How Legalism Creeps into Reformed Churches
By: Deji Yesufu
Too many times, what is the strength in a person or a system usually turns out to be its greatest undoing. Somebody once told me that the period to be most vigilant in life is the days following a victory. When we suffer loss or have been deprived in one way or another, we already have our guard on and are usually not as vulnerable as the days when we have experienced some wins in life. No other people could testify to this more than the 16th-century reformers. When Martin Luther pasted the 95 theses to the wall of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, he did not expect that it would be the beginning of a movement that would turn the world right side up. The successes that the reformers enjoyed could very easily turn out to be their greatest undoing if there had been no careful pastoral oversight over the work. One of the ways the enemy takes advantage of victories in Christian missions is in the matter of legalism entering the churches. I will introduce this subject with yet another point.
The greatest strength of the reformed movement is our minds and our thinking. If reformed theologians were to channel the powers that they employ in resolving theological problems into nuclear physics, we are very likely going to see a greater scientific explosion than we have today. This gracious gift of thinking can also very quickly become our greatest undoing. The blessing and ability to think is that it produces ideas, and many times we are all very protective of our ideas. We build a clique around our ideas; we build denominations around our ideas; we establish doctrines around our ideas; and sometimes we put Jesus Christ within the narrow confines of our ideas – such that anyone who does not share those ideas with us is then labelled a heretic or he is not reformed enough. This is one of the ways legalism creeps into reformed churches.
I am able to write these things because I believe I have been afflicted with this kind of narrow way of thinking, and I will explain how I found myself within it. Reformed Theology is biblical theology, and I believe it is the theology that is most faithful to the biblical narrative. Yet, Reformed Theology is not the only Christian tradition in our world today, and I believe that every Christian in the world today will hold the position that their own tradition is the most faithful to scripture. One then asks: who is right and who is wrong? I think that Christ has intentionally left that question unanswered because, for him, it is not the most important question in the Christian Walk. If it was possible for any of us to have a vision of how the first-century Christians organized worship; lived at home; related with their neighbours; did business; etc., there would be no dispute in Christendom. We will all simply follow this supposed vision, and ensure that our lives conform to it. Incidentally, I believe God has given us that vision already through that which is inscripturated. Therefore, the duty of the Christian churches is simply to continually bring their tradition to the trial of holy scriptures. What does this mean in a practical sense?
It means that whatever ideas God’s people have concerning how the Christian life must be lived; how worship must be conducted; etc – such ideas are welcome, and such brothers must be willing to have those ideas tried in the furnace of scriptures. It also means that such brothers should be willing to abide in the community of God’s people whether or not their ideas are accepted by the overall church community. A church is usually led by a team of elders. The elders do two things essentially: they remind God’s people of God’s commands to them, and they protect God’s people from false doctrine. When novel ideas enter the church, the elders must be given the liberty to examine those ideas and to accept or reject those ideas. If the elders accept the ideas as biblical, they will find wisdom from God to pass those ideas to God’s people in a way that all the sheep can feed on. If those ideas are rejected, the person or people who suggested them must be humble enough to accept a “no”. It borders on legalism when a brother or group of persons in the church stand up with a novel idea, however biblical it might sound, and insist that the church must accept it at the risk of a church split or a pull-out. In such cases, ministers must be bold enough to tell such individuals or groups of persons to abide by the standards of the church, or leave – whichever way they so choose to.
Another way legalism creeps on reformed churches is that God’s people are being denied the ability to grow at their own rate. The biblical position against all legalism is liberty. No one is bound to do anything in church. No one is subject to any leader’s command in church – outside biblical admonitions. No one is anybody’s errand boy or girl. In the local church, every one of us is the same – we are equal; we are blood-bought and blood-washed; we are God’s people. There is no Pope. We have only elders and even the elders are called to serve God’s people and not to be overlords over God’s people. Therefore, the pastor’s duty starts and stops at what the command of scripture demands he tells the congregation. It might be “thou shall not kill” today. And at such a time, the minister must encourage the congregation to watch against bitterness at heart and all kinds of hatred; gossip, slander, and any kind of character assassination. His duty stops there. A minister who has just concluded a sermon on diligence, or on careful use of time and property, has no right to tell a congregant when or when not to use his phone. That is beyond the syllabus. Legalism is overstretching the demands that the scriptures call us to keep.
Christian duty is a noble thing. But Christian duty begins to border on legalism the moment we begin to do things at the commands of men or to please men, rather than to please the Lord. At Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan, we are reaching a doctrine within our study of scripture that I like to call “free motivation from within”. It means that no one at our local church is expected to do anything. No one is expected to give; sweep; come to church; etc. Whatever anybody does in church must arise freely from within him. My duty as a minister is to teach the doctrine. I will also endeavour to make the text relevant to our time. But I have no right to bind God’s people’s conscience up to do anything in church. Whatever anyone does in our church must come freely from within him. The only people I command in the church are my two children, who are still within the age bracket where I can do this. The moment they come off age too, I dare not command them to do anything.
Free motivation is the only antidote to legalism within the church. Unless what we do in the Christian life arises from our genuine desire to serve Jesus Christ, in response to what he has done for us on the cross, what we are doing is either pleasing men or legalism. Actions that arise from motivations within are the only ones that are pleasing to God, and that give God glory. It is these actions that lead us, both as individuals and as a congregation, to look back on the doctrines of Christ and gain greater insight into them. Jesus commands that we do not be hearers alone, but doers of the word. He tells us to build on the rock and not on sand – the rock being the word of God. It is people who live in obedience to God’s word that are building on the rock. Yet, every action the Christian takes must come from his own interaction with the Spirit within him. It is as the believer understands the doctrines, and sees how they relate to him personally, that he then responds in action. The blessing of having true shepherds over the flock is that such ministers can recognize what the Spirit is doing within a member’s life, and give liberty to such a person to exercise himself in the faith until he reaches maturity. That individual who does things in church to please men, or only in obedience to the dictates of certain men in church, is living as a legalist. He pleases a few people but never the Lord.
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I think it has taken our Lord some good 2,000 years to ram these doctrines into the hearts of the churches. Yet, obviously, we still have not learnt these things. Jesus battled legalism with the Pharisees when he rejected their kind of Sabbath-day worship. Paul battled the legalists when he lampooned their tendency to adopt circumcision as a Christian virtue. We would be foolish as a reformed movement to think that there is no legalism in our churches. There are. Our prayer should be to have eyes that see these things, and grace to repent of them. The greatest blessings that Christ gives the churches are ministers, and there is no greater thing a minister can do for God’s people who are growing than to give them the freedom to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Why would a minister not do this – when such a minister realizes that Christ, the chief Shepherd, has been so gracious as to give even the minister all the liberty of growth? Growth means that we stand, we fall; we succeed, and we fail; but in it all, we learn and we continue. There is no greater blessing than the Christian Walk. Blessed are they who have found the liberty to walk within it.
Amen.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached via [email protected]
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