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Legalism: Part 4:

Since we are not saved by the Law, nor kept by it, are we then free to just ignore it and live as we please?

     Scriptures:   Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
     The opposite extreme from legalism is license. We suppose because we are saved and kept by grace, that we are free to do and live however we want. The early church had to deal with this issue, as Romans 6 illustrates. Some were living so licentiously that they were accused of claiming “Let us do evil, that good may come? “. The church in Corinth was proud of its tolerance towards sin that even the unbelievers wouldn't allow (1 Cor. 5:1). Little has changed since the first century. Christians today live with someone else without benefit of marriage and think nothing of it. Christians indulge in greed, dishonesty, sexual immorality, divorce, drunkenness, and violence yet consider themselves saved by grace and on the road to heaven. Many look on salvation as a “fire insurance policy” to get them to heaven and keep them out of hell. They profess Christ, then file that policy away and go on living as they always have. This is not what the Bible teaches. In this article we are going to take a look at Romans chapter 6 and see just what it does teach.
     Rom 6:1, 2: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? When we put our faith in Christ, we die to sin. We are freed from its control over our lives. Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. We do not have to sin. The Devil can't “make us do it”. If we do fall into sin, and we will, it is NOT because we haven't followed the Law, but because we have yielded to sin rather than to God's Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:3 says: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Baptism identifies us with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Rom 6:4, 5: Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: We have died to our old self and been resurrected into a new life in Christ. Therefore we have died to our old sinful self and are become new men and women in Christ. Rom 6:6, 7: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. We are crucified with Christ. The power of sin over us is destroyed. We no longer have to serve sin. We have died to it. A dead man can't sin – he is free from sin. But be careful here. This does NOT mean we are sinless. I once knew a man who claimed he had never sinned since he was saved. He really believed it himself, but few who knew him did! Eventually he had to be removed from his church due to gross sin. Remember 1Co_10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
     We still have free choice. We can choose either to follow the Spirit or to follow our own sinful desires. We can choose either to serve God or to serve sin.
     Rom 6:8 – 10: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. We belong to Christ. We are called “Christians” because we are closely identified with Him. So as sin and death have no power over Christ, they have no power over us. As He lives unto God, we are to live unto God, not unto sin, licentiousness, or the things of this world.
     Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord We are to reckon (think of) ourselves as being dead to sin and alive to God. We are to deliberately act as though we were. Doing this has real power, not because of some magical “power of positive thinking”, but because it really is a fact and if we act on that fact God will work in and through us.
     Rom 6:12, 13: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. We are commanded not to let sin reign over us or to yield to it. God wouldn't command this if it was impossible for us. It isn't. But it is impossible in our own power. We have to yield ourselves to God. We can choose either to submit to sin or to submit to God, but we can't go on in our own pride, submitting to no one. If we try that, we will soon find ourselves under the power of sin. This is why so many Christians today have such trouble with sin. We are, as God told the Israelites, stiff-necked and proud. No one is going to tell us what to do. We claim to be followers of Christ, but refuse to submit to Him or to obey Him if the matter conflicts with what we want to do. Jesus said in Joh_14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me, and also in Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
     Does this mean, then, that we have to keep the Law to avoid falling into sin? NO. Rom 6:14 says: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Ironically, trying to keep the Law will not keep us from sin, but it will insure that sin will have dominion over us. The Law gives all kinds of opportunities for the flesh to assert itself. Most of us know in our selves that there is nothing that tempts us to do something more powerful than making it illegal. The Law gives rise to pride and self-righteousness, as Jesus illustrated in Luk_18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. All of us know those who insist on keeping certain laws while ignoring or outright breaking others, all the while claiming they are more righteous than those who don't keep their favorite laws – but as Jas_2:10 says: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. The purpose of the Law was to lead men to Christ, to show them their need of a savior because of their inability to keep the Law. The Law can make no one righteous.   Gal_2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
     Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Our freedom from the Law doesn't make us either slaves to sin or free to sin, however. We will serve whatever we yield ourselves to. Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Freedom from the Law is not a license to sin.
     Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. We should be thanking God that Christ broke the yoke of sin and freed us from its power and penalty, for the wages of sin is always death. Not only that, but we are now able to serve righteousness! Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Christ once said no man can serve two masters. We cannot serve sin and serve righteousness. There is no middle ground, no “no man's land”. It was only by Christ freeing us from our old master that we are freed to serve our new master – Himself, Jesus Christ. We must choose one or the other – to say we “have no master” is the same as choosing our old master.
     Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our old way of life produced nothing good or lasting. It led only to death – both physical and spiritual death. Now we are freed from slavery to sin and receiving its wages – death. We are now free to be righteous and to receive the wages of righteousness – holiness and eternal life!
     To sum up, then, we are both saved and kept by grace, not by keeping the Law. The Law is good and hasn't been done away with. It still serves its purpose, but that purpose is to lead men and women to Christ, not to make them righteous apart from, or in addition to, Christ. It is yielding to the Holy Spirit and following Him that leads to righteousness. Trying to keep the Law leads to self-righteousness and failure. We will always compare ourselves to others by legalism and law-keeping. “I may do this, but at least I don't do that like my neighbor.” Legalism also tends to lead to “loophole finding”, where people find some way to get around the Law. Jesus condemned this in the Pharisees when He said in Mar_7:13: Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
     We are not free to sin because we are under grace rather than Law. We are to yield to the Holy Spirit and follow Him. If we are under His power, we will not be under the power of sin, and so won't have to worry about keeping this commandment or that one. The Holy Spirit will never lead anyone to murder his neighbor, worship idols, lie, steal, cheat, etc. Those Christians who do those things are not yielded to the Spirit, but to the old, sinful nature.
     Christ died to free us from the power of sin and to enable us to follow righteousness and holiness. Let's not make that sacrifice of no effect by going back to legalism and trying to become righteous or to live righteously by our own efforts. Gal_4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
     Be filled with the Spirit and manifest the fruit of the Spirit and you won't have to be concerned about fearfully following myriad rules and regulations. Gal 5:22, 23:  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.