Thoughts Concerning John 3:8

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is John 3:8 — the words of Jesus to the Pharisee Nicodemus about the born-again life. Nicodemus was a devout religious man: a respected leader of the Jews, a strict observer of the Law, a member of the Sanhedrin, and apparently quite wealthy (John 19:39). In this chapter he comes to Jesus, acknowledging Him as a good teacher sent by God. Seeing his sincere desire to understand, Jesus remarks how striking it is that a man so learned in the Scriptures, so elevated as a leader (a religious expert, really) among the people — Jesus even calls him “the teacher of Israel” (v. 10) — should still have such difficulty discerning the truth of the Messiah’s coming and the life of the Spirit. (The good thing is, he is at least trying.) Despite the Pharisees’ pride in knowing the Scriptures with great precision, they failed to see Jesus as the fulfillment of those very Scriptures — and of the Law, which was only a shadow of good things to come. Accepting His testimony (John 3:11) required admitting their sin, despite all their religious knowledge and performance, and fully embracing Him as Messiah, Lord, and Savior of the whole world. The Pharisees were used to form. They knew everything about how religion works — formula, ritual, performance, routine, legalism — and it all made sense to their religious mindset, a mindset they had all but perfected. But here, one of them is humble and persistent enough to ask Jesus to help him understand what lay beyond it: the born-again life, which operates outside the confines of typical religious order. May there be many more today bold enough to inquire of the Lord this way.

Sadly, for many who are steeped in organized religion — like many of the Pharisees — it would be too embarrassing to admit that a long life in church-world, and a deep knowledge of Scripture, doesn’t necessarily mean they have fully embraced Him and His truth, let alone comprehended it. Some may even have to face that they have only been presuming themselves righteous because they attend meetings, know the Scriptures, and serve in the organization — none of which can actually achieve right standing with God, and none of which amount to being born again. Righteousness is found in Christ Jesus alone; our own is but filthy rags by comparison (Isaiah 64:6).

It’s easy to be hard on the scribes and Pharisees for their resistance to Jesus — but He was not always harsh with them, nor should we ever think He did not love them or long for them to understand. Remember, in Mark 12, when a scribe asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment, and then gladly replied, “Well said, teacher… To love God with all your heart… and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:32–34). God is not agitated by persistent questioning in the honest effort to understand truth. If even some of the most religious of Jesus’ day could finally embrace Him, so can people today. God is patient with us, and despite our occasional stubbornness He keeps softening hearts and leading us to His truth. It’s probably fair to say most of us still have “religious” tendencies that need to be shaken loose so we can embrace Him fully. May God help us lay down our pride quickly, and not resist Him.

This verse once served as the banner at the top of the TruthForFree.com home page, and I’d like to offer a few thoughts on how the Lord has encouraged my heart through it. As always, I share the following simply as one man’s perspective on a passage of Scripture, for your own consideration and study. May God bless you.

Like the wind

Most Christians agree that John 3:8 speaks of those who are “born again,” and how this remarkable mystery of the Gospel — God causing a man’s spirit to be completely reborn into something new — is so much like the wind: impossible to fully grasp with mere human wisdom, happening by the grace and power of God. I agree with that completely. But I also believe one of the most important things Jesus is saying here is easy to miss on a casual reading: that everyone born of the Spirit is likened to the wind. When I compare the Christian life to that image, I’m led to a simple conclusion — it is not birthed, contained, or controlled by any human device. It cannot be shoved into a formula, a ritual, a program, a church dogma, a religious routine, a building, or a legalistic practice.

This is not to say that Christians assembling together for prayer, worship, and mutual edification is wrong, or without value. It is to say that true Christianity is not defined by, or embodied in, the confines of organized religion (Acts 7:48–51), nor in the “wisdom” and “rule” of religious men that so many feel they must place themselves “under” or be “identified” by (1 Corinthians 1:12–17; 3:4–5). Rather, the Christian’s new life in Christ is brought into being by the Lord Himself — a supernatural event, and therefore not able to be sustained by the flesh. It is something completely spiritual (John 3:6), just as the Church is: maintained by the inner working of His Holy Spirit and the freewill response of a heart wholly given to Him — not by the dictates of organized religion.

The dictates of religion

And what are some of these “dictates” of organized religion? Most people, Christian or not, know them well — many were raised in church, or at least have some church experience. Plenty who don’t attend will bluntly tell you it’s mostly about do’s and don’ts, following rules, rituals, religious formulas, attending programs. And they are 100% right about what it has become — and 100% wrong when they assume God purposed these mindsets for His people. Did you know the Bible actually rejects these things as having anything to do with following Jesus? It’s true — though you’re not likely to hear it preached at your local church anytime soon.

