New Video: Galatians Chapters 1 to 3 Explained Hebraically
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Tag Archives: Legalism
What Is the Biblical Definition of Legalism?
A Wild and Crazy Place to Be
The spiritual Babylon of the church system is a warm and comfortable place in which to live. Within its comfort zones, it has fixed boundaries and clear delineations. When one steps out of the mainstream church system, however, and into a more Hebraic and Torah-pursuant spiritual orientation, it can becomes the shooting gallery of the wild, wild west of doctrines and ideas.
Outside the so-called organized church system, or churchianity for short, t’s a free-for-all wilderness of every man doing what’s right in his own eyes. In this wilderness outside of organized religion, one has to determine which church beliefs to hold on to and which ones are lies and unbiblical traditions our spiritual fathers have passed on down to us. Here one must learn to separate the spiritual wheat from the chaff. As one’s eyes are opened to the pro-Torah Hebrew roots of the Christian faith, there are many new ideas and doctrines to consider. When coming onward and upward to a fuller knowledge of the truth, one must determine priorities without falling prey to more false doctrines and legalism. This includes determining which biblical truths are the trunk of the tree issues, and which areas are the twigs and the branches.
In the midst of this confusion, there are many winds of doctrines blowing around capturing people’s attention. People often get sidetracked from the trunk of the tree issues and get hung up on nonessential issues. Paul warned about this.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind [violent agitation, very strong tempestuous wind] of doctrine [teaching, instruction], by the sleight [deception] of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive [to delude, lead astray from the right way]. (Eph 4:14)
If one is not grounded firmly on the foundation of essential biblical truths, one can get hung up on side-issues that can become nonessential pet doctrines. Those who fall prey to this tendency will often gravitate toward biblical teachers who agree with them. A pet doctrine Continue reading
What is the biblical definition of legalism?
Most people in the mainstream church have heard of the term “legalism.” Many think they know what it means. Some even lob this term at others like a verbal missle who they think are heretics. They’re certain they have solid biblical justification for doing so. Yet very few know what the biblical definition of legalism really is. This video reveals the surprising and enlightening answer.
What Is the Biblical Definition of Legalism?
A Wild and Crazy Place to Be
The spiritual Babylon of the church system is a warm and comfortable place in which to live. Within its comfort zones, it has fixed boundaries and clear delineations.
When one steps out of the mainstream church system, however, and into a more Hebraic and Torah-pursuant spiritual orientation, it can becomes the shooting gallery of the wild, wild west of doctrines and ideas. It’s a free-for-all wilderness of every man doing what’s right in his own eyes. In this wilderness outside of organized religion, one has to determine what beliefs to hold on to and which ones are lies and unbiblical traditions our spiritual fathers have passed on down to us. Here one must learn to separate the spiritual wheat from the chaff.
As one’s eyes are opened to the pro-Torah Hebrew roots of the Christian faith, there are many new ideas and doctrines to consider. When coming to a fuller knowledge of the truth, one must determine priorities without falling prey to more false doctrines and legalism. What biblical truths are the trunk of the tree issues, and which areas the twigs and the branches?
In the midst of this confusion, there are many winds of doctrines blowing Continue reading
Is obedience to Torah legalism and a system to earn YHVH’s favor?
Here is an excellent question from Marcus G. that I will answer below. He writes:
“Our works can’t earn favour from YHWH yet, as you’ve said, we read that obedience is life and disobedience is death/curse. How do we get our head around this? We don’t want to do it in a legalistic way, where we declare YHWH owes us blessings and yet we know that not living in obedience is not loving our GOD either. We can never “earn” YHWH’s favour.”
My answer is this: The term works is a term Paul uses in his writings and relates to the process of receiving salvation from Elohim. Paul makes it clear in several places that one does obtain salvation based on works, but based on faith (e.g. Eph 2:8-9). However, Paul goes on to say that once one is saved through faith in Yeshua from the wages of sin which is death, one is expected to produce or walk in the fruits of good works, which is obedience to YHVH’s commands or, as Paul puts it, good works (Eph 2:10). Yeshua said it this way, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
We also see that though our salvation isn’t initially based on our works, since we can never be good enough or do enough good works to merit YHVH’s favor, our rewards in his eternal kingdom are clearly based on our good works. Those who faithfully obey YHVH’s commandments will have higher rewards in his kingdom than those who don’t (Matt 5:19; 16:27; see also Rom 2:6; 2 or 2 Cor 5:10; Eph 6:8; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev 2:23; Rev 19:8; 20:12; 22:12).
Now having established that our works don’t earn us salvation, but our works will determine our rewards in YHVH’s kingdom, let’s consider a couple other things.
