The Blessing and Dangers of Standards

Convictions, Criterion and Contextualization

Standards are your criteria for maintaining your convictions. We establish them as the guidelines in our lives to help us live out faithfully our Biblical convictions. Standards are often the way we interpret and put into practice a biblical conviction. By this definition, standards are subjective. We often form our standards in light of the culture around us, our personal preference, and the experience of our own weakness and susceptibility to temptation.  

For the Christian, both our convictions and our standards are to be built upon principles taught in the Scripture. Paul told the Church of the Thessalonians:

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-16

Conviction should be clearly defined and supported by Scripture. Bible conviction is established by a faithful exegesis and explanation of a principle found in the Bible. Conviction is a firmly held belief. Paul taught a system of ordinances and traditions that were to be kept by the church. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Paul exhorts the believers to continue in their convictions, praying that, “as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.” What did they receive from Paul? They received the gospel (1:5), the word of the Lord (1:7).

The first great controversy in the early church was centered on the inclusion of Gentiles into the faith without their conversion to Judaism. Certain believers from the Jewish Church in Jerusalem were making itinerant visits to churches where numerous Gentiles were being saved. They were teaching that in order to be a true believer and take part in the inheritance of the saints, you had to be circumcised and keep the law. This was a teaching that was being driven in large part by the believing Pharisees (Acts 15:5). This is why doctrine is important. These Pharisees in the Jerusalem Church were believers. This means that they were truly saved. But they were teaching that it was needful to be circumcised and to keep the law to maintain a walk with God.

Some of their followers, however, were teaching that it was necessary to be circumcised in order to be saved. Acts 15:1 says that, “Certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” This is absolute heresy. Here we see the danger of developing a conviction or a standard on a misinterpretation of Scripture or on a preference. Conviction developed and based upon your preference rather than a clear scriptural mandate is dangerous and hinders the organic growth of the gospel. Conviction must come from an objective exegesis of Scripture.

Jesus told the Pharisees to “search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). Most of the Jewish religious leaders were subjectively interpreting scriptures, teaching for commandments the tradition of men. The standards and traditions that the Jewish fathers taught had become more important to the religious teachers of Israel than the Word of God itself. It led to an extreme form of legalism, emphasizing the works of men to the detriment of true righteousness which is by faith.

But before we are too hard on the Pharisees, we need to remember that the Bible did command the Jews to be circumcised or they risk being cut off from the commonwealth and blessing of God. They were right to be serious about circumcision.

Don’t make the symbol the source

Where the Pharisees went wrong was where they had taken the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham and turned it into the source of the blessing. They took a symbol of the blessing and made it the source of blessing. They took the symbol by which God’s people identified with a holy God and made it the means by which they were made holy. They thought that their obedience to the law, their own righteousness, would give them eternal life. Again, Jesus stated that an objective exegesis of Scripture will point to man’s need for the Messiah. The Scriptures do not reveal what laws we must keep to be made righteous. The law reveals that none are righteous and only the One who is truly righteous, the Messiah, can make us righteous through faith and that by means of grace.

God blessed Abraham, not because he was circumcised, rather He blessed him because of his faith. By the time Jesus came onto the scene, the Pharisees had traded the commandments of God for the traditions of men. They taught that obedience to their interpretation of Scripture was necessary to be accepted by God. They made their standard the means of sanctification. This is dangerous. The followers of such teaching risk becoming, as Jesus stated, two-fold children of hell. Disciples of such wrong teaching will take the wrong emphasis and form false doctrine.

The Christian Pharisees taught that it was expedient to be circumcised and keep the law. They taught that this standard made you holy and acceptable to God. They taught that this tradition was the means to being sanctified. Their followers took that teaching and applied it to salvation, preaching that except you be circumcised, you cannot be saved.

Conviction developed and based upon your preference rather than a clear scriptural mandate is dangerous and hinders the organic growth of the gospel.

Are Standards Important?

Standards are influenced by the culture of our society, the culture of our churches and families, as well as our own personal tastes and preferences.

For example, a conviction would be the belief that Jesus is God in human flesh. The Bible clearly states this to be true. God became a man. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This is a conviction that is defined by Scripture and supported by Scripture.

A standard would be a preacher who believes he should wear a white shirt and tie when he stands behind the pulpit to declare God’s Word. A proper standard should support a biblical conviction. What conviction is this standard supporting? Possibly the conviction that all things in church be done decently and in order. Maybe it helps him support his conviction that God requires us to do all to His glory. Whatever be the case, this standard is his personal interpretation of how to keep a conviction. This standard is influenced by what the culture deems as appropriate attire and his own personal preference.

In the culture where we work, a shirt and tie is not the standard of what is deemed as formal attire. When men dress formally they adorn a robe. Based on the culture around us, I set a standard for proper pulpit attire. I will either wear a dress shirt or a robe. Standards can change depending upon the culture around us, but they should always reflect our convictions.

I’ve heard preachers declare that any man of God who does not wear a shirt and tie when he preaches should not call himself an independent Baptist preacher. Here we are entering the territory of Pharisaical legalism. While no one is teaching that you must wear a shirt and tie to be saved, they are proclaiming that it is a shirt and tie that make you right with God. Remember, standards are not the means of holiness. Your standard does not make you closer to God or more holy. Sanctification is a work of God in you. The standard you establish may help you keep yourself right with God, but it is not the source of a right standing with God. Your standard is subjective to your culture, your preference and your inherent weakness to a particular temptation. To project your standard on others who do not feel the need to keep your standard is not only wrong but dangerous.

Another factor in setting standards is taking into account our personal vulnerability to particular sins. James teaches us that, “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed.” We are all sinners in general, but we also have a tendency to fall into particular and personal sins of the flesh. Someone who has an addiction to, let’s say, coffee, may set a standard of not going to a Starbucks. This standard is based on his own personal weakness. It supports the Biblical conviction that we must pull down every stronghold and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. This means we are to not be brought under the power of any but live in submission to Christ.  

Standards are important. They say a lot about the convictions we hold. To say that you don’t have standards because you believe in grace is actually a low view of grace. Someone who throws out standards because they were hurt by the legalistic misuse of standards has failed to see that they are reacting to an objective propagation of standards as a means of holiness, not the subjective implementation of standards as a means to keep our convictions.

No one has the right to force their standards on others nor to teach that their standards are the criteria for being right with God. But you also have no right to dismiss someone who holds a high standard as being legalistic. We cannot judge the heart. People do judge the outward appearance and that appearance (our standard) should honor God as a reflection of His working in our heart.

Yes, much damage has been done in the church by legalistic Pharisees who teach that the keeping of their standard is on par with the keeping of a biblical doctrine. But I fear that much more damage is being wrecked by those who use the doctrine of grace to justify licentious living. May God help us to deepen our biblical convictions, grow in our faith and knowledge of Christ and develop standards that reflect His glory to the world around us.

May we exercise grace to those who have differing standards and seek wisdom when our standards are less than worthy of His glory.

Let me know what you think. Share your comments and thoughts below.