Do you see that? All that regulation is essentially for show — to make you look “spiritual” in front of other people. But all the religious activity in the world can’t clean you up; it can’t give you real power over the sin that rules areas of your life. Only God can work the change He desires, by the power of His Holy Spirit. Religion wants to substitute for that, and that’s why it’s such a false thing. You might fool some people on the surface with your little show of holy perfection, but God knows our imperfections, and we’re certainly not fooling Him. When we busy ourselves trying to make others see how spiritual we think we are, it’s nothing more than pride — and it does not impress God. What impresses God is sincerity, and faith working through love. He looks for people who are completely honest before Him — people who don’t come to Him wearing a religious mask they put on every Sunday for two hours. He wants the heart. He isn’t dissuaded by our baggage, isn’t burdened by our problems, isn’t offended past reach by our sin. Most of all, God is no more interested in mere religion than an unbeliever is. I’ll probably get some mail from a few church-attending folks who don’t like to hear me say that — but I’m sorry; it’s true. He doesn’t care any more about a fancy religious show and a great sermon than the burned-out folks dozing in the pews do. The Bible says God never sleeps nor slumbers — so all that tells me is, He must not be attending church either.

I hope I’m not offending anyone. All I’m trying to convey is that God is interested in the same thing you are, at the core of your being: reality. He wants you, not your squeaky-clean performance — because as squeaky-clean as you think you can get, it still won’t be clean enough. In fact, many church-attending Christians have been deceived into thinking that observing religious rituals — even modernized reapplications of Old Testament practices like tithing — will guarantee them blessing and favor with God, when Scripture says living by such codes actually invites a curse.

The purpose of the Law was never to make men righteous, but to expose their sin. Even Israel failed miserably to keep the Law God ordained for them. All of it was set in place to direct every eye upon Christ, the Messiah who would save the world from sin through the sacrifice of His blood. This is basic Gospel 101 — yet it is this very simple Gospel that so many church-attending Christians have failed to grasp.

The Gospel of Jesus destroys any possibility of the flesh being glorified. The Law and the Gospel both point everything into the fulfillment that is Christ Jesus — so all blessing, hope, and favor with God come through Him only. You cannot now receive blessing by trying to measure up through the Law; you will only prove that you fall short and need Him. If you still imagine your legalism earns you favor with God, and that by works of the Law you gain His approval, then you are rejecting both the Law’s intended function and the fulfillment of the Gospel in Christ. You are choosing the curse over the blessing. In fact, the Word teaches this actually cuts you off from Him. Only in Him — not through the Law — are you justified, blessed, and sealed with God’s approval.

Please don’t believe those who teach that God grants His favor and blessing if you measure up to the Law, or keep special religious rules, attend meetings, and participate in programs. God has granted His favor to you freely and without reserve because He loves you. As those passages in Hebrews and Ephesians say, it is because of that favor that God enables us to do good works. The institutional church often has it exactly backwards, teaching that good works earn His favor. That is not the Gospel.

When you give Him your heart, He will take care of the rest — and if you pursue that relationship with Him, He will not disappoint. Eventually His desires become your desires, because you’re walking in a living, vibrant relationship with Him. No one will have to tell you what to do, because you’ll respond to Him out of love — not duty, performance, or law. For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). God can deal with our shortcomings, our mistakes, even our sin. If we are part of His family, we are already covered by Jesus. He is not angry with us any longer; in fact, the Bible says He chooses to forget the sins we’ve committed and to embrace us as His children.

You see? He isn’t waiting up there to smash us. He loves us; He is our dear Father. People who’ve been afraid to come to God often fear or resent Him because religion has lied to them — telling them God is repulsed by them and will only accept them if they perform. Here’s the truth: God is repulsed by sin, but He already dealt with that problem 2,000 years ago. He sent His only Son to die in our place, then raised Him to life and stripped sin of the power that once condemned us. God already forgave our sins; He’s not up there holding a grudge. As bad as we can be, He isn’t plotting ways to destroy us or push us away. The only thing we must do is believe what He has done and choose to follow Him. This is the good news. God hates sin, but God is not mad at sinners — He loves them. That’s why He gave His own sinless Son as the sacrifice for sin, so we could live and become friends of God. He forgave us while we were still sinning. He made the way while we still wanted nothing to do with Him, saying, in effect, “I love them; they don’t understand what they’re doing; I choose to forgive all their sins, wash them clean, and make them entirely new.” And, contrary to what some would have us believe, He is not sitting around wishing we’d all go to church more. Which brings me back to my point: the true believer in Jesus is like the wind. He is not contained by a religious program or the four walls of a building. He is free! He follows the “wind” of the Spirit wherever it leads. God is our Father; we are not slaves of religion trying to measure up to a dictator. The true Christian finds his identity not in the organizations he affiliates with, but in Jesus.

A born-again person is immediately and completely part of the family of God at conversion (Ephesians 3:14–15; 1 John 3:1), regardless of any affiliation with a religious organization. There is no ritual or ordinance that guarantees this passage into God’s family. Infant baptism won’t do it. Attending church won’t do it. Keeping the Law won’t do it. Tithing won’t do it. Being good won’t accomplish it. Joining a denomination won’t validate it. Entering “the ministry” won’t assure it. Even reciting the famous “sinner’s prayer” won’t do it. Salvation is wrought wholly by sincere faith in God through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is a gift of His grace; it cannot be earned, and there is no formula to obtain or maintain it. One must simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, die to the old self, and yield to God entirely.

Not made with hands

The born-again person is a member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), which is the Lord’s Church (Ephesians 1:22–23). There is not one verse in all of Scripture that identifies Christ’s Church as a physical temple built by the hands of men. In fact the opposite is declared, again and again — and the Word even warns that those who insist otherwise resemble a stubborn people who resist God’s Holy Spirit.

