A Recovering Legalist

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\”All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16)

What does this mean?  It means that there is value and meaning in the genealogies and significance in what appears to be the insignificant and mundane.  Scripture is not the issue, rather the limited, fragile and biased vessels we are is the issue.

Nevertheless, there exists among some, a doctrine within Biblical hermeneutics which states that \’some scripture is written \”for you\” but not \”to you.\”\’  This is best understood by considering an epistle of Paul: he clearly wrote the Epistle to the Philippians \”to\” the Body of Christ at Philipi, though he might have presumed it would have a wider audience than just the Church at Philipi.  By this we understand that Paul wrote the letter \”to\” the Philippians and possibly \”for\” others who might read it.

But today this interpretive instruction is better described as method used to foist traditions of men onto unsuspecting minds and at worst, deliberately used for the corruption of the work of the Holy Spirit  (1 John 2:27).

Consider then, this hypothetical scenario:

You write a personal and intimate letter to a third party, but include some things that are applicable to both your spouse and to the other person. You then deliver the letter to both people, with some additional instructions to your spouse that define which portions may be interpreted as \”to your spouse.\”  But all of the letter is to be considered \”to\” the third party, and is intended to be read and understood by the third party in that context.

What have you done? From the perspective of your spouse, you have invalidated portions of the letter by making some sections and statements inapplicable to your spouse\’s intimate relationship with you. The other parts are just \”for your spouse to read.\”  She or He might gain some insight into your thinking or psyche, but any such information would be incidental and subject to his or her interpretation and application, since clearly your instructions were \”that is not \’to you\’, it\’s just for you to read.\”  In simpler terms, the \’for you text\’ is not reflective of your relationship with your spouse.  But the entire letter is purely reflective of your intimate relationship with that third party. 

The same is true with the doctrine of which I speak.  The exception is that instead of getting a word from God Himself, we allow a third party (a Pastor or teacher) to define which portions of scripture are not valid for Jesus to use in our life and walk with Him.  Thus we understand that the purpose of  this doctrine is to define which things may be used to formulate or support various teachings and reproofs, and which ones are not suitable for such things.

In other words they\’re effectively teaching us that not all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Thus, there are some parts of the Bible, according to them, that are not and never shall be considered as reflective of your relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

When you hear such a thing, you can be certain it is a tool being used to promote one\’s agenda.  I vividly remember hearing the Pastor of a Good Bible Teaching Church (in the early 1980\’s) admonish his congregation that a particular book was helpful for understanding and comprehending what happened in the early Church, but that it was not ever to be used to formulate or support doctrine or teaching of any kind.  In other words, it wasn\’t profitable for teaching, reproof, correction or training in righteousness.  It made me wonder why he was teaching from it in the first place?  But like the good little Baptist I was, I swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

What they\’re doing (whether they know it or not) is implementing a well known and often used debate tactic which states the following: \”one may conduct a debate while attempting to exclude those things which damage one\’s position.\”  Any good debater knows that when such a thing happens, the path to victory is found in the opponent\’s excluded material.  This happens in court cases all of the time.  It starts with the evidence and continues into the selection of the Jury.

The problem with it in Christianity is that most church members trust their Pastors implicitly – possibly through a form of worship I might add – and therefore blindly follow wherever they shall lead, never considering the validity of the precepts and statements leveled in their direction from the pulpit week after week, after week.

Nevertheless, to provide some practical examples, I have noticed that some Calvinists prefer to exclude the Old Testament when debating the merits of Calvinism, and Cessationists will undoubtedly exclude The Book of Acts (and sometimes portions of 1st Corinthians).  In the least, they\’ll construct some other interpretive rule that appears to allow adherence to 2 Timothy 3:16, while shunning and excluding what they consider to be the less desirable parts.

So the next time some one admonishes you to not use this or that scripture as a source for doctrine, teaching, reproof and correction, do yourself a favor and ignore them – they\’re either just trying to win the debate, or they\’re just ignorantly repeating what they\’ve heard from someone else.

