The legalists use sin as an excuse to judge someone. The case of the people condemning the woman caught in adultery is a prime example of this. Such people may appear to be righteous and concerned about upholding God's standards, but in reality they are reacting out if insecurity and are seeking to prove themselves better than others. Or, to be more accurate, less bad than others. Here Paul tells us how we should react.
Or first priority should be to seek to restore the person, and to do so gently. At the same time we are not to be naive. We need to watch that we too do not fall to the same temptation. None of us is immune from temptation, and we need to recognise this.
In a legalistic environment people become concerned about their rank in the pecking order, but in the kingdom we are to carry one another's burdens. We are not competing against each other. The cross has set us free from all need to prove ourselves, whether that be to prove ourselves righteous, or to prove ourselves better than someone else. Instead we are free to love each other, free to look after the needs of each other.
If ever we catch ourselves having a competitive spirit in this sense, then we need to correct ourselves, for such thoughts and attitudes come from the flesh, not the Spirit. But this manifestly does not mean we have no standards, or do not seek to do the best we can, but we do not waste our time comparing ourselves against each other.
In the kingdom when one wins all win.
Or first priority should be to seek to restore the person, and to do so gently. At the same time we are not to be naive. We need to watch that we too do not fall to the same temptation. None of us is immune from temptation, and we need to recognise this.
In a legalistic environment people become concerned about their rank in the pecking order, but in the kingdom we are to carry one another's burdens. We are not competing against each other. The cross has set us free from all need to prove ourselves, whether that be to prove ourselves righteous, or to prove ourselves better than someone else. Instead we are free to love each other, free to look after the needs of each other.
If ever we catch ourselves having a competitive spirit in this sense, then we need to correct ourselves, for such thoughts and attitudes come from the flesh, not the Spirit. But this manifestly does not mean we have no standards, or do not seek to do the best we can, but we do not waste our time comparing ourselves against each other.
In the kingdom when one wins all win.
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