“When we misunderstand the relationship between law and
gospel, it leads to two opposite but equally destructive errors:
legalism and license. Legalists continue to live under the law,
believing that God’s approval is somehow dependent on their
right conduct.
Licentious people dismiss the law, believing that since they are
“under grace,” God’s rules don’t matter much. These two
errors have been around since the days of the apostles.
The book of Galatians is written to combat the error of
legalism: “Are you so foolish? Afer beginning with the Spirit,
3:3).
The book of Romans addresses the error of license: “What
then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under
Both legalism and license are destructive to the gospel. To
avoid these pitfalls, we must understand the biblical
relationship between law and gospel. In a nutshell, here’s how
God designed it to work: the law drives us to the gospel and
the gospel frees us to obey the law.
Realizing all that God expects of us should drive us in
despair to Christ. And once we are united with Christ, the
indwelling Holy Spirit causes us to delight in God’s law and
gives us power to obey it.”
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