Title: Legalism
Acts 15 records the difficulties faced by the church due to the emergence of legalism, which is a typical example of the internal problems that came to the early church.
There are three types of attacks on the church at any time. One is persecution, one is heresy, and one is division. These three things are the continuing tests of the church in the history of the church. The social condition or political form at that time may be an atmosphere of persecution of Christianity, or heresy may flourish if there is no persecution. And when it's not this or that, there's often division. Interestingly, as long as there is persecution, there are no problems of heresy and division. It is noteworthy that heresy and division are always present only in the period of peace. Since today is also a religiously peaceful period, heresies and divisions are playing a major role in attacking the church. It is noteworthy in this context that the divisions that occur within believers in Jesus Christ are often doctrinal, especially when it comes to legalism.
If we talk like this in chapter 15, it says, “Unless you are circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” At the heart of our Christian faith is that we will be saved if we believe in Jesus. However, if you believe the legalistic demands here, if you look at the demands, you are not opposed to believing in Jesus, but believing in Jesus is not enough. So, this legalism is nothing but the claim that the atoning work of Jesus Christ is insufficient for salvation, and that we must add something to make it sufficient. Anything that makes such a claim is legalism. .
So, in order to understand legalism, we must first understand its contrast to faith. What is Faith? For example, what does it mean to believe in Jesus?
“For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
When we talk about salvation, we always say that we have been saved through faith, and that it is grace and a gift. That’s why I can’t be proud.”
Look again at verse 25. “God set up this Jesus as a propitiation through faith through his blood.” When we say we believe in Jesus, all the introductions before him are 'not in a legal way'.
It explains the other way of salvation other than the law, which is salvation through faith in Jesus. Let's take an example to understand. “How can I run fast?” This is a big task for the Korean track and field world. Who gave this answer? “Let’s run fast.” This type of thinking is called circular logic. “Where is Cheolsu’s house?” “It is next to the Chinese restaurant.” “Where is the Chinese restaurant?” “It’s next to Cheolsu’s house.” This is circular logic. The same logic can be gripped when we talk about faith. Imagine a person who claims to have good faith.
Who has good faith? Then, do you see what that person does and say that you have good faith? Evaluating a person's faith by saying 'that person prays hard', 'that person keeps holy water Sunday' or 'have a good attitude to life' focuses only on the act of faith. How can we do it well? It can be seen that there is no explanation as to what happened.
For example, if Abraham offered Isaac and asked, ‘How did he offer Isaac?’, the answer would be ‘I offered it because of his faith.’ ‘How did Abraham have good faith? ’ The answer is ‘It’s just because I have a good faith’ without chasing after it. The 'how' is unexplained.
To run well, you need to have good cardiorespiratory function and strong legs. If the legs are the subject of running like this, the question is what is the subject of faith? At this time, what the Bible is talking about is ‘not the law’. What it means is 'not an action' or 'not a causal ratio'. “I have saved you by a method other than the law of cause and effect.” This is the meaning of faith in Jesus.
It is the law of conduct that I work for 100 won and get paid 100 won. I get the results for what I did. So you can be proud of the results. So if I get a result even though I haven't done it, I can't brag about it. Because it's a gift. So, when the Bible explains faith, this is the reason why it keeps emphasizing that you can't boast because you didn't do it. Believing in Jesus means ‘I am not the subject. It's not that I believe in Jesus, but that God used the method of faith to save us. Before that, the method of salvation was a method of obtaining a passing score by keeping all the conditions God required. That's the way to keep the law. It is the law of action.
On the other hand, this law of the cross, the law of faith, means that because we do not have the ability to be saved by keeping that law, God made Jesus Christ as the propitiation sacrifice, the cause of which God made, and the result of salvation is salvation A new way of speaking. And the collective name for all of these methods is ‘faith’. Therefore, first of all, the word “faith” in the Bible means “a methodology that takes God who did the work as the subject, and that results fall on us even though we have no cause.” Can't you believe it? But the Bible describes faith that way. That is why, whenever we talk about salvation, the two words, “I cannot boast,” are always followed.
Look at Romans 3:26-30. “At this time, he showed himself righteous, so that he himself was righteous, and that those who believe in Jesus might be justified. Where then can we have room to boast? by what law, not by works, but only by the law of faith. We acknowledge that it is not by works of the law that is gained, but by faith. Is God the only God of the Jews, and not the God of Gentiles? Truly, he is also the God of Gentiles. There is only one God to justify.”
Yes, I am saying that there is no discrimination. Circumcised or uncircumcised, there is no better way to obtain this salvation. Same. Salvation is all because it is God's way that God accepted us through Jesus Christ as the propitiation sacrifice.
At that time, there was a rebuke called ‘you who have little faith’. If you go to Romans 1, you will find that this is the very beginning of the use of this different expression for this very part. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, As it is said that the righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:16, 17).
Faith leads to faith. The faith that lies ahead is the salvation we usually speak of, in which God makes us his children in Christ Jesus. If we obtain this salvation, we will see and know God.
So only then can God use faith, regenerating faith, saving faith as his own way for us.