Image bearers 3 - Christian Pharisees and legalism

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Image bearers 3 - Christian Pharisees and legalism

Written by Mr. Trev McCallum
Friday, 22 January 2010

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Brooklyn Museum: The Pharisee and the Publican (Le pharisien et le publicain)

Legalism seems to be a loose term wildly thrown about in Christian circles today. It is used to warn believers of the “dangers” of seeking to be faithfully obedient to God’s Word/Law. Seeking to walk obediently before God is often equated with legalism. Labels stick. Nigel Mitchell informs us that “the easiest way to tell a Pharisee [is] - someone who emphasises obedience. The easiest way to identify a Christian is - someone who emphasises faith.”^[1] The modern church’s war cry rings loud and clear; “we are under grace not law, Christianity has no outward rules but is concerned with the heart.” Passages such as Romans 6:14, “ye are not under the law, but under grace” are presented as the premise for the argument. Further, Romans 7:4,” ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (and Galatians 2:9), are offered as proof texts which drive the popular anti-law^[2] thinking of many moderns. W B Howard states it like this; “Law is in contrast with grace. Christians must not return to the Mosaic Law as a basis for righteousness in the Church Age. It is a departure from the New Testament faith…We are never, as Christians, sanctified by keeping the law.”^[3] Now there are some truths in these statements. Salvation is, was and always will be by God’s grace and not His Law. However, the basic premise is fallacious; it is circular.^[4] Law is not the antithesis to grace. Rather, God’s Law has always been gracious; it has always revealed the character of God thus “its fundamental content can never change.”^[5] Interpreting these passages in such a light presents a false dilemma.^[6] Another option is available. Scripture interprets Scripture. We shouldn’t cherry pick the texts that exclusively suit our arguments. Thus even though the Apostle Paul does tell us about dying to the Law and no longer being under its curse; he also informs us that the law is holy and good ( Romans 7:12-16), our faith establishes/upholds it ( Romans 3:31), obeying the law is important ( 1 Corinthians 7:19) and breaking the law should not characterise the Christian lifestyle ( Romans 6:12-13). Likewise, Jesus instructs us that faith is defined by obedience to His commandments, the Law, ( Luke 6:43-49, John 14:15); we instructed to teach others to not disobey one of the least of the commandments ( Matthew 5:17-19); and the great commission of the Church is to teach all the nations to obey God’s commands/Law ( Matthew 28:18-20). In fact love itself “is defined by the New Testament in terms of God’s law ( Matt. 22:40; Rom. 13:10; 1 John 5:2-3).”^[7]

Christianity is not merely a rule book of prescriptive dos and don’ts. Likewise it is not a religion of licentiousness. The overarching structure of the Bible is that of the promise making and keeping God; who deals with people in terms of His covenant. Man’s covenantal head was Adam. In Adam man was to take dominion over the earth, working out/down from the Garden of Eden, through the land of Eden and then unto the four corners of the world ( Genesis 1:26-28). Adam was mankind’s corporate (covenant or federal) representative and through his transgression all men sinned ( Romans 5:15-19). What we must notice is that long before the Law of Moses was revealed, Adam transgressed the Law of God and thereafter his descendants experience death. Therefore, sin is identified by the law ( Romans 5:13), is lawlessness ( 1 John 3:4) and brings about death ( Genesis 2:17, Romans 5:12; 6:23). “By breaking one law, [Adam] broke all of them. James writes: ‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all’ ( James 2:10). Adam’s sin was representative for all mankind. The law he broke was representative of all of God’s laws. The covenant between God and man was broken by Adam when he ate the forbidden fruit.”^[8] The restoration of the covenant was brought about by blood atonement ( Romans 5:9; Hebrews 9:7). Old Testament sacrificial ceremonies and laws were an “example and shadow of heavenly things” ( Hebrews 8:5). The pattern of the tabernacle was thus fashioned after the realities in heaven itself ( Hebrews 8:5). Retrospectively we know that the blood of bulls and goats could not atone for sin ( Hebrews 10:4). Moses understood this too; he was shown the heavenly “pattern.” This first covenant foreshadowed the reality of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Thus the old covenant waxed away with the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of the Christ. The old order of an earthly, centralised High Priest was fulfilled in the “seed of the woman” ( Genesis 3:15). Through His own blood atonement the Christ tore down the middle partition ( Ephesians 2:13-14), entered the true Holy of Holies (i.e. the highest heavens - Hebrews 9:11-12; 23-24), received His inheritance ( Matthew 28:18, cf. Psalm 2:8) and sat down at the Father’s right hand. Over the course of history all His enemies will be placed under His feet. ( Psalm 110:1, cf. Mark 14:62, Acts 2:32-36, Hebrews 1:13). This will be accomplished by the means of the preaching of the Gospel and regenerating power of the Holy Ghost.

