From Legalism to Freedom: Part 1
Part 1:
The Christian life is tricky. So many of us, right now, are asking the question: How must I live? It is a question that eats at our hearts. It keeps many of us up at night and keeps other cautiously wading through their days. The reason is, we have an earnest desire to please God. We don’t want to do that thing Jesus warns us about, grieve the Spirit. We want to be accepting and pleasing to the Lord.
We tend to gravitate into one of two directions: legalism or freedom. Really, they are just two sides of the same coin. This series will explore the two, our relationship to them, and ultimately where Jesus would like us to land. In Part 1, we are going to explore legalism. In Part 2 we are going to look at freedom, and then we will close in Part 3 with the balance between the two.
What is legalism?
Legalism is the dependence on moral law instead of faith. Another good definition is excessive adherence to law or formula. For many people, this sort of a stickler for the rules isn’t who they want to be but many do not recognize the way legalism can subtly creep into their lives.
There are a myriad of reasons as to why we become legalistic. I think for most people, it is a real desire to completely turn away from sin. Paul’s words in 2 Cor. 5:17 of us being made new and having the old life pass away are really true. An interaction with the Gospel and having your heart changed by the Holy Spirit completely reorients your perspective. The things you used to do, the places you used to go, and the person you used to be are no longer the same. Jesus changes our hearts and thus changes our desires.
With that, we tend to look at the past and want to get as far from it as possible. This is where legalism tends to rear its head. We start to look at past behaviors, thoughts, and actions and call things sin that are not necessarily sin. We begin to impose standards and definitives on others that aren’t exactly biblical.
We become modern day Pharisees. Their intent may have been a bit more pure hearted than the picture we get of them in the New Testament. Arriving on the scene in the wake of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 BC, the Pharisees were a group of people who were committed to maintaining Jewish law and practice in the midst of their people assimilating with Greek culture.
This eventually turned into such a strict adherence to the law that they missed the point. It is the reason Jesus would eventually call them white washed tombs (Matt. 23:27-28). They looked good on the outside by following all of the rules but inside, their hearts were far from God. Their allegiance transferred from the God of the Law to the Law itself.
When we become legalistic, we too, transfer our loyalties. We look for our good behavior to be our justification instead of Jesus, who is the justifier.
The Fall Out
When we are legalistic, we have no recognition for the grey areas in life. Pharisees love for life to be black and white but it rarely ever is. Jesus would time and again show them this. In Luke 13:10-17 Jesus has to scold them because they were upset with him for healing a crippled woman on the Sabbath. How could they be fine with untying their donkeys so they can drink but be upset with a daughter of Abraham being made whole?
Our legalistic standards don’t often mesh with Jesus’ life and commands. We tell people they should never take a drink because it’s sin but that is in direct opposition to Jesus being known to drink wine. The Pharisees wouldn’t have accused him of being a drunkard if he never drank. He would have never converted water into wine at the wedding in Cana if he considered drinking to be sin. Social stigmas in many parts of the country have led to drinking being taboo but I would contend, the Bible sees no issue with it.
Legalistic people tend to be pretty unpleasant to be around. They police and scrutinize the actions of others. Our rigidity and dogmatic ways hurt us in the end. We alienate friends and family, we turn non-believers off from Gospel, and we hurt ourselves by missing the freedom granted to us by Jesus on the cross. He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.
In the next post, we will discuss freedom, the other side of the coin.