Paul's Passing Thoughts

Galatians is a New Testament letter that is key to understanding religion. In a close examination of Galatians, we understand what the apostle Paul meant by “the law,” and his contention against being justified by “the law.”

Paul referred to a law for sanctification, and a law for justification, the latter being the church gospel that he primarily fought against. So, TANC Ministries focuses on this elephant in the room that no one wants to address and that’s fine.

Context determines which law Paul is referring to in his writings.

Following is the confusion church has been hiding behind for hundreds of years: “It’s not about anything we do, but what Jesus has done.” Yes indeed, Jesus must get all of the glory. Soli Deo gloria! For the glory of God alone! Ahhhmen!

First, Paul taught that the law has nothing to do at all with justification. Because of church and what it has drilled into our heads for hundreds of years, it is really hard to get our minds around that. We are justified by the new birth. In other words, having God’s life within us is what justifies us and nothing else. It is a justification APART from the law.

So, the false church gospel starts with this idea that justification is perfect law-keeping. It may be said this way: “The law (God’s word as recorded in the Bible) is the standard for justification.” This is a commonly accepted notion in the church. ALL of the who’s who of American evangelicalism refer to the “righteous demands of the law.”

That’s a false gospel. What is wrong with church? Answer: pretty simple; its false gospel. Second question: do I care that I stand in an overwhelming minority who share this view? Answer: pretty simple; no. Third question: should we then throw the church baby out with the bathwater? Answer: pretty simple; yes.

We now continue with where the church gospel goes from its false premise. Since it is impossible for any person lost or saved to keep the law perfectly, and the standard of perfect law-keeping must be obtained for a person to remain justified, there must be an additional substitution other than Christ’s death for salvation. Christ’s death paid the penalty for all former violations against the law, but that isn’t enough, the law must also be kept perfectly.

When the law is the standard for justification, salvation must be a process and not a onetime finished work in the individual. This is unavoidable.

Two things are needed in the progression. In order to “satisfy the righteous demands of the law,” there must be an ongoing dual or double imputation of forgiveness and perfect law-keeping. The law must not be violated in any way, and the law, in regard to good works, must be fulfilled perfectly. There must be no violation of the law by commission or omission. Obviously, to maintain this standard, and thus maintain one’s salvation, there must be what church scholars call a “double imputation.”

How do we get that? How do we get the double substitution needed to maintain salvation? We can’t DO anything to keep ourselves justified by the law, so what should we DO? After all, James 2:10 states that if we violate the law at one point we are presently in violation of the whole law, right? In addition, let me pause here to point out reality: doing nothing is doing something; it’s a decision to do nothing, and a decision is an action. Salvation by doing nothing through faith alone is doing something, and you have to keep doing it to maintain salvation. In this life, doing nothing is metaphysically impossible. Hence, the church gospel of justification by faith alone is completely illogical to begin with.

DOING has nothing to do with justification and that includes anything Jesus does except what he did once to establish the new birth. This is what makes the false premise of church concerning the law problematic: it calls for you to DO something so that Jesus will fulfill the law for you. First of all, why would Jesus do that when Paul stated that there is no law that can give life for justification to begin with?

So, what we get is this thing called, “the traditions of men.” What’s that? It is a doing system that results in Jesus doing. In certain biblical context, this is exactly what Paul was referring to in regard to, “the law.” He was writing about religious traditions that resulted in the fulfillment of God’s law for justification.

Church, and its justification by faith alone gospel is simply the Galatian problem Paul was addressing. Circumcision and the recognition of days as well as other traditions supposedly fulfilled God’s law leading to justification.

This is not to say that born again Christians are not under any law. The law was never for justification; it was always for sanctification. In sanctification, there is no condemnation or need to atone for any condemning sin; “Where there is no law, there is no sin.” Context is important, Paul is not saying there is no law, he is saying there is no law in justification. CLEARLY, church teaches that the law is justification’s standard. No it isn’t, the new birth is what justifies.

Sanctification is faith working through love (Galatians 5:6), and God’s law informs our love, and love fulfills the law. It’s not complicated. We may aggressively love God and others as the Bible informs us with no fear of condemnation.

I thought about all of this in context of the emerging popularity of hipster evangelist Sean Feucht. Of late, his niche is defying the state COVID lockdowns with open air “worship services.” Unfortunately, people see this as something different from traditional church evangelism. Whether Feucht’s California style “praise and worship” double imputation, or John MacArthur’s more traditional double imputation, it’s all double imputation. Like Baskin-Robbins, there may be 33 different flavors, but it’s all ice cream.

The Charismatic movement is just another logical conclusion of double imputation. If Jesus came to suffer and die, and live a perfect law-keeping life for the continual imputation of such to our lives, why would that not include healing and miracles, right? After all, “By his stripes we were healed,” right?

Like all Charismatics, Feucht advocates for the idea that gospel contemplation (praise and worship activity) results in the manifestation of the Spirit’s power which is the visible manifestation of imputation. Don’t misunderstand, the Pentecostal “second blessing” of speaking in tongues is not optional, it’s a proof of salvation. The idea that God’s power is manifested as a result of “worship” is no different than John Calvin’s Sabbath Sanctification double imputation construct. You “worship” on Sunday, and then all of the works that happen during the week are manifestations of Jesus’ perfect law-keeping that are only experienced by you, but not actually performed by you.

It’s all the same church song and dance. It’s the same false gospel scam the church has been running for more than 1500 years.

paul