Are You a Red-Letter Christian by Bryan Craig
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-19 ESV
A few years ago, I was getting to know a young man and we started talking about our faith. I shared a bit about my faith, talking about Jesus and the importance of abiding in Him. He was quick to tell me that he was a “Red Letter Christian” meaning his faith was based on only Jesus’ words in the Bible. I think this was the first time I’d heard this, and it was curious to me.
Upon further probing, I learned that he had a sister who was living a homosexual lifestyle and was married to a woman. I found out that he and his sister were very close, and when they were young, they used to walk to church together. When one day, she told him she was gay, it rocked his world and his theology. He struggled with it because he knew that there were Scriptures that condemned homosexuality, and he loved his sister. He thought, “Surely God wants her to be happy just the way she is.” He couldn’t find where Jesus Himself seemed to condemn homosexuality so that’s why he decided to be a “Red-Letter Christian.”
I listened intently to his explanation, and my heart went out to him. But the verse above quickly entered my spirit as I thought how I could gently respond to him. Jesus adamantly says that The Law is important. He says that his entrance into the world did not forfeit the importance of the Law, but rather, He fulfills it. So, what is The Law. I spent some time researching this. Most of what the Bible refers to as The Law goes back to the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible and you will find Abrahamic, Creation covenants that God gave to His people, as well as Mosaic Laws, given through Moses. Yes, it includes The Big 10 Commandments, but there’s so much more. As you spend time in these books of the Bible, namely Leviticus, it would be easy to dismiss them as ancient, irrelevant to our culture.
However, who gives us permission to dismiss these passages? All of these laws and all of the words of the Prophets, no matter how harsh or hard to digest, came from the mouth of God. One interesting article I found from The Gospel Coalition (The Law of God - The Gospel Coalition) says that “The Law” speaks of 5 things:
- The Law of God is God Himself
- The Law of God is God’s Absolute Demand on his Moral Creatures
- The Law of God as Scripture
- The Law of God as the Mosaic Covenant
- The Law of God as the Law of Christ
The Law helps us understand the holiness of God and His expectation of holiness from us. The Law gives us a standard that was not created by our whims and wills, but by the Lord God Himself. Paul talks about this dynamic in Romans 7:7-12:
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
We need The Law, we need boundaries, we need a Holy One to help us determine what is good and what is evil. Without The Law, evil would be unrestrained. We are capable of so much evil; it’s sad but true. I mean, why would God have to tell us not to have sex with our Mom (see Leviticus 18:7) if we were not such sinful creatures?
So, where’s the Good News…that’s where I can agree with my “Red-Letter Christian” friend. The good news is in Jesus. The Law is not to be ignored, dismissed, disrespected…The Law reveals to our hearts how much we need a Savior. Jesus, Son of God and God incarnate, came to earth so He could be bound by the same laws as us. Because He is Holy, He is the ONLY ONE who can fulfill all of them. If we put our trust in Him, He fulfills The Law for us. Without Him, we cannot be allowed into a Holy Heaven, in the presence of God.
But I believe that, as we give our lives to Jesus, He brings His holiness into our lives right now, on earth. Just like Paul describes in Romans 7, there should be this struggle within us between our sin nature and Jesus’ holy nature. We feel the weight of The Law and this sin nature, and we feel Jesus asking us to give it all to Him. He is telling us to stop sinning, to strive for holiness, to trust Him with our lives.
Friends, God loves you. This is why He sent Jesus, the One Who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), to save you and to cleanse you and to give you the abundant life you are truly desiring. He is God and you are not. Don’t let your pride and your perspective trump God’s Law or His Love.