LEGALISM:  What It Is and Why People are Drawn to It

There were a lot of rules growing up in a small-town Texas conservative church back in the 1970s and 80s: 

• Girls couldn’t wear slacks to church OR to school, never mind wearing jeans. 
• Dancing was a no-go because it could lead to other bad things.  (“Don’t have sex because it might lead to dancing!” was the joke) 
• No “mixed swimming” – girls and boys swimming in the same pool of water at the same time, was not allowed. 
• Only one version of the Bible was approved of and if you didn’t read from that one, well, you were on that bobsled to Gehenna. 
• Boys could pick up the attendance cards that were passed to the ends of the aisles, but girls couldn’t. 
• You had to be at the church building any time the doors were open for an event; otherwise, your salvation was called into question. 
• You never, ever shared your problems with your church friends.

Depending on where you attended, you may have had different rules, but these ones were pretty standard in small town, conservative, Texas Bible Belt churches in the 70s and early 80s.

Those rules are no longer in effect in most places, thankfully.

That was more than 50 years ago. 

So why bring it up now? 

I bring it up because those rules could be termed as examples of “legalism”, a word that is still thrown around a lot in the broader Christian community. And there’s a lot of confusion about what that means.

Let’s start with a definition:  LEGALISM

• “strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, esp. to the letter rather than the spirit”  (collinsdictionary.com)
• “Legalism exists when people attempt to secure righteousness in God’s sight by good works. Legalists believe that they can earn or merit God’s approval by performing the requirements of the law,” (Thomas Schreiner)
• “Legalism is when people believe that strict adherence to the law and its prescriptions make them right with God.  Legalism is when we attempt to be made right with God separate from Jesus. Whenever we’re attempting to please God or be made right with God or even impress God apart from Jesus, I would categorize that as legalism.”  (Jason Cook)
• “Legalism exists when people demand adherence to a set of rules, in addition to faith in Christ, to be considered “right”, “saved”, or “Biblical”.  If you don’t agree with their list, you are considered a “false teacher” and “in error”.   (Rebecca Turner)

Legalism is when people believe that salvation depends on more than just the blood of Christ. 

Most legalists don’t believe they practice legalism. 

They believe they are simply following what God has commanded.  After all, isn’t that what Christians are to do? (Yes, following God IS what Christians should do.  No argument there.)

And yes, these rules are “works” (things we do), but after all “faith without works is dead”. 

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

James 2:17 NIV

Side note on “dead”.  That doesn’t mean that faith is ABSENT, that the person isn’t saved.  That would contradict all of the gospel’s messages about being saved by grace through faith in Christ rather than by what you DO.  “Dead” means that their faith is flat, lifeless.  Have you ever watched a sporting event and one team just wasn’t playing well that day?  They looked slow and distracted. We say “they sure were dead today!”.  It’s still a team. They still played the game.  But their play was without enthusiasm, without “life”.   They looked “dead” today.

So those who say that our salvation is impacted by anything other than our faith in Christ’s sacrifice – saved by grace through faith – is practicing legalism or works righteousness.

Yes, we are do things because of our faith, but those things don’t save us.

I think just about every Christian I know – legalist and non-legalist alike – would agree that Jesus is the son of God, who died for our sins, was raised from the dead, and through His sacrifice offers salvation for all.

We can all agree on the WHO and WHAT.

WHO = Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and Savior

WHAT = As I mentioned above, Jesus, the son of God, came to earth, lived a sinless life, became a sacrifice for our sins, died for us, rose again, and through Him we are offered eternal salvation.

It’s the HOW of it all that twists us up and gets us all upset with each other.

HOW we live out our faith. 

HOW we worship/praise God. 

HOW we live in this world. 

HOW we please God.

It’s the HOW that causes disunity and makes us angry & bitter at our BROTHERS and SISTERS in Christ, and splits churches apart and keeps us busy arguing about the right way to do things.  Rather than keeping busy doing the work of being Jesus to the world, we spend our time arguing about how to do the HOW.

Satan loves it when we spend the majority of our time arguing over the HOWs, because we are much less effective in sharing Jesus with others when we’re busy trying to prove how right we are and how wrong everyone else is.   

