Principles Gone Wild!

In previous blogs I have made reference that I was raised in a very legalistic church. For those who are unfamiliar with the word “legalistic” allow me to give you my brief definition.  Legalism is any human activity that is seen as a requirement for salvation, to retain your salvation, and to retain God’s love and favor. But this is nothing new; Jesus faced it in His day.

The religious leaders took the commands and principles of God’s word and “expanded” them. They made their interpretation of the law as binding as God’s commands. They took the Ten Commandments and added hundreds more! It made it impossible for anyone, including the religious leader, to remember and to obey them all.

In our day, we have done the same thing but with a different twist.  Some people have taken a principle or teaching from Scripture and have defined how to fulfill or obey that principle. Take for example the Bible clearly teaches modesty. “And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves…”  [1 Timothy 2:9]

 

But the Bible does not tell us how long (or short) dresses should be. How tight is too tight for a blouse or jeans to be modest? I believe that church leaders had pure motives when they first took a principle from God’s Word and tried to help (?) new converts apply it to their personal lives. But somewhere we took a wrong turn and made them application a requirement. In doing so, we taken away an important ministry of the Holy Spirit! John16:13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” [Underline mine]  

Teach the principle but leave the application to the Spirit!