Legalists And
Law-Keepers
James 2:10-11 "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles
in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said 'do not commit adultery',
also said 'do not commit murder'. Now if you do not commit adultery, but do
commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law".
One of the charges cast towards the direction of those who want to follow Bible
authority is that we have become legalists, putting our trust more in law keeping
than in the grace of God. A true bible student will learn that law keeping is
fundamental to being in the grace of God. Many people want to allow "grace"
to make up for what is lacking in ones life.
Usually this charge comes from those not willing to stay with book chapter verse
teaching. It comes from those who do not care for a "thus saith the Lord"
type of preaching. They have the mentality and attitude of the children of Israel
we read about in the Old Testament.
The instructions to them was to be careful to do, keep, obey, trust, and stay
within all the laws given to them. They were unwilling to do so, and look what
happened to them.
As a Christian, we should be trying our best to learn everything that Jesus
wants us to do, and do those things. The beginning of the plan of salvation
starts with faith, but adds the works of God to reach that initial salvation.
Adding to our faith, we have the requirement to repent, and we have the example
to confess Jesus, and then be baptized for the remission of sins. After we have
been saved from our sins, we look forward to our final salvation. That happens
when we remain faithful to the Lord and keep His commandments.
By doing this, we are charged with holding to a works based salvation, and not
allowing God's grace to save us.
The problem many people have is that they think that God's grace is all that
is needed. The problem with that thinking is they fail to see that grace never
works alone.
Many people show contempt for those who seek to teach that obedience to all
of God's laws we are under is necessary. Accusations of legalism are abounding
these days.
Primarily, when we teach that those who do not follow bible authority are wrong,
they get very defensive, and pull the grace card out and attack us with the
charge of legalism. For the most part, we want people to stick to the law. We
would want our pharmacists to give us the exact medication the doctor prescribed.
We would want the cashier to give us the exact change that is due us. We would
prefer that the doctor did the correct procedure if we were having surgery performed.
For the most part we demand legalism in just about everything yet many people
make an exception when it comes to religion.
That is because many people want to do religion on their terms and do things
the way they want to do it.
Now, this may sound a little crazy, but hopefully you will understand it. We
know that law-keeping does not save. Yet we also know that we cannot be saved
without law-keeping. We are saved by grace, but we are also taught that grace
demands we keep the law of God.
Some people do not like the restrictions of Bible authority. So they lean heavily
towards grace, and away from law-keeping. They learn to accept the idea that
grace covers a multitude of sins, in fact they like to teach that grace covers
all sins; whether we ask forgiveness or not for those sins we have committed.
Some people even go so far as to say that grace shields us and we are incapable
of sin. That teaching is no different than the once saved always saved theology
of Calvinism.
Deuteronomy 11:1 "You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and
always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments".
Does this allow us to not keep His laws? No. In fact, it is to our best advantage
to learn all of God's laws and do them. Take the time to read Matthew 7:21.
Keeping God's laws are necessary for us to get to heaven.
By Carey Scott
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