Religion vs Following Christ
- The Wholy Christian
- Jan 13
- 16 min read
Why Christianity Was Never Meant to Be a Religion
If you’ve been around church long enough, you’ve probably felt it.
You’ve seen people who know all the right words, have the right “church voice,” post the right verses, and can argue doctrine like a lawyer… but somehow their heart feels untouched. Their home life is a mess. Their private life is hidden. Their love is thin. Their mercy runs out fast. Their humility is basically nonexistent.
And then you’ve met other people who can’t explain theology in impressive terms, but when you’re around them, you can tell they’ve actually been with Jesus. They’re not perfect. But they’re real. Their conviction is honest. Their repentance is normal. Their love is costly. Their obedience isn’t a show.
That difference matters, because one of those is religion, and the other is following Christ.
And if we’re going to be blunt (because Jesus was), religion will not save you.
Not the Christian version of it. Not the Jewish version of it. Not the moral version of it. Not the churchy version of it. Not the “I believe in God” version of it. Not the “I’m a good person” version of it.
Only Jesus saves.
📜 John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
That’s the line in the sand. Not a denomination. Not a church culture. Not an institution. Not your record of good deeds. Not your ability to perform spiritual habits on cue. A Person. Jesus Christ.
So let’s talk about this in a way that’s real, conversational, and actually useful, because this is one of the biggest confusions in the modern world: people reject Jesus because they’ve only met religion wearing His name.
What Religion Really Is
Religion, at its simplest, is humanity trying to reach God.
It is a system of beliefs and behaviors built around the idea that if I do enough, know enough, perform enough, sacrifice enough, or obey enough, then I can be accepted by God (or whatever deity that system worships).
Religion usually includes:
Rules to follow
Rituals to perform
Authorities to submit to
Identity markers to wear
A moral scoreboard
A constant sense of “do more”
And what religion tends to produce is not spiritual life, but spiritual pressure.
Pressure to look right. Pressure to sound right. Pressure to belong. Pressure to keep up. Pressure to hide what’s wrong. Pressure to maintain an image.
And the worst part is this: religion can make you look clean while leaving you completely unchanged.
Jesus said it straight to the religious leaders of His day.
📜 Matthew 23:27
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”
📜 Matthew 23:28
“So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
That’s religion. A whitewashed tomb. Clean on the outside. Dead on the inside.
It’s possible to be “successful” in religion and still be far from God.
The Bible’s Own Use of the Word Religion
A lot of people act like the Bible never uses the word “religion,” but it does, and it does it with a sharp edge.
📜 James 1:26
“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”
📜 James 1:27
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Notice what James does. He doesn’t celebrate religion as the thing that saves you. He evaluates it as something that can be either worthless or pure.
And even when it is “pure,” it’s describing outward fruit. Care for the vulnerable. Holiness in a corrupt world.
📝 Religion can be an outward expression of a transformed life, but it cannot create that life.
That’s the point. Religion can’t resurrect you. Religion can only instruct you. And instruction is not the same as transformation.
What Religion Cannot Do
Religion cannot do what only God can do.
It cannot:
remove guilt
change desires
create a new heart
break the power of sin
reconcile you to the Father
make you spiritually alive
The Bible is blunt about the limitations of human effort.
📜 Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
📜 Ephesians 2:9
“not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
If salvation is grace, then no system of human effort can produce it.
And here’s one verse people quote, but rarely let it cut them:
📜 Isaiah 64:6
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
That means even our “good deeds” are stained when they come from a heart that is still in rebellion, still self-centered, still trying to be its own god.
That doesn’t mean good deeds are useless. It means good deeds are not currency that can buy holiness.
Only Jesus pays that price.
Why God Gave the Law in the First Place
This is where the conversation gets deep, and it’s important, because a lot of people misunderstand the Old Testament. They act like God used to be about rules, and now He’s about love. As if God changed personalities.
He didn’t.
God has always been holy. God has always been love. God has always wanted the heart.
So why the Law?
The Law served multiple purposes, but one of the biggest was this: it revealed God’s nature and exposed humanity’s sin.
📜 Romans 3:20
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
The Law is like a mirror. It doesn’t wash your face. It shows you that your face is dirty.
It also taught Israel what it looked like to be set apart in a world that was drenched in violence, idolatry, sexual corruption, oppression, and injustice.