Even Solomon, who built the temple of old, understood that man could not truly build a house for God, and that He could not reside in a temple made with human hands. Solomon was wise enough to say the temple could not house God, but was merely a place to burn sacrifice before Him — a type and shadow, not the real thing. The real thing is Christ.

In the Old Testament, Israel had the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness (the Tabernacle), and later the Temple. Many Christians today have wrongly presumed — often persuaded by church leaders — that the building they attend and invest their time and finances into is a modern-day equivalent of the Old Testament Temple, even though not a single line of Scripture teaches such a thing. Many weekly practices (like tithing) are carried on precisely because people presume their “church temple” is that equivalent, which lets leaders lift Old Testament passages from their context and impose them with a revived application. It is an utterly false assumption, completely contrary to the doctrine of Scripture.

As a matter of fact, even Christ did not make use of the old arrangement in His work of redemption. His priesthood was fashioned after Melchizedek (who had no association with the Levitical priesthood whatsoever), and He entered a completely different temple. The former was a mere shadow, a temporary picture; it did not, and could not, hold the substance, which is Christ. Once the Messiah came, that old temple — and the entire religious system tied to it — was set aside. The book of Hebrews calls the old system, with all its rituals and ordinances, weak, useless, and ineffective under the New Covenant of Christ.

Dear church member reading this, please understand this vital truth: the Old Testament Temple was not a pattern for how a church organization should be run. It was a temporary image, in the natural, signifying that a new Temple — in the spiritual — was to come (1 Corinthians 15:46). Once the new Temple came, along with its new priesthood (not of Levites but of every believer in Christ) and its new Covenant (confirmed by the blood of Jesus), the old was no longer necessary. Note, I did not say the old was evil — only that its time had expired. The types and shadows had served their full purpose, and fulfillment had come. For that reason, there is no way any aspect of that old system carries application for the New Covenant believer, who accepts the priesthood of Jesus Christ and the fact that Christ entered a Temple not made with hands.

No command to build churches

Not once in the New Testament is there a reference to a “church building.” Nor is there any mention of Christ commanding something of the sort to be fashioned by the hands of men. There is no mention of “church planting,” or even “church planters” — these are clever little titles men have invented in their effort to put controls and structure on “the wind” (a literal impossibility), all while convincing themselves it is the will of God.

This will be hard for many of my church-attending friends to reckon with. I understand, because it shook the very foundations I’d learned through years of tradition. Again — I am not condemning the act of meeting together with believers in a building. I am talking about the way this has become so central to what believers today typically regard as “church.” Most of us raised in Christendom have come to believe the organization, its building, and its weekly program are essential — things every believer ought to take part in to grow, be equipped for ministry, and be validated among fellow Christians. And by “validated” I mean this: the most common question raised in Christian conversation is, “What church do you attend?” The answer has the power to make or break fellowship in an instant. If it’s met with approval — “ah, we have something in common.” If not — “ah, I see; well, God bless you, gotta run.” Then comes the game of persuading others to leave their organization for yours, and vice versa. And worst of all, if you don’t attend an organization at all, you’re usually branded a black sheep — assumed to be spiritually immature, rebellious, bitter, backsliding, or in gross sin. I’ve stood in sweet fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, only to have it killed the moment the “where do you go to church” question landed. A spirit of edification can turn to contention in a breath.

Can you see how this “place-of-worship verification” runs contrary to the image of “the wind”? With the wind, you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. It is invisibly active, yet entirely present and real. The born-again man is led by the Spirit. When he swears allegiance to an organization or a human leadership in matters of faith, he puts himself where the wind is not as free to blow — and perhaps is hindered altogether.

A church building and religious organization, by contrast, is static: visible, immovable, definable, controlled. If the Holy Spirit says “move now,” the organization is not likely able or willing to act on such instruction immediately. Everything must go through “the channels,” and not many churches are built on trailers to be moved wherever needed. The whole idea of a fixed location fights against the life of the Spirit, which flows freely through individuals yielded to it. Again — this is not to say a building is itself evil. Wherever people meet, they meet; even a home is still four walls, “a building.” My point is that the building is insignificant compared with the spiritual reality of who we are in Christ. A building, biblically speaking, can never be the Church. As the Church we are Christ’s body, and that reality is solidified in heaven; it depends on no location on earth. This is why it makes no sense to “join” a church — as believers we are already joined to Him. There is no other church to join. All the talk about “the importance of getting plugged into a local church” is without a shred of support in Scripture. Our life and nourishment come from one source only: Him. Our growth as a body is enhanced by our interaction with one another, and that can happen in a hundred ways. A building or organization is not required in the least — and it may even hinder us, if we make it central.

