For many religious people, the term legalism has a strong negative connotation. Yet others may be unfamiliar with it. To be fair, it is not a term found in the Bible. Instead, it has been coined to describe a certain approach to the Bible.
Legalism is associated with the idea of strictness, narrow-mindedness, and being judgmental. The Pharisees are the classic example of “legalists.” However, while the Pharisees may have been strict, narrow-minded, and judgmental, there was more to them than that. At times, they justified certain sins and acts of disobedience, including the refusal to help their aged parents in need (Matthew 15:3-6). At other times, Jesus rebuked them for what could be described as spiritual mediocrity as they hypocritically taught others to do what they refused to do (Matthew 23:2-4) and presented an appearance of holiness while being spiritually corrupt in their hearts (Matthew 23:27-28).
Just as there is more to the Pharisees than the common stereotype, I believe there is more to “legalism” than the popular concept of it.
What Is Legalism?
Legalism is a focus on LAW as a means of justification. Yet the Scriptures teach that we are “justified by faith” in Christ (Romans 5:1). Paul declared, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we will never be “perfect.” We will always need God’s grace and mercy if we hope to be saved. This is why Paul wrote elsewhere, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Of course, some have the misconception that we are justified by faith alone, yet the New Testament does not teach this (James 2:24). The type of faith by which we are justified is an obedient faith (cf. Romans 1:5; James 2:26). Therefore, we do not want to discount the importance of obedience. However, the “legalist” falls into the trap of ignoring the importance of faith and focuses exclusively on law. Yet as we will discuss, this is not just about law-keeping; it also involves manipulating the law in an attempt to justify oneself.
How Legalism Is Manifested
Remember our definition of legalism and its focus on LAW. This may manifest itself in strict law-keeping, but that is just one way in which one might act legalistically. The following behaviors may not seem related at first. Yet what they all have in common is that they depend upon LAW as the means by which one considers himself to be justified.
The following are ways a “legalistic” attitude may present itself in one’s life.
- Obedience by rote rather than from the heart – God said of His people, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote…” (Isaiah 29:13). Rather than serving God from the heart, they were simply “going through the motions.” Jesus cited this passage when He condemned the Pharisees for worshipping God “in vain” (Matthew 15:8-9). If the things we do in service to God are nothing more than items to check off just so we can say we have done them, we have fallen into the trap of legalism.
- Seeking to do the minimum to be saved – When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to keep the commandments, and he answered that he had done this (Luke 18:18-21). So Jesus said, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). This caused him to depart in sorrow. Jesus’ answer did not give a minimum requirement for him to meet. Instead, He called upon him to make a complete, lifelong commitment. Jesus said elsewhere, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Our entire lives must be given to Him as a “living and holy sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). We must strive to be “perfect, as [our] heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). But if we try to determine what is the least we can do and still please God, that is a form of legalism.
- Looking for loopholes to justify one’s desired behavior – The Pharisees came up with what they thought was a “loophole” to justify their failure to care for their parents (Matthew 15:4-6). In other words, if certain conditions existed, they believed they could ignore God’s law. Many today subscribe to the concept of “situation ethics,” in which right and wrong are determined not by an objective standard of truth but by the current circumstances. The apostle Paul explained that some “slanderously reported” that he taught the idea that we can “do evil that good may come” (Romans 3:8). Yet this is what many do today. Rather than recognizing God’s word as the unchanging standard of truth (cf. Psalm 119:160), their concept of right and wrong changes as culture changes. Of course, many simply reject the instructions of God outright. Yet if we look for ways to justify our failure to follow God’s instructions while still claiming to follow His law, we are guilty of legalism.
- Assuming the place of God in judging others – Jesus described the Pharisees as having “seated themselves in the chair of Moses” (Matthew 23:2). He then said that if they taught what was in harmony with the law God revealed, the people were to obey (Matthew 23:3). Yet they often went beyond that and condemned others for doing things that violated “the tradition of the elders” (Matthew 15:2). Paul wrote, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” (Colossians 2:16). These had been parts of the law of Moses, yet they had been “nailed…to the cross” (Colossians 2:14) and were not requirements for Christians under the law of Christ. No one has a right to condemn anyone for violating a standard that God has not bound upon us. When Paul warned against “passing judgment on [one’s] opinions” (Romans 14:1), he wrote, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:10). Yet if we condemn others for not conforming to our opinions – as if we were God and our opinions were Scripture – we have become legalists.
If one is striving to carefully follow God’s law, that does not mean he is a “legalist.” We need to be “careful to engage in good deeds” (Titus 3:8), doing all things “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17) as we “observe all that [He] commanded” (Matthew 28:20). Instead of doing that, a “legalist” will be careful to give an appearance of engaging in good deeds while doing the least that he can, finding ways to justify his preferred sins, and condemning those who do not live up to the human standard he has created or adopted for himself.
Conclusion
While legalism is typically associated with strictness and narrow-mindedness, the same mentality also leads one to justify his own sins, shortcomings, and unwise decisions. We must not seek to be justified by law – through perfect law-keeping or by doing whatever we believe is the minimum requirement. Instead, we should recognize that we are justified by faith and then continue to live by faith, grow in the Lord, become more like Christ, and bear fruit in our service to God.
