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Legalism was a great concern to the Apostle Paul and others. Even spent a great deal of Galatians talking about it. But for you and me, what would constitute legalism?
How can you know, how can I know if I am a legalist? An interesting discussion just ahead here on Grace in Focus, and we’re so glad that you’ve joined us today, friend. Grace in Focus is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society.
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Once again, our web address, faithalone.org. Now, with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Ken Yates and Kathryn Wright.
We were just talking in between episodes and we had a call-in question. And I like talking about this topic because it’s, I think it’s something that Christians struggle with, or sometimes we don’t think of it this way. And so you were the one who got the call.
So and his name was Fred.
That’s right.
What did he say and what was his question?
Yeah. So sometimes we have folks call in to the office and we try to call y’all back and answer questions. Same thing with these write-in questions that we get and respond to.
So if you ever have a question, please send it in to the office, faithalone.org. We’d love to get your questions. But yeah, I had a long conversation with a guy, his name was Fred and the conversation went all over the place like they often do.
But one question that came up and I just thought it was a really interesting one was how do we define legalism? And I agree with Fred on this, but I think we should add to it. But he defined legalism as when we elevate our traditions over the commandments.
So it’s not the commandments, but it’s our tradition.
So like with the Pharisees, when they added so much to the Sabbath, right?
How to wash your hands.
Right. And you can only walk so far, and mothers couldn’t lift up their children. And I mean, they just added to what was…
No healing on the Sabbath.
Yes, no healing on the Sabbath. So yes, they were to keep the Sabbath, it was supposed to be a day of rest, but they added to that commandment with all of these additional traditions. And those traditions became more important than following the Lord, ultimately.
And I think that that’s a really good point. I think a lot of times, that’s… even if they do it subconsciously, I think that’s the way Christians see it.
You know, like my traditions, I elevate them.
So like, for example, in our context, right, we… you might… myself, I’m using myself, I go to a church and we start at this time, and we sing this many hymns, and we do the doxology at this time, or maybe we do the advent candles at Christmas.
Well, technically none of that is…
Or the preacher, and boy, I’ve seen this, the preacher has to wear a tie.
Right.
If the preacher doesn’t wear a tie, he’s not honoring God.
Yes.
He’s disrespecting God in the way he dresses.
This seems personal, Ken Yates, you understand?
I’m on the soap box here.
Right. And those are traditions, and it’s not that traditions are inherently bad, but they do become problematic when they become… They are elevated beyond actually serving others and the teachings of Christ, certainly.
But what’s interesting about this topic, and this is maybe something that some of our listeners, or maybe many of our listeners never thought of, I remember when I first was exposed to Grace teaching in GES. I don’t remember if it was in a conference or where it was, but it was brought out that legalism involves the law. And I remember being listening and being told, and I don’t know if I’d ever thought of it that way.
Maybe I did, but legalism can also, of course, it’s legalism if I think I gotta keep the law in order to be saved. Or if I preach that. Or let’s say I’m a believer, I believed in Jesus for eternal life, but later I go, oh no, no, no, no, that was wrong.
I still have eternal life, but I can preach a legalistic gospel, a false gospel, which is, oh no, no, no, no, you gotta keep the Ten Commandments. You gotta do whatever. Or Jesus commanded us to be baptized.
There’s a commandment. We’re gonna go into the New Testament, right? So if you wanna go to heaven, you gotta be baptized, okay?
That’s legalism.
Sure. And that’s not tradition.
That’s not tradition.
To Fred’s point, which I agree with Fred again, but I think that you make a good point that it’s not just the traditions where we can get hung up on, it’s also the actual commandments.
The commandments that are holy, as Paul says in Romans, right? The commandments are holy, but I can turn them into legalistic practices, either in the gospel or, and this might be everyone I hopefully heard that about the gospel, say, well, yeah, obviously, that’s a legalistic gospel. It’s not a saving gospel.
But we could also do it for Christian living.
That’s right.
That, and again, this is when I was first exposed to Grace teaching. Legalism can be, okay, I’ve got to keep the 10 commandments, not to be saved, but to please God in the sense that I check them off every day. I have a checklist, okay?
I do these things, and if I do these things, okay, I don’t lie, I don’t steal, I don’t commit adultery. I worship the Lord, I don’t covet. That’s a tough one though.
But if I do all those things, then I’m good to go.
Right.
You know, and…
I’m keeping the commandments. Everything’s hunky dory.
I’m keeping the commandments, and therefore I’m pleasing to God.
That’s a problem.
Yeah.
That’s not always true.
That’s not always true. And because that attitude… And by the way, this comes from Acts 15.
If you go to Acts 15, there’s two groups.