There are plenty of “disciples” today serving Jesus for what they hope He’ll give them, rather than out of an inward revelation that they are owned by the Master, bought with precious blood. The prosperity movement comes to mind — men and women who teach “principles” for serving God in order to gain wealth, health, and prosperity. As Scripture soberly puts it, their god is their belly (Philippians 3:19); sadly, they are out of touch with the Master. Even in Jesus’ own day, many followed Him for their appetites: after He fed the five thousand, many trailed Him — not because His miracles pointed to Him as Messiah, but for what they could get. Jesus addressed that craving with a stern word:

Sadly, this is not so different from much of what organized religion is designed to do: satisfy the “felt needs” (that is, the wants) of people. Those captivated by prosperity teaching crave what they can get from God and “serve” Him mainly for it — but even many who reject that teaching still lean on the strong arm of religion to pacify and fulfill their own presumed needs. Their services, books, and programs can become a smorgasbord of self-gratifying goodies, all neatly labeled in Jesus’ name; yet at the core, the focus is often not purely and passionately on Christ Himself. This isn’t to say such folks don’t love Jesus or sincerely want to follow God — but they have been badly distracted by a counterfeit that occupies their focus and dims Gospel reality. God is long-suffering with our weaknesses, and He keeps calling us to repentance, because so much of what we chase in His name can quietly become an idol.

God never ordained a “system” to make people feel good about their spiritual condition, deceiving them that they are right with Him simply because they take part in a program dedicated in His name. Too often organized religion provides little more than false comfort and a distraction from the real thing. Its appearance of godliness convinces people they are “godly” merely by participating. You can hear it in the way we talk: “So-and-so is really on fire for God — he’s in Bible college, on the worship team, at pre-service prayer, in the choir, teaches the youth, works the outreach, pays his tithes, attends every Sunday, prophesies in the meetings…” Sound familiar? Yet a person can do all of that and still not be in true fellowship with the Master.

Yes, it’s a hard concept for some to face: that God never instructed anyone in His Word to busy themselves with religious organization. That’s not to say all organization is bad — good can come of healthy organizing among mutually motivated brothers and sisters who are freely following Christ together. But we have tried to take what the Bible calls living and spiritual and make it into an earthly machine — one that can be controlled and fabricated however we wish, used to manage others and manufacture results that make us feel spiritual and look successful. That machine, in truth, doesn’t even require the Holy Spirit to run; it can thrive without Him, and thrive it does. I dare say it has become, in many ways, an idol. God never envisioned such a thing occupying the place of His body, taking to itself their role as priests unto God and their right as a family to live freely in this world together — led not by a machine, but by Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit.

A word about “church”

Given more room, I could trace the history of this word “church” we’re so fond of — it’s fascinating. Briefly: the word has no actual parallel in the original writings of Scripture. It stems from a Greek word never once used in the entire Bible, and came into use many years after Calvary. The word the Lord actually used when He said “I will build my Church” was ecclesia, meaning “assembly” or “congregation” — an assembling of those called out by God and set apart to Him, who together have become His body through Christ Jesus. It is a spiritual assembly; natural only in the sense that God’s people make it up. They are His Temple, in whom His Spirit resides. This is what Christ builds on the Rock: not a building of wood and stone but a body — a royal assembly of the called-out ones. I’m equally guilty of continuing to use the word “church,” which is why I take the trouble to explain what I mean by it, because there is an enormous difference between the “Church” as Scripture defines it and what the world — even the religious world — has taught us.

It is no small matter to face this head-on: the Bible does not teach the building and maintenance of churches. At the risk of being redundant — there is not one commission in all of Scripture to go build churches, establish religious organizations, or set up hierarchical governmental systems. Many have been taught that the role of a modern “apostle” is to found churches (buildings and organizations), and that this is what Paul spent his travels doing. But I challenge you, dear reader: read your New Testament again. You will never find one place where God calls Paul to plant churches or raise up religious organizations. You will not find church buildings either, let alone a command to build them. These things are wrought from the minds of men — not the instruction of Scripture or the example of early Church history. The earliest believers met informally in their homes (and many other places). They shared meals and spent hours in mutual dialogue. If someone had a teaching, they shared it freely; if another had a song or a gift, they shared that. They even shared their personal wealth and possessions. When they pooled their finances, it was to provide for their impoverished brethren in neighboring cities — not to fund building programs and clergy systems. The Lord Himself was their Leader in everything. There were no liturgies, rituals, or stale routines, for these were houses of living stones, not brick and mortar. It was an everyday, spontaneous thing, not a once-a-week ritual. There were no membership rosters, special creeds, or annual vision statements. Every man and woman was priest and bishop of their own relationship with Christ. Are you weary of hearing me say it? The Scripture does not teach some call to build churches and temples. With specific relation to the Lord’s Church, every reference to the temple, tabernacle, tent, or house of God is spiritual in context. Christ compared Himself to the Temple (John 2:19, 21) and said He was greater than the Temple (Matthew 12:6). There is a “House of God,” a Temple, in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 11:19). The believer is repeatedly called the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16–17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). The body of Christ itself is called the Temple (Ephesians 2:21–22). Every parallel to the Old Testament Temple and Tabernacle is spiritual.

Scripture is clear that the Old Covenant Temple is a picture — a type — though not of a modern church building or organization, but of a holy, spiritual Temple in heaven; a Temple made without hands. It is impossible for any man, whatever title of religious authority he may bear, to declare on any ground of Scripture that a church building is equivalent to the Old Testament Temple. And that alone removes any “temple-like” ritual people associate with such a notion from having any application to a believer in Christ.