But here’s the part we have to be honest about: sinners can obey rules without ever becoming loving.
Sinners can follow commands and still remain self-centered.
Sinners can keep a standard externally and never become internally holy.
That’s why the Law, on its own, was never the finish line.
It was preparation.
The Bible explains it like a tutor that leads you toward Christ.
📜 Galatians 3:24
“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
The Law taught, restrained, warned, exposed, and guided. But it could not fix the root problem: the human heart.
The Problem Was Never the Law. It Was the Heart.
Religious people love to make the Law the issue, because it keeps the conversation external.
But God always aimed deeper.
Even in the Old Testament, God rebuked religious performance without heart devotion.
📜 1 Samuel 15:22
“And Samuel said, ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.’”
He’s saying, “Stop thinking I’m impressed by your rituals if your heart is stubborn.”
Even more direct:
📜 Hosea 6:6
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
God wasn’t “changing His mind” later. He was consistent the whole time: I want your heart.
Religion tries to give God the outside while keeping the inside for itself.
Following Christ is giving Him the inside, and letting the outside follow.
Jesus Came as the Living Meaning of the Law
This is one of the most important truths you said, and it belongs at the center of this whole message:
Jesus did not show up to create a new religious system. He showed up as the embodied meaning of everything God ever commanded.
📜 Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Fulfill means He completes what they were pointing to.
He didn’t just “teach rules.” He lived the heart behind every rule.
If you want to know what God meant by holiness, look at Jesus.
If you want to know what God meant by love, look at Jesus.
If you want to know what God meant by justice, look at Jesus.
If you want to know what God meant by mercy, look at Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t merely giving better information. He was giving a perfect example, and more than that, He was revealing the Father.
📜 John 14:9
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.’”
So when people reduce Christianity to “rules,” they’ve already missed it. The rules were never meant to stand alone. They were meant to lead people into the nature of God.
Jesus is the nature of God in human form.
Why Religion Hated Jesus So Much
This is another place where people need honesty, because a lot of modern Christians think the main enemy of Jesus was atheism.
It wasn’t.
The main enemy of Jesus, in His earthly ministry, was corrupted religion.
Why?
Because Jesus threatens systems that depend on control.
Religious systems often build power through:
fear
shame
exclusivity
spiritual status
gatekeeping access to God
And Jesus walked in and said things like:
📜 Mark 7:8
“You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
That sentence is a bomb.
Because it exposes what religion always drifts into: man-made layers that replace God’s voice. And once you replace God’s voice with man-made authority, you can manipulate people.
That’s when religion becomes a control tactic.
That’s when religion becomes corrupt.
That’s when religion becomes profitable.
And yes, Jesus confronted that too.
📜 Matthew 21:12
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.”
📜 Matthew 21:13
“He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers.’”
He didn’t gently suggest they reconsider their business model.
He drove them out.
Because religion that is built around money and power is not a small mistake. It is spiritual theft.
And in every generation, people have used “God language” to enrich themselves, manipulate the vulnerable, and demand submission to men while claiming it’s submission to God.
That isn’t Christianity.
That’s the exact thing Jesus rebuked.
Jesus Is Not After Your Performance, He Is After Your Heart
Now we get to the center of what you want made crystal clear.
Religion focuses on performance because it can measure it.
Did you attend?
Did you give?
Did you behave?
Did you check the boxes?
Did you avoid the “big sins”?
Did you sound spiritual?
Did you keep the image?
But Jesus goes after what can’t be faked forever: the heart.
📜 Matthew 15:8
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;’”
Religion is lips without heart.
Jesus is heart that reshapes lips, hands, habits, relationships, money, sexuality, work, leadership, anger, anxiety, everything.
When God promised the New Covenant, He didn’t promise better religious rule-keeping. He promised a changed inner world.
📜 Jeremiah 31:33
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
That is massive. “Write it on their hearts.”
And God explains how that happens.
📜 Ezekiel 36:26
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
📜 Ezekiel 36:27
“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
This is not God screaming “Try harder.”
This is God saying, “I’m going to change what you are, from the inside, and then your life will start to follow.”
📝 Following Christ is not you dragging yourself into holiness by force. It is Christ growing holiness in you through the Spirit.
Religion says, “Do these things so God will accept you.”
