Is the Law of Christ Legal? (by Monroe Hawley)

Much has been written recently regarding liberalism. An increasing number of preachers who have espoused this position have left the church and are now working with the liberal Disciples of Christ. An area most seriously affected has been Chicago and northern Illinois. At least seven former preachers from that section have left the church within the last few years, the latest being J. P. Sanders of Rockford, Ill., and Donald Anderson of Chicago. Any system of thought which produces so much apostasy must be opposed and in order to oppose it we must also try to understand it.

Liberalism, in the sense we are using the expression, is a revolt against what has been called legalism. Legalism in turn may be defined as the attitude of the Pharisees of the time of Christ, an attitude which trusts in a code of deeds and observances for justification from sin. Because there are those who have placed so much stress upon the letter that they have missed the spirit of Christianity, the liberal brethren have gone to the other extreme and stressed the spirit to the virtual denial of the importance of obedience to Christ. As a pendulum swings from one extreme to the other, so liberalism is the antithesis of legalism.

Basis of Liberalism

What is the basis of liberalism? It is my conviction that it is rooted in the denial that the law of Christ is legal. The reasoning goes like this. God is a God of love. The relationship which we sustain to him is a relationship of love—a father-son relationship. The laws of Christ are based on love and are personal; therefore they are not legal. The important thing is not the letter, but the spirit of the commands of God. If we miss the letter through ignorance or some other cause, God will accept the intent for the act. For example, if a man misunderstands that baptism is by immersion, and if he is sprinkled instead, God will accept his intention to be baptized as a fulfillment of His command. When he commits himself to Christ by being sprinkled, he becomes a Christian, even though he has not been immersed.

To understand better this view notice the following example. A man is arrested for going 65 miles an hour in a 35 mile an hour speed zone. He has broken the law. He pleads that be was ignorant of the speed limit. Should the judge say, "That's all right. You intended to keep the law so we will say that you did keep it," he would be using the same reasoning employed by our liberal brethren. But obviously, even though, his emotions might dictate otherwise, the judge has no alternative than to find the man guilty of the charge. He might suspend the sentence, but he still finds him guilty because the law is legal. If the law were not legal, the judge could do as he pleased without respect to what was written because the law would cease to be law and become only a list of recommended suggestions.

It is similarly reasoned that since the law of Christ is not legal, that no command of the Lord must be literally kept. Each command should be kept, but if one can capture the spirit of the command in another way than specified in the command then that will do.

Much of the reasoning of the liberals is true. God is a God of love. We do sustain a personal father-son relationship to Him. His law is a law of love. With this much I can entirely agree.

Fallacy in Reasoning

But the fallacy of the whole line of reasoning is found in the conclusion that is drawn from these basic principles, namely, that since the law of Christ is a law of love that it cannot also be legal. The mistake is in assuming that love and legality are contradictory. They are not.

The love of God as shown in Christ is found within a legal system as I propose to show.

Jesus Christ does have a law. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty" (Jas. 1:25). 'If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well" (Jas. 2:8). "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). Now, is this Iaw, legal? Yes. It cannot be otherwise, even though it is a law of love. The primary definition of legal is—" (1) Of, pertaining to, based upon, or governed by, law. (2) In conformity with, or permitted by, law; lawful." In other words, anything which is of law is legal and cannot be otherwise. A law is legal in the same sense that a dog is an animal. A dog is an animal by definition. To say that the law of Christ is not legal is to say that Jesus Christ has no law which is a contradiction of the scriptures.

Anyone conversant with Paul's teaching on justification from sin as set forth in Romans must realize that it is a legal one. Moses E. Lard in his Commentary on Romans, P. 42, in discussing the meaning of the Greek word "dikaio" which is translated "justified" says, "Here now in a passage in the New Testament (Acts 13:39—M.H.), a passage from Paul's own lips, dikaio clearly means to be released from sin, to be acquitted or pardoned. The passage is perhaps final as to the meaning of the word. The scene is judicial, the party arraigned is the believer, the charge is of his sins, and the result is the release from them. This release is expressed by dikaio. In all similar cases, then, release from sin or acquittal must be held to be its true meaning." Justification, therefore, is a legal term. When we are arraigned before God for our sins, our sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ, and we are legally acquitted of the charge or found not guilty. This system of justification is therefore both merciful (and therefore of love) and just (and therefore legal). We are legally justified and without this legal justification there is no promise of salvation. If the blood of Christ to pay for our sins is not legally appropriated by our faith and obedience, our transgressions are not forgiven, and we are therefore found legally guilty before God. What some fail to realize is that the love and mercy of God are thus found within a legal system of justification rather than outside it. The sum total of the love of God is found in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for our sins.

There is nothing contradictory between love and law, if that law is a law of love as it is with the law of Christ. There is nothing within this law that implies that a man by his own deeds can save himself. Yet it is still law and being law it must be legal. Being legal it follows that those conditions of appropriation of the love of God through Christ must be met. Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Since Jesus here says that a man must be born again and this condition is legal, one cannot without the birth of water and the Spirit reach the blood of Christ that he might be saved. If this makes baptism essential, so be it, even though the liberals say that nothing is essential and that we must not use the word "must".

Cure for Liberalism

What is the cure for liberalism? That is not an easy question to answer. But here are three suggestions. Get rid of any legalism we may have because it is this which begets liberalism. Preach the whole counsel of God and that means a balanced gospel. Accept any truthful principles stressed by liberalism, but refuse to compromise with all of its errors.
– Preceptor, February, 1955