We need a little more James and a little less Galatians. James and Paul were not battling each other head to head, but rather back to back. Paul fought off the legalists on one side while James fought of the licentious on the other. As you may have diagnosed for the canonical material, there were more legalists roaming about in first century Christianity.
Our scales have turned now. The legalists are still out there, but it is now the licentious that roam in mass. We are not setting people up to earn salvation, but to truly follow Jesus, we have to raise the bar on what we do.
3 responses so far ↓
mwolf34 // January 17, 2008 at 12:27 pm |
Licentious, this word does not come up much in everyday language. A definition I found online reads, “Lacking moral discipline or ignoring legal restraint.” Most definitions particularly focused on a lack of restraint in sexual conduct.
I like your observation of Paul and James fighting back to back. In my opinion they were fighting the same thing though it expressed itself differently. They both argue to keep our focus on Jesus and to truly follow Him. When we take our focus off of Jesus and place it on ourselves, we can take a legalistic approach and make up our “own rules” and judging others by them. This situation appears to be relevant to Paul. Likewise, if we focus on ourselves we may choose to, in our liberty, simply do what “feels” right or good. James clearly points out that we should look to God and His word (perfect law) for direction in our lives and that life certainly doesn’t always feel good.
I agree, that today James’ message seems to speak more directly to the problems found in most churches and Christ followers lives. I know it is true of my own.
brian hofmeister // January 17, 2008 at 1:44 pm |
mwolf34,
Thanks for the well rounded perspective. We really don’t need to play Biblical favorites because it all comes together in one unified message. Our deviations from God’s direction may differ, but the direction always remains the same.
Pages tagged "licentious" // January 24, 2008 at 11:16 pm |
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