The Rabbit Room

Karen, no, of course it isn’t new.

But we have to realize that from the beginning this particular message, the message (primarily) of Paul, has been opposed. It is the last thing the adversary wants us to know and live from. Jesus had the Pharisees who had twisted the spirit of the Law into a dead letter. Paul had the Judaizers in Galatians who wanted to add self-effort rule keeping to trusting Jesus as the sacrifice. And the Hebrews letter warns against the same heresy of adding our “human potential” to the life-transforming truth that God’s grace saves, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies us.

So while I agree that this is not new, I will say that I have heard relatively few (relative to how many churches/preachers/teachers there actually are) who will wholeheartedly preach Christ alone without a “but.” “Jesus saves, but…” “Yes we’re sanctified by grace through faith…but…” There are a lot of buts out there. Many will add Law to reliance, and put a yoke of bondage, because reliance on the Spirit is like free-falling off the edge of a cliff. Think of it – to feel the pull of temptation, state categorically, “Christ is my _______” (purity, patience, peace, or whatever), and then leap out and fly in the midst of the temptation, to know we need to exert no self-effort or fearful avoidance.

How many preach we are dead to Law without qualifying with “buts”? I would say relatively few (and I mean relatively. I can name a lot of these sorts of teachers).

The people commenting may have church backgrounds which are legalistic – “grace” may mean “Jesus died to pay your sin debt” but being sanctified in the Now by grace through faith may not have ever been preached to them. It may not at all be due to “Have I been listening” or “Have I been rebellious” but more due to teachers who have not been listening and who have been rebellious – or even those teachers may have been taught by legalistic teachers. It doesn’t really matter where it started; the point is that the perversion of the Gospel is an age-old satanic game that is a continual attempt to infect and neutralize believers.

I grew up in the Baptist framework and never heard these truths about being dead to Law without qualifiers attached. It wasn’t until the mid-nineties, when I had a lot of inner struggle, that I began to come to the Word as a child. I finally started to take it seriously; we’re dead to sin, not merely positionally, but actually. We’re dead to Law/self-effort, not just in the way God “sees us,” but in reality. It wasn’t rebelliousness or non-listening; it was that I had never really heard the full Gospel before in all its glory.

Lastly, I don’t think we can hear these things until we can hear them. We have to be broken of all ideas of our own potential or ability to be “like Christ.” Only then, in weakness, can we begin to access true strength.