Christ is sincere gratitude for the fact that we don't owe Him. The debt is fully paid. It is a Law mindset that makes out that we owe anything.
While we don't “owe” Him our faith and trust, I have to ask, why do we need to have an obligation to love and trust Someone so amazing? That is a legitimate question.
This gets at the root of how the enemy has used these mindsets to warp our mindset. We completely miss out on the true motivation: the goodness and kindness of our Lord. We should trust Him because He is worthy of our trust, not because we think He demands it.
1 Corinthians 13:5 - Agape love (the very essence and nature of God - God IS love) - does not “seek it's own way”. Wow. Nor does He have to or need to. He is pure excellence - what's not to love? What's not to trust?
The enemy works overtime to make out God as untrustworthy, and much spiritual teaching goes right along with this.
The God revealed in Christ is absolutely trustworthy because He gives good gifts. He wants to give us His life. There is no better gift. Do not let enemy mindsets ruin the gift.
I know I have gone on and on, and maybe your eyes are blurry, but do you see the required gift mindset? This is so important. The enemy has subtly introduced a leavenous idea of “debt” into even our most beloved hymns.
Only a mindset of faith can please God (Hebrews 11:6). And faith is believing the “Good News” and the promises of God without reservation or mixing bad news in.
Faith is taking God at His word, especially when it seems too good to be true. Faith is believing the promises of God, and these promises are revealed in the new covenant gospel.
Learning Christ begins with learning these promises and what they mean for us who have been gifted them.
Old and New Covenants are Opposed
Legalism can also be described as mixing elements of the old (Mosaic law) covenant with the new (grace) covenant. You cannot be under both! Gentiles were never under the old anyway because it was never even given to us!
(This makes the mindset of the Galatians very perverted. Again, they underwent a dangerous medical procedure that was never ever required of them in order to 'please' God.)
Of course, understanding the difference between these covenants is crucial, and one day I will get more into that.
The main thing to realize is again one is based on the human ability to perform and keep God's Law, while the other is based on Christ's performance on humanity's behalf through His finished work.
The old testament followers of Yahweh never had the indwelling Holy Spirit. He came upon them occasionally, but they did not have a new birth experience, with permanent intimate union with God. (Hebrews 11:39-40)
Their faith was counted as righteousness, yet when attempting to keep the Law, it was purely based on their fleshly ability.
Even David, a man “after God's own heart”, could not keep the Law. He, along with all other old testament Yahweh followers, still needed Christ. Many of his prophetic words declare this truth.
The New Covenant is between God and God
All of these concepts deserve extensive individual treatment, but unlike the Mosaic covenant which was ratified between God and the Hebrews, the new covenant was never ratified directly with humanity.
Hebrews indicates it was ratified between God and God (Christ) based on Christ's blood. (Heb. 6:13-18) We participate through “marriage” to Christ (Rom. 7). This is vastly different from the old covenant.
A legalistic mindset mixes in the condemning requirements of the old with aspects of the new. It does not account for apostolic passages that indicate the old has been replaced by the new. It tries to mix the two covenants, a bit of grace, but let's keep some Law in case grace doesn't work out.
Paul calls this leaven…a bit of grace and a bit of Law, all mixed together, corrupting the final product.
This is a succinct version of what legalism is though there is so much more to say about it.
Legalism is not an Outward Facing Issue
While clearly there is an outworking of legalism as I have described with the example of the Corinthian and Galatians churches, these are only symptoms.
The common thinking about legalism often focuses on superficial things like certain activities, clothing, hairstyles, etc. Yet, these are not the primary focus of the apostolic authors (mostly Paul) when attacking legalism.
These fringe ideas are often based on the twisting or misapplication of a scripture passage, but for the most part they are at best, the personal conviction of an individual; and at worst, self-imagined virtue signaling.
Note: I'm not saying that minor externals are never be a sign of one's spiritual condition, but generally it is the spiritual condition of those overly focused on minor things that should be a concern!
In Romans 14, Paul considers these type of believers to be very immature. (And yet he points out that the law of Christ or love means we should not deliberately offend them either by flaunting our “freedom”.)
But, the main issue is a legalistic attitude or mindset - these are the rare fringe extreme expressions of that attitude. They are easy to spot and disavow. You may even think because you avoid them that you don't have a legalistic mindset. Yet many still have one.
These fringe expressions are not as common as they used to be. Yet, the mindset of legalism still rears it's ugly head in nearly every community of believers.
What is the “Law”?
As I briefly covered in the last post, one way we get confused is by trying to separate the “Law” into categories like moral or ceremonial. However, the new testament authors do not treat it that way.
