Unintentional Pharisees?

[subllibrm]

Interesting little read:

http://www.outreachmagazine.com/features/5305-are-you-preaching-like-a-pharisee-and-don-t-know-it.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=omnewsletter&utm_content=OM+Newsletter+20130610

From the article:

"When describing the Pharisees and what they did to the people through their teaching, Jesus said: They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders (Matthew 23:4)."

So are all the protective rules we make actually creating burdens Christ never intended for us to carry?

 

[Citadel of Truth]

So are all the protective rules we make actually creating burdens Christ never intended for us to carry?

My opinion is that when you attach an action, behavior, or standard to one's salvation then you become Pharisaical. Actually, you become a legalist. A legalist is not someone who has high standards. A legalist is someone who makes adherance to that standard a requirement for salvation. In essence, you make keeping the law the means of salvation instead of grace alone.

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Additionally, when you make adherance to an extra-biblical standard a matter of one's spirituality, then you become Pharisaical. Not a legalist, but a Pharisee.

 

[Castor Muscular]

So are all the protective rules we make actually creating burdens Christ never intended for us to carry?

Yes.

My opinion is that when you attach an action, behavior, or standard to one's salvation then you become Pharisaical. Actually, you become a legalist. A legalist is not someone who has high standards. A legalist is someone who makes adherance to that standard a requirement for salvation. In essence, you make keeping the law the means of salvation instead of grace alone.

I wouldn't always tie it to salvation.  The Pharisees didn't, and I don't think the legalists of today always tie it to salvation.  It's just a burden of behavior they want others to bear, and it always revolves around how one appears, not what's inside.  That's why "hurts your testimony" is usually a red flag for legalism.  It's all about how one appears to the rest of the world.