Why do you go to church?  It\’s a reasonable question, but do you have a reasonable answer?

Do you go because you learned to go from peers or family?  Do you go to be accepted by God?  Do you go to be accepted by others?  Do you go to look good in the community?  Do you go to honor someone or some group with your time, effort, and money?  Do you go to honor or worship God?  Do you go to contribute to society through tithes and offerings?  Do you go because you want to learn something new?

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Going to church is not the prescribed way to keep oneself unstained by the world.  Neither is it a substitution for visiting orphans and widows in their distress.

Religion – even pure and undefiled religion – can only be defined as the act of doing something repeatedly.  Keeping oneself unstained from the world is not a one-time effort: it is a continual struggle.  Neither is there any end of widows and orphans in distress.  Therefore, one visit will never be enough to be considered a \”religious activity.\”  It is only through repetition that we begin to define these things as belonging in the realm of Religion.

Man defines religion as follows:

• A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. 
• A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by many persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion. 
• The body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions

Only in the vaguest of terms can we find a semblance between the world\’s definition and God\’s definition.  There is an intersection between doing and believing, but that\’s where it ends.

Maybe you go to church because you\’re obeying the command to not \”forsake the assembling together\” (Hebrews 10:23-26), but in no way can that scripture be likened to the behavior of showing up, sitting down, shutting up, paying up, getting up and leaving – like most people do on an average Sunday morning.  So if that\’s your reason (to not forsake the assembly), then I\’m afraid you\’ve only listened to the propaganda, and you\’re no closer to practicing \”undefiled religion\” than you were before.

If we\’re to take James 1:27 seriously, then there\’s only one type of Religion you can practice that is acceptable.  This means your religious activity of \”going to church\” is just that: your Religion, not God\’s prescription.

The Pharisees actually taught some truth, but they completely missed the point on its implementation.  And that\’s still a problem today because we, as Jesus suggested, learn behaviors through the observation of our modern-day Scribes and Pharisees.  Unfortunately, that which we have observed is not pure and undefiled religion – rather, it\’s just plain old religious activity.

The issue is that we have acted upon a misconception that God wants Religion from us when, in fact, what He wants is a relationship.  It is only through a relationship that one can be truly changed.  Oh, we can learn new things and thereby augment and change our behaviors – that is true.  But one does not simply choose to change their behaviors because they\’re married. Rather, they learn what is important to their spouse, and because of love, because of caring, they become new creatures in marriage because of edification.  Not because someone sat them down and said, \”these are the rules for marriage, do these things, and you will be acceptable to your spouse.\”

This is exactly why some of us go to church: we\’ve been taught, \”do these things, and you will be acceptable to God.\”  In the metaphor of being the Bride of Christ, does that make any sense?  Of course not.

Systematic Theology has quantified God, it has quantified relationship, and it has quantified the narration, the song, and the music of God.  And in doing so, it has stripped it of its spirit.  If anything, the Song of Solomon teaches us that there\’s more to the so-called doctrine that we are spoon-fed week after week.  But please don\’t misunderstand – there\’s nothing wrong with doctrine, per se.  Rather, it\’s how we define and implement doctrine; it\’s how we use it that exposes our wrong actions.  Our pastors have taught us to not forsake the assembling together, although they may not really tell us why.  But when they do, it\’s always couched in the activity of us showing up on Sunday for \”worship.\”  Therefore, what we learn from said admonishment is that the Pastor (and/or the Sunday school teacher) has something to say, and should we miss those things (because we\’re not there), then we\’ve missed out on what God has to say to us.

But what does the scripture say?

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “ Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”  (Hebrews 3:12-15) 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. ((Hebrews 10:23-26)

 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.  (Ephesians 4:15-16)

It is an unfortunate fact that in our current day model of church participation (the \”worship service\”), there\’s no way for you to stimulate one another to love and good deeds in what has been defined as the \”assembly\” by our pastors.  Why?  Because you\’ve sat down and shut up.  And if you\’re not talking and interacting, then you\’re not stimulating one another to love and good deeds.  

