- Mar 10, 2017
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Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21), and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so while we do not earn our salvation as a wage by our works, living in obedience to God's law is nevertheless intrinsically the content of the gift of Jesus saving us from not living in obedience to it. For example, the experience of honoring our parents is intrinsically part of being saved from the experience of not honoring our parents.
If you think that God made the Sabbath for man's benefit, then you should value it as a priceless gift rather than spurn it. There is nothing about the Sabbath being made for man's benefit that means that we aren't obligated to keep it holy. The way to have faith in God to correctly divide between right and wrong is by obediently following His instructions, while it is refusing to do that which is denying the need for faith and Christ's teachings.
If God is legalistic for giving the Torah and Jesus is legalistic for spending his ministry teaching his followers how to obey it by word and by example, when we should be legalistic, however, that is not what legalism refers to. It is not legalism to think that followers of God should follow His commands, but rather it is a sin not to.
Jesus demonstrated to those who expected a literal obiedence to the law, that there was far more than just obedience.
Look again at his comments about an unspiritual follwing of rules.
Paul a phareses also dismissed the literal following of worship only on Saturday.
Legalism isn't ones following of a law, but the insistence that everyone else must follow that law.
You are free to worship God on Saturday, but you are not free to make other Christians worship on Saturday.
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