Religious OCD & Scrupulosity Caused and Empowered By Legalism: Romans Chapters Seven & Eight―The Way In and the Way Out

Please allow me to start this blog by saying that what is written below, I have had to partake of it myself first. This blog is in no wise meant unto condemnation, but it is meant for truth unto salvation. After all, I too, once, was entrenched in legalism. However, in this blog, I am particularly concentrating on OCD, empowered by legalism. If you find some choice of words to be strong, please understand that these are the very adjectives and adverbs the Lord used to describe me first, that is, to describe the way I was when under legalism. This blog also shows the way out. Please read it with an open heart. The truths contained in this blog have the power to set you free either immediately or ultimately, for the Bible says and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (see John 8:31-32).

THE WAY IN

Romans 7:14-23 NKJV

“14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

So the devil whispers a thought into the carnal believer’s mind, that is, the believer who relies on his own power and self-effort to live free from sin. The legalistic believer, whose very salvation rests on his own ability to live godly, starts to panic and attempts to cast out the thought knowing that the content of the thought is against the law of God. But now that the thought has been thought, the new covenant believer living under the old covenant law fears that he has disobeyed the law and such fear and condemnation cause the unwanted thought to become an endless recurring thought, not being governed by grace, for ever bouncing from one side of the believer’s mind to the other side of the mind. So the unbelieving believer (the Bible states in Galatians 3:10-14 that the law doesn’t rest on faith) tries to stop the thought in his own power because he must―because the law’s requirement is to be holy, but the more he tries, the more the thought persists. The law, ever watching in disapproval, causes the enslaved believer to try all the more, but due to the law of sin that dwells in every human’s members, the fight becomes an endless vicious cycle. The thought that the fearful believer doesn’t want to think he ends up thinking, and the thought that the fearful believer wants to think, he ends up not thinking. The panic-stricken law-bound Christian tries yet harder and harder, with seemingly no way of escape, and with fear mercilessly increasing and compounding the struggle, as the law continuously stares with disapproval and condemnation at the desperate victim-offender―strengthening the sin (see 1 Corinthians 15:56) and pronouncing the dreaded death sentence (see 2 Corinthians 3:7-9) upon the helpless scrupulous believer, that is, upon the believer who rebelliously no longer rests in faith in the finished work of the cross.

THE WAY OUT

Romans 7:24-25, Romans 8:1-5 NKJV

"24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Free from Indwelling Sin

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

Many of us will agree that the solution to indwelling sin isn’t to continue in sin because “we can’t” stop or because we believe that grace covers it. The solution remains Christ in me the hope of glory (see Colossians 1:27). The solution is recorded in Romans 8:1,4―to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh (also see Galatians 5:16). It is to walk in the Spirit so that we can be free from the law (see Galatians 5:18) and from the dominion of sin (see Galatians 5:16 and Romans 6:14). To walk in the Spirit means to live in dependence on the Spirit. And to walk in the flesh means to live in dependence on the flesh. O what a revelation! This means that we are free to depend on Him to perfect us, to make us what we ought to be, to make us right―without us having to feel condemned if we have not arrived yet―for our heart is repentant and our trust is in Him. It means that we can now depend on Him to mold us and to shape us into Christ’s image. It means that we can place our faith in Him to do the work in us that only He can do. It means that we can actively believe Him to complete in us that which He started (see Philippians 1:6) . . . Receiving the free gift of righteousness is walking in the Spirit. Running to Christ for forgiveness when we sin is walking in the Spirit. Trusting that we are saved by His grace alone through faith and not relying on our human effort and ability to make ourselves acceptable to Him is walking in the Spirit. Minding the things which are above is walking in the Spirit (see Romans 8:5 and Colossians 3:2). To work out (not for) our salvation with fear and trembling, not in our own strength, for it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (see Philippians 2:12-13) is walking in the Spirit. God works in us first, and then we work out. But we can't work out unless He has first worked in us. Condemnation pronounces us guilty and brings a wedge between us and God. However, Christ is the bridge to cross over to God. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight (see 2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is the victory.

2 Peter 1:4 NKJV says, “by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” We appropriate the promises of God through faith; by believing with our heart. We believe that we have been made a new creation in Christ Jesus; that the old is gone and the new has come (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). We believe that we were set free from sin (see Matthew 1:21). We consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (see Romans 6:11). We believe that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness (see 2 Peter 1:3). We believe that we are the righteousness of God in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). We believe that we have been crucified with Christ and that it is no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us (see Galatians 2:20a). We believe that the life that we now live, we live by faith in and of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (see Galatians 2:20b). We believe that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (see Philippians 4:13). As we appropriate the promises, we begin to, with ease, being under grace and not under law, partake of the divine nature and we are thus freed from the thought and from its guilt. But we need to be freed from the guilt and strength of the thought first, if we ever want to be freed from the thought itself.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”―Romans 6:14 NKJV

And we say grace, grace and more grace!

―Kathleen Kaczmarek

Who Are You Anyway?

“But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.”

—Galatians 4:4–7 MSG (emphasis added)

A few years after I was born again, God gave me a prophetic dream showing me the battle I would face with legalism. Please bear with me as I share this dream with you in detail and provide you with the interpretation as I have it today. Mind you, I did not understand most of the meaning of the dream until after He had already performed a great work of restoration from legalism within me and from the resulting fruits in my life of scrupulosity and religious OCD.

