ABOUT
This web site is dedicated to those who love their Lord and Savior and wish to live in the freedom that He purchased for us with His blood. We must realize that He not only liberated us from, but also liberated us to.
We have been delivered from sin and received Holiness. We have been delivered from darkness to live in the Light. We have been delivered from slavery and have been given freedom. We have been liberated from living up to the standards of archaic laws and have been given the guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We have been given freedom from Legalistic living and given freedom to enjoy life and relationship to our Holy Sovereign.
Paul warned against religiosity, the manmade system of rules and regulations which give an appearance of godliness but which have no real power to bless, heal, and set free.
Paul urged the Gallatin believers not to allow anyone to put them back into the bondage of man-imposed laws, which he called slavery. He wanted the believers in Galatia to be led by the Spirit of God, and to be free from religion as well as free from sin. Paul urged:
Gal. 5:13 (MSG)“You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love.”
It is hard for some people to accept true liberty, either for themselves or for others. They seem to view freedom from the strangle-hold of religion as some sort of spiritual anarchy in which people are just turned loose to commit all the pent-up sins that have been held in check only by rules and regulations. That is a false concept of Christian righteousness and responsibility.
If God’s own children cannot be set free to think, speak, and act as they choose, if they must be kept chained by a system of do’s and don’ts then the new birth is no better than the life of sin. In that case, God simply took us out of one bondage into another. Grace is not a license to sin, but a license to serve. God gives us freedom to serve Him and binds us only with love.
The only people who are afraid to set the Earthly Body Of Christ free are those who don’t trust others with freedom because they don’t trust themselves. They are the very ones who need to be set free the most, free from their own self-imposed legalism. Once they are free, then they can allow the Earthly Body Of Christ to be liberated so it can go and liberate others. That’s God’s plan as revealed in the book of Galatians.
Still, many people think that by keeping religious rules and regulations, they are becoming justified in the eyes of God; they merit His blessings. So the law keeps them shut up in prison, in spiritual bondage.
We can see how foolish it was for the Gentiles to allow legalistic Jews to intimidate them into trying to keep special observances which had no relation to them personally. We like to think that we would not be so gullible as to let anyone put a religious straightjacket on us. Yet that same thing happens today. People come into Christian fellowship where they are born again and filled with the Spirit of God. Once set free from their bondage to the law of sin and death, many times they will then fall into the trap of legalism. They will be taught that now that they are “free,” they must give up “the ways of the world” and learn to abide by “the way of the Word,” usually as interpreted for them by leaders who are both self appointed and self-serving.
So in the end, things haven’t changed at all. They are no more free in the Earthly Body Of Christ then they were outside it. Their lives are still bound by traditions, taboos and “thou-shalt-nots,” they are told that if they do not worship God in their prescribed manner, they are not spiritual. They soon realize that they are expected to conform to standards, to adapt to someone else’s ideas of the proper mode of dress and code of conduct. They are told what to wear, what to read, what to listen to, what to think and how much to give. Although they are supposed to be free, they still don’t have the right to determine the truth for themselves by listening to the Spirit of God or by studying the Word for themselves and coming to their own conclusions rather than simply accepting their leaders’ interpretations. They become biblically abused. And the pity is that they accept biblical abuse because they want acceptance by the group and its leaders.
In our day, there are those who are so legalistic in their thinking that they believe they should go back and keep the Jewish Sabbath. So Saturday becomes their day of rest and worship. There are also those who teach the strict adherence of tithing; however, reference for obedience is only found in the Old Testament. That’s fine, except that as Paul points out, if they really believe they should keep the law, then they ought to keep the whole law, not just part of it. To be consistent, such people ought to build a temple in accordance with the instructions given by God in the Old Testament; anoint priests and Levites, dressing them in the robes and turbans of ancient Israel; bring in grain, meal and drink offerings to the Lord; offer up burnt animal sacrifices; and do everything else required by Jewish law. After all, Scriptures stipulate that to break one part of it was to break it all. That’s what Paul said to the Galatians: “If you keep one part of the law, then you are obligated to keep the whole thing.” Paul wanted them to see how blessed and free they were in Christ Jesus, who fulfilled all those minute details for them once and for all.
Gal. 5:1,6,13,16 and 6:2(NIV) “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. …For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. …You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. …So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. …Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
We now come to Colossians 2:8-23, and this little section in the middle of the book that is the heart of the letter. It is Paul’s frontal attack against the heretics that were beleaguering the Earthly Body Of Christ in Colossi. The heretics had claimed that it is Christ plus works righteousness which was an affront to grace. They were intimidating the Earthly Body Of Christ with heresy. And it is here in verse sixteen that Paul answers that kind of intimidation. And it is here that the rather Jewish aspect of the Colossian heresy stands out.
Col. 2:14-17(NIV) “…having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ….These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”
Let’s break verse sixteen down.
“do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. “
Paul says to these Colossian Christians, “Those people are trying to intimidate you with legalism. They are trying to judge you on what you eat, what you drink, whether you attend Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Lights, whether you make your sacrifice on the first day of the month ( the new moon ), or whether you prescribe to all the laws and rules and rituals of the Sabbath day.” Those heretics were saying, “It isn’t enough to know Christ; you have to know Christ and keep the Jewish law.” There was even some Greek and pagan ritual mixed into that heresy so it became very confusing. Their whole point was this: Salvation and spirituality are based on Christ plus keeping certain rituals.
