“When you are a legalist, you spend a lot of time evaluating others, making sure that they measure up.” – Unknown
Unfortunately, I’ve never met someone yet, who will admit to being a legalist; nor does it seem that there is all that much agreement as to what does and what does not constitute legalism.
Recently, I had a social media argument with some Messianic Jewish believers as to whether one should be concerned with worshipping God on Saturday or Sunday. Their point was that the Mosaic law is still enforce today, thus to worship on Sunday instead of Saturday makes me, in their mind I’m sure, a disobedient Christian.
This discussion had far more of an effect on me than I shared with anyone. Could this really be true? I wondered secretly. Are the problems, hurts, and failures I’ve been struggling with lately, really be due to the fact that for the whole of my Christian life, I’ve been worshipping God on the wrong day? Of course, Satan seized upon this moment of weakness to sow fear into my heart, seeking to erode my confidence in grace. But only momentarily.
I furiously began re-reading Paul’s writings in Galatians, Colossians, and Romans in which he tackles the subject of the law and the Christian’s relation to it. One question haunted me, “What is the place of the law in the life of the Christian?” I will tackle this question head-on in my next blog post, but for now, let’s deal with the issue of legalism and self-righteousness.
In my musings, I spied this encouragement from the apostle in Colossians:
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17
What I understand Paul to be saying in this verse and within its wider context in the letter is that with the advent of Christ and the inauguration of the New Covenant by the death and resurrection, all of these Jewish external rituals given in the Old Testament have become obsolete, for they fulfilled their intended purpose by God. As shadows; as temporary symbolic reminders pointing to the reality that was to come, all of these things have found their fulfillment in Jesus.
To further clarify, allow me to take an example from Mosaic history.
On the day of atonement, it was customary for the high priest to take a goat and symbolically lay upon it all the sins of the nation. After which, the goat was then driven into the wilderness, symbolically carrying with it, the sins of the nation, never to be seen again. This ritual was, as well, a shadow that pointed to Christ, who by his death and resurrection on the cross, literally took our sins away as the Lamb of God. Sins which are forever cleansed from the mind of God, never to be seen or heard from again. Now does this mean that the ritual of the Scapegoat has no meaning for us today? No, not at all. The richness of this Old Testament symbolism speaks loudly of Jesus and his substitutionary sacrifice. This ought to drive us to God in thankfulness and worship for fulfilling what the Old Testament declared was coming.
Concerning the Day of Atonement, Dr. Kenneth Mathews writes,
“The various aspects of the Day’s ritual provide a rich, multi-dimensional understanding and appreciation of the atonement we have in Jesus. NT allusions to this Day give a pictorial anticipation of the death and mediatorial role of Christ whose sacrificial blood achieves our salvation and sanctification.”[1]
Therefore, we no longer need to perform the ritual of the scapegoat as prescribed in the law, because that symbolic rite found its fulfillment in the cross of Jesus. Jesus is now our scapegoat so why on earth would one need to continue that particular Old Testament ritual prescribed in the Law?
The same is true of keeping the Sabbath, for it too, was a shadow which pointed to Jesus. And with his coming, through the cross, Jesus has now become our Sabbath rest.
So I say to my Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters, yes, you are right, I am not keeping the Sabbath; nor am I trying to! I’m not keeping the Sabbath for the same reason I’m not symbolically laying my sins on a goat; nor, if the temple were rebuilt, would I need to bring a lamb to its sorry end in sacrifice! Why, because the reality has come! Yet…The problem comes when people substitute the ritual for the reality!
For it is not the ritual that makes you righteous, it’s the reality. And when you make this sorry substitution, legalism does not lag far behind. And once you allow legalism to encase your soul, the monster of self-righteousness rears its ugly emaciated head.
Now, all you have to do is to spend some time with a legalist to know that when you are around them, you always seem to be walking on eggshells and secretly feeling judged…feeling like you never quite measure up to their impossible standards.
And so what ultimately happens to many is either, they live a life of Christian fakery, that is, everything they do religiously is done to impress the people around them or they simply give up on trying to live the Christian life completely and go to the other extreme…they end up living very immoral lives out of frustration for a standard they can never seem to meet on their own.
Now if you know anything about legalism, then you know that a legalist is someone who is absolutely obsessed with observing the letter of the law, as a way of justifying themselves to others and before a holy God. In other words, legalism is all about the rules! Defining the rules; observing the rules; adding to the rules; judging themselves and others by the rules; believing they are spiritual because they keep the rules; and ultimately condemning others who don’t keep the rules as religiously or as scrupulously, as they do.
Now understand, rules are and can be a good thing. Rules in our society and culture help define for us where the boundaries are; what we can and cannot do; what we should and should not do. Rules can be protective, helpful and even comforting. But they can also be oppressive.
