That the ELCA approved same-gender sex is thought of by supporters as an act of tolerance and mercy, a triumph of the Gospel. But it isn’t. It denies the Gospel and substitutes another kind of legalism.
It is one thing to forgive sin. It is another to deny that the sin is a sin. The latter approach says that the sinner does not need forgiveness. He is not a sinner after all but a good person. We are back to legalism. Our status before God is based on how good we are.
Legalism can be harsh and rigid, but I’m not sure it usually is. The standard of God’s Law is so high that no one can really fulfill it, so instead, those who assume salvation is by obeying the law find ways around it. They find loopholes. They make excuses. They fixate on some rules that are easy for them to follow and ignore the weightier matters of the law. This is why legalists are often manifestly bad people. They obey laws easy for them, but they treat other people abominably. If even minor compliance proves too difficult, they can always take the next step of watering down the Law. The Law that condemns me I reject. It’s misinterpreted. It really means something else. It’s not a Law after all. So I am a good person.
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