Lessons From a Converted Religionist

There were about 6,000 Pharisees at the time of Christ. As we have noted, they had a reputation for holding lengthy discussions on such fine points as whether it was lawful to eat an egg that had been laid on the Sabbath. Saul of Tarsus (later known as the apostle Paul) inherited this religious tradition. He described himself as a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6). Before his life-changing encounter with Christ (Acts 9), Saul believed that His standing with God was determined by his relationship to the Law.

After his conversion, Paul defined his standing with God in new terms. Now what counted was his relationship with Christ. He became concerned about faith in Christ, showing the love of Christ to others, and reminding fellow believers that all of us will one day answer personally to Christ the Lord. Paul’s frame of reference changed from the Law to Christ, from fine points to fundamentals, and from externals to internals.

When it came to arguable issues of scriptural application, Paul was no longer preoccupied with the legal rulings of the scribes. Instead, he pled with other members of the family of God not to judge one another in questionable matters. In his letter to the Romans he wrote: “Who are you to judge another’s servant? . . . So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way” (Romans 14: 4, 12-13).

Many of us need to learn from Paul’s “after Christ” point of view. In an attempt to protect ourselves from compromise, we adopt his “pre-Christ” perspective. Adopting the way of the Pharisees, we have developed our own lists of what a follower of Christ will or will not do. The only trouble is that someone could keep every point on some of our lists and still be no closer to God. A person could “religiously” refrain from alcohol, rock music, tobacco, gambling, and going to movies and still be godless. A person could attend church, give money, offer prayers, and read the Bible while still being angry, critical, and mean.

What counts, however, is what comes from the Spirit, not what comes from the flesh. Christ-like attitudes of love are so different from our natural inclinations that they drive us to the Spirit of Christ for wisdom, enablement, and a fresh assurance of forgiveness. Replacing the love of Christ with keepable lists is a sure way to become like a pre-Christ Paul. It is better to let our struggle with un-keepable principles drive us to Christ than to occupy ourselves with the formalities of religion and miss Him altogether.

Tomorrow, the dangers of application to our lives…