When Christianity arrived in the Roman empire it was called atheism.  It was the non-religion.  There was no temple.  There were no sacrifices, no performance, no ritual to appease God or the gods.

Christianity was altogether a puzzle to the onlookers outside of the church.

But, the devil had his people ready to fight this “non-religion.”  And the way the devil fought was to make Christianity religious.  Jesus could still be important, as long as it was “Jesus and” — Jesus and keeping the law, Jesus and certain customs and rituals.

This means that Christianity’s greatest threat was not external, but internal.  It was not towards abuse of freedom, but to made a slave again to works.  Jesus’ work was not forsaken, just added to.

Are we free from this threat because the Jewish nature (keeping the law) has disappeared from our churches?  Should we read Galatians, Romans, Timothy and Titus, as mere history lessons?  No, we need to see how “Jesus and” creeps into our churches.

It may not be Jesus and circumcision anymore (thank God!), but here are four ways that “Jesus and” threatens our churches:

1.  Jesus and correct doctrine. What pleases God is not just Jesus’ work, but doctrinal exactness.  Certainly we need to strive for correct doctrine, but not so that “we can be seen to be right.”  The goal of correct doctrine is love (1 Timothy 1:3-5).

2. Jesus and the “correct” church.  — You please God, in this view, by Jesus — and being a part of a church that gets everything right.  They preach right, disciple right, church “services” are right, everybody dresses right, etc.

3. Jesus and spiritual experience — Jesus is important, but you also need an extra spiritual experience, a second blessing, to really know that God is with you and empowering you.

4. Jesus and keeping His commands — This is the predominant threat.  Obedience is seen as keeping you in the faith (we obey to preserve our salvation), not to express our salvation.