Where Legalism Abounds...

Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash

Christians who know that we are under grace, should always be mindful of, trust in, and be thankful for that grace every day (2 Pet. 3:18). One of the things that happens sometimes is that Christians can be drawn away from that grace, and instead be drawn to works, status, or standards as what we trust. This is called “legalism.” We create a system and “hoops” to jump through that we feel show ourselves to be right before God. Paul dealt with this extensively in the books of Romans and Galatians. There are consequences in departing from grace to “another gospel” (Gal. 1:8-9), not the least of which is the church becomes a breeding ground where these types of people are created.

Legalism can breed the cynic. Christians who have often seen Christians behave in legalistic manners may become jaded and cynical towards the church and towards Christ. I’ve visited people who have been unwelcomed at church because of what they were wearing or not wearing. When you’re told, “you need to wear a tie to worship here,” it makes you wonder first where Jesus hung His tie after He worshipped, but also what other hoops you might have to jump through to worship at that place. It paints the Lord (and His Bride) as a miser who cannot be pleased. It’s dangerous to the faith of folks in developing an attitude that looks with distrust and skepticism on what God has done (Gal. 3:1-3).

Legalism can breed the critic. Sometimes there are Christians who for their zeal in different aspects of Christianity can “ride the hobby horse” and expect that everyone should dance to their tune. Thus we have “worship police,” “fellowship police,” “translation police,” “song police,” “brotherhood police,” or “modesty police,” to name a few. When we allow legalism into our lives and congregations, we cater to our pride as if we’re judge, jury, executioner on brethren who are not like us and don’t necessarily think like us (Gal. 2:2-5; John 9:19-34).

Legalism can breed the coward. When there are critics and cynics about, there can be fears about inviting the ire of people who are more outspoken than we are (John 12:42). Peter played the hypocrite, no doubt, from spoken or unspoken pressure by Jewish brethren in Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14). When we fear a brother or sister because of their own critical and divisive spirit, we are fearing the wrong thing (read 3 John and John 9)! When a person is worried about not “towing the party line,” it may very well be because legalism is present (see “The Critic” above).

Legalism can breed the canary. A canary is an “informer” or “snitch.” “Preacher, I’ve been noticing that SOME people…” An older lady once told me, “Andy, that girl over there is doing this…you need to go talk to her and straighten her out!” She had no intention to do it herself, but wanted me to because she knew what this girl was up to. By the way, Matthew 7:1-12, Galatians 6:1-2 and Titus 2 deal with that. The canaries like to inventory other people’s sins and shortcomings and usually use them to paint themselves in a more favorable light to show that they are righteous (see Luke 18:9-14).

The Gospel will breed the converted (Gal. 1:6-9). Paul’s point through Galatians is, “nothing we can do merits our salvation; it is the gift of God through Jesus that has made us free.” When we read and hear the gospel, instead of looking and saying, “what a good person I am for doing what’s right,” we should say, “what a great God I have Who has done right and made me right in Him” (Gal. 2:20). In such an individual’s life and in such a church environment, legalism will never gain a foothold (Gal. 2:5).