Legalism Exposed

 

• Being under law (that is legalism) sadly means you will endorse and impose all kinds of non-Biblical restrictions on yourself and likely others as well. And thus you will rob yourself, and those who heed you, from experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised to all who enter into His Kingdom and receive remission of all their sins solely by their faith in His Person (see John 10:7-18).

• Being under law inevitably leads to having a weak conscience; which is different then having a morally sensitive conscience; which is good. But rather a spiritually weak conscience, that is not being Spirit led (2 Cor. 3:17) because rather then exercising and emphasizing our liberty in Christ in regards to non-moral things, instead legalists make much of morally neutral things, and thus hanging way too much weight on those things which God does not, while often forsaking those things He does consider foundational (consider Matt. 23:23-24). Now in contrast to them Jesus Christ because He is Lord of all, and Preeminent in all things, and has redeemed us from our sins, Satan, and death by His own death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, and thus He has given each one of us who believe in Him absolute liberty to choose for ourselves whatever non-moral or spiritually neutral things we will partake in, or even abstain from. For as the Scripture says "the world and all it's fullness is the Lord's" paraphrase (see Psalm 24:1; 1 Cor 10:26, 28). Thus neither any material things, nor our own bodies are inherently evil. Now there is evil present in this world and a sin nature within us because of sins presence in the world. Yet by Jesus Christ's death on the cross and shed blood at Calvary we have both the atonement for all our sins, as well as our release from bondage to them, by our own co-death with Christ which we died with Him the moment we believed in Him (Rom 6:1-13). And so by the Holy Spirit's sanctification and regeneration of our persons our souls have not only been saved by Him, but our mortal bodies have become Temples of the Lord where He in Spirit indwells each one of us, thus sanctifying us all. And so again there is nothing in creation in of itself that is inherently evil. For in the beginning God created all things good, and us as human beings in His own image, however that image became skewed by sin when it entered the world through Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 1-3). Thus Jesus Christ's redemption and regeneration of our persons, indeed all of creation is so as too restore Gods created image of our persons, as well as restore all of creation (apart from sin) back into fellowship Himself.
• Though things maybe made into and or used for evil purposes, there is nothing of matter in all of creation that is inherently evil. For to say that is only to deny the truth that through Jesus Christ God created all things, for truly God created all things good, including mankind but it is mankind who in their rebellion against God introduced sin and thus brought evil into the created sphere (consider Ecc 7:9).
• And so just as Jesus Christ is Lord of all things, so also were all things created through Him (),
• For having been saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ we are now commanded to live our new lives in Christ by faith. Meaning as the Apostle Paul concluded his reasoning in Romans chapter fourteen regarding each believers liberty of conscience regarding non-moral; non-essential things, that not only is each one of us to be fully convinced in our own minds regarding whatever convictions we have in regards to these things (see Rom 14:5), but whatever we do is to be done in faith, "for whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom 14:23). Therefore faith must be exercised in everything we do, or don't do. Which means we must believe it is okay for us to partake of or too abstain from, otherwise it only becomes sin to us. That said this liberty of ours again does not disavow what Scripture decrees to be sin. But neither does it endorse those enslaving beliefs and commandments of men who turn from the truth (Gal. 1:6-9; Col. 2:20-22), who make being right before God into what they themselves decree it to be. For Christ Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (see Rom. 10:3-4).  Therefore don't surrender your God given liberty in Christ and become enslaved to the traditions and commandments of men. But rather hold fast to Christ and the simplicity of the gospel, and enjoy His life and liberty richly; because Satan will try to steal away all the liberty the Lord Jesus Christ purchased for you under the guise of "religion."

• Being under law in the New Covenant leads to fear and judgment. Not grace based courage to face our sins and problems and overcome them (1 John 4:18-19; Rev. 3:19-21).

• Being under law destroys both creativity and individuality, and ultimately one's freedom to make wise and sound choices. Yet in the N.T. neither individuality, creativity or liberty is forsaken in the pursuit of God's holiness, righteousness, peace, or unity (1 Cor. 12:4-6; 27).

• Being under law leads to isolation. The Pharisees though leaders of the Israelite Old Covenant community were extreme separatists. They isolated themselves from healthy normal contact within the greater community in their attempts to remain "pure". In contrast the Lord Jesus moved freely in the community and engaged all people without restrictions (Luke 7:36-50).

• Being under law invariably leads to "religious" arrogance and self-deception, because trusting in ones own righteousness will lead to despising and ultimately condemning others. Therefore it is as Jesus warns us all utterly unjustifiable (Luke 18:9-14).

• Being under law likely means you will not be able to rejoice with God the Father with the restoration of repentant sinners; who having turned from their sins return to Him. (One of the many side effects of what I call performance based religion). Therefore it is contrary to both Jesus Christ’s commandments and God the Father’s will (Luke 15:11-32; 17:3-4; Gal. 6:1-2).

• Being under law invariably leads to becoming judges with evil thoughts, rather then ministers of reconciliation through grace and truth (Prov. 3:3-4; John 1:17; 2 Cor. 5:21).

• Being under law leads to self-righteousness (Rom. 2-3). The Apostle Paul though a blameless Pharisee was smitten with that sin until his own encounter with Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. Afterwards he never again claimed his own righteousness, having seen his own sinfulness, he received the grace of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Consider Phil. 3:3-11; 1 Tim. 1:13-17).