When the children of Israel were given the Torah, they were never promised eternal life if they faithfully obeyed it. They were promised a blessed and abundant life here and now in the Promised Land. On the other hand, in the gospel message of the Testimony of Yeshua, eternal lift is promised to those who place their faith in Yeshua. Once they are saved (in the initial sense), they are to show the fruits of salvation and that they love Yeshua by obeying him and keeping his commandments. To the degree that one keeps the commandments will determine one’s level of rewards in YHVH’s kingdom.
Torah in a Box: Combatting Greasy Grace Torah-Obedience
Man-Made Torah Packages
The Torah comes in a lot of man-made packages that tend to obscure the true essence of Torah as presented in the Scriptures. This is what I call toxic Torah. Here are a few examples of toxic Torah-packages being promoted today in the Messianic or Hebrew Roots Movement:
Torah Legalism (modern day Pharisees) — The modern day Torah police, like the Pharisees of old, are heresy hunter, nit-picking legalists who place more emphasis on the letter of the law and the dos and don’ts of the Torah then on the spirit of the law and the gospel message as presented by the Torah-obedient apostolic writers. They judge everyone else on the basis of their interpretation of the Torah and demand that everyone else come up to their level of righteousness.
Torah Terrorists — Every other word out of these folks’ mouth is “Torah.” They want everyone to come into perfect Torah obedience immediately. Torah is the answer to everything. The gospel message of Yeshua, who is the Living Torah of Elohim incarnate, and by who’s help we’re able to do the Torah, is often kicked “to the back of the bus” or is almost non-existent.
Humanistic Torah — In this case, traditions and doctrines of men are exalted over the word of Elohim. Sometimes Jewish or rabbinic traditions are more important than obedience to the actual Torah-word of Elohim.
Torah Lite — This is a window dressing Torah-obedience where the light duty stuff of Torah such as observing some of the fun biblical holidays, dancing around the Torah scroll while doing some Jewish liturgy mixed with some other Jewish traditions along with a love for the Jewish people and the land of Israel is done in place of actually living a Torah-submissive lifestyle.
The Torah idol of intellectualism — There are many who learn about Torah through worshipping at the idol of intellectualism. These folks place a greater emphasis on studying the jots and tittles of the Torah (e.g., Paleo-Hebrew, gematria, the mystical and esoteric aspects of Torah, rabbinic head knowledge, and the minutia of Torah’s details) then they do the weightier matters of the Torah, which involve love, the gospel message and righteous living.
Greasy Grace Torah-Obedience — This is a Torah that often suits Christians who are new to the Torah. They see Torah’s validity and relevance to the born again believer, but they take the punch out of YHVH’s word and view Torah as more of an option, suggestion or blessing to do rather than a command from Elohim that is incumbent upon all believers. This view promotes the underlying idea that YHVH’s grace will cover my inability or lack of willingness to fully obey his commandments thus giving me a pass to be disobedient. This is the Torah box we want to discuss below.
The above listed points are just a few examples of the permutations of Torah being promoted in the present day nascent Hebrew Roots Movement. Other examples could be give as well. What I have described above are like neat little boxes. Few people fit exactly into these boxes. People who promote a skewed version of Torah will have a view that’s an admixture of points from several of these broad categories.
Greasy-Grace Torah
All too often a Christianized version of Torah is being peddled by Messianic or Hebrew Roots teachers. Though they promote Torah obedience, it’s a censored message to fit the appetites of Christians who are accustomed to hearing the traditional hyper-grace message of the mainstream church. These Torah teachers will proffer such concepts as these: Continue reading
Preparing the Way for Messiah Means Unpopular Preaching
Luke 3:7–17, Then he said to the multitudes. What’s really going on in this exchange between John and the religious folks of his day? Let’s step back and look at the bigger picture.
The multitudes of Jews had to make the long, hot and arduous journey down through the Judean mountains to the Jordan River, which was the lowest spot on earth, to hear John the Baptist who was the latest fad preacher to come on the scene. However, when they arrived at his lonely wilderness pulpit, instead of stroking their egos by complimenting them for their religious zeal, he excoriates them and calls them a brood of vipers. John confronts them when he says that if they don’t repent, the fires of YHVH’s judgment will consume them (John 3:7–9). John’s preaching pierces their hearts, and lays them low spiritually, and they ask him what he expects them to do (John 3:10). John then preaches a message of social justice involving giving to the poor, being fair and honest in your business dealings, and if you’re a government worker, treating the citizens you serve with respect (John 3:11–14).
Interestingly, he doesn’t instruct these religious Jews in what many might consider to be Continue reading