I’m reading through the Book of Acts once again and once again I am reminded that opposition to the gospel was more often posed by religious factions than by the state. Certainly, Rome eventually became the great enemy of the church but in the first thirty years or so it was the Jewish religious institutions that set Rome against Jesus and that pursued their own persecution against the church. Saul of Tarsus was the epitome of that persecution before he became the Apostle Paul. The Book of Acts declares, “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2). Saul, as an extension of the Sanhedrin, would hold the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death.
The Romans persecuted the church as a matter of political expediency but the Jews seemed to harbor a genuine hate for the followers of Jesus. Even in America today, it seems that denominations sometimes present more opposition to one another than atheists or anti-Christian government policies. The truth is that if believers trusted one another and were united in our faith, the government would not be passing legislation that is opposed to Christian values. We have to ask what is there about religion that produces division, opposition, and even hatred at times towards others who also profess to be followers of Jesus?
In short, there is a spirit of religion that manifests as religious legalism and that legalism is the ever-present catalyst for division, accusation, and even persecution. Of course, there are times to “draw a line in the sand” between people who claim to follow Jesus yet whose doctrines vastly contradict what scripture says about Jesus. Those who claim that Jesus was not truly God but a created being or that the he was not actually raised from the dead or that he is only one of several ways for men to be saved have to be opposed and scripture commands us to do so. But, generally speaking, divisions in the church and prejudice against other believers has not stemmed from our views on Jesus, but everything else, such as forms of church governance, worship styles, beliefs about the activity of the Holy Spirit, and even in whose name(s) someone should be baptized.
Legalism is the belief that we attain salvation through our own efforts or our own good works. I asked a friend who is part of a very legalistic fellowship what he did with the passages that say we are saved by grace and not through any works of our own (Eph. 2:8-10). He quickly stated that we are saved by grace because it is by grace that God gives us the opportunity to earn our salvation through good works. Legalism always and quickly asserts that we are saved not just by doing the right things but also by believing the right things….not just about Jesus, but about church doctrine as well. Those who view scripture differently are seen as “worshipping God in error” and, therefore, their salvation is at risk. Because of that, true believers should have little to do with those who are in error because their error might creep into the true doctrine of those who have correctly interpreted scripture.
My first years as a believer were spent in a fellowship that drew very tight lines around doctrine and although they proclaimed loudly that we are saved by grave, their actions revealed that they actually believed that we are saved by holding to correct doctrine in all things. Churches who varied, even within that fellowship, were held suspect and sometimes “marked” and fellowship was withheld by other churches in that denomination. In those circles, the mark of faithfulness was not so much a lifestyle that reflected Jesus, but a fierce defense of the doctrines of that fellowship. Clearly, when the enemy has convinced us that salvation depends on correct interpretation of all things in the Bible, huge and passionate divisions will take place. In Romans 14, Paul warns us not to reject one another over “disputable matters,” which seems to include many things over which churches have divided.
Certainly, the Pharisees believed they alone correctly understood the demands of the Law and believed they were the only dispensers of truth. How often did they judge Jesus as a false Messiah because he did not measure up to their understanding of the scriptures, even though his life was a life of undeniable miracles? Within the Pharisees there was an undeniable arrogance and disdain for the “unlearned.” The “unlearned” were typically anyone who did not agree with them.
Again, their view was that knowing and understanding the written word of God correctly was their primary ticket to heaven. However, Jesus often told them that their quest to be doctrinally purehad gotten in the way of their relationship with the Father and blinded them to God’s interpretation of his own word. An underlying belief that the first rung of salvation is the correct understanding of all scripture leads to the splitting of doctrinal hairs and a neglect of relationship over knowledge. What a great strategy of the enemy. He takes what is good and a godly desire to know and understand God’s word and perverts it to an end in itself, instead of a way to relationship. Beware of anyone who believes they have the corner on all Biblical truth and who puts orthodoxy ahead of love and grace. Paul, a former Pharisee himself, put it this way. “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2).
I realize that what I have written may sound as if I think doctrine is unimportant. Actually, I think it is very important and what we believe about Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross is truly a matter of salvation. I also believe that coming to a greater and greater understanding of all scripture is important and is pleasing to God. It is pleasing, however, when the motivation behind the study is to discover more of who God is rather than just being able to defend my “rightness” and spiritual superiority more effectively.
It is not doctrine that is the issue as much as our attitude about doctrine and about those who are not in lock step with us. Family members disagree about many things but still view each other as family. Couples disagree but have to find ways to still love and respect each other in spite of their differences. The church should be the same.
In my formative years as a Christian, I was actually taught that those outside of our fellowship who did not share our view of scripture did not love the truth or were simply ignorant of the Bible…and most likely were lost. We took the passage in 2 John 9-11, that said,”Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work,” and expanded that to all doctrine about anything biblically related. John’s letters were all about the Gnostic heresy that denied that Jesus was God, that he came in the flesh, actually died on the cross, and was actually resurrected. The issue was about who Jesus was and what he accomplished on the cross not about every other doctrinal issue in scripture.
In addition to this belief that correct doctrine is essential to salvation, there is also a psychological need to stay “one up” on other believers and people in general. Think about it. If you believe that you get to heaven on the basis of your own good works and correct beliefs, then somewhere there is a celestial bell curve with an unknown cut off point. Those who have done enough or have been right enough, get in. Those who haven’t are turned away.
If you get to heaven on the basis of your own righteousness, then you are invested in being more righteous than others and so you will always seek to at least portray yourself as more correct, more righteous, more favored, etc. than those around you. That was exactly what the Pharisees did. So you will become the critical spirit, the judgmental person in the room, and the “holier than thou” pain-in-the-neck at every gathering. You will work hard to point our every other person’s or every other church’s failings with a tinge of condemnation attached to each bullet point.
This religious spirit will always deny its legalism and proclaim its love, but actions and attitude will reveal where that spirit is operating. The mindset of a religious spirit is difficult to change because everything depends on being right. It usually takes a dramatic experience to change their view of spiritual realities like Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. If you have someone in your life in bondage to that spirit, you may want to pray for a dramatic encounter with Christ rather than continuing your efforts to persuade them with scripture. It is also imperative that we scan our own hearts from time to time to make sure that spirit hasn’t settled in us somehow so that we feel just a little superior to those who don’t share our view of all things spiritual. If you suspect that spirit has found its way into your heart, get rid of it. Life is easier and Jesus is much more attractive when that spirit is absent.
