Paul's Passing Thoughts

Perhaps you don’t want to know, but in most cases, if you ask your pastor the following, “Am I still under the righteous demands of the law,” he or she is going to say “yes.” Certainly, if you go to John MacArthur’s church in California, considered to be the epitome of contemporary evangelicalism, his right hand man, Phil Johnson, would definitely say “yes” and reiterate what he has stated in several sermons at MacArthur’s church.

Are “Christians” still under the “righteous demands of the law”?

Again, most pastors of all stripes would say “yes.” In the Bible, clearly, there are only two people groups in the world and you are either one or the other: under law, or under grace. Clearly, according to the Bible, if you are a Christian, under law is past tense as a state of being, and under grace is in the present tense. If you are still under law, you are still under condemnation and unregenerate.

Church defines under grace as a system that allows you to re-appropriate the death of Christ for “present sin.” So, the only difference between the Old Testament sacrificial system and the New Testament sacrificial system is that Christ has replaced animals for the atonement of “present sin.” So-called believers remain under the condemnation of the law. Church has merely replaced the Jewish temple for a place to atone for “present sin” and the condemnation thereof. Following is a social media discourse where I am presently debating this issue. I will keep you posted.