The Trap of Religious Legalism

Now, why was the law given? This is not the subject of this message, and I don't want to dwell on it, but the Bible gives us a very clear, practical, simple answer as to why the law was given.

Turn if you will to Matthew chapter 22, beginning at verse 35. We'll read through verse 40. This speaks about a lawyer, but I would have you know that it didn't mean an attorney. And if we think that the Lord was somewhat down on lawyers, let's not think he's down on attorneys. Because the equivalent today of a lawyer would much more be a theologian than an attorney. A lawyer was not somebody who interpreted secular law and tried cases; he was a student and perhaps a teacher of the religious law of Moses. So when you read a lawyer, if you want a contemporary equivalent, I think it'd be much better to use the word theologian than to think of an attorney. And I sometimes believe the Lord is down on theologians.

“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him, that's Jesus, a question, tempting him, and saying, ‘Master, which is the great commandment in the law?’”

That was a specific question, and Jesus gave an absolutely specific, practical answer.

“Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’”

That was the answer to the question, and then he went further and gave another answer that wasn't asked for.

“This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now, when Jesus spoke about the law and the prophets, he meant what a contemporary Jew would call the Tanakh, that is, the Old Testament. And he said the entire Old Testament is hung on two commandments: love God, love your neighbor.

Now, if I take my jacket off and hang it on a peg, the peg has to be there before I can hang my jacket on it. And so if the law is hung on those two commandments, those two commandments are primary, the law is secondary. And the purpose for which the law was given was to produce two things: love for God and love for our neighbor. And any use or application or interpretation of the law which does not produce those two things is a misuse, a misinterpretation, and a misapplication.

And I think we'd have to say many of the people who are most occupied with religious laws are on the whole the least loving. Bob Mumford said once, you get more kindness out of Joe the bartender than you do out of the average churchgoer. And I'm inclined to think that's pretty accurate.

So, the purpose of the law is love. And any kind of application of the law which misses that purpose is a misapplication. Look at one other scripture in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5 and 6. I'll read the King James, then I'll give you the alternative New American Standard Version, which is much clearer.

“Now the end of the commandment is charity (that is what? Love) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.”

I think where it says the end of the commandment, the New American Standard says the goal of our preaching, is that right? The goal of our instruction is one thing: love. Alright, we have one goal, not a lot of different goals. The goal of our instruction is love. And if we swerve aside from that goal, Paul says after that, it's just empty words and wasted time if it does not bring us to the goal of love.