The Problem With Making Christianity a Religion of Rules

Matt Perman:

There are three problems with seeing Christianity primarily in terms of following rules.

First, this notion is just wrong.

Second, it obscures the fact that the solution to our problem is not following rules, but forgiveness.

Third, it gives the impression, as William Wilberforce said, that Christianity is “a system of prohibitions rather than privileges and hopes.” A focus on rules overpowers the emphatic New Testament ethos of joy, making the Christian faith wear “a forbidding and bloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy.”