From Legalism to Grace

“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as [coming] from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate [as] servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6, NASB95).

— Nathan Austin

In his letter to the Galatians (Galatians 3:24-27), the Apostle Paul emphasizes a key distinction between the Jewish and Gospel Ages. There was a notable transition from legalism (rituals, sacrifices, and narrow interpretations of the law) to faith-based grace. This, however, does not mean the Law suddenly held no value. There were godly principles deeply embedded within the Law. But God’s new direction, made possible by the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, was now made more apparent through the lens of the holy Spirit.

A popular adage reads, “Master the rules so you will know when to break them.” Some familiar writing rules include: show the reader, don’t merely tell them; never begin a sentence with “and” or “’but”; do not split infinitives. Yet, numerous examples exist of authors judiciously ignoring some of these rules effectively. In short, much of the value of these rules lies in their guidance to those just beginning to learn the way. Although rules should not be avoided simply because we “know better,” thoughtful evaluation is important.

Healing on the Sabbath

One key component of the value of rules is an understanding of the purpose of the rule. Jesus himself demonstrates this after encountering a sick man on the Sabbath. “Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’ But they kept silent. And he took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And he said to them, ‘Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?’ And they could make no reply to this” (Luke 14:2-6).

We cannot be sure of the reasoning of the Pharisees, but some of them may have actually believed it to be unlawful to heal on the Sabbath. Let us distinguish between the “what” and the “how” of the Sabbath injunctions against work, as opposed to the ‘why.’ The Pharisees were primarily focused on the “what” and the “how.” They taught that you were not to work on the Sabbath. But this position invariably left some gray areas. What constituted work? So, they applied their logic and their intellect to the problem and finally came up with a clear rule to follow — the Jews, in their estimation, were prohibited from doing “anything that a person broke a sweat to accomplish.” Isn’t that a nice and clear-cut rule?

You can understand why they sought such an answer. But, in doing so, they fell into a trap — not a new trap, but one long common to mankind. We see it all around us. We find a temptation to draw a line in the sand that suits our vision of holiness, and this frees us from having to judge each case or each person on their merits. All we must do is look at that line and see if they are guilty or innocent.

However, that is not why God created that Law. It was not created with the intent that it be used as a “club of righteousness” with which to beat each other over the head. Nor was it a competition to see who can adhere more closely to a long list of rules. Instead, the law of the Sabbath is like a long-form essay question; we continually write the answers in our hearts and daily lives. We are tasked with justifying them with our reason and our best understanding of each situation. And God does not grade us by a simple True/False rubric, but rather we are assessed based upon a complex interweaving of our intent, heart attitude, character growth, and the degree to which we adhere to the spirit of the rules which God has given us.

A Closer Look

If we look closer at the “why” of the Sabbath, we find that God set it apart, not as a test, but as a reminder of God’s creation. Although the Sabbath is no longer our day of worship, the principle remains true. We are to bear in mind that on the seventh day our Heavenly Father rested; and, likewise, we should rest from worldly pursuits. It is a day to take time for our brethren, our families, and for reflection on God’s word. We should take this time to recharge our spirits that are forced to struggle the rest of the week against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Furthermore, it is a wonderful picture of God’s Kingdom, and the completion of His plan. In short, the Sabbath was created to give us time to think on holy things and to glorify God.

Did Jesus glorify God by healing a man on the Sabbath? There can be little doubt.

The Good Samaritan

In Luke 10:25-37 we find the familiar tale of the Good Samaritan. We note that in verse 25, “a lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’”. Jesus replies by directing this lawyer to the Law itself, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” (vs 26). And the man answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (vs 27, NASB). Jesus replied, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live” (vs 28). But then the man continues to probe Jesus deeper into this question — “And who is my neighbor?” (verse 29).

This is the real crux of the question. To love the Lord with all your being is rather clear and self- explanatory, but to love one’s neighbor — well, that sounds like something that requires a more specific definition! Once again, the Pharisees applied their logic and intellect to the problem and came up with a more clearly defined rule — one’s neighbor is merely their fellow Jews. As with work on the Sabbath, this is a clear-cut rule, but does it really embrace the purpose of an injunction to love your neighbor?! Of course, we have a different view of things from 2000 years farther along the stream of time. We see the expansiveness of God’s love for all mankind, whereas the Jews at that time (and especially the Pharisees) clung to their past as God’s clearly favored people.

