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"Legalist" - a Churchianity word strategically thrown around to deliberate invoke in the minds of many thoughts of courtroom "legal technicality" where a convicted person attempts to escape punishment by placing on the scales of justice obscure, weak, peripheral arguments which are limited to matters of process next to overwhelming evidence of guilt.
As Christians walk the "Path of the Just", we need to take heed lest we fall into either the Left Ditch of License or the Right Ditch of Legalism. The Left Ditch lures its victims over the side by claiming grace is a License to Sin, and the Right Ditch does so by claiming salvation may be earned by good works, the foundational philosophy of every pagan religion since time immemorial.
So, who are the 21st Century Legalists? Licensees claim it is anyone who holds that obedience must accompany any profession of faith because it is the outward evidence of that inward faith, but this is an illegitimate claim - James 2:17-18 KJV and 1 John 2:3-4 KJV clearly establish the inseparable link between faith and works and show the Biblical relationship between both.
No, the 21st Century Legalists - those who tirelessly search for "legal technicality" loopholes in order to escape the hammer of justice that will inevitably fall on them - are the Licensees. By them, grace is turned into disgrace. The plain Word of God is exchanged for theological legalese which results in confusion where there was once crystal clarity. A plainly stated truth over here is made of no effect by another text which is twisted into a pretext over there.
Will these 21st Century Legalists ever cease from their endless round of paralegal search for something that will allow them to be saved in their sin and simply seek the Lord with all their heart?
As Christians walk the "Path of the Just", we need to take heed lest we fall into either the Left Ditch of License or the Right Ditch of Legalism. The Left Ditch lures its victims over the side by claiming grace is a License to Sin, and the Right Ditch does so by claiming salvation may be earned by good works, the foundational philosophy of every pagan religion since time immemorial.
So, who are the 21st Century Legalists? Licensees claim it is anyone who holds that obedience must accompany any profession of faith because it is the outward evidence of that inward faith, but this is an illegitimate claim - James 2:17-18 KJV and 1 John 2:3-4 KJV clearly establish the inseparable link between faith and works and show the Biblical relationship between both.
No, the 21st Century Legalists - those who tirelessly search for "legal technicality" loopholes in order to escape the hammer of justice that will inevitably fall on them - are the Licensees. By them, grace is turned into disgrace. The plain Word of God is exchanged for theological legalese which results in confusion where there was once crystal clarity. A plainly stated truth over here is made of no effect by another text which is twisted into a pretext over there.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
Will these 21st Century Legalists ever cease from their endless round of paralegal search for something that will allow them to be saved in their sin and simply seek the Lord with all their heart?
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