faith for faith

When we speak about the Law in Christianity, it is an extremely touchy subject. It is such because there are so many varying understandings and applications of it that one can scarcely make any comment on the subject whatsoever without offending someone. And because the responses to critiques are such, few venture to comment on it not wishing to dirty their hands in the process. Therefore, we have little in way of healthy discussion upon the Law and its implications on Christian life, and we see bits and pieces taken from the Law applied here and there in church settings without much explanation as to why some laws are valid and why others are considered annulled.

However, when we turn to the New Testament and especially in the writings of Paul, we find that the authors are not hesitant in the least to address the matter. Paul’s letter to the Galatian church, for example, is almost in full an explanation of the Law and a critique of the Galatian church’s view and practice of it. Since the New Testament writers (i.e. those who lived and wrote after the coming of Christ) are not silent on the Law, why have we become so? And even if we have not been silent, why is there a seeming disparity between our own interpretations and applications?

Read more…

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Rm. 14:20-23).

Having been raised in a traditional and oftentimes legalistic Southern Baptist setting, I have heard time and time again the verses referenced above used to prohibit the practice of almost anything under the sun. Most often, the verses of the apostle are used as an argument against the drinking of alcohol, but their uses have extended to such matters as watching R-rated movies, listening to secular music, and anything that any particular soul might view as unclean. For this reason many in the church have done precisely what the Pharisees of old had done, namely they have placed around the law a hedge that would act as a safety buffer to prevent them from doing anything that might make a brother stumble. And while such a practice can certainly be done in a godly and loving manner, more often than not those who construct such hedges around the law seek to impose those hedges on everyone in the church, thereby making themselves legalists and enforcers of a law that is not God’s law.

Read more…