There are plenty of ways to measure a healthy church, but the core is whether it is testifying, disseminating, and practicing the gospel truth of Christ. In fact, it is easy for a church to fall into the wrong pathway of legalism, that is, taking the rule-abiding dogma as the main content of the faith. Consequently, the church stipulates strict requirements for believers and finally forms a systematic body of rules.
A few days ago, Pastor X in the south of China said that some churches now emphasized what we wanted to do more than what God has done for us, and emphasized theology more than the gospel itself. They consequently fell into the trap of legalism.
When he talked about it, he often found that some pastors, including himself, had gone into a situation where it was easy to put the law and gospel at both ends of the scale. In the middle, they placed their favorite theology. As a result, they brought the church into a state of “gospel with legalism”.
He recalled that he had fallen into the legalistic style in the process of studying theology, and shared how he got out of legalistic thinking. What he had learned from his experience was that the core of the gospel is Jesus Christ himself who is the focus.
He said that the balance between the law and the gospel was not theology itself, but Jesus Christ.
Pastor X pointed out: “The balance and the primary-secondary relationship between the law and the gospel is very important in faith. The Bible mentions the law, but the gospel is more so. The gospel is the existence of the perfect law. However, if a church takes the rules in the law and forms a system as the focus of its faith, and develops it into a kind of words that only people who abide by a certain set of rules can be Christians or saved, it will distort the true meaning of faith. Christians are called righteous because they believe in Jesus. They are not saved because they keep some artificial laws and regulations.”
He added: “I used to lead a church centered on theological teachings. When the church centers on theological doctrines, Christ becomes a servant of theology, which is a deviation. Theology should have been a servant of Christ. Later, the Lord led our church to train everyone to connect and serve each other with Christ as the center in sermons, so as to transcend the limitations of the belief model dominated by theology and doctrine in the past. In that way the church was completely freed from the bondage brought by legalism.”
In particular, he mentioned: “Although many people say that faith must of course be centered on Christ, they often refuse to put theology in a lower position than Christ and the gospel. If the pastor of a church doesn’t agree with his heart and prove in practice that he takes the gospel of Christ as the core of his faith, he is actually a sectarian. Such a person, even if his temperament is gentle, will have an inspiring debate or even quarrel with others because the other person’s understanding of the doctrine is different from his own.”
One of his reflections is that when the pastor takes theology or a kind of rules and regulations as the core of his faith, the church will become dead, but when the pastor takes Christ and the gospel as the center, the church will regain its vitality.
Citing the changes that he personally experienced in the church, he explained: “When the church is in a legalistic mode of thinking, it will gradually lose its enthusiasm and sense of responsibility in evangelizing. But if the church holds high the gospel of Jesus Christ and understands the truth of love and forgiveness of the cross, the church and believers will become hot in evangelizing.”
He warned that if a church didn’t take the gospel of Christ as the core subject of faith, the church and believers would eventually fall into a trap of self-righteousness due to their adherence to legalism, and eventually, they would be staggered with the church and faith that conform to God’s will.
“When a church takes legalism as the core of its faith, the church is like the Pharisees as if it is pursuing godliness, thinking that it is superior to others, and abiding by rules for example how the Pharisees didn’t eat till they washed their hands, but it is not pleasing to Jesus. In prayer, I was moved and led by the Lord who made me understand the importance of looking at Jesus on the cross. The Holy Spirit made me realize that when we are in a legalistic mode of thinking, we will say that Christians should carry the cross too much, but too little about the truth of Christ himself. If you don’t look at the gospel in this way and overemphasize the legalistic thinking mode, it will hinder the growth of the church and spreading the gospel.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
衡量一间健康教会的标准有多种角度和方式，但最核心的一个标准就是这间教会是否在见证、传播和实践基督的福音真理。教会其实很容易走入一种律法主义的误区，就是把追求律法性的信仰规条作为信仰的主体内容，因而，教会对信徒有着严格要求，最终形成一套体系化的制度。
日前，华南的一位X牧者分享了他自己在带领教会的过程中观察到现在一些教会中强调我们要做的大过上帝为我们做的、强调神学大过强调福音本身，而陷入到律法主义的陷阱中。
他谈到，常常发现一些牧者甚至包括自己也曾经走入一种境地，就是容易把律法和福音放在天平的两端，中间放入自己喜欢的神学，最后把教会带入到一种“律法化的福音”状态中。
他回忆了自己曾在学习神学的过程中也曾陷入到律法化的风格里面，而 谈到自己如何从律法主义思维里走出来，他分享说自己从这种经历中反思和学到的就是：要再次注目耶稣基督本身，这是福音的核心。（==空格后一句当summary）
他说到，律法和福音的平衡点并不是神学本身，而是耶稣基督。
X牧者指出：“信仰中律法和福音的平衡和主次关系非常重要，圣经中提到了律法，更提到了福音，福音是成全律法的存在，但教会若是以律法中的规条和形成的制度为信仰的重心，并将其发展成为一种唯独人遵守了某套规条才是基督徒或者才能够得救的话，那就歪曲了信仰的真谛。基督徒是因信耶稣而被称为义，而不是因为守着某种人为制定的律法规条而得救。”
他回忆说：“我以前带领教会是以神学教义为中心。当教会以神学教义为中心的时候，基督就成为了神学的仆人，这就是一种偏离，神学本应该做基督的仆人。后来，主带领我们教会在讲道上带领信徒在信仰生活和实践应用方面，都训练大家以基督为中心去彼此连接和事奉，以超越过去以神学、教义为主导的信仰模式的有限，这样教会就彻底摆脱了律法主义所带来的束缚。”
