Order as the Remedy to Legalism

“…no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from Whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Colossians 2:16-23).^[1]

This is Good News. We are freed from the rituals of the ceremonial Old Testament Law because they existed only to point to Christ and His saving work. With that work accomplished and the all-sufficient Word concerning it complete (the New Testament), this Law is fulfilled. Along with it, all of the man-made traditions and additional rules formerly chained to the ceremonial Law by legalists are dead, as well.

One of the things about being human between the Fall and Heaven is that we just aren’t stable, generally speaking. We have difficulty achieving a right balance, even when attempting to be careful to live in obedience to the Scripture. This is one of those areas. With the fulfillment of the ceremonial Law on the cross of Christ, it is easy to go overboard and abolish any command or structure. As a wise deacon once told me, people are like pendulums – we never stop in the middle. The abolition of legalism becomes antinomianism – lawlessness. The Bible has some pretty strong things to say about legalism. Jesus hates it (Hebrews 1:9), and will cast those who practice it away from His presence (Matthew 7:23). We don’t want that.

When we read the beginning of chapter two, we read Paul’s words of concern, prayer, and praise concerning the Colossians (and Laodiceans, for that matter): “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline [τὴν τάξιν, from τάξις] and the stability of your faith in Christ” (2:1-5).

This word, τάξις, is used of the Jewish priesthood in the Temple (Luke 1:8) and the priestly order prescribed by the Old Testament (Hebrews 5:6,10; 6:20; 7:11,17,21).

But it’s also used to describe the orderliness God desires in the worship of the Church: “…God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints…all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner [τάξιν, from τάξις]” (1 Corinthians 14:33,40). The verb form of τάξις, τάσσω, is variously translated “determined” and “appointed” (Matthew 28:16; Luke 7:8; Acts 13:48; 15:2; 22:10; 28:23; Romans 13:1; 1 Corinthians 16:15). The semantic domain of this word family, in other words, describes order. This is the dedication to right structure that moved Paul to rejoice over the Colossian congregation before warning them about legalism.

Anonyms of τάξις with the α privative occur in Paul’s letters to the Church in Thessalonica. In his first letter, he commands them to “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly [τοὺς ἀτάκτους, from ἄτακτος], encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). In his second letter, he wrote: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly [ἀτάκτως] life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined [ἀτάκτως] life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). The pattern is “the tradition” received from the apostles; that’s another way of saying “the New Testament scriptures.” Paul tells the Thessalonicans not to have fellowship with those leading disordered lives, those whose disorder spreads into the lives of others either through nosy meddling or from a refusal to work. The integrity of the congregation is maintained by order not just in worship, but in all of our individual lives as disciples of Jesus.

All this is to say that the opposite of legalism is not antinomianism, libertinism, chaos, or “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The remedy for legalism is not a free-for-all. The opposite of legalism is biblical, theologically sound order. That’s not the remedy we’d offer, is it? This is exactly why we need God’s Word to think His thoughts after Him and follow His will. We must pursue God’s order for His people in worship and in their daily lives, as ordained in His Word.

Having written this, I am immediately aware of the temptation for some to use this principle as an excuse to build a new legalism (the pendulum doesn’t stop). “Order” becomes a tool for putting their own preferences in place for the Body. We must be diligent not to give our preferences or personal convictions above and beyond the clear teaching of Scripture equal weight with the ultimate authority of Scripture. This is difficult. It is the easiest and most natural thing for our legalistic hearts to attempt to achieve conformity to our will by linking our preferences with Scripture. And it’s also satanic; the tempter used Scripture in the desert with Jesus (Matthew 4:5-7). This is why the phrase “as ordained in His Word” is vital. Taking a good, biblical principle to a logical conclusion past the dictates of the Bible is a false teaching. It starts well, is aimed using good reason, but without the guard rails of Scripture it ends up in the ravine. Stick to the Word in your order. Adding to the Bible in the Church or your personal life is a confession that the Scripture is not enough. Hold to the whole, unfragmented Bible with proper theology (not reinstituting Old Testament practices fulfilled in Christ, for example, Hebrews 8:13). Proper theology is learned and maintained in the community of faith, growing together in the Word. Let us regularly engage in humble self-examination as the Church.

May we be constantly reforming not just the doctrine, but the practice of the Church, beloved. This is the responsibility of every generation of believers. May we reject man-made traditions, the unnecessary, and all that it is added to the practice prescribed in the New Testament. Let us rejoice in good, theologically sound, and biblical order.

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[1] Concerning the “worship of angels,” I believe Paul is being sarcastic concerning the legalists; there are several N.T. passages that describe the Law of Moses as having been given by the angels (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2).

Circumstantial Obedience?

The family-clan leaves Jerusalem to head home after the Passover, and twelve year-old Jesus stays behind. Mary and Joseph eventually find Him in the Temple, amazing the teachers with His understanding. “When they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them” (Luke 2:48-51).

God: His Father.

Jesus’ purpose: His Father’s business.

Where He deserves to be: the center the world to the people of the old covenant (Jerusalem), not some backwater nowhere (Nazareth).

Mary (mom) and Joseph (legal father...note how Jesus redirects Mary, reminder her of Who His Father is) didn’t understand Him.

Despite these facts, He completely submits to them in obedience to the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12//Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:1-3).

Christian, obedience is not contingent on circumstances favorable to that obedience. Those who love Him keep His commandments (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9; 11:1; 30:16; Joshua 22:5; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 5:3), even when it’s difficult, even when we aren’t where we want to be, even when nobody understands, even when we have a million reasons our friends all support about why we shouldn’t obey this or that particular command.

One of the most grace-filled words in the New Testament is the conjunction “but”:

• “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16,17).
• “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10).
• “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: ‘And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.’ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:18-24).