Jesus says, “Come to Me, and I will remake you.”
The Holy Spirit Means Christianity Cannot Be Reduced to a System
If Christianity were merely a religion, it could be reduced to:
a schedule
a set of rituals
a moral code
a community identity
a political tribe
a cultural label
But biblical Christianity includes something religion can’t produce: the indwelling Spirit of God.
📜 Romans 8:9
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
That means Christianity is not primarily about joining something. It’s about being inhabited by Someone.
And once the Spirit of God lives in you, following Christ becomes personal and daily. Not chaotic, not “make it up as you go,” but guided, convicting, shaping, correcting, strengthening.
📜 John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…”
So yes, following Christ is Him guiding you through all aspects of your life. Not just your Sunday. Not just your “religious” parts. Your relationships. Your temper. Your work ethic. Your integrity. Your private life. Your money. Your future. Your leadership. Your purity. Your courage.
He’s forming you into someone fit for His Kingdom.
Blood, Sacrifice, and Why Jesus Had to Die
You said something that needs to be handled carefully and biblically, and when it is, it becomes one of the clearest explanations of the gospel:
Blood is not a weird detail in Scripture. It is central.
In the Old Testament, sacrifices weren’t random. They were teaching a spiritual reality: sin brings death, and reconciliation requires atonement.
📜 Leviticus 17:11
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.”
Then the New Testament explains that this wasn’t God enjoying sacrifice. It was God foreshadowing the true sacrifice.
📜 Hebrews 9:22
“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
So the sacrifices were never the solution. They were the shadow pointing to the solution.
And then Jesus arrives.
📜 John 1:29
“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
Jesus is the perfect Lamb. Not because God demanded cruelty, but because justice and mercy meet at the cross.
God does not ignore sin. He pays for it.
And He pays for it Himself.
📜 1 Peter 1:18
“knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,”
📜 1 Peter 1:19
“but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
That’s why no religion can save you. Because no religion can pay that price.
Only Jesus can say:
📜 John 19:30
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
Finished means paid in full. The debt is settled for those who are in Him.
Grace Does Not Remove Obedience. It Creates Real Obedience.
This is where people swing into extremes.
Some people turn Christianity into works-based religion. Others turn grace into permission to live however they want. Both are wrong.
The Bible holds grace and obedience together without confusion.
Grace saves.
📜 Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
Grace also produces a new life.
📜 Ephesians 2:10
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So obedience is not payment. Obedience is fruit.
Jesus says it plainly:
📜 John 14:15
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
That isn’t Jesus saying, “Perform so I don’t reject you.”
That is Jesus saying, “Love will show itself.”
📝 Religion obeys to earn. A disciple obeys because he has been loved, forgiven, and changed.
And yes, disciples still fail. But they repent. They return. They don’t pretend. They don’t justify sin. They don’t call rebellion “freedom.” They keep following.
Why People Submit to Their Boss But Won’t Submit to Christ
This analogy is relatable because it exposes something uncomfortable: we all understand submission when there’s a payoff we value.
People say, “I don’t like being told what to do,” and then they clock in every day and let a boss shape their schedule, their priorities, their behavior, and even their tone.
Why?
Because they get paid.
That’s not an insult. That’s just reality. Everybody submits to something.
Jesus addresses that straight on.
📜 Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Money is a master. So is comfort. So is lust. So is pride. So is self-rule. So is reputation.
People don’t reject submission. They reject submitting to Christ because it threatens their favorite master.
And here’s what makes it even more serious:
Your boss pays you with something temporary.
Jesus purchased you with something eternal.
📜 1 Corinthians 6:19
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”
📜 1 Corinthians 6:20
“for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
So when someone says, “I believe in Jesus,” but refuses His authority, what they’re really saying is, “I want the benefits without the surrender.”
That’s religion.
It’s using God, NOT knowing Him.
Following Christ Is Preparation for the Wedding Feast and the Kingdom
This piece is powerful, and it gives people a reason discipleship matters beyond “be a better person.”
Jesus didn’t save you just to keep you out of hell. He saved you to bring you into a Kingdom.
And Scripture uses the imagery of a wedding, a Bride, a feast, and a prepared people.
📜 Revelation 19:7
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;”
📜 Revelation 19:8
“it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
That doesn’t mean deeds save you. It means a real bride prepares. A real disciple is being shaped.
