Question:
Hello
I
have just recently begun to learn about grace and the sufficiency of Christ on
the cross after years of legalism. The last thing I want to do as I try to rid
myself of these teachings is to reject any kind of standard in how Christians
should live. Where should one draw
the line regarding one’s shortcomings and how it effects their involvement in
church ministry?
Thanks,
William
Answer: Dear William,
God’s
grace is the other side of legalism—legalism that promises salvation in return
for obedience to rules and regulations, salvation that is God’s alone to give,
and which he gives by his grace. You
know that and agree with that, according to your note, but let’s set that
foundation.
Legalism
often reacts to grace by charging that those who are under grace are in fact
nothing more than libertines, who are behaving in any manner they wish, and
hiding behind the skirts of grace. This
charge is not true, for the New Testament clearly explains that those who have
accepted Jesus Christ, who live by grace, are new men and women in whom Jesus
lives his resurrected life. He
produces good works in their lives. Those
good works, deeds and behaviors are explained in many places in the New
Testament.
So,
are Christians, who live by grace, permissive and lawless?
No. They obey Jesus Christ,
their Lord and Captain of their salvation, but they do so because they have
already been saved, not in order to prove themselves to be qualified for
salvation.
Each
denomination and congregation of Christianity needs to have standards of
behavior, as you allude to. The fact
that we are under grace does not mean that there are not penalties to be paid
for laws and standards that are violated and broken, and certainly enforced,
for, as humans that is the only way we have of maintaining order and discipline
within the body of Christ. When
grace prevails in a denomination or congregation, then such standards will not
be administered arbitrarily or harshly, but lovingly, with grace—firmly, yet
with forbearance and forgiveness.
Hope
that helps, William.
In
Christ,