One of the most common accusations leveled against Paul the Apostle was that he was teaching his followers that it was appropriate to sin and to embrace a kind of cheap grace. This same accusation is leveled by Latter-day Saints against Protestant Christians today.
I want to invite you to look carefully at the criticism that Paul refutes, and ask yourself whether it makes any sense that Paul would have been criticized in this manner had he been teaching the Latter-day Saint view of the importance of commandments and ordinances?
Paul refutes the allegation that he is giving license to sin on several occasions. Proponents of Christian observance of the Jewish law in Galatia accused Paul of “trying to please people” rather than God because he taught that strict observance of circumcision, dietary, and Sabbath rules were unnecessary for non-Jewush converts to Christianity. Galatians 1:10 (CSB).
Paul emphasized that “by the works of the law no human being will be justified,” and that through Christ he “died to the law, so that [he] might live for God.” Galatians 2: 16,19 (CSB).
Paul refutes what seems to be the judaizers accusation that his teachings make “Christ then a promoter, of sin?” Galatians 2:17 (CSB) “Absolutely not!” He emphatically declares.
Later in the letter after Paul’s has thoroughly explained the deadness of our works to save us, he extols the virtue of Christian freedom, and again returns to refute the false claims that he is teaching freedom to sin:
“13 For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13–14 (CSB).
Even more prominently in Romans, Paul lays out his argument that “a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” Romans 3:28 (CSB). He then turns to refute what must have been a very common argument of his critics:
“What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Romans 6:1–2 (CSB)”
I love how Pastor Derek Thomas put it: “Grace must raise the temptation to think we can sin as we please; if it does not, we have not understood the true extent of grace. However, at no time can we yield to the temptation to think this way (note Paul’s answer to his question in [Romans] 6:1—“by no means”), because Christians are called to a life of holiness—holiness motivated by gratitude for all that God has done for them in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Derek Thomas’ How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home,
Do these accusations and Paul’s responses make sense if he is teaching Latter-day Saint doctrine?
Has anyone ever accused a Latter-day of trying to please people by being too lenient in commandment keeping? Does the accusation that Latter-day Saints promote sin make sense in light of the many different rules and commandments such as the word of wisdom, strict Sabbath day observance, or law of chastity? Would anyone accuse the LDS Church of encouraging sin so that grace may multiply or urging its adherents to embrace too much freedom?
As a Latter-day Saint for 14 years I always found these accusations against Paul puzzling. It made no sense that the early Christians would be accused of being too lax with sin. Joining the Church meant adding a whole host of covenants and commandments that regulated my life far more rigorously than before I was a member. When I was a full-time missionary, I don’t remember even once being accused of teaching people lazy or permissive standards, quite the opposite (although an older lady did harangue us for 30 minutes on a bus once accusing us of coming to get Russian kids addicted to drugs).
As a Protestant Christian, I now am faced with the false accusations that Paul encountered pretty much every single time I share my beliefs. I am constantly needing to explain, as Paul did, that Christian freedom is not an excuse to sin, and that salvation by grace through faith alone does not lead to sin. I am regularly accused of making Christ complicit in sin.
It seems to me that one very good indication that Protestant Christians are in harmony with the teachings of Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ is that we continue to face the same false objections and concerns that Paul had to refute nearly 2,000 years ago. We must continue to preach grace while exemplifying lives of holiness just as the Apostle Paul did.
But one needs to ask, why do Latter-day Saints so often make the exact arguments that Paul’s opponents made against him? And what does that say about the “Gospel” they preach?