I read a blog post from Village Schools of the Bible and wanted to repost a snippet here for you all. We urge you to move past this post right on over the full version here.
…there are two errors that destroy the beauty of the gospel and rob it of its life-transforming power; and it is to these errors that Tertullian refers. These two errors are Legalism (or moralism) and License (or relativism). Simply put, Legalism says we have to be good to be saved; License says because we’re saved we don’t have to be good.
These two errors are human corruptions of Biblical truth that steal from the gospel. In its authentic form given by God in the Bible, the gospel has a wonderfully miraculous, life-changing impact. However the Holy Spirit cannot be expected to anoint a gospel message with life changing power if it’s been corrupted by either of these two errors.
Later the article writes:
Through the gift of new birth, believers are given a new nature. He or she is a new creation as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit taking root in the life of the believer. To regenerated believers, Christ is precious: they love Christ, love to grow in Christ, and long to see Christ’s kingdom flourish. They love to study the Scriptures because it is the Word of Jesus; they love to pray because it is communion with Jesus; they desire purity because Jesus is pure; they love people because Jesus loves people; they share the Good News because it is the good news of Jesus! Lives changed by the gospel are attractive — they organically draw others to Christ. “Follow Me,” said Jesus, “And I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).
By contrast, neither legalism nor license can change lives or draw people to Christ.
Our pastor often states, we are people in the world not for the world. We are the Salt and Light for others to see Jesus. We urge you to stop and reflect on your life. Truly take a deep look. Are we living out the true Gospel? Or are we falling prey to one of these two errors. The Good News is that there is forgiveness in Him if we are. So let’s change our ways, our actions and be the Salt and Light this world needs.
read the full post here.