Christ gave socio-political Israel, those who were Jews by name only, forty years (one generation) to repent of their lawlessness ( Matthew 24:34). They did not. Hence the old heavens and earth were destroyed by the coming of the Christ in the clouds of judgment, in A.D. 70. And so God responded to idolatrous Israel as He did to David’s enemies in 2 Samuel 22:8-14. He came down upon clouds, shaking the heavens and earth. Likewise, in A.D. 70 the old heavens and earth, the order of continual animal sacrifice, were shaken ( Matthew 24:29; Hebrews 12:25-27) and removed through the destruction of the Temple by Titus. The waxing Old Covenant closed and the New Covenant era began its full operation. The special land, position and political eminence of Israel was removed and expanded to the whole world, via the Church’s Great Commission ( Matthew 28). This expansion reflected the move from an old localised tabernacle/temple to the true tabernacle/temple, the body of Christ. The fall of socio-political Israel was symbolised by the stars falling from heaven and the sun/moon loosing their light ( Matthew 24:29). Heavenly lights are symbols of rulership. They govern the day and night ( Genesis 1:16). The sun, moon and stars also symbolise political eminence (e.g. Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9-11). When stars fall or the sun and moon looses light or stands still a nation is being judged (e.g. Joshua 10:13; Isaiah 13:9-11; Joel 2:9-11; 2:31; 3:14-16). So when Jesus says that the “sun [shall] be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” ( Matthew 24:19) He is telling of His judgment coming within a generation of His hearers ( Matthew 24:34). In this coming He will shake the “powers of heaven,” the old world order of socio-political Israel, to establish a new order in the true tabernacle (Christ’s body). Hence the Apostle Paul says that there is now one man, with no distinction between Jew and Gentile. There is unity in the Church, we are all one in Christ ( Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 2:11; 3:6).

What does this all mean for us in the twenty-first century? Salvation is not unto lawlessness. Rather we must comprehend that we are saved into the kingdom of God, unto good works ( Ephesians 2:10). Every kingdom is governed by laws or a code of conduct. These laws express the will of the sovereign lord of that kingdom.^[9] No kingdom exists without an ethical code. This ethical code is always religious. There are prescribed ethical mandates for those in the Kingdom of God. These laws cannot be subjective or situational but prescriptive by the High King. If this were not the case everyone would do what is “right in their own eyes” ( Judges 17:6; 21:25) and anarchy would prevail. When there is a low view of Law there is a low view of the absolute sovereignty and kingship of God. This is seen in the Church today. Individuals, families and churches are shaped by pop culture. Our faith must govern all of life. Through the power of the Holy Ghost we can, in wisdom, apply the Law/Word of God to all of life. The character of God is unchanging; His Law reflects this. What He revealed as sin in the Old Covenant is sin in the New Covenant ( Matthew 5:17-19), unless the King has repealed it. Because God has written His Law upon the hearts of all who are in covenant with Him ( Hebrews 8:10; 10:16) we can rightly seek to apply all of Scripture to all of life. The Law of God has always been gracious. It is the framework in which we are to live a life of faith. Without the context of the Law we would not know what sin is, how it has been dealt with on the cross, how we are to deal with it on a day to day basis (via repentance) or how we ought to live (in faithful obedience). Faith without (good) works is dead ( James 2:18-26).

