Christians
are quick to charge others with legalism without clarifying what they mean. The
charge of legalism, however, is a serious accusation and shouldn’t be thrown
around lightly. We need to be more careful about calling other believers “legalistic" because what we call legalism isn't always so.
What Legalism Is
Legalism
comes in many different forms. One form is what we might call full-blown
legalism. This is the teaching that sinners can be saved by good works. Whether
it’s completely by good works or a mixture of faith and good works, it doesn’t
matter. Salvation is by God’s grace alone, and to teach otherwise is legalism.
This form of legalism is pretty rare, though it’s certainly a problem in
sections of the church today.
Another form
of legalism, which is much more common, is the idea that Christians must obey
manmade rules and regulations in addition to the commands of Scripture.
Sometimes this comes in the form of arbitrary rules about makeup, clothing, and
the length of your hair. At other times, these extrabiblical requirements
concern holy days and dietary laws. The point is, no one other than Christ
speaking in the Scriptures has the authority to bind your conscience. It is legalistic to make up rules for all
Christians without any biblical warrant.
The most
common legalism is best described as an attitude.
We are guilty of legalism when we fall into the trap of thinking that God loves
us more when we perform better. There more quiet times, the more Bible reading,
the more prayer time, the better God loves me. That’s legalism, and that’s
deadly. We must never forget that we are forever accepted in God’s sight
because of what Jesus did for us on the cross once and for all. Christ’s
finished sacrifice reconciles us to God and forever absolves us of all our
shortcomings. Even though we know this in our heads, we have trouble believing
this in our hearts. So we need to remind ourselves every day that we are not
accepted by God on the basis of what we do. We are secure in our Father’s love because
of who he is and because of what Christ has accomplished in our behalf.
What Legalism Isn’t
It is also
important to understand what legalism isn’t. First of all, the desire to obey God is not legalism. If we are truly born again,
we want to obey God because we want to please our heavenly Father. We are not
trying to earn our salvation; we are expressing our gratitude for the salvation
he has freely given us in his Son.
Secondly, the attempt to follow God’s law is not
legalism. Believers should delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on
it day and night. We aren’t using the law as the basis of our justification.
The law is holy, righteous, and good. It sets before us a perfect pattern of
God’s righteousness. The law reflects the righteousness and generosity of the
God who gave it. So we cherish the law and delight to obey it out of love for
Christ. The Reformers called this “the third use of the law” or the “regulative
use of the law.”
Thirdly, striving to be careful and exact in our
obedience is not legalism. Some Christians believe that we should simply “feel
the Spirit” and do whatever subjective impulses come to mind. Whatever we feel
is right is what we should do. This subjectivism is totally foreign to the
Bible. True Christians want to do exactly what God says. We want to do it right
away. We want to do it as he commanded.
Much more
could be said on this topic, but we should seek to study the Scriptures on the
subject and not throw around this serious charge without knowing exactly what
we mean by the term.
The last Sunday in October is known as
Reformation Sunday. It celebrates the beginning of the Protestant Reformation
when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church
in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. 