On our lips, sadly, it is a word that usually introduces disobedience. “I know what the Bible says, but...”

God the Holy Spirit will be present with us as we purpose to obey the commandments of God:

• “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12,13).
• “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied” (1 Peter 1:1,2).

God the Holy Spirit is present with us through the teaching, preaching, reading, singing, praying, and doing of His Word:

• “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:16-18).
• “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever...this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:22,23,25b).

I’m utterly unsurprised when Bible study groups/Sunday School classes who are more concerned with gossipy cliques or social amusements produce a fruit of disobedience to the Word. I’m profoundly underwhelmed when believers who maybe gather with the saints for a few hours a month follow their heart instead of the Lord of their lips. I can hardly raise an eyebrow to those whose counsel in life-challenges and difficulties are all as practical and worldly-minded as they are, producing a community garden of flesh. It’s not shocking. If you’re not gathering in the Word, you’re going to have a life marked by disobedience to that Word.

We are not called to the popular or easy or comfortable. The path of obedience is not one to a guaranteed earthly/fleshly/temporal blessing or ease. Christ, “in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:7-9). Notice that the root of our obedience-producing faith is a Savior Who, as fully human, “learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” No conjunctions-unto-disobedience for Him. Or us.

Gather together in the Word, and may the Spirit produce in you a passion for holy obedience unto Christ-imitating and Father-glorifying righteousness.

Assurance in Christ and the Works of the Law

Got back to one of the books in my large “half-read” pile this week: Mark Jones’ Antinomianism.

Dr. Jones, in describing the role of obedience in our assurance, offers this syllogism:

“Major Premise: Those who keep God’s commandments love Christ.

Minor Premise: By the grace of God, I keep God’s commandments.

Conclusion: I love Christ” (pg. 103).

(For the scriptural support for the major premise, see Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9; 11:1; 30:16; Joshua 22:5; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; John 14:15,21-24; 15:10-14; 1 John 2:3-5; 5:2,3.)

Jones then points to Westminster Confession of Faith 16.1,2 as the reflective of this syllogism: “Good works are only such as God hath commanded in His holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant whereof, are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of good intention. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, Whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal life” (emphasis mine).

One assurance that we are saved in Christ is our desire to do what the Bible commands for our lives. How do we know that Christ is our Lord unto salvation, and that our confession is true (Romans 10:9)? We honor Him as Lord by obeying His commands and embrace His commission to teach other disciples to do the same (Matthew 28:18-20).

There is a dangerous side to this, of course, that deserves mention. What about those who are vainly pursuing a non-Christian salvation? It is only biblical Christianity that seeks salvation solely through faith in the accomplished work of salvation, apart from obedience to the moral Law. All world religions and non-biblical “christian-esque” religions seek salvation through works. This is the “impossible” human salvation spoken of by Jesus (Matthew 19:25,26//Mark 10:26,27//Luke 18:26,27). No one is justified by the works of the Law (Romans 3:20,28; Galatians 2:16; 3:11; 5:4).

Some others may seek salvation through impressive spiritual deeds that are not commanded by the Law. Remember the confession that true good works are those “commanded in His holy Word...done in obedience to God’s commandments.” Consider the words of the Lord concerning “false prophets” (Matthew 7:15) with impressive spiritual resumes: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; [as it says in Psalm 6:8,] depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Neither Law-keeping nor good spiritual deeds will achieve salvation. Only by faith in Christ’s all-sufficiency will God “reckon...righteousness” to us (Genesis 15:6; cf. Romans 4:3,9,22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). The Law’s role is to lead us to Christ. It does this by showing us our sinfulness and the only atonement for that sin – Jesus Christ’s self-sacrifice (Romans 3:19,20; 7:7-12; Galatians 3:19-25; 1 Timothy 1:8-11).

But what role does the Law play after our salvation? This is not an easy issue, and has been one of much controversy throughout Church history. I don’t pretend to be the one to solve it to everyone’s satisfaction, but Dr. Jones’ (and the W.C.F.’s) connection between Christian Law-keeping and assurance was worth highlighting.

This Christian obedience, while a reason for assurance, is not to be a cause for our boast or self-confidence (sadly, many confuse spiritual self-confidence with assurance). We are sealed in the new covenant by the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25) – the precious reminder of our observance of the Lord’s Supper. We don’t hold ourselves there by our good works. We are held there by the sacrifice of Christ. One of the promises of the new covenant is God’s work in putting His Law on our hearts and a desire/ability to obey:

• “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Apart from the work of God Himself on the human heart, we could not obey the “greatest commandment” (Deuteronomy 6:5; cf. Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:33; Luke 10:27).
• “‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; cf. Hebrews 8:8-12; 10:16,17). We lay claim to this promise when we observe the Lord’s Supper, since (as we’ve already seen above), with the cup we pronounce our sealing in this “new covenant” by the blood of Jesus.
• “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me” (Jeremiah 32:38-40). There is a connection between the fear of the LORD and obedience to the Law (Deuteronomy 17:19; 28:58; 31:12).
• “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19,20).
• “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

All of these passages teach a God-created obedience from the heart in His true people. In this way, obedience to God’s moral Law is a source of assurance, since it is the work of God Himself.

While the passages above were from the Old Testament, Christian obedience as a gracious work of God is a common New Testament theme, as well. I love these verses and quote them often. We need this constant reminder to daily kill the Pharisee in us all (that part of ourselves tempted to take pride in the good works, Luke 18:11,12):

• “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:21).
• “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
• “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12,13).
• “Now the God of peace, Who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20,21).

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine...because in Him this Law-breaker loves His Law and desires to obey Him as my Lord by the power of His Spirit, to the glory of His Father.