Day 320: Acts 13, 14 and 15

We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God (Acts 15:19).

 

Legalism comes from believing that Christ's death on the cross was insufficient to guarantee our salvation. Whatever it might be, there is always something in addition to Christ's shed blood, necessary to pay for our guilt.

In the early church as the church shifted to include the Gentile population, many believing Jews thought Gentiles should be circumcised and obey Jewish law in order to be saved. In other words, they were expected to convert to Judaism first, and only then could they be received as Christians. On one occasion Peter almost bowed to the Judaizers' pressure, but then Paul took him to task and the matter was favorably resolved.

Today we have our own forms of legalism. Legalism may influence our choices of food or beverages; it may dictate that Sunday and only Sunday (or Saturday and only Saturday) is set aside for worship. It may require women to wear long hair and long dresses and men to wear short hair and short dresses... nah! Just seeing if you were paying attention. The point is we put our hope in following a set of rules.

Whatever the recipe of our particular brand of legalism, the security that it brings is false. When we get right down to it, legalism says all that really matters is following the rules better than the next guy.

Your hope is built on nothing less than Jesus plus what?