The myth of Pharisaic legalism destroys the vitality of the Church. Law is not in antithesis to grace. God graciously gave us His Law so that we, as members of the body of Christ, could live a life of faithful obedience unto Him. The Law is not burdensome; John the Baptists parents kept it perfectly ( Luke 1:6). They lived in faithful obedience, never assuming their good works could save them. When they sinned, they did what the Law prescribed them to do. Likewise we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, and when we sin we are to repent, make restitution (if needed) and then continue in faithful obedience. This is unlike the Pharisees. “We are used to thinking of the scribes and Pharisees as meticulous men who carefully observed the jots and tittles [of God’s law]. This is not the portrait found in the Gospels. The scribes and Pharisees that Jesus encountered were grossly, obviously, and flagrantly breaking the Mosaic law, while keeping all kinds of man-made traditions. Jesus’ condemnation of them in Matthew 23certainly makes this clear, as does a famous story in John 8. There we read that the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman taken “in the very act” of adultery ( John 8:1–11). How did they know where to find her? Where was the man who was caught with her? Apparently he was one of their cronies. Also, when Jesus asked for anyone “without sin” (that is, not guilty of the same crime) to cast the first stone, they all went away, because they were all adulterers.”^[10] Legalism, properly defined, is anything but a member of the body of Christ seeking to glorify God through obedient, repentant faith.

What is it that modern Christians need more than anything else? A fresh outlook on life. One that returns to the old paths ( Jeremiah 6:16). The old road of faithful, obedient and repentant lifestyles. We are made in the image and likeness of God. We are to faithfully bear this image, as Jesus did - a life of humble obedience to the will of God. When we sin, we are to confess, repent, make restitution (if needed) and walk forward in faith. May the Lord grant His Church eyes to see this. Maybe then will we evangelically drive the onlooking heathen to a life changing jealousy.

Notes ^[1] Mitchell, N B, 1997, Pharisees and Legalism, as cited on John Mark Ministries website: http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/8956.htm.

^[2] Anti-law is expressed in antinomianism. “The antinomian believes that faith frees the Christian from the law, so that he is not outside the law but is rather dead to the law.” Rushdoony, R J, 1973, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Volume One, The Craig Press, pp. 2-3.

^[3] Howard, W B, 2000, The Mosaic Law – Should Christians Keep It? Despatch Magazine, Vol. 6:3, pp. 34-38, as cited here: www.despatch.cth.com.au/Books_D/NotunderLawinNT_book.pdf on pp. 2-4.

^[4] Circular reasoning assumes that which it is seeking to prove. So stating that “law is in contrast with grace,” assumes that this is the case.

^[5] Jordan, J B, 1988, Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, p. 262. This book can be downloaded here: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/pdf/jjne.pdf.

^[6] A False Dilemma is a fallacy of oversimplification; “[t]his fallacy occurs when someone attempts to force a choice between two options even though another option may exist. This oversimplifies the truth by pretending that the two options presented are the only options available.” McDurmon, J, 2009, Biblical Logic In Theory and Practice, The American Vision, Inc, p. 103.

^[7] Bahnsen, G L, 2008, By This Standard – The Authority of God’s Law Today, The American Vision, Inc and Covenant Media Press, p. 65.

^[8] North, G, 2003, Cooperation and Dominion – An Economic Commentary on Romans, Dominion Educational Ministries, Inc., p. 41.

^[9] Rushdoony R J, Sovereignty, 2007, Ross House Books, p. 8.

^[10] Jordan, J B, 1988, Op. cit. p. 267.