And the shaping is not random. God is conforming believers into the image of His Son.
📜 Romans 8:29
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
That means following Christ is training for eternity.
Not because you’re earning your seat at the table, but because God is making you the kind of person who belongs at that table.
📝 Heaven is not just a place you go. It’s a reality you’re being made ready for.
What Following Christ Actually Looks Like in Real Life
This is where people need practical clarity, because religion thrives in vague spirituality.
Following Christ looks like:
real repentance, not excuses
humility, not image management
obedience, not selective listening
forgiveness, not bitterness
integrity when no one sees
generosity that costs you something
purity that actually restrains you
courage that makes you unpopular
love that serves without needing credit
And all of it is rooted in one core reality:
You’re not just trying to live for Jesus. You’re living from Jesus.
📜 Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
That verse destroys performance-based Christianity because it means the Christian life is not primarily self-improvement.
It’s self-death and Spirit-life.
That’s why it’s not a religion.
A religion can give you a checklist.
Only Christ can give you a new nature.
📜 2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Why This Matters So Much Right Now
We live in a time where “Christianity” as a label has been attached to:
politics
culture wars
celebrity pastors
prosperity scams
abusive authority structures
shallow motivational speeches
hypocrisy and hidden sin
performative morality
And then people say, “I don’t want Christianity.”
What they often mean is: “I don’t want that.”
And honestly, neither does Jesus, because that’s not what He died to build.
He didn’t die to create a market. He didn’t rise to form a social club. He didn’t send the Spirit to help you maintain a religious brand.
He called people to follow Him.
📜 Matthew 4:19
“And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’”
Notice the order: Follow me, and I will make you.
That’s not “try harder.”
That’s “come close, and I will change you.”
The Most Dangerous Form of Religion Is the Kind That Uses Jesus’ Name
This is where we need to be fearless.
There are people who preach a god that serves your ego.
There are people who sell promises God didn’t make.
There are people who use fear to control.
There are people who use “anointing” language to demand money.
There are people who use titles to dominate.
And Scripture does not treat that lightly.
📜 2 Timothy 3:5
“having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
Appearance without power. That’s religion.
And here is one of the most sobering warnings Jesus ever gave, aimed at people who were confident they were good:
📜 Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
📜 Matthew 7:22
“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’”
📜 Matthew 7:23
“And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
They did “religious things.”
But they didn’t know Him.
That’s the dividing line.
Religion knows about God.
A disciple knows God.
So What Do You Do With This
You don’t fix this by finding a “cooler” church. You don’t fix this by changing denominations. You don’t fix this by becoming anti-church or bitter. You fix this by going to Jesus Himself.
The call is simple, but it isn’t casual.
Repent. Believe. Follow.
Not as performance. As surrender.
Not as self-salvation. As response to grace.
Not as “church identity.” As relationship.
If you’ve been burned by religion, you need to hear this clearly: Jesus is not asking you to trust corruption. He’s asking you to trust Him.
And if you’ve been living in religious performance, you need to hear this too: Jesus is not impressed by your image. He wants your heart. And He is kind enough to expose what is fake so He can heal what is real.
📜 John 8:36
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Freedom is not the absence of obedience.
Freedom is the presence of Christ.
And when Christ is present, obedience becomes something else entirely: not slavery, but love.
Final Thought
Christianity was never meant to be a religion you perform. It was meant to be a relationship you live.
Religion says, “Climb your way up to God.”
Jesus says, “I came down for you.”
Religion says, “Do more.”
Jesus says, “It is finished.”
Religion says, “Clean yourself up.”
Jesus says, “Come to Me, and I will give you a new heart.”
And once you belong to Him, He doesn’t just forgive you and leave you where you are. He begins preparing you for His Kingdom, shaping you for eternity, making you ready for the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Not because you earned the invitation, but because He loves you enough to make you fit for the home He’s bringing you into.
Ask Yourself:
Where have I been more focused on looking Christian than actually following Christ?
What part of my life have I kept outside of Jesus’ authority because I still want to be my own master?
If Jesus is truly after my heart, what would full surrender look like this week in real, practical terms?
Join the Discussion:
What’s one way you’ve seen “religion” distort people’s view of Jesus, and what helped you (or could help you) separate corrupted Christianity from the real Christ?
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