Within the past couple of years, I was a member of a nearby Sunday school class.  It was a good place too be: nice people, thoughtful subjects and I had the opportunity to participate.  Probably too much participation for some people\’s taste.  My wife and I were invited to their functions and treated nicely, cordially and with respect.  But honestly, that\’s about as far as it went.  Trying to otherwise \’break in\’ to their clique proved impossible.

The Bible is not a compendium of facts, laws, precepts and moral standards that are to be taught, learned and practiced for the purpose of being or becoming a Christian nor for demonstrating to yourself or others that you are a good  person or a good Christian.  Neither do we implement them for the purpose of demonstrating to ourselves and others that our behaviors are improving and becoming more acceptable, or at least, should be more acceptable to God and to others.

Graham Cooke said, \”All knowledge in the Bible is linked to experience. God doesn\’t want you memorizing scripture. He wants you to become the living embodiment of it!\”

Hence, one of the most critical problems we have with the so called \”good bible teaching church\” is that they have a greater capacity to churn out fruit inspectors than they have to churn out fruit cultivators.

Disillusionment and Hooks
Consider the not-so-far-fetched story of a church member named John.  He was a man who, for one reason or another, left his church to find another.  Upon arriving at that new church, it was the opinion of some that the visitor had not \”learned a thing\” at his previous church.  Nevertheless, John was excited about a few of the new things he was learning about the bible.  Regular Sunday school attendance, various service projects and knocking on doors for evangelism were part of his new life and activities.  But after a while, when John\’s mind was once again full of doctrines and precepts, when the regiments of the law were consumed to overflowing and when the glancing judgments did not wane, the excitement wore off and he disappeared to find another good, bible teaching church.

Church staff members are painfully aware of how many tithing units they need to keep running through the doors in order to make payroll and bills.  They also know that they can\’t keep everyone enrolled so they augment their services with in-depth bible studies, popular personalities and various blends of music and entertainment – the hooks, as I call them. They\’re a best effort of keeping those who do show up, returning as tithe-paying members.  Although these churches may have knowledgeable pastors and staff members who want to do the right thing, their version of the right thing is usually not enough for some people – something is missing and members come and go, looking for that elusive fit.

Where\’s the Beef or, Where\’s the Focus?
When we look closer at these churches, do we find that the members are living by the spirit, or are they living by the letter of the law?  Do they hold themselves accountable to the law of liberty, or something else?  Are they active members of the Body of Christ, each joint supplying that which the other needs, or are they simply laying their minds bare at the alter of the pastor, only to go home and forget about the \”God thing\” until their next regularly scheduled attendance function, such as bible studies, evangelism, concerts or the next christian comedy troop?

Give us a King!
The problem is that We the People generally desire a leader.  Israel had the same problem – give us a king – they said.  But since our good, bible teaching churches haven\’t taught us how to be lead by and seek the Holy Spirit, haven\’t taught us to how seek first the kingdom of God for ourselves, haven\’t taught us how listen to the Holy Spirit, and frankly since the churches leaders would rather set themselves up as our authority, we\’ve come to accept and expect that learning doctrine, principles and moral precepts are the only things necessary to being a Christian.

The problem is that\’s Christian Religion not relationship with the Creator.  I\’ve come to believe that in the minds of some, that\’s all God expects.  Because to them, God is a dispensationalist – He did everything in various stages in order to do two things: to save man and give him the Bible, and now that Jesus has been to the cross and we have the Bible, He doesn\’t \”do that any more\” (what ever \”that\” may be).  So, all we have is the Bible and it\’s rules and precepts to learn, memorize and follow.

Please understand that I\’m not suggesting that we don\’t live by every word of God, or that we don\’t study the bible for the purpose of strengthening our relationship with God or to understand Godly principles.  Rather, that we discern the difference between learning to do for the sake of doing, and just being.  For example, scripture is clear regarding those in need:

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?  Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.  (James 2:14-17)

Clearly, we\’re suppose to help those in need.  But what happens when you simply practice the doctrine, but don\’t mix it with a relationship with God?  In some cases, you\’ll loose all of your money to people who are more interested in stealing it from you than they are holding down a job.