Now legalism is simply lending to and maintaining your spirituality by your ability to keep manmade rules. Obeying God’s rules is obedience, not legalism. But subscribing and defining your spirituality by your submission to manmade rules, or to those rules which God had made and now set aside for this age, is legalism.
If Christ has given you complete salvation, complete forgiveness, and complete victory, if every thing is complete in Him, then don’t let anyone make a spiritual judgment of you depending on what you do or don’t do as ritual. No doubt the Colossians were facing great pressure to conform to legalistic patterns…and mostly Jewish ones at that. Remember, Colossi was a Gentile city, and the people did not keep Jewish legalistic patterns. They weren’t being asked to maintain something that was in their heritage; they were having dumped on them something they didn’t even understand. So Paul is warning the whole group against suddenly losing their freedom in Christ and giving up their spirituality to externals. That was a serious danger then and it hasn’t disappeared today.
The Establishment Of Freedom
Paul is saying, “don’t sacrifice your freedom in Christ to delineate your life to manmade rules. Christ has cancelled the bondage of the law. …“having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” The ritual system ended at the cross--He destroyed it forever. Since He has gained complete victory once and for all over that system, Christians have no need to subscribe to it. To become entangled again in a legalistic system is pointless and harmful.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). Christ set you free; now don’t go back to legalism. It would be ridiculous for the Lord Jesus Christ to open the gate of our prison and set us free only to put us in another cell. He set us free to stay free.
Paul says to the Colossians, “Don’t be beguiled, don’t be tricked, don’t let anybody make a spiritual judgment on you on the basis of your external behavior. Don’t let anybody evaluate your spirituality on that basis.” It has been the sad history of the Earthly Body Of Christ to pay no attention to this admonition. The Earthly Body Of Christ’s history is one of judging tithing records and depriving nonconformist,--for whatever reason-- no matter how well qualified or gifted, from positions of ministry with the Earthly Body Of Christ.
There will always be people who will want to judge everybody’s spirituality by what they do externally: How they eat, what they eat, how they drink, what they drink, whether they tithe or keep all the Christian routines, and whether they appear to be Christians on the outside. The problem with that kind of evaluation is this: Somebody who isn't a real Christian can qualify on every one of those counts. It isn't that true Christians won't manifest certain behavioral patterns...they will, but phony people can always conform to externals. That is not a good method for judgment. There are Christians who will see a person with a cigarette and immediately give a definition of that person's spirituality. There are Christians who might see someone take a glass of wine or beer somewhere and immediately say, "That person is not a Christian," or "That person is carnal," because they have a certain external standard they feel Christians should live by.
Now that is not the way to evaluate spirituality. That's what Paul is saying: "Don't let anybody judge your spirituality on the basis of your eating or drinking." Whether you do or do not eat meat offered to idols, or do or do not drink wine is not the criteria. Those things are not necessarily the spiritual criteria by which a man can judge. When you judge in that manner, you make Christianity a game that you can play on the outside. When spirituality is based on externals, the problem of hypocrisy sets in.
That is not the way to evaluate. The problem is that some people will conform to all the externals and be nothing but carnal hypocrites. So Paul is saying to the Colossians, "Don't let those people rob you of your liberty."
The Necessary Restriction
Now there are some people who can make me restrict my liberty. They are the weaker Christians or the people that I might offend who are open to Christ. They are not false teachers. I do not need to restrict my liberty for the sake of false teachers. When a weaker Christian's conscience is at stake, which won't let him do certain things, then you shouldn't do them either because you don't want to wound his conscience (Rom. 14-15). In Acts 15 the Jerusalem Council said, "There are certain things that are all right to do, but don't do them, for the sake of the unsaved Jews in your community who would be offended." But when you are dealing with false teachers, Paul says to go about enjoying your liberty, and don't let them restrict it with their works-righteousness system. For them it is not just a personal conscience issue, it is a satanic lie right out of the pit. They are trying to say that Christ is not enough to save you, not enough to make you spiritual, and not enough to mature and bless you; you have to have works righteousness. But you don't need to respond to that.
But, God willing for the future, on this web site we will be responding to falsehoods disguised as Gospel. In the meantime, stay Free In Christ.
Gospel Myth Buster
Biography
"There is nothing more revealing than the test of time," says author Lawrence P. Vanyi. Raised up within the Evangelical Church by devoted Christian parents, now 60 and well seasoned has had time to observe the workings of the Church. Although professionally a Commercial Electrician by trade, utilized what he calls "God's time-0uts,"--due to several debilitating industrial accidents, and while confined, used the time to Study God's Word. Being brought up by Christian parents he was taught that obedience to God was to be first and foremost in his life. It was then, at a early age, that he was taught-- "Will a man rob God," and "you are robbing God if you don't tithe." His wife of 29 years Karen Ann an inquiring Believer, who gave him 3 grand sons, brought him to question the validity of the teaching on tithing. Giving this teaching the test of time and not seeing the promised bounty, with plenty of free time, he went to God's Word for the answers. This present work is a compilation of his former book effort, Legalism in Tithing. Utilizing God's time out he compiled this the 2005 version called "The Unmasking of Subtle Deceptions."