It is against this backdrop that Jesus lays out his parable. We imagine this traveler being beaten and robbed and left for dead at the side of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. We can envision a priest traveling by and perhaps his concern that touching a dead man would make him unclean for seven days. How inconvenient! Next, we can envision the Levite passing by. We may only speculate on his reasoning; maybe he was worried it was a ruse or in a hurry. But then the Samaritan came along. This man of whom so little was expected turned out to be the only one to offer help!

Not only did he bring the victim to safety, but he also went far beyond the minimum required of him. He cleaned and bandaged the victim’s wounds, brought him to an inn, and cared for him. He then provided additional funds for prolonged care, promising to pay even more when he returned if necessary. And so, we have this picture of the man — one who is perhaps a heretic of sorts, one who does not fit the standard expectation of a Jew, but one who deals honestly (presumably, the innkeeper could trust that he would make good on his promise of additional funds) and acts with compassion for his fellow man. He does not do this because somebody is watching but because it is the righteous course of action.

Jesus completes his lesson in verses 36 and “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

Jesus was trying to redirect the Jews from their narrow-minded tunnel vision. They were firmly entrenched in this perspective, with a Law to be strictly followed and with all the encrustations of their tradition and interpretation to make every decision clear and as free as possible from the strain of having to employ their individual judgment.

A Greater Law

“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.’ But he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he became hungry … how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread? … Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent’” (Matthew 12:1-7).

Here, we observe yet another example of the Pharisees getting the wrong message from the Law. They were so focused on pointing their fingers at violators that they did not consider the intent behind the law. Moreover, in doing so, they remained ignorant of something much more important than the Sabbath picture — they could not see that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. Things were changing, and they were missing out. Why were the disciples picking the heads of grain and eating them? Because they were traveling with Jesus! They recognized him, chose to follow him, and wanted to learn from him. Amidst all that, they did not have food close at hand, so they ate a bit of grain while walking. Was this the kind of thing that God forbade? If we recognize that His law was intended to make sure that the hearts and minds of His people were focused on Him and His word and His plan, and even His son — then we can be confident that the disciples (of all people) were doing exactly what they should have been doing, and picking up a little grain along the way hardly detracted from that ideal.

The Rules We Follow

Can we apply these lessons to our Christian Walk? Are there rules we feel we must follow? Do we even consider where they come from?

Some rules come to us laid out directly in God’s word. These we can count on to indeed be black and white. Yet, even so, we must be on guard against misinterpretation by our human flesh.

To an even greater extent, we must be cautious when following rules and guidance devised by man. We know that such rules tend to be imperfect at best, and even in such cases, we can sometimes find a distinction between the letter of a rule and its spirit. Furthermore, we may follow the rules because we see others doing so. When asked why a rule exists, do you ever answer: “Well, we’ve always done it that way”? Such a response implies a lack of interest in the spirit of that rule or law.

Studies have demonstrated that we have only so much decision-making power in a given day. As a result, our brains are designed to find shortcuts, rules of thumb, automatic decisions to help reduce the load. While this is normal and healthy, we are at risk of going on “autopilot” which can cause us to apply the letter of the law without much thought for the spirit of the law. Recognizing this risk, it would be wise to remain vigilant and periodically question the rules we follow without much thought.

What are our habitual practices? Do we start a convention day in the same manner because “that’s the way we’ve always done it”? How do we decide on a topic of study in the ecclesia? How do we lead a study in the ecclesia? Can we find areas in our daily or spiritual life that may focus too much on the “what” and “how” and not enough on the “why”?

Unfortunately, there is no simple list of “answers” to which we can refer in order to do the right thing. Nor is there a simple method to find these answers. A simple list of answers is what the Pharisees wanted — what they thought they had — and by blindly following those answers, they completely missed the Messiah in their midst. This is a cautionary tale which should encourage us to look, be aware, and recognize our human tendencies so we might have the foresight to fight against them.

“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly” (1 Timothy 1:5-8 NIV).