Passive Deliverance of The Law of God

This post was originally written in May 2011.


I wanted to post a note about something so subtle, you hardly notice it when you hear it unless your ears are keen to it. I’m talking about the Law. God’s Word commands us to be holy, yet always for His glory, He provides us holiness through the finished work of Christ imputed to us. However, it doesn’t stop our sinful flesh to bend towards the law’s enchanting call. Our depraved nature tries to satisfy God’s requirements through our own strength, in our own ways, and to our own glory. Pride hides deep in our heart and longs to come to the voice of the law instead of the humble seat of grace. Instead of boasting in the work of the Lord on our behalf, we worship at the feet of our own accomplishments. Ephesians 2:8-9 flies in the face of this sinful pride. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

I am writing this to reveal and critique a specific style of preaching of which I would call “passive lawgiving.” Of course, if there is a passive form of lawgiving, then there must also be an active form as well. The active form is easy to spot and clear to your conscience when you hear it. The active lawgiving is done through hearing your failures to keep God’s commands. You hear and acknowledge all the commands of God that you have broken by what you have done and what you have failed to do. It pierces your soul like a sharp double-edged sword (Heb. 4:12) and it makes a regenerate heart cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” God’s children hear His voice, as He leads them to the water that will satisfy eternally (John 4:14). The law without grace places us under the curse (Gal. 3:10), under a burden that only Christ can take away (Matt. 11:28). The active law rightfully calls you to examine your heart to see that you stand condemned before a holy and righteous Judge! Without the law, a man loses sight of Christ’s ministry altogether. The cross becomes empty of its meaning when a man doesn’t recognize the breaking of God’s law and the penalty which is required to satisfy it. The active form of delivering the law is not as sly as the passive form.

Just as the active law puts us squarely under the curse of God, the passive law does likewise through a more secretive way. Not that the deliverer of the passive law is trying to secretly bring you under the curse (that’s Satan’s use), it’s that they do not realize they are doing it. These pastors, or even Christians, preach a passive law and put a burden that even the patriarchs couldn’t bear (Acts 15:10).

How do these passive laws get passed on to us? How is the curse put on us again? By the preacher preaching himself instead of Christ; and lifting his own Christian walk over Christ’s work for us. The message usually goes something like this: The pastor, preaching with all his emotions, displays to you his transparency and struggles. He shows you how God is currently working in his heart and how he isn’t perfect but he has come a long way. He explains how he is changing his habits and forming new ways to “show Christ’s love” to everyone around, but after speaking about his transformed life for 20 minutes, the work of Christ is never preached! At the end of the sermon all you know is that your preacher is a common man who struggles but is a marvelous example of a Christian. You have just been duped into the passive law with all its curses, and you didn’t even realize it! You have been manipulated into looking at your own life, your own works, your own lack of living righteously and serving others. You have taken your eyes off of Christ as our Priest, Prophet, and King, and placed them on yourself and all your filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). You have placed your eyes on the glory of your pastor and his amazingly in-tune walk with God (which is not Christ-centered either), and boast in his works and in his “amazing faith.” You emulate your pastor instead of seeing him as a sinner in need of grace also. I plead with you, whoever you are, run from the “clouds without rain” (Jude 1:12) who proclaim a radical faith without its substance (Christ’s finished work). These men would not sit still to have Christ wash their feet and disregard Christ’s plea—“if I do not wash your feet, then you have no share with me” (John 13:8). Hear the gospel call and remember all of our works come from a justified position before God. The service we do for Christ comes after we hear the gospel and not before. Next time you hear sappy music and a pastor being transparent about how much he is doing for God, remember to listen more vigilantly for when the forgiveness of sins through Christ is preached, because if it is not proclaimed then you have been subtly placed back into the law’s curse; passively.