他特别提到一点：“虽然很多人嘴上都说信仰当然要以基督为中心了，但往往他们拒绝把神学的地位放低于基督和福音。如果教会的牧者没有从心里认同并在实际行动中证明他是以基督福音为信仰的核心，他其实是一个宗派主义者。这样的人即便自己的性情很温柔，但也会因对方对教义的理解与自己的不同而与他人发生激励的辩论甚至是争吵。”
他的一个反思是，当牧者以神学、或者一种规章制度为信仰的核心的时候，教会就会变得死气沉沉，但当牧者以基督和福音为中心，教会就会重新恢复活力。
他举出自己亲身经历的教会发生的变化分享说：“当教会处在以律法主义的思维模式中，渐渐地在传福音的事情上也会失去热情和责任感。但教会若高举耶稣基督的福音，明白十字架的爱和饶恕的真理，教会和信徒就会在传福音的事情上就会变得火热起来。”
他提醒说，教会若没有把基督的福音作为信仰核心主体，教会和信徒最终会因持守律法主义走向一种自以为义的陷阱，最终与合上帝旨意的教会和信仰错开。“当一个教会以律法主义作为信仰核心，教会就像是一个“法利赛人”，好似在追求敬虔，自认为高人一等，遵守着类似曾经法利赛人‘不洗手，不吃饭’等规条，但却不被耶稣所喜悦。在祷告中，我曾被主感动和引领，让我明白‘看十字架上的耶稣’的重要性，圣灵让我意识到，当我们处在律法主义的思维模式里，我们就会讲基督徒该背十字架内容太多，而讲基督本身真理信息却太少。这样不看福音，而过度强调律法主义的思维模式就会阻碍教会的成长和福音的传播。”
观点｜华南一牧者呼吁：教会当跳出律法主义的陷阱，更加注目福音本身
There are plenty of ways to measure a healthy church, but the core is whether it is testifying, disseminating, and practicing the gospel truth of Christ. In fact, it is easy for a church to fall into the wrong pathway of legalism, that is, taking the rule-abiding dogma as the main content of the faith. Consequently, the church stipulates strict requirements for believers and finally forms a systematic body of rules.
A few days ago, Pastor X in the south of China said that some churches now emphasized what we wanted to do more than what God has done for us, and emphasized theology more than the gospel itself. They consequently fell into the trap of legalism.
When he talked about it, he often found that some pastors, including himself, had gone into a situation where it was easy to put the law and gospel at both ends of the scale. In the middle, they placed their favorite theology. As a result, they brought the church into a state of “gospel with legalism”.
He recalled that he had fallen into the legalistic style in the process of studying theology, and shared how he got out of legalistic thinking. What he had learned from his experience was that the core of the gospel is Jesus Christ himself who is the focus.
He said that the balance between the law and the gospel was not theology itself, but Jesus Christ.
Pastor X pointed out: “The balance and the primary-secondary relationship between the law and the gospel is very important in faith. The Bible mentions the law, but the gospel is more so. The gospel is the existence of the perfect law. However, if a church takes the rules in the law and forms a system as the focus of its faith, and develops it into a kind of words that only people who abide by a certain set of rules can be Christians or saved, it will distort the true meaning of faith. Christians are called righteous because they believe in Jesus. They are not saved because they keep some artificial laws and regulations.”
He added: “I used to lead a church centered on theological teachings. When the church centers on theological doctrines, Christ becomes a servant of theology, which is a deviation. Theology should have been a servant of Christ. Later, the Lord led our church to train everyone to connect and serve each other with Christ as the center in sermons, so as to transcend the limitations of the belief model dominated by theology and doctrine in the past. In that way the church was completely freed from the bondage brought by legalism.”
In particular, he mentioned: “Although many people say that faith must of course be centered on Christ, they often refuse to put theology in a lower position than Christ and the gospel. If the pastor of a church doesn’t agree with his heart and prove in practice that he takes the gospel of Christ as the core of his faith, he is actually a sectarian. Such a person, even if his temperament is gentle, will have an inspiring debate or even quarrel with others because the other person’s understanding of the doctrine is different from his own.”
One of his reflections is that when the pastor takes theology or a kind of rules and regulations as the core of his faith, the church will become dead, but when the pastor takes Christ and the gospel as the center, the church will regain its vitality.
Citing the changes that he personally experienced in the church, he explained: “When the church is in a legalistic mode of thinking, it will gradually lose its enthusiasm and sense of responsibility in evangelizing. But if the church holds high the gospel of Jesus Christ and understands the truth of love and forgiveness of the cross, the church and believers will become hot in evangelizing.”
He warned that if a church didn’t take the gospel of Christ as the core subject of faith, the church and believers would eventually fall into a trap of self-righteousness due to their adherence to legalism, and eventually, they would be staggered with the church and faith that conform to God’s will.
“When a church takes legalism as the core of its faith, the church is like the Pharisees as if it is pursuing godliness, thinking that it is superior to others, and abiding by rules for example how the Pharisees didn’t eat till they washed their hands, but it is not pleasing to Jesus. In prayer, I was moved and led by the Lord who made me understand the importance of looking at Jesus on the cross. The Holy Spirit made me realize that when we are in a legalistic mode of thinking, we will say that Christians should carry the cross too much, but too little about the truth of Christ himself. If you don’t look at the gospel in this way and overemphasize the legalistic thinking mode, it will hinder the growth of the church and spreading the gospel.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
Pastor Urges Church to Abandon Legalism, Focus on Gospel
