Some might miss the gospel by applying grace without truth—those who feel free to do whatever they wish because of God’s merciful forgiveness. Others might miss it by applying truth without grace—those who do good acts out of fear and guilt or to earn a reward. Tertullian, an early theologian observed: “Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves, so this doctrine of justification is ever crucified between two opposite errors.”
Legalism
The religious goes by two other names: the legalist or moralist. Their error is in trying to be their own savior by being good. It is done out of guilt, out of fear, or the need to feel superior or good about themselves. Their actions are not motivated by a genuine love for God, and they don’t fully understand the depth of his grace and love.
Liberalism
The irreligious has a few other names: the hedonist, liberalist or relativist. Their error, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is in accepting only one side of the gospel. They use God’s forgiveness as a means to justify their own pleasures and are highly tolerant of worldly views. They choose to accept only God’s love and forgiveness without the truth of the cross. They, like the religious, also don’t understand the depth of God’s love.
True Christian Beliefs
Both views of legalism and liberalism are grace killers and self-focused. “Irreligious people seek to be their own saviors and lords through irreligion, ‘worldly’ pride. But moral and religious people seek to be their own saviors and lords through religion, ‘religious’ pride,” wrote Tim Keller in his article “The Centrality of the Gospel.”
A believer’s relationship to God is more accurately like a child’s relationship to a loving parent. The parent makes outrageous sacrifices to give good gifts to his child while the child rests secure in love. As the child grows, he makes choices to please his parent, which is purely motivated by love and trust. Nothing is forced, and nothing is done out of obligation.
The legalists and the liberalists do not understand who God is to begin with. Only when they constantly strive to understand God’s love and know that they need it is when they’ll act differently and experience true joy and freedom. Good works are natural fruits that are produced by growing in the knowledge of God. As Christians follow Jesus and mature in him, they bear fruit from the tree that is watered by the Father.
The Cost of Discipleship
But the journey of being a Christian is not an easy one because following Christ means to take up his cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship wrote that “cheap grace is grace without discipleship.” To be a disciple means to be “dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity (that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus), …”
It is grace because Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” But his grace is costly because it cost God the life of his Son, and following Christ means to submit to him. In that journey, Christians are shaped to be more like Christ in his humility. It is painful because a broken spirit and a contrite heart require suffering, but at the same time it is joyful and light.
Keller succinctly put the Christian walk as follows: “the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel—seeing more of its truth.” The gospel is not only for non-believers but especially for believers from the beginning of the journey to the end.
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