Toxic Discipleship

Those “discipling” the believers in Galatia convinced the believers to seek to be in right relationship with God through faith in Jesus plus obedience to the law.

By doing this, the believers removed themselves from the gospel of God’s grace that Jesus sent Paul to teach them.

They were still saved.

But they were now relying on their own obedience to the expectations of the law and the additional expectations the law leaders placed upon them.

This was toxic discipleship.

Toxic discipleship continues to be practiced today.

It is toxic because it causes people to rely on their obedience to be right with God rather than on the truth they are right with God through faith in Jesus.

It is toxic because it takes verses out of context to convince people these are God’s expectations.

It is toxic because it weighs people down with “discipleship” burdens.

It is toxic because it makes people unsure of their relationship with God and unstable as believers.

It is toxic because it removes the joy on knowing God as our loving Father.

It is toxic because believers aren’t sure if they are “in or out of fellowship with God.”

It is toxic because in produces pride in those who meet the expectations and pity in those who do not.

It is toxic because those who fail to meet the expectations feel guilty and far away from God, possibly rejected by him.

It is toxic because it leads some believers into a lifestyle of sin because of the guilt they feel for not meeting the expectations or the inability they feel to meet the expectations as an "obedient, devoted follower of Jesus." Therefore, they quit and pursue a life of sin to escape the pain of toxic discipleship.

It is toxic because it leads believers away from grace.

It doesn’t get more toxic than leading believers who have been saved by grace away from the grace that saved them.

Into this toxic discipleship culture, Paul wrote about the gospel of grace, educating the Galatians about all that God had done for them in Christ to redeem them from the law and freely provide righteousness as a free gift of God’s grace.

From my new book: Toxic Discipleship. Available on Amazon.