THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Augustine and much of Roman Catholic theology conceives of the Christian life as a process of earning eternal life by the good works which the Christian is enabled to do by the grace that was infused or imparted at baptism and renewed by the other sacraments. This conception of the Christian life is clearly legalistic. And it was this conception that the Reformers and Reformed theologians denied as unbiblical. But by retaining a basically legalistic understanding of Christ's work of salvation and justification, it was difficult if not impossible for them to understand the Christian life and sanctification in any other than legalistic terms. The practical matters of the Christian life are definitely affected by the theory of salvation and, behind that, the theory of the need of salvation. Since man's relation to God was conceived in legalistic terms, that is, that all men are under the law and that man's relationship to God is determined by the law, not only is sin understood legalistically as breaking the rules, the transgression of the law as the divine standard of perfection in thought, word, and deed, but righteousness is also understood legalistically to be the keeping of the rules, a conformity to the law in thought, word, and deed; namely, moral perfection. Since according to this legalistic conception man was created under the law and for the law, man's highest good and final goal is this moral perfection; this legal righteousness. To stand spotless and without blame before the law was thought to be the Christian's ultimate hope. So the Christian life and sanctification was conceived by most Reformed theologians as growth and progress toward this moral perfection. Of course, it was not to earn eternal life. For all our moral progress, they said, we are still sinners, sinning in thought, word and deed. And at the same time legally righteous with the imputed righteousness of the merits of Christ -- simultaneously righteous and unrighteous, saint and sinner.

Chapter 7 of Romans was interpreted by most Reformed theologians as the normal Christian life. Because, they said, the Christian after conversion still has a sinful nature, he will have an unending struggle with indwelling sin. His sinful nature (which is subject to sin) is in constant warfare with his renewed nature (which is subject to God's law). Even though he wants to keep God's law, he finds himself being compelled by his sinful nature to do the very things he hates. Although justified (declared righteous through the imputed merits or righteousness of Christ) and thus assured of salvation, there is still no deliverance from his sinful nature until he dies. He will finally be delivered from his sinful nature when he will be raised from the dead in the last day with an incorruptible body completely free of the presence of the sinful nature. Thus most Reformed theologians interpreted the 7th chapter of Romans as the normal Christian life.

Although some Christian theologians interpet this struggle of Romans chapter 7 as the normal Christian life, other Christian theologians reject this interpretation of the Romans 7 experience and teach either a second work of grace that eradicates the sinful nature from the Christian, delivering him from the Romans 7 experience, or the suppression of the works of the flesh (sinful nature) by the power of the Holy Spirit. But in either case the Christian is still left under the law as a rule and standard of life and the "walk in the Spirit" is interpreted as nothing more than Spirit-empowered law-keeping. The Holy Spirit is given to the Christian to empower him to keep the law and to make him morally perfect, conforming to the divine standard given in the law. This legalistic interpretation of the Christian life is the source of many of the psychological problems that Christians have today.

Legalism has either of two psychological effects on the person in bondage to the law. He becomes either self-righteous or afflicted with a guilt complex.

  1. This self-righteousness is a special form of pride which is the chief by-product of idolatry (Psa. 40:4). It is most often connected with the externalization and detailed extensions of the law. It expresses itself in the attitude of the Pharisees who keep the minutiae of the law but overlook the spirit of the law (Matt. 15:1-19). Also the the legalist is not only self-righteous but sits in judgment on others who do not conform to the law and has little place for mercy. He becomes like the god he acknowledges and worships -- the law. When he is shown mercy he does not in turn show mercy to those in his debt (Matt. 18:23-35).
  2. The second psychological effect of legalism is a guilt complex. If the legalist does not become self-righteous, then he usually becomes afflicted with a guilt complex. This psychological effect is most often connected with the quantitization of the law. Since he cannot know the precise amount of merit attached to each good deed or how much he has acquired, a legalist has no certainty. In addition, no matter how well he has lived, it is always possible for him to slip into a terrible sin whose demerit will outweigh all his merit. As a result of this uncertainty the legalist is led to look constantly within himself to see whether he measures up to the divine standard, the law, which he has chosen as his ultimate criterion. If he believes himself constantly falling short of this standard, he will develop a guilt complex.

