{"id":408,"date":"2005-06-10T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2005-06-10T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/"},"modified":"2005-06-10T04:30:00","modified_gmt":"2005-06-10T09:30:00","slug":"legalism-by-any-other-name-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Legalism by any other name is…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/div>\n

Covenant path marking.<\/p>\n

In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking<\/span><\/a> (break the bank!), Finnish scholar Tom Holmen offers a new category through which we can process our \u201ctheories of Christian behavior.\u201d In essence, Holmen contends that Jews sought for genuine covenant faithfulness and, attached to that seeking, each new group and movement developed a set of covenant path markers<\/span>. Covenant path markers are specific behaviors \u2014 Sabbath, circumcision, food laws, tithing, fasting, divorce, oath-taking, companionship, the Temple.<\/p>\n

Instead of using \u201clegalism,\u201d which has become a bogey word for bogey opponents for each of us, why not shift this term to \u201ccovenant path markers\u201d so we can get a fresh start on a genuinely serious problem we all face?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what covenant path markers do (and now I begin to extrapolate from Holmen\u2019s study): first, they quantify covenant faithfulness into behavior that can be measured and seen; second, they enable us to \u201cjudge ourselves\u201d on whether or not we are faithful; and third, they enable us to judge others on whether or not the others are faithful.<\/p>\n

Legalism, aka covenant path marking, is a vicious form of life: instead of living faithfully, we are judging faithfulness. (Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m all for covenant faithfulness.)<\/p>\n

Two final comments: first, we need to admit that we are all involved in covenant parth marking. Sometimes more severely than other times; some more than others; but each of us uses various behaviors to judge ourselves and others.<\/p>\n

Second, there are only two \u201ctheories\u201d of the Christian life that simply cannot be \u201cmarked.\u201d You won\u2019t be surprised by this, but they are (1) Jesus\u2019 use of the Jesus Creed<\/a>: loving God and loving others. And, (2) Paul\u2019s use of the category of \u201clife in the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why each is \u201cunmarkable.\u201d Because Love is a response and a life that transcends the observable and life in the Spirit is as well. Who can say \u201cI\u2019ve got love down, give me a challenge\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m always in the Spirit, anything else you want me to do?\u201d These two are unmarkable in part because they are ongoing, responsive, and qualitative features of Christian existence. And they are both almost \u201cunjudgeable\u201d: how can we really know if someone is loving? how can we know if someone is really \u201cliving in the Spirit\u201d? Only by converting love and Spirit into \u201cobjectified\u201d covenant path markers, and when we do that we slip out of the embrace of love and the Spirit.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, a post on the six theories of the Christian life and their various covenant path markers.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Covenant path marking. In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish scholar Tom Holmen offers a new category through which we can process our \u201ctheories of Christian behavior.\u201d In essence, Holmen contends that Jews sought for genuine covenant faithfulness and, attached to that seeking, each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1742],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embracing-grace"],"yoast_head":"\nLegalism by any other name is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Covenant path marking.In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legalism by any other name is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Covenant path marking.In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-06-10T09:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/\",\"name\":\"Legalism by any other name is...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-06-10T09:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-06-10T09:30:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Covenant path marking.In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legalism by any other name is…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legalism by any other name is...","description":"Covenant path marking.In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Legalism by any other name is...","og_description":"Covenant path marking.In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2005-06-10T09:30:00+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/","name":"Legalism by any other name is...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-06-10T09:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-06-10T09:30:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Covenant path marking.In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/06\/10\/legalism-by-any-other-name-is\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legalism by any other name is…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}