Knowing what Scripture teaches, it’s easy to understand why the early Christians actually refused to build temples of worship. You can read of it in the post-apostolic writings of the first few centuries. Pagans marveled at these Christians, unable to grasp why they wouldn’t express devotion to their God by erecting houses of worship. Some clergymen over the years have claimed the early believers only refrained because they were poor and persecuted — but that’s only partly true. History tells the fuller story: believers viewed the building of worship-temples as a pagan practice of idolatry. They knew what Scripture taught. Some of those earliest saints were alive during the time of the apostles, and some were their disciples; it is only logical that they learned this mindset from their teachers in the faith — a mindset that appears again and again in the Word. Here are a few examples from those early writings:

It wasn’t until more than 300 years after Calvary that Christians began adopting the pagan concept of erecting official houses of worship, with the Roman Catholic Church pioneering the effort. Suddenly “the wind” no longer blew where it wished, but only in the “dedicated official place” — or so pious men came to believe. It took time for these pagan mindsets to work their way in, but their influence was certain, and has sadly remained to this day. Christ as Leader of His royal, spiritual assembly was traded for the organization of men, human leaders, and temples built with human hands. Today many say, “What does it matter, so long as we take these modern things and dedicate them to the Lord?” But the Lord has an answer for that. He gave a strong word through Hosea that He hated it when His people attached pagan names and concepts to Him:

Now, Hebrews 10:25

Many believers know the encouragement in Hebrews not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together — but many who hold strongly to organized religion presume far more than the passage actually says. They assert it refers to weekly church attendance. I’ve even heard it misquoted as, “Don’t neglect to meet regularly for church.”

This passage, like all Scripture, has a context. The author is warning Jewish converts that Jerusalem is about to suffer attack and great persecution, and that the physical earthly Temple will be utterly destroyed — nearly every tangible aspect of their old religious life is about to be swept away. He is showing the severity of the change taking place, from Old Covenant to New. These were hard things for young believers to grasp; their entire way of life was being traded for a completely new life in Christ. Hebrews goes to great lengths to convey the weight of that change — Law to Grace, death to life. It was radical then, and in many ways it’s still radical for even seasoned believers today. Organized religion, especially in Western culture, has largely sold us a counterfeit, and in our ignorance we bought it. But Christ, by His Spirit, is calling His people to wake up and come out of that faulty understanding into the truth.

Before he even reaches the subject of assembling, the author makes some startling claims. In Hebrews 10:8 he quotes Christ: “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them.” Then in verse 9: “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” This is the crux of the Gospel — Christ offered Himself, the perfect Lamb, in whom the whole Law is fulfilled. No one can gain favor from God by keeping the Law, because no one is perfect. That is why Christ’s sacrifice was once for all: because of that one event, we are all made righteous in God’s eyes through Him. The Law cannot make us “more righteous.” Rituals and religious ordinances are vain to that end. Just as Christ fulfilled the Law by submitting to the Father’s will, so we submit to the Father through Christ. He alone is our righteousness — not the Law. And as the author says next: “He takes away the first that He may establish the second.” Did you catch that? He takes away the first.

I don’t want to stray too far, but perhaps this will show the severity of it. One of the most misunderstood examples of men still leaning on the Old Covenant system is the practice of tithing. I’m not talking about those who simply choose to give a portion of their income to a cause they believe in. I mean the modern doctrine that Christians are commanded to tithe — that the tithing ordinance of the Law (especially Malachi 3:10) applies to believers in Christ and must be practiced to secure God’s blessing, protection, favor, and provision, and to rebuke the enemy and lift a curse.

The whole force of tithing rests in the Law. It was an ordinance, an offering — the very thing that supported the Levitical priesthood — every bit as much a part of that system as any other ordinance. It did not stand apart from the rest; it was woven into the whole. And all of those rituals were instituted, essentially, because of sin — and all of them are removed, or rather fulfilled, in Christ. You cannot disconnect the Law from sin. (Hear me carefully: the Law is not sin — but it exposes sin.) If a person thinks he can observe some ritual of the Mosaic Law, like tithing, as though it benefits him as a believer in Christ, he is mistaken. All the offerings — tithing included — were made under the Old Testament because of sin. They testify that man is still unregenerate, immature in faith, without the indwelling Holy Spirit. On the Law’s own terms, a man who ties himself to its ordinances is signaling, by his actions, that he still believes himself separated from God, without capacity to follow the Spirit. Consider it: the Jews under the Old Covenant had no indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit; they had no capacity to obey God’s commands without the Law to instruct them. And even with the Law it was an inferior, temporary arrangement — first, because the Law was powerless to affect the conscience, the inner parts of man:

And second, because the Law was only ever intended as a temporary shadow of the coming Messiah and His new and living Covenant:

Let me put this in bold terms so the stakes are clear: we must not trade the New Covenant for a religiously distorted concoction of the Old. A person who keeps thinking the ordinances of Moses’ Law still hold substance for believers shows, at best, his immaturity and misunderstanding — because he has not grasped that the purpose of the Old system was to point the Jews to the substance, which is not the Law but Christ. Those who subject themselves to the Law are, in effect, suggesting they haven’t yet embraced the living way of Christ by His Spirit; they don’t quite believe He will lead them, or that He is sufficient, so they cling to ritual, formula, law, and human priests to govern their practice. We must see this in real biblical terms: those under the Law, in Scripture, were those without Christ — still awaiting the Messiah to fulfill that Law and free them from the bondage of sin and death, still trying to reach a standard they could never achieve. Even Israel misunderstood, coming to believe righteousness was in the Law; but seeking right standing with God through the Law only condemned them, because of sin. And those who cling to the Law even after the Gospel has been shown them are, in effect, rejecting the Gospel and its fulfillment, which is Christ.

