Rules, No Rules, or the Ruler?

Everyone has rules—everyone. If you leave your house dressed, you have rules. Just saying! So everyone has rules, they just vary.

Sadly, some good men and ministries have been unfairly labeled legalistic just because they have some rules. But this vilifying is unfair because those who label them as legalistic have rules too, albeit different rules. So, if having rules makes you legalistic, then we are all legalists, because we all have rules of some sort.

When are rules good, and when are they bad? It’s a matter of heart perspective. If the rules are viewed as that which makes you spiritual, then you are legalistic. That’s bad. For unsaved people, legalism is justification by works. For saved people, legalism is sanctification by works. Paul confronts both errors in Galatians. Both justification and sanctification are by grace through faith in Christ alone (Galatians 2:16, 20). 

Legalists make legal-lists to determine whether you are spiritual, thus turning sanctification by grace through faith into sanctification by law through works. When your focus is all about your list of rules, that, in your mind, make you spiritual, you have a performance-based view of acceptance. System-focus means you are not Jesus-focused. Therefore, you miss out on the power of the resurrected Christ. Law-lists have no power to enable you to obey them. Even the law of God, though it is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12), has no power to enable you to obey it (Romans 5:20). That is not its purpose. Its purpose is to show you when you disobey it. So, if you focus on your version of law-living, since there is no power, you inevitably default to self-dependence which, at best, only produces self-righteousness, and often just sadly fails (Romans 7).

Legalism is ritualistic because it views spirituality as being based on the rules and rituals of a given system. The problem is not the rules. The problem is in thinking rule-keeping makes you spiritual. But unsaved moralists can keep rules. Yet they are not spiritual because they do not even have the Holy Spirit. This thought highlights the big issue. When your passion is all about your version of rules, you are unwittingly leaving out the Holy Spirit. And you cannot be spiritual without the Spirit.

Some have seen the deadness of the letter of the law without the Spirit and have overreacted. They have replaced ritualism with relativism. They have replaced rules with no rules—but that’s a rule! They are reverse legalists. They have replaced being system-oriented with being self-oriented. Instead of focusing on the rules that a given system emphasizes, they focus on their own desires. Tossing out the king of their Christian subculture, every man does that which is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6). Again, the focus is not on Jesus. Again, people are left with self-dependence and self-righteousness in their own eyes. 

This license-orientation is relativistic, because it views spirituality as each one sees fit in the name of liberty. The problem is not liberty. The problem is in thinking liberty is your choice instead of the Spirit’s. Again, like legalism, this thinking leaves out the Holy Spirit. But you cannot be spiritual without the Spirit.

The focus must not be rules or no rules. The focus must be the Ruler—Jesus Christ, by His Spirit. Yet Jesus does not dictate like the average “Ruler.” Jesus shepherds. We must simply look to the Great Shepherd.  Jesus-focus leads to Jesus-dependence (Hebrews 12:2), and Jesus-dependence accesses Spirit-enablement (Romans 5:2). This is not a matter of ritualism or relativism, but rather a matter of relationship with Jesus. 

This understanding of relationship views spirituality as being rightly related to the Spirit. “He who is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:15) is “he in whom the Spirit rules” [Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown]. Being rightly related to the Spirit is living by faith-responses to the Spirit’s leadership, trusting in His enablement. It is walking by faith, by yielding to the Spirit’s will and power. Even new believers can be rightly related to the Spirit. Being rightly related to the Spirit is not spiritual maturity; it’s how you mature spiritually. Spiritual maturity takes time as you walk by faith and grow in grace. 

So, how do rules fit in? How do lists fit in? How do “Do’s and Don’ts” fit in with the Spirit-filled life? The Ten Commandments is a list. Since lists are in the Bible, lists are not intrinsically legalistic, but they can become legalistic if you leave out the Spirit. 

The “works of the flesh” is a list of “Don’ts” (Gal. 5:19-21). But the key is walking in the Spirit so you do not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). The “fruit of the Spirit” is a list of “Do’s” (Gal. 5:22-23). But how do you Do fruit? Fruit is technically not something you do, it’s something you allow the Spirit to do through you. The grammar of the command to be filled with the Spirit is literally to keep on allowing yourself to be filled with “Holy Spirit-ness” (Ephesians 5:18). Keep on yielding to the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit. Keep in step with the Ruler. Not rules or no rules, but the Ruler, the Person—the liberating life Himself, who always leads you in the paths of righteousness. This is walking in the Spirit, who then imparts to you the life of the indwelling Christ so that you do not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 2:20; 5:16). This is not attempting to imitate Jesus; it’s accessing Jesus—the victorious life Himself. Not Jesus instead of you, but Jesus in you, animating you, as you cooperate by faith. 

The absolutes in the written Word of God are clear for all. The absolutes form the high ground. Within the boundaries of this plateau are variable applications based on the Holy Spirit’s leading in individual lives. If the Holy Spirit leads you to have a precise rule (standard) to keep you from going off the edge of the plateau, then embrace His loving care for you. The matters referred to as “preference” are not matters of our preference, but of the Spirit’s preference for us. He knows us and what we need. But let others be persuaded as well. 

To have rules without the Spirit is to depend on the rules which have no power. But to have rules that the Holy Spirit leads you to have is to depend on the Holy Spirit, who is power Himself. The Holy Spirit will lead you to have standards to protect your walk with Him. This is the difference between Christian legalism and true Christian liberty. Within the boundaries of the Book He wrote, the Spirit gives you liberty to do what He leads you to do and liberty to not do what he leads you not to do. 

Spirituality is walking in the Spirit. Standards do not make you spiritual. But Spirit-led standards are necessary protections so you can be spiritual.

I sometimes write with detail regarding legalists—because I was one. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees, trained under Gamaliel…well, you get the point. Then in 1999, the Holy Spirit revealed to me the person of Jesus. Jesus Christ, not only as the source of power but the goal. Not a law-list, but a person who, when accessed, fulfills the law because He is love, and love fulfills the law (Gal. 3:14). This was an epistemological change in my thinking—a change of grids. I used to be all about the rules, and my rules were more righteous than anyone else’s rules! So arrogant, but I was blind to it at the time. Then the Spirit revealed to me the person of Jesus and ignited a relationship. I remember thinking, “Why was I so passionate about preaching on rituals when Jesus is far better?” The Holy Spirit still leads me to the rules He knows I need. I have rules that others may not. He also gave me liberty to offload that which was merely manmade. But He leads with personalized care. He also liberates to give latitude to others to follow His personalized care for them within the boundaries of the absolutes that are for all.

What’s your passion? Rules? No Rules? Or the Ruler?