    This second psychological effect of legalism is the most common among Christians who have been misled into legalism. Because of the intense desire placed by God in the believer to please God, the Christian entrapped in legalism internalizes the law, applying it not only to external actions but to every thought and motive as well as every word and deed. Because of the sin resulting from legalism (legalism itself is sin -- the sin of idolatry of the law), the guilt accompanying this sin is added to all the imagined guilt of the evil thoughts and motives resulting from close, detailed introspection. The result is often a very intense guilt complex bordering on the neurotic. Because of the widespread legalistic teaching in Christian churches, it is not surprising that so many Christians are afflicted with such guilt complexes.

The moral and ethical result of legalism is the moral dilemma: the contradiction between what man is and what he ought to be. Since man falls short of the ideal of moral perfection, the standard of righteousness, the law, he is faced with the disparity between the real and the ideal self, between what he is and what he ought to be. The Christian statement of this dilemma is given classic expression by the Apostle Paul in his famous analysis of the experience of the man under law in Romans chapter 7 -- "The good that I would, I do not. And the evil which I would not, that I do" (Rom. 7:19). This predicament has led the legalistic theologian to conclude that sin is intrinsic to human nature. Rabbinic Judaism, for example, developed the theory of the evil nature or yetzer hara. Augustine used the doctrine of original sin (originale peccatum) or inherited inborn sinful nature to explain why men always fall short of the divine standard. But this doctrinal expedient of the sinful nature is unnecessary since the moral dilemma can be explained by the fact that a false god always betrays its worshippers into the very opposite of what they expected from the false god (Isa. 44:9, 10; 45:16, 17, 20, 21). The man under law who practically deifies the law (Rom. 7:22, 25) and looks to it to save him from sin and give him life (Rom. 7:10) finds that the law cannot save him, but on the contrary discovers that the law arouses sin and becomes the opportunity for sin which results in death (Rom. 7:5, 8-11).

And not only that, but also since death (primarily spiritual death) leads to sin (Rom. 5:12d), the man under law is practically in spiritual death (the law separates him from God), and sin is the result of that death. This is what the Apostle Paul concludes at the end of his discussion of the legalistic struggle in Romans 7.

"21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right,
evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man,
23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind
and taking me captive to the law of sin which is in my members."
(Rom. 7:21-23 ERS)
There are three laws presented here in this passage.
  1. The first law is the law of sin (verse 21). Since sin is not what the man under law wants to do, he concludes that sin must dwell in the members of his body rather than in his real inner self (Rom. 7:17-20).
  2. The second law is the law of God (verse 22) which the man under law delights in, which he agrees with his mind is right, good and holy (Rom. 7:12, 16), the law of the mind.
  3. The third law is the "another law" (heteros -- another of a different kind; compare with allos -- another of the same kind) -- a law different from the first two laws but warring against the law of the mind -- the law of God -- and bringing the man under law into captivity to the law of sin. What is this third law? In the next verse we get a clue. "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death" (Rom. 7:24). The law of death is this third law, this other law. And this is confirmed in Romans 8:2 which says, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death." The law of death brings the man under law into captivity to the law of sin. Death leads to sin; all sinned because of death (Rom. 5:12d). "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law" (I Cor. 15:55).
No sinful nature is necessary to explain the moral dilemma; the man under law sins because he is practically spiritually dead; the law separates him from God. For the Christian to place himself under the law is practically like placing himself in death; it has the same results -- sin. For the Christian under law, the law has taken the place of the Holy Spirit; the law thus separates the Christian from God. Romans chapter 7 is not the normal Christian life; it is the struggle of the man under law, entrapped in the bondage of legalism. And if the Christian falls into this legalism, there is deliverance. "Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 7:25).

Legalism makes a problem of the Christian life because the law separates us from God and leads us to trust in ourselves and our good works rather than in Him. This is the practical effect of the legalistic theory of Christ's death -- it does not work. Where is the victory of Christ's resurrection in the struggle of Romans seven? Only as we pass out from under the law (we died to the law in Christ's death) and are set free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, do we experience the resurrection victory of Christ over sin and death. The Christian life is not Spirit-empowered law-keeping, but a joyful walk in the Spirit, trusting Him who loves us and gave Himself for us. And is a law necessary to make us love and trust God? The law is for those who do not love and trust God -- though it will not help them -- it cannot make them alive -- it cannot, therefore, produce righteousness (Gal. 3:21). For if it could make them alive as the legalist tries to tells us -- then Christ died in vain (Gal. 2:21). Salvation is not by works of the law -- in any way, shape or form. Salvation is by grace -- God's love in action to make us alive in Christ through faith, through trust in Him who loves us and gave Himself for us.