The Snare of Legalism

Before we continue with today's post, I want to give my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of Victims of the 9/11 attacks. May the God and father of all comfort, comfort them as we remember this horrendous event

In the next set of blogs, I will begin a series tagged “the snare of legalism”. My hope with these series of blogs is that it will open us up to allow the Holy Spirit make some crucial changes in our thought processes when it comes to our relationship with God.

In my years of fellowshipping with believers of various kinds and various denominations; I have noticed a common thread amongst us all (myself included) i.e. the need to participate, to be somehow involved in the process of our salvation. This takes many shades but the bottom line is we want to be able to say something to the effect that “I did this, and that happened as a result”. Although most Christians would not want to say “I am a self-made man”, deep down inside, on some level, we would all love to comment that we “played our part AND THEN AND ONLY THEN did God play his part”.

Unfortunately, this kind of attitude is nothing short of legalism. The idea that there is some principle we must adhere to; some rule we must keep; books we must balance; some sort of Spiritual exercise we must do in order to be in Gods good graces. This is not only antithetical to the Gospel, it is the very snare that tricked Adam and Eve and pulled them down into Sin.

“For by Grace you are saved through faith, and this is not form yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not form works, so that no one can boast” …Ephesians 2:8-9(NET Version)

 “You were saved by faith in God who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about”...Ephesians 2: 8-9 (CEV)

The Bible clearly states here that our salvation is not a product of our efforts; we only participate in it through faith. Some scholars would even contend (and I align myself with them) that even the faith with which we partake of this wonderful grace of God is not our own, even that is God’s gift to us through the representative nature of Jesus Christ.

Some of you may argue that salvation here refers to being saved from the power of Sin; that Jesus delivered us from Sin at the Cross, so there is nothing for us to do about that; but we must do certain things to maintain our salvation. But you must understand that Jesus did not just die on the Cross, he resurrected and ascended into heaven, carrying humanity along with him (Ephesians 2: 1-8). There is nothing we did to deserve these things (this union with the Godhead) and there is nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we can do to maintain that relationship.

“…For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not COUNTED AS GRACE BUT AS DEBT”… Romans 4:2-4 (NKJV)(emphasis mine)

The point being made here is that when it comes to the grace of God, there is no work involved. Just like Abraham did nothing to deserve the blessing of God other than to believe in God. He goes further to state that the promise is for us who believe with the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:16). Abraham was declared righteous because he believed, not because he took “12 steps to living in prosperity”. It was by reason of this unmerited righteousness that he became the great man we know and call our father in faith.

“You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed among you as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you trying to finish by human effort? Have you suffered so many things for nothing?-if indeed it was for nothing. DOES GOD THEN GIVE YOU THE SPIRIT AND WORK MIRACLES AMONG YOU BY YOUR DOING THE WORKS OF THE LAW OR BY YOUR BELIEVEING WHAT YOU HEARD? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, so then, understand that those who believe are the sons of Abraham… Galatians 3:1-6 (NET Version) emphasis mine)

Notice in the verses above that Paul clearly states that we cannot switch from being saved by faith to maintaining our Christianity through legalism. God does not give us the Spirit or work miracles among us, even now through our works but by our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I believe when legalists see results in life “through” their works, what happened was that they were finally able to rest and receive from God having satisfied their conscience that they deserved to be blessed. It had nothing to do with God, he has always been supplying, and they just couldn’t receive it because they couldn’t rest. However, I believe that those who receive from God based on their works and spiritual exercises will never be able to experience God blessings in the fullness of its glory. (2 Corinthians 3: 7-11).

Legalism is a snare, a trap by the enemy. It appeals to our ego. The sad part is that we can never do enough; there is no standard by which we know that we have arrived; we must always do more in terms of quantity and quality. What is even sadder is that this kind of thinking feeds the ego even more; it drives us to engage in these exercises to the point of exhaustion. I’ve been there so I know. At that point, we are left with two general reactions. We either lash out in frustration; forsaking the whole God thing altogether, or we get inflated egos and believe we have done something worth commending; we become self righteous. It leads to people being susceptible to all sorts of manipulation, fear, condemnation and guilt; all of which make us draw back from our loving father. When he stretches out his arms to embrace us in love, we run away thinking that he wants to draw us near in order to reach us with his whip and punish us.

There is nothing he requires because there is nothing we can do to qualify for God’s blessing, he has done everything and qualified us to partake of the inheritance of the Saints in the light (Colossians 1:12). Believe that and let your mind be at rest. Let him love you

Grace be unto you