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If you go to Acts 15, there’s two groups. One group comes up and says at the council, you have to be circumcised to be saved. And that’s legalism.
Everybody, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, that’s wrong. But then the next group come and says, well, we need to teach these believers to keep the law of Moses, here in the Old Testament. So no, circumcision doesn’t save me, but I still need to do that in order to please God.
Both of those are rejected at the Jerusalem Council there in Acts 15. So let’s talk about that. How can, if I understand that I don’t have to keep the law, here we’re talking about the Ten Commandments, in order to be saved, how is it that keeping the law can turn into legalism for me?
Before we got on, I gave just a real simple example of this, that, okay, the scriptures tell us that we shouldn’t forsake the assembly, that we should be going to church, that we should be part of the body of Christ. Okay, we see that. But what if somebody’s homebound?
What if somebody, you know, is really sick? You know, they’re in a season, and it’s a long season. Maybe they can’t go to church consistently.
Or they have a handicapped child.
They have a handicapped child, or they struggle with depression, and it’s just really difficult for them. There’s so many things that could prevent someone from attending church regularly. Maybe you’re in an area where there isn’t a church for you to attend.
I’ve got some friends in New Zealand, and boy, oh boy, it’s hard. Are they displeasing the Lord? And there’s going to be some people who look at them and say, well, they should go anyways.
And that’s where the legalism comes in.
Or they should move.
I do these things and you don’t.
That’s right.
Therefore, I have a critical attitude of you.
That’s exactly right.
And in 1 John, when John talks about keeping the commandment, he’s primarily talking about loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. So if you say you are keeping the commandments, but you hate your brother, in other words, you’re critical of them.
That’s right.
You’re judging them. You are not merciful towards them. Then, therefore, you’ve turned it into…
In other words, I’ve checked the block. I’ve done all these things, and you didn’t.
So therefore, nanny nanny boo boo, I’m better than you.
Better than you.
That’s right. I’ve been teaching through 1 John with a group, and we were in 1 John 2.9. And one of the observations that has been made a few times with 1 John is, there seems to be these claims that are made.
If someone says, I have no sin, then they’re a liar, right? If someone were to say, I’m walking in the light, but you hate your brother. So it’s not…
So you’re doing all those things.
Right. You’re doing these things. And that’s the point.
This is not the believer who is the prodigal son out in the wilderness, you know, the carnal, like, believer in our mind. Like, they know they’re out of fellowship. These are people who think they are in fellowship with the Lord.
Right, because they’re doing those things.
Because they’re doing the righteous things, and they’re making these claims of, oh no, I’m in fellowship with the Lord, but you’re mistreating your brother and sister. You hate your brother or sister in Christ. Well then, no, you’re not in fellowship with him.
And so, yeah, I mean, that’s such a small example of they’re not attending church, but it’s fleshed out in so many other ways.
Yeah, believers who have a list of things to do, like we’re told to study the Word. Okay, so somebody says, well, I’ve studied the Word an hour today, and then he looks around and he judges those who don’t. That’s a legalist.
That’s right. That is exactly what we’re talking about, because yes, the laws are there, and they’re good, but we don’t keep them in our own power. And that’s the thing with the legalist.
The legalist says, I do these things. I’m going to do these things where true sanctification or the sanctification that pleases the Lord is when he accomplishes these things through us.
This is a big part of Romans as well, right? Paul is saying, I tried to do this in my own power, in the flesh, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t keep it, and I, in my experience, died.
Right.
It’s a big problem in the Christian life that we can become so focused on the commandments and not the commander.
So a legalist, that’s a good way to put it. I’m focusing on the commandments and not the one who gave them, and relying upon him to change me. This is a huge problem in the church.
I don’t know if everyone would agree with me on this, but if you are a churchgoing, Bible reading, praying, serving person, but you find, or we find, certainly could happen to me as well, maybe it does, that I’m critical, that I’m judgemental, that I look at other people and say they’re not as holy as I am. That kind of thing.
Nip-picky.
Yes. And I think probably most of the time, it’s going to go to Fred’s question, then it’s probably going to turn into, also we’re going to add our traditions. That’s right.
That’s what the Legalist does. They don’t do the Commandments as I do, but you know what else I’ve noticed? They don’t dress as nice at church, and they don’t go to church as much as I do.
I go on Sunday night and I go on Wednesday night, and they don’t. That’s what happens with the Legalist. So we hope this conversation maybe expands the way we see Legalism.
We see that for the Legalist, he takes what is good, the commandments, and turns it into a self-righteous pride, pride kind of thing. Well, and that is the opposite of grace. And remember, Keep Grace in Focus.
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The preceding has been a listener-supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.