Christ stepped in and settled the matter once and for all, shedding His pure blood as the final sacrifice for all. This means the Law has no more strength against us — nor can it help us draw near to God. We draw near to God only through Jesus Christ, and a better covenant.

My point in all this is not really about tithing — that was just an example that may resonate with those who still think it applies. The point is that we face a bold choice: Law or Grace. We cannot have both. We cannot claim to follow Jesus, led by His Spirit, while remaining subjects of the ordinances of Moses. The two contradict. And this bears directly on that popular Hebrews 10:25 passage about assembling. The author is conveying, in the strongest possible language, that everything focuses on Christ and His finished work. The old is set aside; it holds no application for the believer in Jesus. These are not my words — this is the doctrine of Scripture. And once you see it, you’ll find it very hard to imagine that the author would go to such lengths to prove the whole Old Covenant — all its rituals, ordinances, offerings, feasts, and holy days — had been set aside with Christ placed in full view, only to suddenly obligate his readers to another holy-day ritual in verse 25. The context is something Christ accomplished on a spiritually global scale. The author speaks in eternal terms, to a spiritual assembly of saints who are all part of one body of Christ. It’s because of these truths that he urges them to pull together and live up to the Gospel reality they’re already part of.

This is not an ordinance to have church every Sunday, friends. We cannot neglect the rest of the passage! He says, “Let us consider one another…” This is a call, first of all, to an inward, individual motivation of love for one another. As we consider one another — to encourage, edify, and spur each other on to love and good works, not because an organization dictates it, but one to another, because of Christ in us who has fulfilled the Law and given us the ability to know His heart — we will also consider drawing together in order to do these very things. The author makes no mention of needing a special building for this “assembling.” He has already labored to show we are already assembled together in Christ. He calls for no organization, no clergy system, no weekly ritual, no building program, no tithing, no song services, pews, pulpits, choirs, stained glass, pastoral offices and salaries, outreach departments — none of it is even faintly implied in this simply stated passage. Rather: because of Christ’s great gift, let us consider one another to spur each other on, for the Day of the Lord draws near.

Second, I believe this passage carries a more specific call — not merely to “assembling” in the sense of meetings, but to not apostatizing from the faith. The very word for “assembling” that the author uses appears only one other time in all of Scripture (2 Thessalonians 2:1), with reference to the whole body of Christ being gathered together to Him — an assembly of a global, spiritual scale. Look again at how he phrases it: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, as the manner of some is.” As we read elsewhere in the New Testament, many believers had wandered from the faith by following false teachers and false doctrines — in essence, “forsaking the assembly,” leaving the truth and embracing a lie. Paul spoke of those who follow a Jesus who is a different Jesus, a spirit that is not the Spirit the apostles preached, a gospel that is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ — cleverly distorted to draw disciples away. So it seems to me, based on the Greek and the phrasing, that the author is speaking more of the General Assembly of all believers than of an admonition to keep meeting constantly — though meeting together to spur one another on to love and good works is perfectly consistent with his heart, too. For that reason I won’t claim my reading is absolute. But I will certainly say this passage in no way commands us to start churches and hold ritual meetings every Sunday. One has to read such a religious concept into the text, and can find no other scriptural or historical support that this is what those early saints believed or did.

Fellowship is something you have

To press the point a bit further: a believer’s fellowship with other Christians flows from whose he is — and that “whose” is Christ. True, biblical fellowship is not defined by attendance at religious meetings or participation in religious activities, groups, and programs. To put it more boldly: you could go your whole Christian life without once setting foot in a “church” and still have fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ the way the Bible encourages. Fellowship is something you have (not do), because of whose you are.

It’s my conviction that too many Christians place things like church attendance and program participation in the middle of their relationships with one another — and it ends up dividing them and pulling their focus off Jesus. Far too many are not yet secure enough in who they are in Christ to regard the institution they call “church” as merely an institution (a club, if you will). Too many see it as essential, having been convinced by tradition that it must exist and be maintained — some even believing it necessary to “keep” their salvation, or to secure God’s favor and protection.

It’s my opinion that the enemy has used this very distraction to keep the body of Christ fragmented, lame, and bleeding. I don’t mean the meeting or the activities themselves are necessarily the distraction — I mean the importance placed on them is. Until Christians can finally regard one another simply and purely as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus, regardless of what organization they belong to (or don’t), I think we’ll keep missing the fullness of what the Lord intends for His people. We have got to stop cramming religion in between our relationships with one another. It is not helping us pull together and grow strong in the Lord.