Within the ecclesiastical circles I used to run, there were all kinds of rules and expectations, written and unwritten. Take the Bible College I attended for instance. Every year at the beginning of the Fall semester, the administration of the school would sit us down in a very large auditorium and take an hour out of our day to explain the rules.
And what I remember is that every year, the rulebook would get thicker because more and more rules were being added.
I remember specifically the rules for dating couples. In our school any PDA was outlawed, no hugging, holding hands, or touching in any way. And definitely, no kissing in public or private! Now, I understand those rules and agree with them because no one wants to weave their way down a hallway past amorous couples locked in a passionate embrace. It’s embarrassing.
But the one rule that was added, which I found to be ridiculous was this one, which stated: “Couples should not be so close to one another as to cause an embarrassment to the school.” In the dating parlor, you wouldn’t find couples kissing but perhaps they might be as close as they could get to one another without actually touching.
Now, I understand that many of the rules we lived with were necessary to some degree, however when I look back at that ever-thickening rulebook from my college days…I have to ask this question:
Did keeping those rules make me a better person? Did obeying them make me less of a sinner?
They may have forced my external compliance out of fear of getting in trouble; but did they enable me to come into a right relationship with the God that made me? Did I have less of a need for grace, than those who flouted the rules? The answer is “no”.
Simply keeping the rules did not make me anymore acceptable to God than those who chose to break them. And that’s the issue with legalism, it only makes me look good to other people, but it does nothing to change the mind of God in relation to my need.
For this is the great difference between legalism and the gospel writes Tullian Tchividjian, “Legalism says, God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.”
There are many people who live with the external deceptions that legalism embraces. They believe that their external compliance to a set of religious rules, somehow makes them good enough for God to accept them upon that basis. Even Christians can make this debilitating error, believing that living by the law enables them to progress in sanctification as they live out the Christian life.
Yet, Paul asks this same question of the Galatian believers who allowed legalism and self-effort to be the motivators for their supposed spiritual success. Paul writes,
“I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” Galatians 3:2-3
So, am I saying that rules don’t matter? That it’s better to be anti-law (antinomian) then to be a legalist who meticulously keeps it? Am I saying that there are no expected standards of behavior which Christians ought to follow? No to both. Because the same gospel of grace that frees us, teaches us that we ought to live holy lives.
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…” Titus 2:11-12
Did you catch that? It’s grace that teaches us to be godly…not legalism. Not mindless conformity to an external standard. In fact, one of the religious delusions to which many people have succumbed is to believe that legalism leads to godliness. That if you live a very strict and inflexible life in adherence to a set of rules and regulations that you’ll end up being more godly than people who live by faith under grace. Actually, that’s not true. Legalism is not godliness, nor does it lead to God himself! And I’ll tell you why…
- Legalists condemn people for minor sins, while their lives are filled with greater ones. They strain at a gnat and swallow a camel; they judge the sliver in their brother’s eye while ignoring the 2 x 4 plank protruding from their own.
- Legalists focus upon the sins of the flesh while ignoring the sins of the heart. Often legalists are like whitewashed tombs, they are meticulous in their conformity to external standards but inside they are filled with all kinds of hidden and devilish corruption.
- Legalists separate themselves from others who don’t conform to their standards. They do nothing but consistently withdraw themselves from others who don’t agree with them on every pinpoint. They are duplicitous and self-righteous people who always have a decreasing circle of fellowship because all they know how to do is condemn. These are people who know the rules backward and forward; and who can quote them for you, verbatim… but they are people who consistently demonstrate that they know nothing of what it means to be gracious. And as a consequence…
- Legalists will never earn the nickname, “the friend of sinners” because they’re too busy judging them. For all of their external goodness, they are in reality… good for nothing! They pile up upon men’s backs extremely heavy man-made loads of expectations and regulations, but they themselves refuse to lift a finger to help those same people when there’s a real need in their life. They are extremely religious; able to tithe mint and cumin but who ignore, as a way of life, the weightier matters of the law; things like justice, mercy, and compassion. Legalists ignore grace and have very little of it for others for the Monster of Self-Righteousness always seems to get in their way. Which is why you’ll never find legalists ministering to the poor dregs of our society; and when there’s a genuine need, like the Levite and the priest in Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan, they pass by on the other side.
Do you find yourself, anywhere in those descriptions?
What legalistic delusions have you been living from under which you need to be set free?
Here’s the great tragedy of it all: When legalism grips your mind; and the monster of self-righteousness deadens your heart, you’ll have the tendency to lose your appreciation for grace. Your life will stop singing gratefulness; majesty and awe for the kindness of Jesus. You lose something that that remarkable composer, John Newton, who wrote the hymn, Amazing Grace, never seemed to lose even into his old age.
John Newton made this extraordinary statement toward the end of his life. He said:
“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
[1] Internet Article: The Atonement and the Scapegoat: Leviticus 16 by Dr. Kenneth Mathews