An Ever-Changing World Meets an Ever-Constant God

"While God has not changed, the world has, and his people need wisdom, not legalism, to live in it."- Pastor Mark Driscoll, from Religion Saves: + Nine Other Misconceptions


In my reading of the book mentioned above, authored by, Seattle WA based, Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll, I came across this statement (also stated above). In the book he is on the subject of the church's view of birth control, but this statement applies to more issues than that alone, some of which are also addressed in the book, which is why this statement caught my attention. In our world's ever changing culture new issues are addressed, some old issues are re-evaluated, and things that were once not an issue become one (i.e., alcohol). My purpose in this post is not to debate those issues (I'll save that for another time, perhaps a more personal method. Not to say I won't discuss those issue on this blog, but let's just leave that alone for now.), but to look at the term "legalism" and how it fits into our society.

The thing we must first look at is the world that we live in, and the issues presented to us as believers in Christ. See, the world, or culture I should say, that we live in is uncertain. Over thousands of years it has been in a constant state of transformation, and even at some points maturity, though this is not always the case. The simple fact we must realize is that in the midst of all this change, God and his word have been unwavering throughout, from the beginning. What has changed is our own maturity and understanding of his word. When new things come as issues in our world, many times they will stem from a direct issue addressed biblically. For example, pornography is not necessarily a new issue, for what it has evolved from and to is all compounded on the sin of lust, which is clearly stated, on many occasions, as sin in the bible (i.e., Matthew 5:28; Exodus 20:14; 1 Corinthians 6:18; just to name a few). In some issues that have come in recent history to the modern church (I will avoid specifically discussing these issues, so that I do not negate from my point.), there is a fine line where something is all well and good, and then can pass over into being sin. In issues like these, it is not right for someone to form a strict view (i.e., legalism), on either side of the issue, and then proceed to force that view onto others as biblical truth, for it is not biblical truth. What legalism does is, it takes the prayerful discernment of a Christian on something that, in essence, is pure, yet can be taken by the world and made sinful. I will use one example, yet not dwell on it, in dancing. Dancing is something that, biblically, is holy and worship towards the lord (i.e., 2 Samuel 6:14), but the nature of dancing has been taken by our culture and perverted. To take the stance that all dancing is sin, and should be prohibited, is completely contrary to scripture. To summarize my thoughts, in conclusion, legalism takes God out of the equation. We, as a believing body of Christ, should not count things that have been perverted by our culture as automatic sin, but each of us should prayerfully discern these things as to where it stops being pure, and becomes twisted by our changing world. For times and cultures change, but our God remains constant. Rely on him when things seem hazy. God Bless!

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another."- Galatians 5:13-15