Faith in Action

1 John 2:5-6 (ESV) ⁵ By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Legalism is the strict adherence to law which in turn will bring salvation.  This is where the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' time got it wrong.  The Law of God had become a list of requirements (some of which were added by man) to show or prove their "holiness."  Spirituality had become a set of regulations.  The better one held to the regulations the more spiritual one was considered.

Christ's coming flipped this thinking upside down.  Jesus did everything different.  He spent time with tax collectors, Samaritans, women, and prostitutes and spoke against the legalism of the spiritual leaders of the day.  So how should we take the verse above?  It seems as if John is promoting legalism in saying that whoever abides in him ought to do what Jesus did (works).

John Calvin has a wonderful commentary on this passage.  He gives a few passages from the words of Moses to the people of Israel concerning the Law of God.

Deuteronomy 10:12 (ESV) And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (ESV) ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Moses is calling the people to "walk in all his ways" and "obeying his voice."  But there is a deeper sense beyond works based love.  Calvin adds in his commentary, "For the law, which is spiritual, does not command only external works, but enjoins this especially, to love God with the whole heart."  Obeying God's precepts cannot be disconnected from the heart.  The Apostle John is pointing out that if I say I love God then my works and actions will follow suit.  If I love Jesus then I will walk as he walked.  I will obey his commands.  This is not legalism.  This is faith in action.