By Nate Wilson, Based on Sonship, chapters 4-7, and The Gospel-Centered Life, chapter 4, for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 19 Oct 2014, 19 Sept 2021.
“Growing in the gospel means seeing more of God’s holiness and more of my sin… and then believing the Gospel more” (angle diagram)
2 Peter 1: Don’t forget & fall back into orphan mode! (or that of a criminal who has been merely pardoned but not given a clean record)
Illustration: Imagine that Edward Snowden is captured by the U.S. government and tried and found guilty of treason for leaking confidential government documents. But then the President exercises his Constitutional right to pardon a criminal and let him go free. So Snowden goes to his old employer and asks for his job back. Do you think they’re going to hire him to handle top-secret information? Not hardly! He’s been forgiven, but he hasn’t been made righteous. Nobody is going to trust him to keep secrets until he has earned trust back over time. And that’s how a lot of Christians feel about their relationship with God. Sure God pardoned them, but they feel like they’re on their own to establish trust with God. But with God’s justification, there is no trust to be earned. He isn’t holding your sin over hour head. He has cast it as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12).
Believe that God has really made you righteous. (Received righteousness)
Believe that your identity is truly that of God’s child. (Adoption)
1. License – Law is irrelevant.
Proof
text: Romans 10:4 …Christ is the end (telos) of the
law... for every believer.
2. Legalism – Law is all-important.
Proof text:
Matthew 5:17-18 I did not come to undo ... Therefore, whoever might
loosen one of the least of these commandments … will be called
least in the kingdom…
Let’s look at these proof texts more closely and see who is right!
Romans 10:1-4 (NKJV) Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to know-ledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. [τελος γαρ νομου χριστος εις δικαιοσυνην παντι τω πιστευοντι]
Who is this talking about? Israel. Ethnic Jews.
What’s their problem? They are ignorant of how God makes people right. This led them to manufacture their own righteousness and not submit to God’s way.
What is God’s way? Believing in Christ!
God has a plan.
The Greek word “telos” translated “end” has more to do with a goal/destination than with cessation.
Also, the Greek preposition “eis” translated “for” before the word “righteousness” is also a statement of purpose.
The Law has a purpose, to bring you to a destination, and that is Christ. When you believe in Christ, the righteousness of God becomes yours.
There has to be law for there to be righteousness. And righteousness is clearly the Biblical goal. It makes no sense to interpret this as the abolition of law.
The law is to point us to Christ so we can have righteousness.
So, licentiousness doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Neither does legalism:
Matthew 5:17-20 (Jesus said) “Don’t y’all start assuming that I came to undo (καταλυσαι – the picture is of loosening a belt) the law or the prophets; I did not come to undo but rather to fulfill (πληρωσαι – literally to fill full). For really, I’m telling you that until whenever the heavens and the earth pass on, neither one ‘i’ nor one serif shall ever pass on from the law until whenever everything shall have happened. Therefore, whoever might loosen one of the least of these commandments and teach the men thus, he will be called least in the kingdom of the heavens. But whoever might do and teach thus, this man will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens, for I’m telling you that unless your righteousness exceeds beyond the Scribes’ and Pharisees’ you will never enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” (NAW)
Jesus says that the law is going to stand until the end. It’s not going away.
And He’s still talking about the need for “righteousness.” He says you have to be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees were, in order to enter heaven. How righteous were the Scribes and Pharisees? Well, they memorized the Bible. Have you memorized the Bible? Well, that settles it, you aren’t as righteous as the Scribes and Pharisees, and you certainly haven’t “exceeded” their righteousness, so you are hopeless. Jesus was inferring that it is impossible to be righteous enough to get in to heaven.
Our only hope is in the One who “fulfilled” the law, that is, Jesus!
Once again, the law points us to Jesus to get made right!
Before we go on, let’s make sure we understand what is meant by Law. Reformed tradition breaks law into 3 categories:
Civil law and order
Prov. 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.
Civil law keeps the world from being as bad as it can possibly be. For example, a law enforced against murder will make most folks think twice when they get mad at somebody else, and there will be fewer murders.
This is good, and God tells us in Romans 13 to obey government leaders that make those kind of laws.
Moral law
Believers obeying God’s commands and growing in Christlike character.
This is more about knowing God and what He is like.
Path to salvation - The way to be right and safe. Mostly today’s topic.
All the O.T. sacrifices and temple decorations and priestly ceremonies were symbols teaching about the way to be right with God. They were all pointing to Christ. In the N.T. we see Jesus saying, “I AM the way.” He is the one who fulfilled the ceremonial law perfectly.
We can’t use the law to be right and safe because we were conceived and born in sin. Romans 5:12-14 tells us that Adam’s sin “passed on” to us, plus “we all have sinned.” Law as a path to salvation isn’t even an option for us because of the guilt of Original Sin.
