The Aroma of Life and the Aroma of Death

 "For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God." 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

 

Sometimes I have a little extra time on my hands and I read a few articles at The Gospel Coalition website and today I saw one on obedience. I have been thinking about obedience lately and so that article was particularly timely. I typically find myself reading TGC articles with a pretty critical eye, but I found the author's thoughts to be very much in-line with my own. Somewhere along the way, obedience became a 4-letter word in the Church but obedience really lies at the heart of what it means to be a disciple. Jesus didn't say 'do whatever you want and follow me'. He said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." I've been in more than a few conversations over the years around this topic and inevitably someone will say, "well, we want to be careful to avoid legalism..." Even when I've heard preachers speak on obedience, you will often hear them qualify their remarks with something about avoiding legalism. Having said that - it seems like we are far closer to license than we are to legalism in our modern age. I know that's true for myself. We seem much more apt to excuse our own choices than we are to veer towards legalism.

I think the knock against legalism is somewhat a result of a false impression of who the Pharisees were. There is a common misconception that the Pharisees thought that one could earn salvation by righteous living. This is not true. What Pharisees were primarily concerned with is living according to Torah. To this end, a number of traditions developed about how best to live righteously according to the Law. For example, the law says, "observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy"...and a whole tradition (many, in fact) developed around how that played out practically in the life of a Jew. The Pharisees were very zealous for the Law meaning, they held it in high regard and were very motivated to obey. Jesus, it seems, found no issue with this. In fact, in his most famous Sermon, the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5), he says, "For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a letter, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven..." On another occasion, Jesus' famous interaction with the "Rich Young Ruler" (Matthew 10), he is asked 'what must I do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?' and Jesus answers him by reciting elements of the Law! Jesus was also zealous for the Law. He saw no issue with it and lived his life as a Torah-observant Jew. What is different about Jesus is his interpretation of what it means to live in a Torah-observant way, and this is the crux of almost all of his argumentative interactions with the Pharisees. Jesus communicates to them, and to us by extension, that law observance is not about outward actions ONLY, but is instead of about the inner man...the motivation from which obedience springs. In other words, actions that are not motivated by true intentions are meaningless. It’s the same reason God rails against the Israelites for offering him burnt offerings without repentance (Isaiah 1, 1 Samuel 15, Hosea 6).

So, to be clear, legalism is not the belief that righteous actions can somehow earn us something (i.e. works-based salvation). That idea never existed in rabbinical or Pharisaical thought. Rather, legalism was law observance from improper motives...namely, outward obedience without inward obedience/transformation. To use Jesus' terms in Matthew 5, it is striving after a reward from mankind rather than a reward from God. To connect this to modern-day, it is becoming clear that much of what we would call legalism, doesn't really fall into that category. Teaching that obedience matters is important...perhaps critical. Properly teaching where obedience should come from is also important, but the topic of obedience should not be avoided out of a fear of legalism. We need to be clear that there is no such thing as works-based salvation, but as I said, that idea never existed in the first place. We aren't obedient so that God will owe us something, we are obedient in response to what He has done for us and in recognition of the fact that Jesus is coming back to render judgement.

The verse at the top of this page came to mind as I was thinking about these things. To some, the message of obedience and submission is life, to some, it is death...but those of us who are faithful need to preach the message of repentance and obedience anyway.