Having shown that our conservative, traditional churches are not guilty of legalism, it is also necessary to show that our familiar form of local church polity is still closer to the New Testament pattern. Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia was written mostly to combat (true) legalism, but it was also written to expose […]
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Tag: Legalism / License / Liberty
Let the Church be the Church (Part 1)
There is a common canard today that our conservative churches are full of legalists. We have been called grace killers, fighting fundamentalists, Pharisees, and a host of other colorful descriptions. The charge of legalism, of course, is not only false but is a misleading and sometimes dishonest accusation. The truth is that there is no […]
Threshold Seperation
The Biblical doctrine of separation is rooted in the very holiness of God and it is expressed in numerous texts in the Word of God. Peter expressed it in his first epistle, As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, […]
Are We Legalists
It was James who wrote the wonderful and inspired oxymoron, So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the perfect law of liberty (Jas 2:12). Douglas Moo wrote of this verse, “God’s gracious acceptance of us does not end our obligation to obey him; it sets it on a new […]
Are Fundamentalists Legalists?
Before Dr. Pickering went home to be with the Lord he wrote, among the many books he authored, what I think may be his most important words to our generation. The booklet is a reply to Charles Swindoll’s The Grace Awakening (1990, 1996). Swindoll caricatures Fundamentalists as being “squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another’s […]
Wild at Heart
In spite of the popularity of this book, this has to be one of the most disappointing books I have read in a long time. What’s more, I think because of its popularity it is a dangerous book for biblically gullible people to read. It is one of those books to which our natural side […]
Desiring God
I am a little late in getting this popular book read. The sub-title of the book—Meditations of a Christian Hedonist—had tuned me out until I realized most people were enjoying it. I started out not liking what I believed would be the normal use of the word “hedonist” but I soon realized that Piper is […]
Who Is Controlling Whom?
On our church web site I received an interesting note from a young man named Steve. Steve is an active member of a church that is going through a typical change (which of course is not a “change” at all but rather a conforming) from traditional to contemporary type of worship. Steve is emotionally caught […]
Idolatry and Conscience
“In this connection it is not claimed that an unsaved person must come to know every phase of truth about the atonement of Christ before he is divinely prepared for salvation; but it is claimed that the Spirit proposes to make the meaning of the cross sufficiently clear to that person as to enable him […]
Puffed Up Or Built Up?
If a person is offended by God’s Word, that is his problem. If he is offended by biblical doctrine, standards, or church discipline, that is his problem. That person is offended by God. But if he is offended by our unnecessary behavior or practices—no matter how good and acceptable those may be in themselves—his problem […]