Jesus, on the other hand, was born of the Spirit (not of a man), had no original sin nature, and He never did anything unrighteous either. He alone could use law as a path to salvation, but He didn’t need to be saved in the first place.
Rigged righteousness
We know we can’t keep all God’s laws, so we select or make up rules we can keep but others can’t in order to feel that we are right.
For instance, I don’t like cigarette smoke, so it’s never been a temptation to me to become addicted to smoking, and also I tend to avoid getting too close to people who are smoking because it gives me a headache. At the same time, a lot of the smokers I know are very nice, friendly people, while, I am not a very outgoing person; meeting new people and having long conversations also give me a headache, so I often keep to myself in a crowd. So both I and that gregarious smoker might be at the same picnic, judging each other according to our own rigged righteousness: I might judge him for being addicted to tobacco, and he might judge me for being unfriendly, and there we are both feeling smug that we’re better than the other because we have rigged our own righteousness.
Power playing: Using rules to manipulate others through their shame & desire to be right
This is also about making us feel a sense of security from being in control.
For example, I might tell my wife that she should buy me donuts every day. And if she forgets to buy me donuts one day, I could complain about what a bad wife she is and how insubmissive she his and how how she needs to buy me extra donuts to make up for it. That would make for a horribly dysfunctional relationship.
When we try to control other people with rules, we are usurping the place of God. James 4 tells us that God is the only lawmaker and judge. But it’s all too easy to play God and legislate like the world revolves around us!
Symptoms (not an exhaustive list, but consider these things):
Comparing self with others,
“I may say the ‘s’ word, but she says the ‘f’ word and the ‘d’ word, so, compared to her, I’m pretty good.”
But our eyes should not be on other people; our eyes should be fixed on Jesus. When our eyes are on Christ, that gets us back on the angle diagram, realizing He is far better than we are, we’re not o.k., and that gets us depending on His help.
Wanting to be recognized,
This is part of trying to get your righteousness from other people rather than from God. If we expect people to recognize us because we kept their rules or advanced their values, that indicates we are not keeping our eyes on God.
Worrying about reputation, Keeping up appearances,
I was at a Christian college campus and ran across a rather dejected-looking young man in a doorway. He started pouring out his story to me: He had come from out of town to enroll at this Christian school, but he had had some problems with transportation and had arrived late for orientation. Then, after he had arrived, he had lost his wallet, so he had been reduced to asking people at the college to buy him meals, and, to top it all off, someone in the administration had heard him say something that got misconstrued and had gotten some people upset with him. He put his head in his hands and said, “I don’t think I can enroll her after all. Everybody thinks I’m irresponsible; I’ll never be able to earn their respect.”
This idea that looking good in other people’s eyes is what makes you o.k. is very dangerous. It puts you under the control of what you think other people think of you.
However, some folks have the opposite problem and assume that if other people differ from them, then those other people must be the ones in the wrong...
Preoccupation with proving opponents wrong
If your security is in making yourself right, you won’t be able to accept others telling you that you’re wrong. Are you focused on winning every argument?
This is not to say that there isn’t a place for standing up for the truth, and it is not to say that there isn’t a place for making practical rules that promote healthy order. The question is, are you using rules to glorify God, or are you perverting law to point to yourself and make yourself feel right?
God’s law was never designed to make you right & safe. Law Exposes Sin; Doesn’t Fix It
God’s law reveals His determinations concerning what is good and what is evil, thereby teaching us what sin is, convicting us that we are sinners, revealing that we deserve eternal death under God’s wrath for our sin, and underscoring our need for a savior.
It is law that creates the possibility of sin: Romans 4:15 For the law works out wrath, for where law does not exist, transgression doesn’t exist either.
If God had not prohibited Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the tree, they could have eaten it and would not have been wrong.
Romans 5:20 So law came in to play in order that the offense might abound…
Romans 7:7-13 … I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." … apart from the law sin was dead… For sin, taking occasion by the commandment… killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good… but sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good [that is, the law], so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
“The commandment is… good” because God, the lawgiver is good, and law is just the codification of His character traits.
However, “sin, taking occasion by the commandment… killed me.” That’s all the law can do now is condemn you as a sinner. It can’t save you.
God’s law was never intended to make you right with God; it was intended to make you realize you are horribly wrong and need Jesus to make you right.
Law Teaches Us To Go To Jesus
Galatians 3:19-24 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions... For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
“the law… was added because of transgressions” the Greek preposition translated “because of” is not the usual Greek word for causation, but rather the less common word χαριν with the primary meanings of “to favor” or “for the sake of,” and I think those primary meanings make more sense here: “the law was added to favor/for the sake of transgressions.” The Law forms the framework for there being lawbreakers.
