Representatives for Resolutions

Legalism so often stems from a desire to do what is right, but gets corrupted from a selfish ambition. Legalism declares that I will be right with God by my actions. There seem to be two types of legalism.

The first (which we see here) is that we are saved through a combination of faith and works. This effects the future of the church by effecting the way that we evangelize. Because if Satan cannot effect our salvation, he will effect our gospel preaching to corrupt the salvation of those we witness to.

The second tends to be found in more controlling church, where your faith is measured by the level to which they adhere to a set of rules or regulations. In these situations, people concentrate on the external, and judge each other based on the external appearance, and not the circumcision of the heart.

Paul and Peter argued that as the Spirit of God cam upon both the Jews and Gentiles, bit were saved at that point. Therefore there was no requirement for the Gentiles to be circumcised. Peter then goes on to challenge the Pharisees who wanted to place the yoke of the law upon the Gentiles by stating that the Jews could not keep the laws, therefore how could the Jews expect the Gentiles to keep them.

When we try to show our love to God by our obedience to His word, we place ourselves under bondage again. But when we come in faith to Him, humbly aware that we cannot keep the law, God will help us to keep His law as an outworking of His salvation in us.

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