If only they (the ones who don’t agree with my list) cared what the Bible said, right?  It’s in black and white, right?  It’s common sense, right?

A legalist has a list of things that they believe must be done in addition to our faith in and commitment to Christ in order to secure our salvation.

They will insist that you agree with and follow their list.  If you don’t, they believe you are sinning, that you are not pleasing God.

That you are clearly wrong. 

And in today’s cancel culture world, you are also evil and not worth my time if you don’t agree with me.

Their HOWs have become as law – must be followed – and therefore, the term “legalism” is used.

In counseling, we call this Moralizing Your Opinion.

• Dishwasher should be loaded a particular (my) way.  Your way is wrong.  And because your dishwasher loading method is different than mine, you are now “bad”.
• Drivers should always use their turn signals.  My friend doesn’t use hers most of the time, so now I question her ethics in general.
• People shouldn’t stay up past midnight.  They are obviously up to no good.
• Everyone should (or shouldn’t) wear a mask.  If you do (or don’t), you aren’t just WRONG, you’re selfish and BAD.
• Toilet seat should be up (or down).  So inconsiderate!
• Dishes should be done immediately after eating.  Lazy!

You get the idea.  People divorce over stuff like this.

It’s perfectly fine (and totally normal) to have opinions about things.  But it becomes a problem when you demand that everyone else agree with your opinion AND do it your way, or you’ll just consider them unscriptural and leave.

If that doesn’t create disunity, I don’t know what does.

Every legalist I know is sincerely trying to follow what God wants us to do.  Their hearts are sincere.  They love God.  They study, they are intelligent, they pray fervently, they want so badly to get it right.

But so often they miss the forest for the trees.

Why is it so easy to fall into the legalism pit?

Rules make us feel safe, even if think we don’t like being told what to do.   

Legalism makes many people feel safe.  In control.  Makes us feel right.  If we know what the rules are, then we can tell if we’ve followed them.  We can also tell if others aren’t following them.

I am a list maker. I feel like my life is more in control and productive if I have my list of things to do, so I know where I stand. Also, I’ll forget to do them if I don’t write them down…

• Chore charts on the fridge?  Do all your chores for a week and not only is mom happy with me, I get a prize!
• Good report card?  Curfew extended for Homecoming!
• Meet my goals at work for the quarter?  Boss is happy and I get a good report.
• Go over and above my goals all year long? SUPER happy boss, a good report, public acknowledgment, and a bonus!

Lists can be a very useful and necessary tool when used appropriately.

It’s hard not to apply that same reasoning to our relationship with God.  Hard not to equate how “right” we are (how many things on that list we do properly) with our salvation or at least with how pleased (or disappointed) God is with us.

We love God. 

We want to please Him. 

So we search scripture, making lists of HOW the early church “did Christianity”.  Then we try to check those things off.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing; after all, they were the first ones, let’s learn from them. 

But after awhile, folks can become so devoted to that list of actions they created that the list becomes as important as the faith and grace in our salvation.

And it’s not.

Remember, the early church didn’t have the advantage of having a printed copy of the New Testament to refer to. Maybe we have taken this amazing gift and turned it into something not so wonderful.

Is it good to study what the early church did and see what we can apply to our own worship and lives? 

Of course! I spend tons of time studying the scriptures.

But it is not good or proper – or even possible – to do it exactly the same way and to demand that everyone else agree with our interpretation of what they did. 

All us of – even legalists – make subjective choices all the time about which Biblical actions and ideas should be for all time, and which were for that specific time and circumstance only. We use our own wisdom and subjectivity in figuring that out, and come to many different conclusions.

We think that people who don’t agree with our list, and who don’t abide by our list, are not only WRONG, but not as good/saved/Christlike/pleasing to God as we are. Prideful much??

The Old Testament law couldn’t be kept perfectly.  Sacrifices had to be continually made to atone for their sinful humanity.  That system wasn’t perfect.  We will never be perfect (“complete”) this side of heaven.

That was the whole point of Jesus’ coming. 

HE was the perfect, final, for all time, sacrifice for us.

And, either His grace saves us, or it doesn’t.

That’s about as black and white as you can get.

It’s not “grace AND.”