If you attend a church, that’s fine. But honestly — who cares? Does God? Is there some Scripture where He commanded men to build churches and fill them with programs and pews? Is He keeping a record of how many services you made and how many you missed? Did Jesus die for your sins and also require that you join some church besides the one He built without human hands, in order to be saved? What does “church” actually do for the Christian? I’ll tell you what it does not do: it doesn’t make a person right with God; it doesn’t keep them from hell or guarantee them heaven; it doesn’t identify them, from God’s perspective, as a Christian, or ensure their spiritual growth; it doesn’t qualify them for “ministry.” Can true ministry happen in a church? Sure. Can a person grow while attending one? Absolutely. But is that because of the organization — or because the believer has submitted some area of his life to the Lord and responded to Him? Any eternal good that happens in an organization has nothing to do with the organization, and everything to do with Christ and the believer who submits to His Lordship. In all reality the organization is a non-essential. That doesn’t make it evil or sinful; it just means it’s an organization. The family of God is not defined by the religious organizations of men. It is defined by our position in Christ.

The simple fact is that what the Bible calls “church” means, from the original Greek, people assembled — in the greatest sense, all those called out by God who are members of His body. Scripture boldly calls the Church “the body of Christ,” the manifestation of His person on earth through His people. So the Church is more than people assembled; it is the Lord’s very body. It does not ever — not one time — refer to a building or a program. Try reading any verse in the New Testament that uses “church,” and replace the word with “assembly,” or “the believers,” or, best of all, “the body of Christ,” thinking simply of Christians gathered as members of one divine body — leaving out all the organization tradition has taught you. The whole text comes alive. Suddenly “the church in a given city” is not about a building where people gather each week for a service, but simply the Christians living in that city who gather together (however, wherever, and whenever they may) whom God recognizes as members of His body. The form and pattern were never the point. Free of such hang-ups, the early believers were free to express the life of Christ together as one body under their Head. Many met in homes; some in caves and courtyards — all simply to be together, to edify one another, meet one another’s needs, and pray and worship. It was real. It was informal. It was not a club. You didn’t have to attend to be regarded as part of the family; even apart from the gathering, they understood they were already part of the Gathering — the body of Jesus.

Like the wind

That was a little off topic, but it fits the heart of my message: being a Christian is something far greater than belonging to a religious organization. Plenty of Americans call themselves Christian just because they live in America, or because they believe in God, or because they went to church growing up. None of those things make a person a true Christian — one who is born again.

We must remember that John 3:8 is the word of Jesus Himself: that the Christian life is born and governed by His Spirit and, like the wind, cannot be held within four walls, cannot be pinned down and made into a routine, cannot be captured by slapping a label on it.

If a wind blows into a room and the doors are shut, it is not captured — it simply ceases to blow. Walls keep the wind out, and they keep the stale, religious air in.

What some try to control with their religious programming, they ultimately destroy — robbing it of its impact and effectiveness — because that which is born of the Spirit must flow like the wind.

Perhaps to some this will seem too extensive a reading of a simple text. As I said, I agree completely with the general interpretation of John 3:8, and I have no quarrel with anyone who doesn’t think it means anything more. I’m only urging that we look closely at what the text says about the Christian’s new life, and at the Lord’s unique choice of words to express it. He says it is like the wind. I find it deeply significant that He reached for such an image to express this mystery. And again, I don’t share this to suggest that taking part in a religious program, or belonging to some organization, is itself anti-Christian. If you belong to one, please don’t be offended — I’m not trying to discourage Christian service or assembly. But if you have been led to believe that participation in a religious program is Christianity, or is essential to it, then I do want to say plainly: you have not been told the truth — because Jesus says His new creation is like the wind.

Jesus told the Pharisees that it was their traditions that made God’s Word of no effect (Matthew 15:3, 6; Mark 7:13). That is a strong statement, and it reveals the Lord’s contempt for anything that stands between Him and His Word. I’d go so far as to say He was not fond of organized religion at all; it seems to me He regarded it as an obstacle to the truth and a distraction from wholehearted submission to God.

I believe that’s exactly what is happening in much of organized religion today: men have become so enamored with, and saturated in, their own doctrines — the commandments of men — that they are often unwilling, and sometimes simply unable, to discern actual biblical truth from error. Remember, the Pharisees were the respected, highly esteemed religious leaders of their day, and they were thoroughly offended by Jesus, forever noting how He and His disciples transgressed the traditions of the elders. But Jesus was quick to answer their accusations:

Jesus taught us that it is the Spirit of God — not human religious effort — that gives life. The Jews were often confused by His words because they misunderstood the purpose of the Law, largely thanks to the distortions handed to them by the religious leaders of their day. People had been led to believe that observing laws, rituals, and pious performance is what makes one right before God. The delusion was so thick that at times even Jesus’ own disciples struggled to understand Him. So He reminded them:

When Jesus spoke with His disciples about things like prayer, He strongly urged them to leave religiosity out of it entirely — again using the religious leaders as the example of how not to do things:

The Christian life is like the wind, Jesus said. It cannot be bound into a formula or a performance of religiosity. Christianity is about Christ before us, over us, in us, and through us. Our life finds its whole source and sustenance in Him alone. He is that Life. He is the Center. Organized religion, on the other hand, wants to play mediator — to stand between God and men and be the center of everything. It wants to “help” God by taking some of the load, some of the authority, some of the right to define what must be accepted as truth. It wants to dictate every facet of the Christian life by its own rules, ethics, and dogma. It holds a very high opinion of itself — so high it will dare to call its own doctrines the doctrines of God.

