"Legalism or Liberalism that is the question".....

Monday morning I was meditating upon Psalm 119 Verses 1-8. However, as the morning progressed I was praying and pondering what pearls could be seen in these verses and I found my mind enlightened to particularly the first couple of verse in Psalm 119. Which says,

"Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD,
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.
"Psalm 119:2(Italics added)

Did you catch it? You see, I titled my blog "Legalism or Liberalism that is the question." Because, although most astute Christians recognize that is not our only choices, we LIVE as though those were our only choices. At least that is what I seem to see in my own life, as well as, pick up on from others in their conversation.

So how do we look at this topic in light of Scripture? Does the Bible tell us we may live our lives free from these two extremes? I believe God has spoken on this topic! And it is our responsibility to know and live according to this revealed will of God. So allow me to take some of your time and I hope at the end of this blog, you will leave blessed because of what the Word of God says.

Lets start with the passage in Psalm 119:1-8 which says,

"Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways!

You have commanded Your precepts to be kept diligently.

Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping Your statutes!

Then I shall not be put to shame,
Having my eyes fixed on all Your commandments.

I will praise You with an upright heart,
when I learn Your righteous rules.

I will keep Your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!" Psalm 119:1-8

Perhaps one of the most important eye openers to the text is when the reader recognizes the Hebrew poetic style being used by the psalmist. For instance if you look at the first three verses the Psalmist is using what is called Hebrew parallelism. So in the first verse the writer states that a particular person is blessed. The first stanza then states it is those who are "blameless", while the second stanza still dealing with the same person and even same attribute states it in another form, in this case "who walk in the Law of the LORD."

This is significant because of what the writer says in verse two using the same parallelism. In verse two we see that those who keep God's testimonies are those who are blessed. But notice with me how the writer defines those who "keep His testimonies". Who is the one who keeps God's testimonies? It is the one who is seeking God with his whole heart! Do you see the irony? Rules and laws are the very same thing that act as a stumbling block to some leading to legalism. And yet, it is the rules and laws that act as a means by which some are able to pursue and love the LORD with their whole heart!

It is with this foundation set that I would like to point out some obvious truths from what we have now established.

FIRST, rules and laws are not bad! What I mean is, we typically look at rules and laws as the problem to the dilemma at hand. But if rules and laws can act as a form of worship for one then the source of the problem cannot be the law! Indeed this is even what Paul states in Romans 7. The LAW (as all laws do) is to act as a pointer to the problem and to the solution. In other words rules and laws function in twofold. This leads us to the next point.

SECOND, the problem is OUR heart or indwelling sin. The "or" is dependent upon whether the individual is regenerate or not. But in either case the real problem to the legalism and liberalism is us! If the keeping of the law is a reflection of our heart, which is what verse two of this Psalm says, then this confirms my argument that the problem is us. This is further proved when we look upon verses 5-6.

The writer is broken and zealous to keep the laws of God, so that, he not be put to shame! What does the writer mean? I think the reason is clear in light of the second point. If keeping the law is a reflection of my heart towards God, then the reverse of it is true. In other words, when the writer does not keep the laws of God it reflects His lack of love in His heart towards God. The writer recognizes two things! First, the laws represent the giver of them. So how we treat the laws is how we are treating the LORD in our hearts. Second, because the true problem is us not the law it is he or "I" who is the one being put to shame and not the law!

THIRD, the law should NOT be removed! Because the function of the law is to point to the problem and to the solution. In other words, the law forever serves us in while we seek to keep the law we find we fail (the first pointer) and that we need One who has kept the law (the second pointer).

But you may say to me, "Stephen, you are making a major hermeneutical mistake because this book is written in the Old Testament, when the people of God were under a different Covenant AND under the Law. And Paul says, we are no longer under the Law but dead to it!"

This is a reasonable response. In fact, it is a situation that needs to be dealt with, so I am glad you asked ;-)! I will deal with this dilemma now.

I would like to state that though this is a legitimate question, it should be noted that if this response is right it would only disprove the third point made and half the second. In other words, if this statement is true it would not change the fact that the Law is not bad or that the real problem is us. It would only change our relation to the law. So it is only with this aspect I will deal with in my response.

Is this same relationship to the Law taught anew in the New Testament under the New Covenant of which we who are in Christ are under? "Yes" AND "No"! I will deal with the "no" first.

The New Testament never states that we are to keep the ceremonial laws of the Old. In fact, some of the books go so far as to exclude them, such as, Hebrews, Galatians, Acts, etc. So when we speak of the law we are not dealing with the sacrifices and cleanliness of the law, or the Ceremonial Law.

However, the principles of the laws in the Old should be continued over into the New. This is the pattern that we see continually throughout the whole New Testament, concerning this I do not have the time to refer to all of them.

But I will show in a brief sense what I mean by this. The Law of the Old dealt with, for the most part, outward conformity to God. So what happened is the people of God honored Him with their mouths (outward) but their hearts (inward) were far from Him. When Jesus comes upon the seen He exposes this. For a clear example of this go to Matthew 5-7. Jesus teaches that it is the principles of the Law that should be kept, because they deal with the heart. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Lets say you are counseling a person who has committed murder. In this case the Law of God has been broken. But now that it has been broken, how do we deal with this person. Do we say, "the Bible clearly says 'thou shalt not murder' and you have so now you must be punished." To do so would not be dealing with it in its fullness. I say so because you have only dealt with the outward problem and not the heart of it. The person is not just a murderer with his hands, but he is a murderer in His heart! So we should deal with the principle of the law and the heart of the problem, that is, the heart of the man. Point the man to the problem, namely, his heart. And point him to the solution, namely, Jesus who fulfilled the Law.

In the first case, the person was dealt with like a legalist. If the person simply let the murderer off the hook that would be liberalism. This is more often than not our sin, only we do this with so-called "smaller sins". But if we deal with the person from the heart then we deal with it as Jesus would have. (see Matthew 5:17-26)

Secondly, we see in the New Testament that the Apostle John deals with our relation to the law in a similar manner as we have been speaking of in I John 5:2-3 which says,

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. AND His commandments are not burdensome." (Capitalization added for emphasis)

Did you see the parallelism between Psalm 119, Matthew 5-7, and now I John 5? John states that this is HOW we can KNOW we love God! Not that we JUST keep His commandments but that they are not burdensome! In other words, doing the law of God is the delight of those who love Him, of those who are His children!

If keeping the Law of God is a burden to you, then you love not God! That is what John is saying! But Stephen how can I be free from this hatred against God and His Law! How can I be set free?! How can I be saved?! Hear what Jesus has to say to you!

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
-"Jesus the Messiah" who takes away the sins of the World in Matthew 11:28-30

This is how Jesus saves us. Because the problem is us, our hearts, He gives us new ones and seals us with His Spirit so that we are freed from our hatred against the Law and Him, and are given a real and genuine love for Him and His revealed will for our lives with this "new heart" (See Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:22-27). Because the problem is us, we can't solve the problem, because we have dug ourselves in a hole we cannot dig ourselves out of. And if we do not call upon the name of the LORD, who is Jesus, to save us; then we will continue to dig our own graves and make our bed in the Lake of Fire.

Look to Jesus who is the spotless and sinless lamb who fulfilled the Law of God, He is the blessed One. For He bore our sins on the cross for us! He suffered the wrath for the sins of His people! And He promises full forgiveness and eternal life to ALL those who turn away from their sins and to Him! For all find themselves recipients of all the blessings of God, in Him! Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!