Tag Archives: legalism

Freedom

Freedom

This entry is part 4 of 63 in the series Ten Mangled Words You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Freedom is another word that the disingenuous enjoy. Just as the Tolerazis cry ‘intolerance’ and pose as victims even while they terrorize and bully others, so similar people shout freedom while insisting that others submit to their choices, or at least abdicate legitimate authority over them. Freedom has a nice ring to our ears. Restraint and… Continue Reading

The Heart and Outward Appearances

The Heart and Outward Appearances

In any political campaign, some politicians would like to reduce policy statements to slogans and soundbites. Soundbites, however, admit no qualifications or nuancing. They resist examination and exclude careful thought. They are bad for statecraft. They are also bad for theology and church order. Take the following as an example, drawn from a real sermon… Continue Reading

Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? Concluding Thoughts

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Included in faulty ideas of what legalism is are the notions that it is interpreting Scripture literally, making applications for modern living, exhorting submission, and judging various cultural phenomena for their meaning. Now it is obvious that legalism cannot be all of these things. In fact, when examined closely, legalism is not any of these… Continue Reading

Will The Real Legalist Please Stand Up? – Judging Culture

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Christians often imbibe facile and unhelpful definitions of legalism. One of these is the idea that legalism is the act of judging the meaning cultural phenomena, or to put it another way, the act of judging the meaning of things in our world. Christians live in the world, and therefore Christianity is to be lived out… Continue Reading

Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? Authority and Submission

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Conservative Christians are often accused of legalism. To understand what legalism is, we must first understand what it is not. One common misconception is that legalism is teaching and requiring God’s people to submit to Him. People take to authority today like they take to a cold slap in the face. Anti-authoritarianism is preached in… Continue Reading

Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? – Application of Scripture

Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? – Application of Scripture

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Avoiding legalism is firstly a matter of rightly understanding what it is. To begin with, we must reject incorrect definitions of legalism. One such error is the belief that interpreting Scripture literally and applying it to modern living is a form of legalism. For some people, legalism is another word for taking Scripture literally, and… Continue Reading

Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? – Introduction

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Will the Real Legalist Please Stand Up? You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Conservative Christians are not strangers to the charge of legalism. Begin tinkering with the sacred cows of worship music and Christian culture, and you will attract the title legalist like running past a hive with honey on your head attracts a swarm. As a pastor, one of the most painful things that can be said… Continue Reading