NOT LEGALISM, BUT CHRIST

 All scripture is from NKJV

Scripture:  Colossians 2:11-23

¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ²¹ “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Legalism … if you have been going to church for most of your life, you have no doubt heard this word before.  Legalism is defined as: dependence on moral law rather than on personal religious faith. Often, it is expressed in such a way that says if you “have all of your ducks in a row,” you’re doing great.

As Christians, this is a dangerous place to be, because we end up believing that, because we do X,Y and Z … such as, we always tithe, we make sure we are at church every time the doors are open, we can recite “The Lord’s Prayer” and a myriad of other thing that can be done in the name of being right with God. From a legalistic point of view, we believe that we are “OK” with God . But the reality is, most of the time, when we have such a mindset, we are actually far away from Christ.

Jesus said, when talking to the woman at the well in Matthew 15:8 – This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. I believe that this also can be the same as having a checklist of things that we do, thinking we are honoring God. They are just going through the motions, and their hearts are truly far from God.  This is just going through the motions of worshiping God. The reason it is so important to have our hearts in it is because it is with our hearts we believe.  The Bible says in Romans 10:10 – For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” If our hearts have not been truly converted through receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are going through the motions. If our hearts are not in our faith, we must question whether we truly believe or not . If we don’t believe, we don’t have salvation.

Another problem with walking in legalism is that it has a sense of “works theology” to it. Again, this is the idea that we are saved because we do X, Y or Z. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”   If anyone thinks that they are okay with God simply because they do their checklist of things to worship God, but are not saved, they are deceived and need to seek God with all their heart.

I truly believe that this is a warning to us to not get caught up in the “works” mindset, because it will produce a legalistic attitude in our heart and cause us to believe that we are right with God when in fact we are not.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 - '“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’' It’s obvious that Jesus gave this warning to us because many will believe that because they do certain things, they are okay in God’s eyes, when the reality is, that they are not okay.

Physical circumcision versus spiritual circumcision.

Circumcision was a physical act that God required from Abraham when He established a covenant with him.  This act was intended to set Abraham and his servants apart from other males in the region, and signified the covenant that God established with Abraham.  This act has been done for Jewish males on the 8^th day after they were born ever since.  It is still done much of the time today, but now it is primarily for health reasons. 

For Christians, circumcision is not merely a physical act. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we go through a spiritual circumcision that is a removal of sin from our heart. Being cleansed of our sin is what is required to take part in the New Covenant that Jesus established for us through His death on the cross and resurrection to pay the price for our sins.  We are not saved by being circumcised. We are saved through what Jesus has done for us.

Baptism does not save us

Many mainline denomination churches who baptize infants teach that they are saved after than have been baptized.  However, this is wrong teaching. Romans 10:9-10 says, 'that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’'  How can an infant who cannot speak become saved? Baptism is a symbol of the believer’s association with Christ’s death on the cross.

Water baptism does not bring forgiveness of sins, but the Apostle Paul uses the rite in his writings to help explain the works of the Spirit. The early church would not have understood the idea of an unbaptized Christian.  Baptism and faith were considered to be the outward and inward realities of being a Christian. Baptism is an ordinance of the church and something we do out of obedience.

Some have highlighted Paul’s close association of baptism and circumcision in this passage of scripture as an indication that water baptism is a sign of the New Covenant, just as circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic covenant.

Jesus fulfilled the Law

Not only were our personal sins forgiven at the Cross, but those rules that condemned us have also been removed by Jesus’ work on the cross.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”  Apart from Jesus’ work on the cross for us, the only option that was available was that we be judged by the Law.  The law was impossible to keep to the extent it would have taken to be saved.  If we were guilty of breaking even the smallest part of the law, we would be guilty of breaking it all and therefore judged unrighteous in God’s eyes.  But with accepting Jesus’ sacrifice as payment for our sins, we are judged to be righteous in God’s eyes.  

Galatians 3:10-13 - 'For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),'

Jesus had victory on the cross

Ephesians 6:12 says 'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.' These principalities and powers allude to Satan and the demons who work with him. Paul describes Christ’s victory on the cross over the powers that opposed Him and that were against God’s faithful people.

To describe this victory, Paul uses the spectacle of military triumph, when prisoners of war were stripped and paraded before the populace behind the conquering general.  Satan and his forces thought that the cross would be their victory and Christ’s defeat.  In reality, on the cross the Lord vanquished His foes, took away their weapons, and made a public spectacle of them.

If we have not received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are still controlled by those weapons and practices.  In view of Christ’s victory over His enemies, we should not be controlled by them, because Christ has already triumphed over them.

The false teachers in Colosse were tempting the Colossians to bind themselves (see 2:16-19 above) with the outward observances of Judaism, such as the Jewish dietary restrictions and circumcision.  Paul warns the believers in Colosse not to let others bind them to regulations from which Christ has already freed them from.

Beware of false humility

People who are not truly saved, who have not championed salvation in Christ alone, often appear to be outwardly humble, but inwardly they are anything but. Without true salvation, the circumcision of our hearts, there is no true humility involved.  People who are “putting on airs” of humility are faking it because they cannot truly express it with an unsaved soul.

Their search for a new spiritual experience or advocacy of some work as necessary for salvation is actually human pride.  If you are around such a person long enough, you can usually tell where they are at spiritually.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:33-35 - 'Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.'

Jesus also said in, Matthew 7:15-16 - 'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?' People who are wrapped up in legalism are often people such as these.  They do not really want to submit to God’s plan of salvation that is revealed in the Bible.

Sadly, there are pastors such as these people who are leading churches.  Whether they are saved or not is between them and God. However, whenever they are displaying characteristics such as above, one must wonder.  It’s so important that we pray for our pastors.

Please remember that no human work can be added to the merit of Christ’s death. His work on the cross is the only acceptable work in God’s eyes for salvation. The legalistic commands of others are a self-imposed religion and of no value spiritually speaking.  Seek God to help us do away with our legalistic mindsets. Ask Him to help us be free from it.