In Greek there is a way to indicate whether the writer thinks a condition is true, untrue, or unknown, and the phrase in v.21, “if there had been a law given which could have given life” uses what is called second class conditional grammar, indicating that the condition is presumptively false: Law can’t give life.
Then what good is the law? It is “our tutor to bring us to Christ”
And how are we made right? “we are justified by faith” v.24.
GALATIANS 3:10-14 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.” (Deut. 27:26) 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." (Hab. 2:4) 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." (Lev. 18:5) 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE” – Deut. 21:23), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles (Gen. 12:3) in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Notice that this is all set up in the Old Testament – all the quotes are from the O.T.
“no one is justified by the law;” rather “the law” brings “curse.”
The only way for cursed lawbreakers to be “justified/made right” was for Christ the Righteous One to take upon Himself the “curse” due to our lawbreaking and die on the cross, thus enduring the covenantal curses (such as those in Deut. 27).
Then those who are “justified” by Christ’s salvation “live by faith” in Him.
GALATIANS 3:2-3 Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
“The only way to get rid of sin is to admit it, for, without honesty, repentance forgiveness and grace are impossible. The Christian does not go around all the time feeling guilty. For him, sin is a burden he can lay down, for he can admit it, repent and be forgiven.” ~J. Davidman, quoted in Gospel Centered Life
Instead of using law to make you look strong and good, use God’s law to bring you to confession of sin and repentance. Fight legalism by admitting wrong and stepping down on the angle graph.
James 4:6-10 …"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil... Cleanse your hands, you sinners… mourn and weep! …Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Often sin is like Post-it notes on your back. Other people can see them even when you can’t, and when you deny it, you aren’t fooling anybody but yourself.
The way you handle sin also teaches your children how to handle sin. Are you teaching them by your example to cover it up when they do wrong, or are you teaching them by your example to confess it to God when you do wrong? (Ezra 10:1)
You can also fight legalism by changing your response to criticism
“When we come to [Jesus]… the struggle for righteousness is over and He becomes our reputation and glory… You no longer have to prove that you are right and o.k., because your identity with God is right and secure.” ~Jack Miller, Sonship
Secure your identity in the righteousness you have received from God and in your status as God’s adopted child. Being proved wrong will no longer threaten your position, rather it becomes an opportunity for growing in relationship with God.
Thank people for their critique rather than punishing them with your defense.
If you bite people’s heads off for confronting you, you will stunt your own growth, because you are training those God has put around you to leave you in your sin.
Don’t argue them into the ground to prove yourself right. When confronted, spend time considering what sins this reveals in you, and lay them on Jesus.
Conversely, don’t try to make yourself look good in their eyes by pretending to respond well when you really intend to ignore them. That’s man-centered thinking. God’s righteousness instead calls for faith in Jesus. Consider the needs of the person who is criticizing you and how you can help them love Jesus more. (Christocentric rather than self-centered response)
So those are some ideas for fighting Legalism… What about the other problem, when you find yourself thinking, “We’re under grace now, we don’t have to worry about right and wrong. Our sins will all be taken care of by Jesus, and to prove this, we will do whatever we want, as long as it doesn’t look like Legalism!”
Remember that the Law has a good purpose, and that is to point us to Christ (Romans 10:4 …Christ is the end (telos) of the law... for every believer.)
Remember that God’s righteousness is still important and involves not breaking the law: Romans 6:14-18 … you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Remember that Civil Law and Moral Law don’t go away when Christ fulfilled the Ceremonial Law
Spend time with God, just enjoying His presence.
His holiness should cure your lackadaisical feelings.
If you don’t feel like He is there, remind yourself of your received righteousness and your adoption. Truth is not established by your feelings; truth is God’s word, so quote Scripture to remind your heart what is true.
Think about what Jesus is like and what He is interested in. Study His character traits and his statements about His plans and purposes in Scripture.
PRAY! “License… destroys genuine prayer, for it does not pray. It… seeks self-gratification from things in this world… [so] pray… a bold, daring, and risky prayer…” ~Sonship, p.89
Obey God’s Moral Law
Psalm 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart."
And, how did it get into his heart? Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in my heart”
Romans 13:8b-9 …he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "you shall not commit adultery," "you shall not murder," "you shall not steal," … are all summed up in this saying, namely, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Love IS the law in a nutshell. How do we love? The details in the law explain it.
John 14:23 …"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our mansion (v.2) with him.”
The word “mansion/dwelling” also appears in John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions…” God’s “coming and making a dwelling place” is not a RESULT of our loving God, for John also taught that “we love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Rather, God’s coming and dwelling is a promise of a new development in our relationship in the future when Jesus returns and takes us to heaven.
James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.