the differnce

 BREAKING THE GRIP...

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1

A British naturalist who collected animals for zoos, Gerald Durrell, tells how he captured a number of African birds and small mammals.[2] He kept them in cages for several weeks. Due to political turmoil, he could not export the animals to Britain and was forced to free them.

He opened their cages to let them go. To his surprise, some refused to leave. They had become comfortable in their cages, nourished and sheltered from predators. He resorted to prodding them out with a stick but the moment he stopped, they went back in.

Durrell was obliged to destroy the cages to prevent the animals from staying. They had lost their taste for freedom.

So it is with some Christians. They prefer the secure confines of rules, only to miss out on a world of adventure.

“Every man harbors a Pharisee in his heart,” observed the radio preacher.  I agree. Remnants of corruption remain as long as we live, and often generate legalism.

Legalism is the assumption we get righteousness by following rules. Like the Galatians, some suppose we are justified by faith but sanctified by law. Paul protests,

Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Galatians 3:30

Legalists suppose they have divine authority

The legalist is convinced he is standing firmly on the authority of the divine law. Instead, he has one foot on the law and the other on the remnants of his own corrupt nature. This is slippery ground. Neither foot is planted on the imputed righteousness of Christ.  The sins of pride, self-righteousness and judgmentalism have foothold.

Laws always produce more laws, not more righteousness. They multiply like germs in a Petri dish. This is why Jewish Rabbis, not content with Old Testament law, wrote the Talmud, a set of volumes expanding the law to the size of an encyclopedia.

Legalists imagine they are mature

Freedom is an ambiguous concept, tricky to define. Where does freedom end and license begin? Laws are concrete while principles are ethereal. Children require rules due to their undeveloped faculties. As they mature, they understand the principles.

Paul alluded to this,

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.  Galatians 3:24-25 (NKJV)

We can remain children led by a tutor if we choose. Or we may be free, mature adults acting on principle.

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. Romans  14:1   

The legalist is a spiritual weakling. Like a straw man propped up by sticks, so the legalist props himself up by petty rules. Though he thinks he strong, he is going nowhere.

Legalists assume strictness is holy

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:  21  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?  22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.  23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:20

Religious strictness usually makes things worse. Paul had been a strict Pharisee, so he knew the legalist mindset. Pharisees were detailed about laws. It was the one about murder they overlooked.

More strict equals more sin. Why? Because the power of sin is the law[3]. It is the crutch on which the carnal nature leans to work at full capacity.

God’s risk

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13   

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 1Peter 2:16

Free from what? From rule-based righteousness. Humanly speaking, God takes the risk that we might abuse our freedom to indulge the flesh. If this were not so, these warnings would not be in scripture. The warnings are proof of how just free we are.

Should we fear we might abuse grace? That’s like a doctor saying, “I’m giving you a prescription but be careful because it might make you forget you are sick.”  This is precisely what the prescription is intended to do.

How does legalism enter the reformed camp?

Some reformed teachers ignore an important principle of biblical interpretation:  the New Testament interprets the Old, not vice versa.

It happens due to a misuse of the idea of covenant. God made a covenant, a kind of agreement, with Abraham. This is the Christian covenant, sometimes called the covenant of grace. Galatians Chapter Three teaches this clearly.

This covenant binds the Old and New Testaments together. Some reformed teachers take this concept further than the apostles intended. Launching from the idea of the unity of the testaments, they drag Old Testament law into Christian living. Such practice is like reading the Bible to the end, then like a rubber ball hitting a wall, bouncing back and getting stuck in Deuteronomy.

Shadow-eaters

 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves. Hebrews 10:1

Imagine a person trying to eat a shadow. Such a ludicrous sight must be how God views us when we fall into legalism. To some, the shadow seems so real, while the reality is ethereal. A lamb sacrifice seems concrete, the atonement of Christ ethereal. Shadows make poor nourishment.