A Whitewashed Tomb in Rome

Jesus Christ took pity upon sinners, but also in a certain sense hated the Pharisees and what they stood for. They had turned their religion into legalism; God's Word into a text that needed thousands of additional rules to guard against sin; the Law as a ladder to righteousness; sin as those outward acts that violated the Law or the additional rules. This manipulation of the True, Revealed Religion infuriated Jesus, and He condemned it at every point. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus informed the masses that sin infects the internal man as well as the external deeds. In fact, he who hates is guilty of murder. He who lusts, adultery.

Perhaps Jesus' most pointed words came in Matthew 23:27--"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." Paul, the last apostle of Jesus, took this zeal for the majesty of God and His law upon his own lips. When the Judaizers followed Paul around from city to city, telling the new Christian babes that they also needed to be circumcised and abide by certain customs as well as following Christ, Paul thundered "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!" (Gal. 5:12). This language seems shocking to the weak-kneed, teary-eyed Church in the present day, but the Lord and His appointed apostles didn't take the manipulation of the Gospel lightly--and neither should the present Church.

In the present measure of the "Pope" to add to the list of "mortal" sins in order to increase the general awareness of sin and compel more people into confession, one finds another example of Pharisaism at its worst. This man takes upon himself the role of apostle, though that line ended with Paul, and thus feels the liberty to take from or add to God's Holy Word, against the specific prohibition of such treachery against the King in the final chapter of Scripture. This measure will work against this man's aim in this case, as such a hierarchy of sins and surrounding rules serve merely to make the self-righteous more content in their sin and the dregs of society more lethargic in their hopelessness. Is God's law to be used in such a way as to provide a means for salvation and sin-avoidance?

1) It would be futile to argue that the Mosaic Law did not abide by a works principle (Gal. 3:6-12). What was the purpose of this principle though? In Galatians 3:8, Paul makes clear that faith was always required for salvation; in 3:10, he shows that all live by the law live under its curse.

2) That works principle was never meant for salvation (Gal. 3:15-29). The Law given to Moses didn't set aside the gracious Promise already given to Abraham (3:17), but was rather a written tutor, pointing the way to Christ (3:24--the phrase "put in charge" refers to a pedagogue, or teach, in the Greek). It fulfilled this purpose by driving man to his knees. Instead of being a staircase to salvation, it was an unattainable standard. Working in cooperation with the Promise of Christ, it exposed the need for Christ.

3) The Law for the people of old was a basic or elementary principle (4:3) and incomplete apart from Christ. The people of old eventually perverted the pedagogical purpose of the Law and made it into a slave-driver, thus making them slaves to something that was not God (4:8). It would thus seem ridiculous that anyone would return to the Law when it was never meant to lead anywhere but Christ (4:9). The Law apart from its fulfillment becomes mere paganism with its vacuous religion and hollow hopes.

4) Christ took the curse of the Law upon Himself, inheriting the blessing that came through perfect fulfillment for His people (Gal. 4:4-5). Christ was born with full humanity and under the full dominion of the law (v.4) in order to salvage/redeem humans born under the full weight of the law (v.5).

5) As the Law has been fulfilled in Christ, it is impossible to return it as a mode of religion (Gal. 5:3-4). All who seek salvation by the Law becomes its debtor (v.3), and thus demonstrate separation from Christ and grace (v.4). The Law, in a certain sense, has become obsolete (at least as it guides one to salvation) and brings only condemnation apart from Christ. Why would anyone stand before the judgment seat of God without Christ the Mediator? He bore the great hammer-stroke of justice so His people would not have to and be damned.

The man assuming the position of Christ over the Church sits upon a throne of lies. He advocates measures that would beautify an ugly humanity, thus making them more complacent as judgment nears. Not only is this unbiblical, ungodly, and outright heresy--it is an inhumane travesty that must be fought with every bit of sweat and tears that Christians can muster--knowing the beauty of calling men to God, rather than calling men "God."