It\’s About Being – Not Doing
In terms of being rather than doing, consider that Jesus never commanded us to do evangelism.  If you disagree, then lets look at some of the core scriptures regarding evangelism:

{Jesus said} \”All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\” (Matthew 20:18-20)

To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.  Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:3-5)

{Jesus said} \”but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.\” (Acts 1:8)

While it is abundantly clear that Jesus commanded His disciples to go, the follow on to that commandment wasn\’t to \”do witnessing\” or \”do evangelism\”, rather that they would simply \”be His witnesses.\”  There is a vast difference between being a witness and doing a thing called witnessing.  Anyone can perjure themselves and do witnessing in a court of law.  But it\’s only those who are witnesses that don\’t get into trouble for their testimony.  Furthermore, any number of people can learn the tenets of Evangelism Explosion, but have they learned to do witnessing or how to be a witness? We can go to college and learn to do medicine, engineering, and basket weaving, but we\’re not taught to be scalpels, re-enforced concrete or a basket.  Rather we\’re taught how to learn and utilize specific skills so that we may be a doctor, be an engineer or be a basket case.  And unfortunately some of our good, bible teaching churches instruct their members in only enough Bible knowledge to insure that they can some day be a participant in this frightening scene:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.\”

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:21-27)

Acting upon the word of God, through faith, results in God creating a new creature, created by God for good works.  A new creature is a new being, not a new doer: we can teach a dog to walk on its hind legs, that doesn\’t make the dog a human.

Faith and Works and Keeping the Law
But then, what do we do with the book of James?  Aren\’t we supposed to do works to demonstrate our faith?

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:25)

There are here a couple important things to consider.

First, we have to consider scripture as a whole.  If we are dead to the Law, then why are we to look at the Law and be doers of it?  Secondly, if the Law of Moses is the law of liberty, then why does scripture tell us the following:

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;  because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.  (Romans 3:19-20)

nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. (Galatians 2:16)

Wasn\’t keeping the Law for the purpose of being right with God, to be blessed in what man does, the entire problem at Galatia?  Of course it was.

So then, what James refers to as the perfect law, is actually the law of liberty, not the law of Moses which we find being discussed in Romans and Galatians.

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:4-6)

Therefore, I submit to you that the perfect law of liberty is Jesus Christ, or in the least, Love.  And that being the case, then the perfect law of liberty transforms us into a new creation.  Therefore, in abiding by this perfect law, we are in essence submitting and yielding to that which can  renew our minds.  And through the regenerative power of God (love edifies – 1 Cor 8:1), we become effectual doers of Jesus Christ, through the perfect law of liberty.  So then, it is through the perfect law of liberty that we may say:

For through the Law {of Moses} I died to the Law {of Moses}, so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law {of Moses}, then Christ died needlessly. (Galatians 2:19-21)

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ {the Perfect Law of Liberty}.  For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, {not by the Law of Moses} and He is the head over all rule and authority;  and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;  having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,  having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, {the Law of Moses} which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  (Colossians 2:8-14)

So then, be careful of that which you learn to do at church: those things which you are taught to practice only to be acceptable to some external standard.  Even in the day of Christ, Jesus said \”but in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men\” (Mark 7:7).  Scripture teaches us to live by the spirit, walk by the spirit and pray in the spirit.  Not live by the law, walk by the law and pray by the law.

What we need in a church is a spirit filled congregation interested in the individual, interested in edifying each other in the Body of Christ, as each member of the body of Christ is commanded (Ephesians 4:11-32).  What we don\’t need is a bunch of people interested worshiping the pastor, who think they are there to make sure you tow the line, learn their doctrines and don\’t bring embarrassment to their establishment.

Although I said it before, it bears repeating:

One of the most critical problems with our churches today, is that they have a greater capacity to churn out fruit inspectors than they have to churn out fruit cultivators.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  (Matthew 7:7-12)