Judgmentalism, Legalism, and the Traditional “Gospel”

I believe that judgmentalism and legalism are a natural byproduct of the traditional “gospel” of acceptance/exclusion. The traditional “gospel” affirms that God ultimately accepts some people and excludes/rejects others. If we believe this then we will naturally seek to identify those who are accepted “with us” and those who are and will be excluded from God and us. We naturally question whether or not we and others are accepted, and we come up with a list of rules, requirements as to whom we believe to be accepted by God and thus by us. The rules might be as simple as confessing faith in Jesus, praying the sinner’s prayer, or as specific as taking several steps.

I was raised in a fellowship which taught that no one was really saved until they actually made it into heaven because a person could fall from grace at any time if they… We didn’t know for sure we were saved, but we were pretty confident that others were not! This judgmentalism and legalism flowed from a lack of faith in the atonement of Christ for ourselves and others.

Thankfully, I have come to have faith that salvation is by grace alone, and not based on my rightness in beliefs, attitudes, or actions. I believe that Jesus died for all my sins – past, present, and future, sins I’ve repented of and sins I’ll not repent of until I stand before Him in judgment. And since He died for my sins, I’m assured I’ll live with Him forever. He has redeemed me and is and will set me free from sin and death! This was a revolutionary change in faith for me, chaning from a works based salvation to a grace based salvation.

And now I have come to have faith in Christ not only for my salvation, but for the salvation of others also, all humanity, believing that Jesus not only died for my sins, but for the sins of the whole world. I’ve come to trust that the revelation of His love for me that set me free will ultimately set everyone free when they receive that revelation, if not in this present evil world, in the world to come (Evangelical Universalism).

This faith in Christ and faith in the grace of God has freed me from legalism and judgmentalism. Instead of seeing others as not being accepted by God, I see everyone as family, “us”, whether they believe as I do or not, whether they’ve been born of the Spirit as I have or not. I see them this way because 1) they are created in the image of God (an idiomatic phrase that speaks of family relationship, even parenthood), 2) Jesus died for their sins, and 3) God loves them/us and love never fails. Jesus does not fail to save any whom He loves, and He loves all humanity!

Judgmetalism and legalism are natural byproducts of the tradtional “gospel” of exclusion. And note that I put “gospel” in quotes; I did so to highlight that this “gospel” is not really “Good News” at all; rather, it is “bad news” for the excluded. Is it a wonder that most Christians are not active in sharing the traditional “gospel”; no one wants to be the bearer of “bad news”.