When they reference the “Law” they mean the entire law of Moses - all 613 commands. Acts 28:23 directly calls this out (Law of Moses).
Many translations capitalize “Law” to show that it is a proper noun, referring to the “Law of Moses”. Sometimes the authors will include “the Prophets” such as in Romans 3:21 to make it abundantly clear that this is the old covenant Jewish Mosaic Law that is in focus (and even expanded to later prophet dictates.)
Clearly God sees His Law, given through the angels to Moses and only to the Jewish Hebrews in the Old Testament, as an “all or nothing” deal. You must agree to all of it in order to maintain peace with God using any of it. You cannot pick a few. This is clear.
The Law is All or Nothing
Thus when Paul writes “The Law is not of faith” (Galatians 3:12) or “the power of sin is the Law” (1 Corinthians 15:56) or any of many times he indicates that Law and grace are opposed and believers are not “under the Law”, then he means the entire Law of Moses.
Other authors like James indicate that if you are under the Law, yet you break even one command, then you are guilty of it all. Paul also indicates something similar in Galatians 3:10 - if you put yourself under the law to have peace with God, you must keep all of them perfectly. All means all - all 613 commands.
You can't pick a few and try your best to do them (or think that you actually are keeping them in a righteous way.) You cannot relate to God through both Law and grace. You must pick only one, as they are incompatible. To the extent that you are trying to relate to God through both covenants, you will fail at both.
And again, Gentile believers were never even given the old covenant. I dare anyone to show me where the Mosaic Law covenant was ratified with Gentiles. It simply wasn't.
The entire Gentile world has been tricked into trying to relate to God through a covenant that was never ratified with them.
So Why Does Paul Write to not Steal Etc.
There is so much to cover here, but I will just say that one of the major objections to the idea of Law vs. grace is that Paul and other apostolic writers still indicate that basic morality is good (DUH!). They even quote parts of the Law to emphasize this.
So, some say that this means they are indicating we are still “under” the “moral” parts of the Law.
A False Dichotomy Logical Fallacy
However, BOTH CAN BE TRUE! Morality is still good, yet we are not under the Law. This is a common ‘false dichotomy' logical fallacy.
The idea is setup that you must either be under the “moral law” or you will be immoral.
As I have already demonstrated, some Galatians and Corinthians fell for this.
Yet, this logical fallacy leaves out a third option that scripture clearly presents and is the basis for the new covenant gospel.
Both ideas (not under Law; morality is good) must be true because scripture says both. We cannot eliminate clear scripture simply because we (or frankly most scholars) are not able to reconcile them.
The goals might seem to overlap in some ways, but that still doesn't mean we are under the Law when scripture says “NO!”.
Again, there is so much detail to get into.
Like how every time the epistles quote Law, the punishment part is left out.
Under the Law, if you did not obey and respect your parents, the punishment was death. However, when Paul quotes it, he leaves that out. Only the blessing that comes from this obviously wise behavior is left in.
(This is the new covenant in a nutshell: because of Christ we get all the blessings from God without any of the curses.)
The Old Testament was the only scripture the Apostles had to base their own scripture they were writing on. Yet, they changed it in ways that show the different ways they were indicating truth under the new covenant.
(Note: Even Christ did this. When quoting Deuteronomy 6:13 to Satan when being tempted in Luke 4:8 He changes the word “fear” to “worship”. This is not just a Hebrew to Greek thing, there are plenty of Greek words that could be used for “fear”.
True worship can never be based in the “afraid” kind of fear. That is not true reverence and respect. Fear used in a positive sense in the New Testament is not being afraid. It is quite different.)
As Hebrews 1 emphasizes, the old testament father's and prophets had an incomplete understanding of the truth that was fully revealed in Christ. These changes are not minor and they are done for a reason.
The old covenant expected a good performance and if it did not happen, then condemnation and punishment followed. The new covenant has put the condemnation and punishment on Christ, and the new motivation is the benefits that this love relationship with Christ provides.
Paul indicates that the new covenant is actually the oldest and original covenant. It's quite amazing that Abraham never had the “ten commandments” yet he was called righteous based on faith in Romans 4.
It wasn't even as if he had a great track record of keeping the Law in advance of it being given! There are several stories of him lying, stealing, and even committing adultery.
It is obvious from Abraham's performance that relationship with God has never been based on keeping the Law.
True Righteousness is Always the Goal
Apostolic scripture absolutely has true righteousness as the goal, both in identity and activity, yet pits Law (old covenant) and grace (new covenant) against each other as two totally different paths to achieving it.
