The language of discipleship, discipline, fellowship, and obedience has been hijacked by legalistic systems to burden believers and rob them of the liberty Christ secured. These terms, when stripped of their New Testament context and recast through the lens of law and self-effort, become instruments of condemnation and spiritual exhaustion. But the gospel does not leave us in bondage. It proclaims our union with Christ, our standing in grace, and our inheritance as sons—realities that legalism cannot tolerate, and which it actively undermines.
Discipleship: Not a Call to Burden, But to Abide
The legalistic approach to discipleship clings to the pre-cross commands of the Synoptic Gospels, as if following Jesus means imitating His earthly walk by sheer willpower. The result is predictable: a life of striving, anxiety, and the ever-present sense that you have not done enough. This is not discipleship; it is slavery to an impossible standard.
But God has not called you to follow Christ from a distance. He has baptized you into Christ’s death and resurrection, making you a member of His body. Discipleship, in the biblical sense, is abiding in Christ—resting in the union God Himself has established. As His word abides in you, fruit is borne not by your effort, but by the Spirit, through faith. This is the only path to true growth and freedom: knowing Jesus, being liberated from the law’s demands, and experiencing the truth that sets you free. The burden is not on you; it has already been borne by Christ. Your part is to reckon yourself dead to sin and the law, and alive to God in Christ, so that He becomes the reality of your life.
Discipline: God’s Loving Training, Not Legal Threat
Legalism recasts God’s discipline as punitive—a looming threat for those who fail to measure up. This is a distortion. God disciplines His children out of wisdom and love, not wrath. Discipline is not retribution; it is training. Through circumstances and trials, God exercises your senses, teaching you to discern good and evil, and drawing you to trust Christ rather than yourself. Though discipline may be unpleasant, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness and strengthens your faith. Every son whom God receives is a partaker of this discipline, and it is a mark of His fatherly care, not His displeasure.
Church Fellowship: The Body, Not a Hierarchy
Legalistic church systems reduce fellowship to passive attendance and submission to a professional clergy who mix law and grace, keeping the flock in fear and spiritual infancy. The result is a congregation plagued by condemnation, anxiety, and stunted growth. This is not the fellowship Christ purchased.
The true church is the Body of Christ, where every member is called to function for the building up of all. Elders and deacons are not overlords, but shepherds who equip the saints to stand confidently in grace, free from the fear of condemnation and the threats of law-based obedience. In this environment, saints are able to speak the word of grace, shepherd one another, and resist the winds of false doctrine. Thanksgiving, not fear, fills their hearts. This is the fellowship that legalism cannot produce and actively opposes.
Obedience: Standing in Liberty, Not Striving in Fear
Legalistic obedience is nothing more than external conformity, motivated by fear of discipline and the desire to avoid punishment. It produces striving, bondage, and the loss of assurance. But the obedience God desires is rooted in liberty—the liberty Christ has secured for you. You are complete in Him, dead to the law and sin, and no longer subject to their demands. Obedience is holding fast to the mystery of Christ in you, building yourself up in the faith, and letting the word of Christ dwell in you until your heart overflows with thanksgiving. It is a joyful, Spirit-led response to grace, not a desperate attempt to earn God’s favor.
What Is Lost If Legalism Prevails?
If you accept the legalistic distortions of these terms, you lose everything that makes the gospel good news. You forfeit your assurance, your inheritance, your sonship, and your liberty. You are left with a system that cannot produce fruit, cannot equip you to stand, and cannot deliver you from sin or condemnation. Worse, you are cut off from the knowledge of Christ as your life, and from the fellowship of the Body as God intended. Legalism does not merely hinder growth; it collapses the very foundation of justification by faith and the reality of your union with Christ.
The Call: Stand Fast in Grace
Do not let anyone steal your crown by dragging you back under the law. Separate yourself from law-based teachers and those who defile the house of God with vain jangling. Be willing to bear the reproach of Christ outside the camp, for this is your glory and assurance of the Kingdom. Your Father delights to give you the Kingdom—not as a wage for your labor, but as your inheritance in Christ. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and refuse every yoke of bondage. This is not a secondary matter; it is the heart of the gospel and the ground of your assurance.
Let the finished work of Christ define your discipleship, your discipline, your fellowship, and your obedience. Anything less is a return to slavery, and a denial of the grace that has set you free.
