Holiness Without Legalism: is it possible?

question_mark-iconI grew up in the Pentecostal holiness tradition. I had to follow a lot of rules as a kid to be considered holy. We had several do’s and don’ts that we had to abide by. I was never allowed to wear shorts to a church function. I couldn’t swim with the opposite sex. I was rarely able to wear jeans to church. And under no means could I have ever grown my hair out (and the world breathed a collective sigh of relief).

And I was a part of the “liberal” group. Imagine that. Others had it way worse than me.

The church of my upbringing moved away from all these laws many years ago, which I’m very thankful for. We had become that dreaded word that strikes fear into children and causes grown men and women to tremble:

“LEGALISTIC”

I shudder even as I type it. Like when those Lion King hyenas kept saying “Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa…ooo, do it again.”

Goofy_Hyena

But as we’ve slowly moved away from legalism, we’ve moved to the other extreme, as so often happens. Whereas we were once plagued by a legalistic definition of holiness, it seems we’re now plagued by humanism, a way of thinking that rejects religious beliefs and centers only on the value of an individual.

Here’s the formula:

Laws without Love = Legalism

Love without Laws = Humanism

And the latter is where I think we now find ourselves in the church. (And please note, when I say “law” I mean the understanding that there is such a thing as right and wrong action.) Christianity isn’t a legalistic religion. But neither is it a humanistic religion. We aren’t allowed to live however we please once we decide to follow Jesus. It’s not a free-for-all. There are things we should do and things we should not do.

Read through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and you’ll clearly see a list of do’s and don’ts.

But every act and decision MUST be filtered through love.

Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount that He did not come to abolish the law. In fact, He came to fulfill the law. That is, Jesus doesn’t set us free from all restraints. Rather, His work enables us to trade in our chains of sin for chains that tie us to God and His Word. We aren’t freed at salvation; we simply change masters (Romans 6:18).

But later in Matthew, Jesus pointed out that the greatest commandment in the Law was to 1) Love God, and 2) Love your neighbor. All other commands hang on these two commands.

Laws and Love must be held in a sort of tension, although Love should always be weightier. In fact, our laws (right and wrong actions) must be filtered through a never-ending perspective of love for God and love for others. If we ever place laws above love, we become legalistic.

But, if we refuse laws (right and wrong) and cast off all restraints in the name of love, we become humanistic. And both extremes are equally dangerous.

To find true holiness as God commands, we must learn to live in the tension between the two. And above all, follow the Spirit’s lead.

Keep reading these (kinda, sorta, loosely, almost) related articles:

What’s My Line? the loss of personal convictions
What Happened to Church?
5 Reasons I Haven’t Left the Church
A Response to Rachel Held Evans’ “Why Millennials Are Leaving The Church
 
you can watch Darren discuss this idea of holiness further on YouTube by clicking here.

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