Gospel Renewal and Roadblocks (#4-6)

This is the final installment on this subject.  Last time, we looked at the first three roadblocks to gospel renewal.  Now we will consider three others--bearing in mind that the list is not at all exhaustive.

4.     Religion [AKA Moralism AKA Legalism]

Religion, moralism, legalism—they all are referring to the idea that “we must obey the truth to be saved” and/or “we must obey the truth to maintain God’s favor”.  This is probably the biggest roadblock to gospel renewal faced by believers in our age.

Moralism (legalism, religion) is an absence of God’s grace—instead, it is a dependence on one’s ability to obey.  It also includes man made, extra-Biblical rules and regulations (think: Pharisees), resulting in condemnation by the moralist of those who do not “measure up”—the idea is just like the Pharisee who prayed “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector”.  [Luke 18] 

The Apostle Paul, prior to his conversion, is a perfect example of one who was “religious”, one who performed out of guilt, one who was a legalist when it came to his religious life.  In Galatians 1 and Philippians 3, Paul talked about his life before Christ, how he put his confidence in the flesh—his own performance and accomplishments—about his Jewish pedigree, and how zealous he was for the traditions of his fathers.

Church historian Richard Lovelace wrote that many believers “below the surface of their lives are guilt ridden and insecure…[and] draw the assurance of their acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience.”[1]

Obedience and good works are important to our lives as believers, but they do not earn us one doggone thing!  Obedience and good works do not earn eternal life, they do not earn God’s approval, and they do not maintain God’s approval!  That is such an important concept to “get”! 

Preserving the Truth of the Gospel—Part IV: Confessing With Our Mouth…

Much has been discussed and written about “belief”—and what belief really is all about.  For the true Christian, belief is much more than merely acknowledging something.  What matters is “saving faith”.  What do we mean when we talk about “saving faith”?

Well, when Jesus was dining at the home of one of the Pharisees named Simon [Luke 7], a “woman of the city”—a prostitute—ministered to him by washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing him with very expensive oil.  Of course, Simon and the others were freaked out because Jesus allowed such a woman to touch him.  Jesus took it a step further, and, after teaching Simon and the others with a parable:

And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48-50, ESV)

Yikes!  This really blew their minds!  They were thinking, “Who does this guy think he is, forgiving sin?”

Preserving the Truth of the Gospel, Part III: A Question to Consider...

I've been reading The Gospel Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World by Michael Horton.

As I have been reading, a question came to mind:

If one claims to believe in Jesus--but at the same time, knowingly holds that they must contribute to their own salvation--does that belief negate saving faith?  That is, does holding to a works righteousness cancel out a claim to have been saved?

Paul's letter to the Romans (Chapter 4) and the entire letter to the churches in Galatia seem to answer the question.  I've had conversations with various friends, mostly coming to the conclusion that adding to the gospel is a false gospel that Paul so vehemently addressed in Galatians.

More later...

PRESERVING THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL—PART II

…so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:5, ESV)

The preservation of the truth of the gospel is something that clearly occupied the thoughts and concerns of the Apostle Paul.  He had heard that those he addressed in this letter had basically abandoned the faith they had received in favor of “a different gospel” (1:6-7), a “gospel” that caused them to desert Jesus (1:6).  Of course, Paul argued that there was no other gospel, other than the gospel of grace that had been preached to them, and which they had believed.  What was that gospel of grace, what was that truth?

Paul told them:

¹⁶yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.  (2:16, emphasis added)

Paul later wrote in the same letter:

¹⁰For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’.  ¹¹Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’.  (3:10-11)

Why would Paul make this such an issue?  It is because the concern Paul was dealing with had to do with certain people Paul referred to as “those who unsettle you” (5:12), who had infiltrated the church (not unlike what Paul talked about in 2:4) telling the Gentile believers that in order for them to be truly saved, they had to become Jews first, and be circumcised.  These people, Jewish Christians who more than likely came from Jerusalem, came to be known as “Judaizers”.  Paul clearly condemned this heresy, going so far as to say,

If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed (Gr.: anathema).  (1:9)

Paul was preserving the truth of the gospel. 

It is so sad that even today, nearly two thousand years later, there are those who “claim” Christianity, those who “claim” to believe in Jesus, who add to the gospel for salvation.  Even more disconcerting, these folks have no Biblical basis for the works they claim are necessary for salvation.  This particular belief system will be addressed in a later article.

Then there are those who make the gospel into something it is not, by claiming all one has to do is “believe in Jesus”.  James addressed this view, saying:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!  (James 2:19)

This view will also be addressed in a future article.

Of course, because of the centrality of the truth that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, having the Judaizers come in telling these new Gentile believers they had to be circumcised only heaped a burden upon them.  Instead of experiencing freedom in Christ (5:1), these new believers were being subjected to the law, the law the Judaizers themselves could not keep.  The Judaizers added to the gospel (circumcision), making what the people did as important as what Christ had already done.

Why in the world would the Judaizers trouble these Galatians in this way?  Paul gives us the answer toward the end of the letter when he wrote:

¹²It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.  ¹³For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. (6:12-13)

Really?  Yes, the Judaizers were worried about what other Jews might think of them.  As a result, they reinstituted the law, made the law a requirement for salvation, which completely flew in the face of the true gospel. 

One can readily see the importance of preserving the truth of the gospel.  Failure to do so can and does result in people taking the curse upon themselves, rendering what Christ has accomplished to “be of no advantage to you” (5:2), thereby severing themselves “from Christ” (5:4).

Future articles will address the concerns in the church today with more specificity. 

SDG

FARLEY Part IV: “RELIGION IS A HEADACHE” OR “THE LAW IS BAD AND HAS NO PLACE IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER” AND “ADAM AND EVE DID NOT SIN”

In Part 2 of his book, Farley takes on the law, sin, and Adam and Eve’s illicit activity in the Garden of Eden.  One can understand the title of the section, given the past experience Farley had with “legalistic religion” rather than grace infused Christianity.  In that, he is right—“religion” is a headache!

In this section, we will examine three of Farley’s arguments in this regard, that is, (a) the Law has nothing to do with the fruit of the Spirit, (b) Adam and Eve did not sin, and (c) the pursuit of godliness or sanctification is off the table.

The Moral Law and Antinomianism

While there is no argument that Christ fulfilled the ceremonial law and eliminated it with his voluntary, sacrificial death on the cross, one must consider two questions posed by Farley, who asked, “So if you’re a Christian, what place should the law have in your life?” (p.48) The implied answer is “none!”  He also asked, “But should Christians still look to the Ten Commandments as their moral guide?” (p.54) Farley says that no one can keep the law, and he is absolutely right!  But he then makes a giant leap, casting aside the moral law.  He answered the questions he posed at page 48 and page 54 when he wrote about his confrontation with pastors at a conference in Chihuahua:  “After several minutes of absorbing heated comments, I realized that what angered them the most was my insistence that Christians are even free from the Ten Commandments” (p. 57, emphasis added).  As will be shown below, that is classic Antinomianism.

 

To support his theory that the law has nothing to do with believers,