Jesus said further of them: “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. ‘but in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’[Quoting Isaiah 29:13] “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition” (Mark 7:6-9; Matthew 15:9).
Religion is about having a good life by following certain religious tenants and thereby living a “righteous life”. For instance Jehovah's Witnesses teach that you must call God Jehovah or you are subject to judgment. In Catholicism you won’t go to heaven unless you believe the Pope is God on earth and follow the tenants of the Catholic church; Mormons must believe the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and the Mormon apostles or they will be denied entrance to “heaven”; Islam must follow Mohammed's strict disciplinary religious and secular laws; so called Christians must follow the tenants and doctrines of their particular religion of which there are thousands (Methodists, Calvinism, Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Lutherans etc.).
The Lord told a parable which is a perfect representation of the religious world: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14).
Religion wants to show you off as righteous by publicly enumerating the wonderful works you have done, thereby gaining the favor of men. Those who engage in such self- exaltation never realize that their perceived righteousness is not righteousness at all. "Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). God looks at man’s righteousness this way: "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; (Isaiah 64:6).
Christ showed the Pharisees that life was more than a set of rules. “A Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He [Jesus] had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness... For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others" Matthew 23:25-28).
Paul rebuked religion in a nutshell: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of the wisdom of self-made (or would be) religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence" (Collisions 2:22-23).
In the Book of Galatians Paul goes into more detail while denouncing religion in favor of spiritually:
“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?..." So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?... Just as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham (Galatians 3:1-7).
Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE righteous MAN SHALL live by faith.” (Gal 3:11)… For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:5-6).
And he goes on to explain: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (Gal 5:16-18).
In Galatia, false prophets were attempting to put the church back under Mosaic Law by requiring circumcision and adherence to other laws of righteousness. Paul had to remind the members of the church at Galatia, sternly, not to give up the freedom in Christ given them, by returning to the old Judaic law of physical circumcision and following religious rites. Paul’s epistles indicate a constant struggle against those would abrogate Christ’s New Covenant in favor of an outdated law of do’s and don’ts.
It is in Romans Chapters 7 & 8 that Paul teaches us how to walk in the Spirit. The flesh nature he refers to is the natural man exhibiting a nature inherited from Adam and Eve after their fall from the Garden. In Chapter 7, Paul himself recognizes the struggle within himself between the two natures: flesh v. Spirit. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me” (Romans 7:18-20). Finally in desperation of his dilemma he exclaims: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (v. 24). This is the conflict. Religion based on attempted obedience to the Law by the flesh can never be accomplished in the natural world. That is why God sent Christ, to do it for us.
Paul answers his own question: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin (v. 25).
In Romans 8 he shows us how to do it. Man who tries to be righteous by following the law, hoping that to whatever degree he is able to do the commandments that God will count that as righteousness. Some religious men feel that if they do their best to live a righteous life that God will make up the difference. That is not how God works—He makes no allowance whatsoever for the flesh of man. He is intent on destroying it completely. It the basis of religion to attempt to work yourself up to God’s standards, hoping He will be pleased with the effort. That is the basis of religion. God will never be pleased by anything you do unless you accept the fact that He has already become righteousness for you and accept it. A spiritual man realizes he/she can never follow the law in himself, so he knows he must turn to Christ who did follow the law and fulfilled it for him. He reaches to God and accepts the gift of grace.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:2-4).
Even the human mind, with its great intellect and understanding of all things worldly, can never know God in the Spirit. Religion is a mental ascent to the truth. Paul says: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:6-8). The answer is to know God in the spirit by connecting to Him with our own spirits