I have watched men in prominent ministry positions set aside, redefine, or overlook important passages of Scripture — because to accept what the Word plainly taught in those places might prove some of their traditional doctrines false and in need of amending, or even abandoning. So consumed is much of the institutional church with its man-made, man-sustained teachings, programs, “revelations,” and regulations, that anyone who raises an honest question, or a challenge from the Word, is almost immediately branded a heretic, a troublemaker, a rebel. In too many institutional churches, the Bible is no longer the foundation of truth, and Jesus is no longer the central figure; whatever a given denomination chooses to believe and impose is held in the highest regard. I have watched, firsthand, as men elevated their own organization’s doctrines above the Word of God and then called those doctrines “the ordinances of God.” In the years I served alongside some of these men, I raised my concerns honestly — pointing to Scripture, and even to the very study resources they themselves recommended (not realizing those same books sometimes spoke directly against what they were teaching). More often than not, instead of humility or any willingness to weigh it, I was met with silence — or, on occasion, with a quiet “perhaps you’d be more comfortable fellowshipping elsewhere.” I don’t doubt that many of these men started out with good and sincere intentions; sincerity at the start, though, is no guard against hardness later. Whether God moved on their conscience in the quiet afterward, I can’t say — that part was never mine to see, and I hope He did. I only know that, in the moment, the status quo won. Maybe that doesn’t make a man evil; maybe it just means the truth can be hard to swallow, even for the most apparently devout. So I leave the inner work where it belongs — with God and His Spirit, who can press a point home far better than my arguing ever could.

It’s my conviction that the moment an institution of religion sets itself up as an intermediary — taking a place of control that belongs to Christ alone — it is at that moment out of His will. It becomes, in the most literal sense of the word, anti-Christ: I don’t mean that as a slur, but according to what the word actually means. In the Greek, anti means “in place of” or “instead of.” Anything that stands in the place of Christ’s headship — denying His control, His influence, His governing — is, by definition, “anti” Christ, however sincerely it’s meant. And we who are born again are sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. He is our Lord, our King, our High Priest, and (as Psalm 23 and Hebrews 13:20 tell us) our Senior Pastor, our Shepherd. The Church is His body — not a building made with hands — a spiritual building of living stones (1 Peter 2:5), completely under the rule of Jesus, upon whose shoulders alone the government rests (Isaiah 9:6), not upon some artificial hierarchy (Matthew 23:8–12; 20:25–28). He alone is the Head, the only one who may have the preeminence (1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 1:22–23; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). We all belong to Him, and were created by Him and for Him.

Do not be deceived. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about attending meetings or keeping rules and rituals to make you feel right with God. Yield to that deception, and you may actually find yourself divided from the truth, and Christ profiting you nothing.

Those who misunderstand the Gospel — imagining the New Covenant does not fully supersede, even replace, the Old — frustrate the grace of God. They divide themselves into an unhealthy separation that cannot embrace the reality of a single Church under a single Shepherd, who is also their one High Priest. They have not understood the purpose of the Law, and that misunderstanding leads them into the bondage of legalism, because they wrongly believe keeping the Law buys favor with God and makes them righteous in His eyes. Just the opposite is true. The Law is precisely what condemns us all as prisoners of sin. That is Bible. The Law makes us realize that righteousness can never come through obeying its rules; it magnifies our lawless condition and condemns us — which is why Scripture calls it the “ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:9). I don’t know many preachers eager to claim that title — yet whenever they impose legalistic doctrines by mixing Law with Grace, they introduce God’s people to a cursed bondage that can only devalue the great gift of Jesus Christ.

Isn’t that something? Today we have preachers telling people that if they embrace little legalisms — “storehouse” tithing, this string of principles, that list of rules and rituals, church attendance — they can gain God’s favor. Dear friend reading this, hear the Word of the Lord: those who present themselves as teachers of Scripture and would bind you to principles of Law are preaching a different gospel. God’s Word declares that if you heed such teaching, you will be cut off from Christ and fall out of God’s favor, not into it.

On that happy note, I want to encourage us all to remember that Jesus likens the born-again man to the wind. He is not walled inside an institution, bound by dead rituals. He is alive in Christ Jesus, who leads him, convicts him, counsels him, and comforts him. He is a valid and vital part of the body of Christ, the Ecclesia, whose Head is the Lord. When this revelation takes hold, false teachers will no longer keep the grip so many now hold through people’s ignorance. God’s people will begin to live free and unfettered, transformed by the truth — and the world will finally begin to notice a true and living manifestation of the risen Lord moving through His people.

The intention of this site is to encourage believers wholly in this direction — a focus not on religious organization, but purely on the connection we must have with Christ the Lord. He is essential and central to all things. God bless you as you keep discovering His leading hand in your life, day by day.

A note on tone. I wrote this back in 2003, when I held these convictions hotly — and I’ve since softened some of the sharpest edges (the shouting, and the places where I imputed motives to men whose hearts only God can read). I still believe every bit of the Scripture here. My quarrel is with the system that stands in the place of Christ’s headship, not with the sincere brothers and sisters — or the sincere pastors — who love Jesus within it. When I use a hard word like “anti-Christ,” I mean it by its literal sense (“in place of”), aimed at a practice, never as a taunt at a person. Let the truth be the offense, if any offense must come — not the tone. Weigh it all against the Word, and trust the Holy Spirit to press home whatever is His.