• Being under law leads to wrath. Both God’s and mans (Rom. 4:14-15). God’s because He cannot justify us by our own obedience to it (Heb 4:1-3); mans because we can in no way be justified by it. For no one can keep the law to earn eternal life through it (Gal. 2:16, 19-21; 3:21-25; 4:21-31; 5:1, 4-5 etc.).

• Being under law invariably causes one to see others through the eyes of judgment and failure and not grace and truth (Matt. 9:9-13; John 1:17; 8:1-12). It is unlikely then we will love them as ourselves, or do to them as we would have done to us, as Jesus commands (Matt. 7:12). But rather we will forget that the Kingdom of heavens priority is to be mercy leading to reconciliation, not judgment leading to condemnation (Matt. 5:7; James 2:13). And that God's love and grace was given to us while we also were sinners still dead in our own trespasses and sins. For it is only by Jesus Christ's crucifixion death, by which He paid the penalty for all our sins which not only saves us, but for everyone who believes, He leads us all into a new life of faith, hope and love (Rom. 6:13-14; 5:8; Eph. 2:1-10).

• Being under law leads to despising others (or yourself if you've been brought up in an environment where ungodly shame is used to punish your or anybody else's failures). And thus will likely keep you from sympathizing with people in their own weaknesses and failures. Calling them to repentance from their sins through the grace of God rather then just calling them sinners (Rom. 3:19-28; 4:4-5; 5:1; James 4:4-10).

• Being under law hinders humanity from experiencing genuine love from God and each other, which makes repentance and relationship with God something to embrace, rather than shun or fear.

• Being under law in the New Covenant can lead to emotional problems and spiritual disorders (2 Cor. 11:3-4 NKJ; Gal. 1:6-9; Col. 2:8-10; 20-22).

• Being under law does not liberate sinners from sin, but rather through the fleshes weaknesses arouses sin within us (Rom. 7:5, 8; 1 Cor. 15:58). Only regeneration; that is being born-again by faith in Jesus Christ through the grace of God liberates us from sin because only then are we indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17, 21; Gal. 3:2-3; Titus 3:4-7).

• Being under law can lead to justifying horrible atrocities. No greater example of this is the attitude of the Scribes and Pharisees who in their ardent and misguided zeal for their interpretations of the Law sought to put Jesus to death on a cross when He would not uphold their self-imposed ideals. 

• Being under law means striving to earn Gods approval, which can never be attained by us. For the law does not require a certain amount of obedience to it to be approved before God by it; but total obedience without failure to it (Lev. 18:5). "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10
  Therefore trying to be justified by the law or mans own legalistic regimes only leads to anger at God and others, rather then love towards Him who is Love (1 John 4:15-21). For God cannot justify a person based on their own merits, since the law confines us all under sin (Rom. 3:19-28). Therefore working for salvation means one only acquires debt, not grace in their attempts to become approved before God (Rom. 4:4-5). For it is by faith in Jesus Christ alone, crucified and risen from the dead that we are justified in the sight of Almighty God. Therefore living obediently to the Lord Jesus Christ by keeping His commandments is a by product of having first received God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ; not as a means to it.

• Being under law kills healthy living, laughter and love. Nonetheless all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are accepted in the Beloved, (Eph. 1:6) and are sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30).
• Being under law only brings fear which does not allow individual personalities to express themselves in their own uniqueness in accord with the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

• Being under law hinders heartfelt worship of God. Instead of liberating people's hearts to praise God according to the fruits of the Holy Spirit, instead it often confines true worship of God to following the worship traditions of men (John 1:17; 4:24).

• Being under the law is the antithesis of being free in Jesus Christ and living out the glorious liberty of the children of God (2 Cor. 3:5-6; 3:17).

• Being under law invariably leads to injustice and hypocrisy. Concealing one’s own sins to maintain one's own "sinless" status before others, even if it means destroying someone else reputation to do so (Matt. 7:1-4).

• Being under law very likely means you will become a Pharisee towards the very people you yourself used to be. For nobody who remains dedicated to law will find their heart yearning for the return of repentant sinners to God. But those who live by God's grace and truth through the gospel will always hold out hope for their return.

• Being under law often leads to being excessively dogmatic, Job's three friends are a Biblical example of that error.

• Being under law means you only accept those who have lived good, clean lives in the church as being acceptable to God and qualified for His service. Which is contrary to God's election of individuals by His grace to both salvation and His service, as in the case of the Apostle Paul. As well those who have lived morally "good" lives can be very cruel when it comes to repaying those who sin against them, justifying their own vengeful hearts schemes, even when these are contrary to both the law and Christ's commandments (Lev. 19:17-19 Matt. 18:21-35).

• Being under law means you probably will not accept failure well. Yet it is our failures both as a human race and as individuals which makes God’s love and grace all the more profound.

• Being under law inevitably leads to avoiding or worse despising sinners when they are broken by their sins. It means you will likely not show the love and grace of God to those in need, when they need it most (See John 8:1-12).

• Being under law ultimately means you will live not by faith; but by your own self sufficient pride (Habakkuk 2:4).