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NASB | Matthew 23:28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 23:28 "So you, also, outwardly seem to be just and upright to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. [Ps 5:9] |
Subject: Low View of Law Produces Legalism |
Bible Note: "J. Gresham Machen counterintuitively noted that 'A low view of law always produces legalism; a high view of law makes a person a seeker after grace.' The reason this seems so counter-intuitive is because most people think that those who talk a lot about grace have a low view of God's law (hence, the regular charge of antinomianism). Others think that those with a high view of the law are the legalists. But Machen makes the very compelling point that it's a low view of the law that produces legalism because a low view of the law causes us to conclude that we can do it–the bar is low enough for us to jump over. A low view of the law makes us think that the standards are attainable, the goals are reachable, the demands are doable. It's this low view of the law that caused Immanuel Kant to conclude that 'ought implies can.' That is, to say that I ought to do something is to imply logically that I am able to do it. "A high view of the law, however, demolishes all notions that we can do it -- it exterminates all attempts at self-sufficient moral endeavor. We'll always maintain a posture of suspicion regarding the radicality of unconditional grace as long as we think we have the capacity to pull it off. Only an inflexible picture of what God demands is able to penetrate the depth of our need and convince us that we never outgrow our need for grace -- that grace never gets overplayed. 'Our helplessness before the totality of Divine expectation is what creates the space for God's amazing grace and the freedom it produces.' The way of God's grace becomes absolutely indispensable because the way of God's law is absolutely inflexible. "So a high view of law equals a high view of grace. A low view of law equals a low view of grace." --Tullian Tchividjian (2012) |
View Branch | ID# 239959 | ||
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