Legalism

I don’t like the word legalism, because it implies that laws are a problem. They are not.

The reality is that human society cannot function without laws, so there is nothing wrong with laws in themselves.

God was quite happy to give laws to his people, because he understood that they are useful for restraining the worst effects of evil.

Jesus gave plenty of commands/laws.

• Love one another
• Forgive those who forgive you.
• Turn the other cheek.
• Give away your possessions
• Go and proclaim the good news.

Jesus wants us to know how to follow him, so he told people what he required of them.

The problem is not with laws and commands. They are as good as the person giving them.

A problem occurs when humans use laws and commands to prove they are righteous, so they deserve God’s blessing. That is what the Pharisees did. They used the law, or more correctly, a big list of rules that they selected and derived from the law, to prove that they were righteous and therefore deserved Gods blessings.

Some call this legalism, but it is better to call it Phariseeism, or human religious effort. The Pharisees believed that God would bless Israel if enough people proved their righteousness by obeying their rules. Their religion was

Do ► Receive

Most religions operate on this approach.

God operates the opposite way. His rescue of the Israelites was

Receive ► Do

The gospel of Jesus is

Receive ► Do

God gives us what we don’t deserve, and we respond with love and obey his commands.

Under a “Do ► Receive” approach, the requirements of laws and rules become an impossible burden, just like the rules of the Pharisees.

Under a “Receive ► Do”, laws and commands are a pathway to transformation. God graciously gives us the Holy Spirit, even though we do not deserve this gift. As we receive him into our lives, listen to his voice, and allow him to soften our hearts, we find that we are beginning to do what the Sermon on the Mount requires.

The Sermon on the Mounts is not a set of commands that we must obey to please Jesus. That would be impossible. They are a description of the life that emerges in the body of Christ as the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and inspires us to love one another.

Do ► Receive becomes an impossible burden.

Receive ► Do is the pathway to life.

Law and Grace (4) Not Legalism

A common assumption that the Old Testament law was a system of salvation by works is wrong. The law was not a system of rules to make people perfect, it was set of laws that would allow a diverse group of people to live together in relative harmony. The law could not resolve all problems between people, but it restrained the worst behaviours that would divide and destroy the community. That is all that law can do.

No system of laws is capable of perfecting people. Even perfect laws cannot make people perfect. Only the cross and the gospel have that power. God did not give the law in attempt to turn his people into better people, because that would have failed, and he does not do failure. He gave the law to restrain the very worst sins of theft and violence. That was all that could be done before the cross, and that was all he God intended.

Moses understood that the law could not make people perfect. Near the end of his life he said,

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live (Deut 29:6).

Moses was a prophet. He was looking forward to a time when God would give his people a new heart, so that they could love him fully. This prophecy was fulfilled by the ministry of Jesus. Moses probably did not understand what Jesus would do, but he knew that his people needed a new heart. He knew that law could not change human hearts. The best that law could do was to limit the worst effects of sin, so that people could live together without fighting and destroying each other.

Humans have a tendency to try to prove their righteousness by creating a set of rules and struggling to abide by them. These efforts always fail, but this kind of legalism has been common in every age. The Pharisees twisted the Laws of Moses into a set or rules that they could use to prove their righteousness. Jesus rebuked them for this. He said that they had distorted God’s law by transforming it into the traditions of man. They had placed a burden on the people that they could not keep.

They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them (Matt 23:4).

God never uses law in the way because he realises that it would always fail. He knows that no one can become righteous by complying with a set of rules. When God gave the law, he was not giving a set of rules that people must keep to be righteous. He had a far more sensible objective. He was giving a set of laws that would restrain behaviour sufficiently to prevent the community from tearing itself apart. The law was not given to make people righteous. It was given to unrighteous people to keep them from harming each other.

The law was a grace system, not a works system.

Law and Grace (1) Legalism

The church has always had a struggle with legalism right from the beginning and the problem has not gone away. The modern church is still dealing with legalism. To understand the relationship between law and grace, we must clarify the nature of legalism, and what it is not.

Legalism is not dependence on law. Law is good. Every society needs laws to function. Paul had strong words about the value of law.

The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good (Rom 7:12).
The law is spiritual (Rom 7:14).

This is clear. Attacking the law will not rid the church of legalism.

Abundance of rules is not legalism. Rules can be good. A rule about driving on the right side of the road is useful. However, a massive number of complicated and incomprehensible rules create confusion. Large numbers of detailed rules can be a symptom of legalism, but they is not the cause.

Legalism works at two levels.

1. Legalistic Gospel
   The gospel is corrupted by legalism when it is turned into Jesus plus something else that a Christian must do. Legalistic people minimise the gospel, because they assume some other thing has to be done in addition to what Jesus is done. Salvation is partly earned by human effort. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was dealing with circumcision. Some Christians were implying that faith in Jesus was not enough, so those with faith in Jesus must be circumcised to be fully saved. This gospel was Jesus plus circumcision.
   
   The addition to the gospel can be something good. Other people in Galatians said that keeping the sabbath was essential for salvation. Their gospel was Jesus plus the sabbath. The sabbath is a good thing commanded by the law. The problem is that when a good command is turned into a criterion for saved, very detailed rules are needed, as there is always one more exception that needs to be clarified.
   
   For example, if sabbath is a gift for life given for our blessing and refreshment, “have a good day off” is enough. However, if sabbath is a criterion for assessing who is in or out, precise rules about multiple categories of work are needed. The Pharisees were playing this game. Their detailed rules are the symptom of their legalistic approach to salvation, which required people to earn their salvation by obeying all the rules.

2. Legalistic Living
   Legalism can cripple the Christian life. Humans seem to have a natural propensity for living by rules. Some personalities are particular prone to this tendency. Christians living can slip into living by a set of rules. A good Christian is the one who does not do things on the forbidden list. This legalistic approach to life fosters pride and exclusivism and leaves many Christians stuck in immaturity and boredom.
   
   Rules are fine for beginners, but as a Christian grows their relationship with Jesus, rules should become less important. The Christian life is following the voice of the Spirit wherever he leads, letting the life of Christ transform our lives. Many ambiguities and tensions will be faced, but these are best dealt with by grace and faith, rather than increasing rules. Walking in the Spirit is much harder and more exciting than living by a bunch of rules.