Reality CheckShembull

 As Christians, most of us would take umbrage at the idea of being labeled as “legalistic”. The word has a harsh connotation of overzealousness or a sense of hyper-spirituality. We push away the notion because it may seem unpleasant, but we might not recognise it as a sin. Legalism is rooted in pride—the pride that comes from the strict adherence to a certain set of standards or practices and then judging others we feel fall short. Legalism judges based on conformity. It is based on the laws of man, not grounded in the truth of the Word. It has a funny way to introduce doctrines and ideas to us, other than what is found in the purity of the Gospel. Over the years, decades, many in the church have followed such doctrines and missed the way.

Timothy Keller illustrates this well. He wrote “Imagine you have an invisible recorder around your neck that, for all your life, records every time you say to somebody else, “You ought.” It only turns on when you tell somebody else how to live. In other words, it only records your own moral standards as you seek to impose them on other people. It records nothing except what you believe is right or wrong. And what if God, on judgment day, stands in front of people and says, “You never heard about Jesus Christ and you never read the Bible, but I’m a fair-minded God. Let me show you what I’m going to use to judge you.” Then he takes that invisible recorder from around your neck and says, “I’m going to judge you by your own moral standards.”

Paul warns us to not fall victim to such judgment. As believers in Jesus, the fullness of God, we have been united in Him, and if we are in Him, then no one can pass judgment on us, nor should we pass judgment on others. We cannot save ourselves by following the rules. We are saved by grace (Rom 11:6). We cannot add anything to Jesus. He is all we need. Our identity is not defined by the wisdom of man. It is defined by Christ Jesus. We have been made new by the love and blood of our merciful Saviour.

Think about some false ideas, rules, doctrines that you might have adopted in your walk with God. Perhaps something that was taught at a church meeting, or online. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you any such error, repent of that, and be reminded of the purity of the Gospel as was shared with us earlier on in Colossians.