In the dream, I was a high school student, and I was running late for my class. As I walked in the hallway of the school toward my classroom, an announcement was made through the school’s speakerphones, and the lady said, “Kathleen Kaczmarek has been kidnapped!” I knew by the tone of her voice that the kidnapper was still roaming around and that he was a threat. But why had she said my name? I quickly became uneasy. Was it a prophecy of what would happen to me? Could there be someone else with the same first and last name? Hadn’t it already happened? She said, “Has been kidnapped,” but I was still there. When I reached the classroom, everyone was panicked. The teacher dismissed the class, and all the girls ran for refuge back home. The teacher left, everyone left, and I was left alone in the classroom. Suddenly I saw to my left maybe two or three strong men, muscle-bound men; and I started to look to them to protect me from the kidnapper. However, and to my surprise, even they ran for fear![1]

By now I was standing at the front of the classroom. On my right was a door that led to the hallway. At that moment, the kidnapper appeared in the doorway, laughed, and hid again. He wanted me to know that he wasn’t far and that he knew where I was. I thought to myself “If even the muscular men can’t save me, who can?” This is when the very voice of our heavenly Father spoke to me. I say our heavenly Father because when He spoke, His voice sounded like thunder. A fair description could also be like many waters. But I know it was powerful and loud and it resonated everywhere. I recognized it from the way it is described in John 12:28-29 where the Father speaks as a response to Jesus’ cry to glorify the Father’s name. The sound of His voice is likened to thunder. When the Father spoke to me, His voice seemed to be everywhere at the same time; it was outside of me, inside of me, went through me, and was everywhere! And this is what He said: “You are not alone, Jessica.” He didn’t even know my name! But at the same time I knew that God obviously had to know my name. I didn’t know what to make of it. I guess I had mixed feelings. Part of me was so blessed that God Himself would speak to me at this moment of great need in such a way, but at the same time I felt kind of offended that He didn’t call me by my real name, Kathleen. It made me feel as though He barely knew me and that I didn’t matter to Him very much for Him to make such a gross mistake with my name. That’s the way the dream ended.

Through the dream, the Lord was showing me that the law (legalism) would come and kidnap me, but that I could call to my heavenly Father and He would be strong enough to deliver and to protect me. The apostle Paul made it clear to us through Galatians 4:4–7 that we are not slaves, but children. Legalism reduces us to slavery through fear. However, God the Father has set us free from bondage to fear by adopting us as His own children through Christ.[2]

What’s more, the Lord wanted to teach me another powerful lesson. . . Before I had the dream, I had been spending some time searching the web for the meaning of the name Kathleen. I also knew that my mom had debated between Kathleen and Jessica. Most sites say that the meaning of Kathleen is “pure.” Even a lady from church gave me a card with the name Kathleen on it and with a description of its meaning as “pure.” Through my search on the internet, I also came across one site (and I cannot find the site anymore) where they insisted that even though most people say the meaning of Kathleen is “pure,” it is a mistake. Instead it means some kind of dark sorcerer or something like that. I can’t remember the exact words they used to describe it. Though I knew it was only a name and only one site, still it troubled me a little given my past and the way the devil liked to play with my mind. Regardless, Kathleen represented who I was, in and of myself. However, all of this didn’t matter anymore after I had that dream because God had called me Jessica! So I hurried to the computer, eager to know the meaning of the name Jessica. I knew it had to describe how God saw me and that it represented who I was in Christ, for God had spoken it. When I found it, I was pleased to see that Jessica means “God beholds,” “wealthy,” and “foresighted.”

Now, you may wonder where I am going with this. This blog is about our true identity, our new life, the one that is hidden with Christ in God.[3] The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC that if any person is ingrafted in Christ, he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away and the fresh and new has come! This means who we were before is buried with Christ. I believe that God is the ultimate visionary, and He has buried our past through the blood of Christ so that the new could come. We are a new creation. Consider Abram, Sarai, Jacob, and Simon for example. Each of them were renamed by God Himself once they had an encounter with Him. Abram was renamed Abraham;[4] Sarai, Sarah;[5] Jacob, Israel;[6] and Simon, Peter.[7] In their days, names were very important because they represented who they were.

Now, let me share something with you that I consider of utmost importance. What we believe about ourselves, how we see ourselves, and how we believe that God sees us is critical. It will ultimately shape who we are and, really, the course of our lives. In Romans 6:11, the apostle Paul told us to consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to God. I heard Beth Moore say during an interview with Joyce Meyer what I consider to be one of the most powerful statements I have ever heard. It went something like this: “You will end up where you believe you belong. Always.” This is why we need to renew our belief system with the truth of the Word of God. If we believe in our heart that we belong in the pit, no matter how hard we try, we will always ultimately end up in defeat. If we believe that we are a sinner, no matter how many good intentions we have, we will ultimately go back to the sin we are desperate to get free from. So it is important to believe with our heart that we belong to and with Jesus because of our faith in His work at Calvary, if we ever want to live the corresponding victorious life. It is important to believe what the Word says concerning us.

The Bible says about us who believe in Christ that we are children of God. We are slaves of righteousness, not slaves of sin.[8] We are the righteousness of God through Christ.[9] We need to know this truth for ourselves: that we have been made righteous through Christ, that we are accepted in the beloved, and that we are forgiven.[10] The Bible even says that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus![11] Talk about a done deal! Unless we see ourselves right with God through the blood of Christ, we will never be victorious and we will always end up in defeat in the end, always.

Now be encouraged dear one, for there is hope! There is a way out.

―Kathleen Kaczmarek

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[1] See Jeremiah 17:5 MSG.

[2] See also Romans 8:15.

[3] See Colossians 3:3.

[4] See Genesis 17:5.

[5] See Genesis 17:15.

[6] See Genesis 35:10.

[7] See Matthew 16:17–18.

[8] See Romans 6:18 NKJV.

[9] See 2 Corinthians 5:21.

[10] See 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:6 KJV; Matthew 26:28.

[11] See Ephesians 2:6.

Religious OCD (scrupulosity): How to stop the thoughts