And in reality, they change the position of the righteousness goal a bit also since it is about faith - not a perfect performance.
There is no “bad news” in the “Good News” or Gospel. Any bad news automatically corrupts it and makes it other than “Good News”. This is simple logic.
The “Good News” gives you righteousness as a gift. This is for your benefit and to teach you to “say no to sin and walk uprightly” (Titus 2:12).
Yet, even when you do not use the gift well and stumble, you are forgiven on the go! The “Good News” is you cannot mess it up. It is only “good” because it doesn't depend on us!
Anything that depends on human performance is “bad news” by default. Just take a look at the nightly news. It is full of bad things happening because they are reporting humanity trusting in themselves.
A Law based righteousness means that you are not righteous until your behavior improves and you “keep” the Law. This is straight up old covenant Judaism. If you are actually able to do this, then you must maintain it perfectly to keep righteousness.
(Of course, the big non-secret is that no one has ever done this - not David, not Jeremiah, no human other than Jesus Christ.)
Yet, in our non-Jewish religious circles we have kept this mindset to different degrees.
We may recognize that we do not need to keep the Law to establish a relationship with God (i.e. get saved), however we still think we must keep the Law, or at least certain parts of it, in order to “grow” in righteousness.
Paul calls this mindset “leaven”. (Gal. 5:6-9)
The Law Thwarts True Righteousness
I will get into this in a bit more detail later, but being empowered by the Spirit who made us new creations will give us true righteousness. This enables a morality far beyond the Law. Yet, when we put ourselves under the Law, Paul indicates that is not faith. (Galatians 3:12, but really all of Galatians 3.)
Thus legalism is an attitude that thwarts faith - the very faith we need to be empowered by genuine righteousness given as a gift through the finished work of Christ! If anything, the moral part is the most important to remove from your mindset! It is the biggest obstacle.
Everyone knows that lying, stealing, etc. is bad. The question is then what is the answer?
And Paul gives the answer as “grace through faith in the finished work of Christ” (Romans 4-8). He then goes on to give clear examples of how putting yourself under “thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7) or the “ministry of death…carved on stone” (2 Corinthians 3) is not of faith. Thus we have our answer.
This idea is not an oxymoron! Once you grasp that the Law is a poor representation of true righteousness, and putting yourself under it as an obligation actually inhibits your ability to use the gift of true righteousness given by Christ, then this is not confusing at all.
This is also not something that needs reconciling - scripture does this perfectly well. It is only our mindset, influenced by poor teaching, that struggles with this.
As I covered earlier, it is also not law bashing or anti-law - meaning “being against something that controls your behavior”. The finished work of Christ working through the new covenant to make us new creations simply replaces the Law as this controlling mechanism.
When the legalist calls the purveyor of the true and pure gospel of grace antinomian or anti-law, they don't know what they are talking about.
Again, the Law is good, in and of itself, and given by God for a very specific purpose.
Anything given by God is good. Yet, only if we use it the way God intended. We cannot ignore His clear words on this topic.
When humans try to use the Law as a power to control their sinning, the flesh mindset is kicked off and automatically mixes in, causing even more sin! Since the Law is not of faith, even when we are able to “keep” it, simply by having a mindset of having to keep it we automatically uses flesh power to do it!
This is Paul's message in Romans 7 and elsewhere. It is quite a clear message, yet our biases so often get in the way of truth.
There is so much more to be said, so if this is confusing or you are shaking your head in frustration, then I recommend that you continue reading and judge my writing over a longer period of time before you dismiss me.
I do believe that this is a huge issue in the church because it is not easily recognized. I have had many, including pastors, say they are not legalists, yet their teaching or beliefs bely this. There is abundant mixing of the old and new covenants that causes much harm.
But again, if you think I am off my rocker, this is probably not for you. Or if this is not your struggle, then maybe this is not for you. I hope you still give me a try, but I want to help, not waste your time, in either case.
My wife is like the latter. Most of the time when I discuss legalism with her, she is like “this is just common sense, why are you so focused on it.” For her, a love based faith is natural, and she has thankfully avoided the damage of legalism. This is a great thing! I wish this for everyone.
Yet, I have both directly experienced and seen the damage this legalistic mindset causes.
Well, that is enough about legalism for now, hope it did not scare you off and you come back for the continuation of this introduction.
I did take some extra time and was somewhat repetitive as I strongly feel that a mindset of legalism is so harmful. There is much more to be said on the topic, but that’s enough for now! Thanks.
First Part Done
Now finally onto the rest of my story…subtle addiction is a big part of my story, so I will be getting to that soon. See you soon…