Galatians 5:12
I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
Phillipians 3:2
"Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh..."
In the verses above, that was Paul writing. He was apparently NOT a fan of "legalists." I believe Paul and I would've had a lot in common. You can almost sense his letter was laced with pure disdain for these people. After all, they were the main culprits in this day that would cause people to fall away from following the Lord. Isn't it pretty much the same way today? I see it all too often. Someone stops going to church because they made a mistake, but feeling forgiven by God isn't all they have to cope with. They would have to walk down the isles of piercing judgement if they went back. The cutting eyes of those who wouldn't dare make a mistake. What about the people who believe differently from us? Are we quick to throw stones at them, appalled they would believe something other than our "truth," or do we love and befriend them despite their religious preference?
People don't want to hear as much about what you learned in your bible study this morning, as they want to feel like you're listening to them. They don't want to hear how God's working in your ministry as much as they want you to minister to them. They don't want to hear how great your God provides for you as much as they want to see you give it back. Actions speak louder than words. If you are preaching about how great God is, and how he is in constant control of your life, but you are the laziest worker at your job, you just cancelled out your words. You see a homeless man out on the street, but you dare not stop to speak or give some money, but you'll say to him, "God Bless You." You just taught him that your God is one who will say "hi" but never intervene in his life. Good job. Sometimes we are the only experience someone will have with Christ. What experience are you teaching them? Below are two different "doctrinal" beliefs...choose your side and stand firm in it....I'm a "Sola Fide" believer til the day I die!Legalism, in Christian theology, is a sometimes-pejorative term referring to an over-emphasis on discipline of conduct, or legal ideas, usually implying an allegation of misguided rigour, pride, superficiality, the neglect of mercy, and ignorance of the grace of God or emphasizing the letter of law over the spirit. Legalism is alleged against any view that obedience to law, not faith in God's grace, is the pre-eminent principle of redemption. Its opposite is the doctrine of Sola Fide, which is the traditional Protestant view that believing in Jesus Christ is the only requirement for receiving eternal life.
Sola fide (Latin: by faith alone), also historically known as the doctrine of justification by faith alone, is a Christian theological doctrine that distinguishes most Protestant denominations from Catholicism, Eastern Christianity and some in the Restoration Movement.
The doctrine of sola fide or "by faith alone" asserts God's pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received through faith, conceived as excluding all"works", alone. All humanity, it is asserted, is fallen and sinful, under the curse of God, and incapable of saving itself from God's wrath and curse. But God, on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus), grants sinners judicial pardon, or justification, which is received solely through faith. Faith is seen as passive, merely receiving Christ and all his benefits, among which benefits are the active and passive righteousness of Jesus Christ. Christ's righteousness, according to the followers of "sola fide", is imputed (or attributed) by God to the believing sinner (as opposed to infused or imparted), so that the divine verdict and pardon of the believing sinner is based not upon anything in the sinner, nor even faith itself, but upon Jesus Christ and his righteousness alone, which are received through faith alone. Justification is by faith alone and is distinguished from the other graces of salvation.
