Beyond the Rules
“But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed… The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.” – Romans 3:21-22
The Pharisees had rules for everything. And I mean everything. They were so committed to avoiding any chance of offending God that they wouldn’t even say His name out loud. When they wrote it, they removed the vowels. YHWH. To them, it was too holy to speak or write fully. Their intentions may have started in the right place, but they took things so far that eventually they lost sight of the heart behind it all.
Their fear of messing up drove them to create barriers around God’s law. To avoid temptation, they wouldn’t look at women. To protect the Sabbath, they outlawed 39 different categories of possible work. The result? A culture of fear, not freedom. Of pressure, not peace. They weren’t drawing people closer to God. They were driving them away by making Him feel unreachable.
Paul understood that kind of legalism because he lived it. He had been a Pharisee. He knew exactly what it meant to stack up rule after rule and call it righteousness. But after meeting Jesus, everything changed. That’s why he wrote in Romans 10 that those who tried to build their own righteousness never actually submitted to God's. They missed the point completely.
Righteousness isn’t about how many rules you follow or how religious you appear. It's about whether or not you’ve trusted the only One who is truly righteous, Jesus. When He saves you, He gives you His righteousness as a gift. You don’t earn it, you receive it by faith. And once you have it, your heart starts to change. You don’t obey to be righteous, you obey because you are righteous.
If you're exhausted from trying to keep up appearances or prove your worth to God, let this be your reminder. The righteousness God requires is the righteousness He provides. You don’t have to perform to be loved. You just have to believe.
The Pharisees had rules for everything. And I mean everything. They were so committed to avoiding any chance of offending God that they wouldn’t even say His name out loud. When they wrote it, they removed the vowels. YHWH. To them, it was too holy to speak or write fully. Their intentions may have started in the right place, but they took things so far that eventually they lost sight of the heart behind it all.
Their fear of messing up drove them to create barriers around God’s law. To avoid temptation, they wouldn’t look at women. To protect the Sabbath, they outlawed 39 different categories of possible work. The result? A culture of fear, not freedom. Of pressure, not peace. They weren’t drawing people closer to God. They were driving them away by making Him feel unreachable.
Paul understood that kind of legalism because he lived it. He had been a Pharisee. He knew exactly what it meant to stack up rule after rule and call it righteousness. But after meeting Jesus, everything changed. That’s why he wrote in Romans 10 that those who tried to build their own righteousness never actually submitted to God's. They missed the point completely.
Righteousness isn’t about how many rules you follow or how religious you appear. It's about whether or not you’ve trusted the only One who is truly righteous, Jesus. When He saves you, He gives you His righteousness as a gift. You don’t earn it, you receive it by faith. And once you have it, your heart starts to change. You don’t obey to be righteous, you obey because you are righteous.
If you're exhausted from trying to keep up appearances or prove your worth to God, let this be your reminder. The righteousness God requires is the righteousness He provides. You don’t have to perform to be loved. You just have to believe.
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