It can’t be a “yes grace saves us, BUT…”.

“Yes, but” means you’re missing the point, adding something. We’ll often do that out of fear of not getting it “right”, or perfect.   

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”   1 John 4:18 

1 John 4:18

“Perfect” doesn’t mean without fault or error.  It means “complete”.

You have to let go of that fear – fear of being wrong – and trust God that Jesus is enough. (He is).

“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 

John 13:35

They’ll know we are Christians by our LOVE. 

Not our lists.  Not the things we are against.  Or our preferences. Or our arguing.  Or our refusal to call those who sees things differently by the name “Christian”.   

We get so full of ourselves!

And Jesus did NOT like that. 

** cough, cough… James and John…  cough, cough ** (Mark 10:37, Luke 22:24-27)

They will know us by our love.

Unity can’t be gained if we refuse to get along with each other because we each, in our attempt to be pleasing to God, have come to different conclusions about HOW to do that and not just reject each other because of those differences, but demonize each other because of it. 

Our motives may be pure, but our attitude toward each other can be anything but loving.

Seriously, I want to understand why you have come to the conclusions you have reached if we differ in our understanding.  And I want you to listen to why I see things differently than you. 

And I want us to respect each other and give each other the benefit of the doubt with regard to motives and love for God.

We may not ever agree on how to interpret and live out some of the passages in scripture, but we can be united in our faith. 

Not as opponents, but as fellow believers trying to serve God and love others to the best of our ability. 

Let me touch on the topic of False Teachers for a minute.   Legalists tend to accuse those who disagree with their interpretation as being “false teachers”. 

Those who teach that Jesus is the son of God, and is our only hope for salvation, but differ in the way they worship are NOT false teachers.  False teachers teach a different Gospel – a message where Jesus wasn’t the son of God, or wasn’t resurrected, or isn’t the only way to the Father. 

If you believe that it’s wrong to have a building with a kitchen in it, but those at another congregation believe it’s ok – neither side are false teachers. 

They simply interpret 1 Corinthians 11:22 differently.

“Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!”

1 Corinthians 11:22

If we are committed to truth and grace, and love God and people with our whole hearts, unity should be a byproduct of our common goal and common faith in Christ.    

Unity doesn’t mean agreement on everything.  It means being united in the cause. 

We can be united in our faith in Christ and still disagree on the finer points.

Paul showed us many examples of changing HOW he “did” Christianity depending on who he was interacting with.   Here’s what he wrote to the Corinthian church about this:

²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”  

1 Corinthians 9:20-22

Luke writes about an example that involved some angst and discomfort for Paul’s coworker, Timothy:

“Paul came also to Derbe and Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”  (Acts 16:1-3)

Acts 16:-3

This was a big deal.

Paul insisted that Timothy be circumcised, even though Paul later said that circumcision was NOT required to become a Christian.  Wouldn’t Paul have been more authentic and consistent if he hadn’t required Timothy to be circumcised? The circumcision issue was a big point of contention with early Jewish vs Gentile Christians.  Basically, the Jerusalem council clarified that you don’t have to become Jewish (by being circumcised) before you can ultimately become a Christian.  Yet Paul had Timothy, a believer, circumcised. 

Why?  So that they would be taken seriously by those who had a Jewish background, who needed to understand the gospel.

Paul didn’t want to get tangled up arguing about circumcision when the bigger message here was JESUS! 

Circumcision mattered to his audience at that location, even though it had nothing to do with becoming a Christian.  So let’s just get this issue taken care of before it can even be brought up.   (sorry, Timothy…).

The main point was Jesus. 

The main point is STILL Jesus.

So, please – Let’s not get keep getting bogged down in disagreements about the HOW of our faith.  Let’s stop questioning each other’s faith (or even salvation!) because of the finer points of how we practice our Christianity.

 We all want to please and honor God. 

Remember, we are still on the same team, even if we never come to the same conclusions about some of these topics we historically can’t agree on.

Really smart, spirit-led, and devoted believers have disagreed about these things for a very long time.

Let’s recommit to staying focused on the WHO and the WHAT, loving God and each other, and sharing this awesome, saving, hope-filled message with those who don’t know Jesus yet. 

Please.