Conviction. Legalism. Biblical conviction. Personal legalism. At whose expense will these terms be so interwoven and meshed together that legalists find no identity or individual integrity? Will there, in this resurgence/reforming/emerging church, be an explanation of the reasons we do things? Why is it that we will not quit saying “well, my pastor said this” or “I’ve seen this in my personal experience; therefore, it is wrong”? When did biblically-based convictions and moral standards cease? How long will you willingly live in ignorance, O man?!
This post is an attempt to establish the correct mindset of establishing convictions through correct interpretation of the Bible. In so doing, I pray we will reevaluate all of our convictions and line them up with the Holy Scriptures which are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
Conviction. The word alone makes you want to watch “Remember the Titans” and go play backyard football. What is conviction? Definition, please? You got it. Conviction: a strong persuasion or belief. You would debate someone over conviction. To defend your stance based on logic and personal perceptions of whatever the matter may be.
Legalism: strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code. Is it a bad thing? It is always spoken AGAINST, but how often is legalism actually practiced? I’ve heard this word being spoken ill of from many different pulpits, only to be practiced by the very same authority in those pulpits. Excessive conformity describes this at its best.
Biblical conviction. Now we are getting somewhere. Let us now, please, step back and examine ourselves. If we move from the definition of conviction stated above and add the biblical sense, we would come up with a definition similar to the following: A strong persuasion or belief based on doctrine of the divinely inspired Holy Scriptures.
Personal legalism. This is where our understanding of truth can become greatly skewed should legalism not be exercised properly. Personal legalism: strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the personally derived concepts which enable me to live my life in a way I find works best for myself morally and experientially. Let us say I believe that I should work out twice a week in order to maintain the temple God has given me. This is not scripturally commanded; however, it is not contrary to the Bible either. I THEN, take this personal belief and teach it to my friends as truth. It grows into a national battle cry that is taken so far out of the original intention that it does not purify the church, but rather alienates those who do not agree. THIS, my friends, is where personal legalisms fail us. Are personal legalisms wrong? NO! May it not be that we restrain ourselves from the stumbling blocks that were once clouding our view of the holy and just One! May we lay aside every weight which so easily entangles and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us, as we are looking unto JESUS! (Hebrews 12:1-2). Wherein did it say to lay aside your weight and also, command your brother to lay aside that weight in his own life if it is not sin? How is that not just enabling sin to creep in through legalistic pragmatism we personally know as truth because someone rammed it down our throats? Is that not adding a weight to someone? How self-RIGHTEOUS are you to add to the Scripture? I pray that when we feel the need for God plus morality that we see the complete inadequacy of ourselves! WHO ARE WE TO ADD TO SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH?! Not of abstinence from alcohol, lest any man should boast. Not of having your “devotion every morning for a whole year,” lest any man should boast. Not of wearing a suit or shorts on Sunday mornings, lest any man should BOAST. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them. Do you not find the scripture sufficient, Christian? Do you feel the need to indulge yourself with just a little more morality for the sake of being a step ahead? Are you more deserving of God’s grace than any other? As Aaron Cline Hanbury paraphrases Jonathan Edwards, “A breath in the morning outside of grace through Christ is offensive and stench in the nostrils of God.”
Do you not find the Scriptures sufficient, Christian?
Stop itching your ears with morality! Stop imposing things outside of Scripture on your congregations! Run from the man who feels his will plus the scriptures is needed to fulfill the purpose we are all here, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever! May His Scriptures be satisfying to our longings for Christ-likeness. May our love for Him grow instead of our ability to follow rules. May we abide in His precepts (Romans 6), never forgetting the nature of the God we serve. May a complete awe fall upon us as we serve a God who ought rather to unleash on us His eternal wrath on us all, but instead loves and cares for us. May we be in His service forever as we fall under the grace of His Son. May a love for Christ explode from this message and may our lives be challenged Biblically.
-Chris Brantley
Chris, your style is unique and gives a simplicity of exhortation and admonishment that even the complexity of man must recognize. That is to say, some of us come to love complex theology and aesthetic wisdom, while we become lost in it; simplicity of truth is strongest.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to remember Romans 14. For one man a thing is sinful while for another it is freely received; yet we must be careful to honor God by loving one another selflessly, as well encouraging maturity; but in doing so, to be sure to pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance in all things, and not to trust our own understanding. Romans 12 also reminds us:
4For as in one physical body we have many parts (organs, members) and all of these parts do not have the same function or use,
5So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another].
6Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them: [He whose gift is] prophecy, [let him prophesy] according to the proportion of his faith;
7[He whose gift is] practical service, let him give himself to serving; he who teaches, to his teaching;
8He who exhorts (encourages), to his exhortation; he who contributes, let him do it in simplicity and liberality; he who gives aid and superintends, with zeal and singleness of mind; he who does acts of mercy, with genuine cheerfulness and joyful eagerness.
9[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.
10Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.
Each of us has a different measure of grace, and different functions in the body of Christ; and so we must seek His wisdom in how to use it, and His grace in how to use it well.
As a side note, I once heard a man say that we are able best to see the sin in others which we have in ourselves. Humility and grace must order our actions then.
As one more note, Clearwater's own Dr. Burgraff once spoke of the difference between beliefs, convictions, opinions, and one other that I forgot. A man discusses his opinions, fights for his convictions, and dies for his beliefs. We must be careful to discern what we should hold within each of those leagues.
Grace and peace, brother!