CHRISTIAN LIBERTY AND LEGALISM
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY AND LEGALISM by Elder Joe Holder
Human nature constantly leans toward extremes. It prefers novelty to predictability. All too frequently Christians allow this human inclination to invade their faith. Three extreme perspectives claim significant following in our contemporary Christian culture. The first aberrant philosophy ignores Scripture in favor of esoteric “revelations.” It will pay bare lip service to Scripture and rely far more heavily on supposedly private revelations. Christian television abounds with advocates of this perspective. The second error tends toward legalism. It examines every passage dealing with Christian conduct with a magnifying glass and interprets every injunction with excessive legalistic zeal. How do you identify the followers of this viewpoint? Mention Christian liberty, something that Paul and other New Testament writers teach in depth, and they give you a blank stare. For them every issue of every facet of life is positively documented in Scripture in clear and concise terms. In this philosophy there can be no liberty of conscience regarding non-essentials. Everything is an essential and must be viewed and practiced precisely as the advocates of this perspective interpret Scripture. The third extreme view is antinomianism. Advocates of this error emphasize God’s love to the detriment, if not the full destruction, of His Commandments. For them, God loves us so much that He simply cannot bear to impose any rules upon us. Jesus lived the righteous life and imputed his righteousness to us. Therefore, according to this school of thought, the believer in Christ has little or no obligation to live in conscientious righteousness. Live according to your sentiment, your personal “feelings.” If you are sincere, God loves you so much that he really doesn’t care whether you follow His ways or not. In this philosophy living by God’s laws, His divine rules-honoring Scripture and Scripture alone-as one’s exclusive rule of faith, is simple-minded legalism. Just love Jesus and forget about anything else.