Legalism - The Elephant in the Room

Legalism doesn’t always appear as rule-heavy fundamentalism or hell-fire and brimstone. That kind of legalism is obvious and portrayed in Netflix documentaries. The vast majority of Christians can avoid this kind of craziness because it is so easy to identify. However, a more subtle and common legalism is far more difficult to recognize because, sadly, for much of Christianity, it is the thrust of the message being preached, the theology being handed down, and the direction we are being led. 

Legalism is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot in Christian circles to the point that it loses all meaning and power because of its ubiquity. Too often, everyone who does not belong to our preferred flavor of Christianity becomes a “legalist.” When everyone can be labeled something, no one recognizes the proclivity in themselves. 

Have you ever noticed that no one ever admits to being a legalist? You never hear someone say, “I am a legalist” or “I go to a legalistic church.” There is no AA for legalists. At least not officially. But there ought to be, and it should be called your local church. Because whether we like to admit it or not, we are all law-loving legalists. 

We are addicted to the law, and it is one hell of a drug. It is especially addictive because, for the most part, we wrongly believe that what amounts to legalism is the goal of the Christian life. Therefore, if this is the goal, please give me more of it. Give me more of that law I can achieve with enough effort and discipline. The kind of law that is easy and light and has the sting of death taken out of it. The kind of law that sounds just enough like the gospel to give me hope but not enough like it to be distinguished from it. This is the kind of law we are addicted to, a cheapened law that allows me to keep my foot in the door and speculate about what the victorious Christian life should look like. This is the dangerous kind of legalism that lurks about masquerading as Christian growth and sanctification when, in fact, it is the opposite of that; it is a heavy burden that is keeping us from Christ and his finished work. 

Legalism most often looks and sounds like the devil whispering to Eve in the Garden, “Did God really say?” (Gen. 3:1) It comes in the form of a question - making us wonder “if” I am truly saved…have I done enough…do I really love God…am I a true disciple? In other words, legalism produces speculation. But the promise of Christ comes in the form of proclamation, the proclamation of what Christ has done for you. Speculation is fun because it makes you an active participant without having any culpability. It is why we like to speculate about things like politics, sports, or social issues. We can wax eloquent about the subject of the day without having any responsibility to do anything about it. We like to speculate about religion, too, because it gives me some skin in the game while simultaneously letting me off the hook if my theories don’t pan out. 

Speculation is fun because it makes you an active participant without having any culpability.

Socrates was called a gadfly (an irritant) because he was always bringing up questions to make people think deeply and differently about what Greek culture commonly accepted as fact. As a student of classical literature and philosophy, I am a proponent of the Socratic method of teaching and learning. However, when it comes to how we learn and communicate the message of Christ, the last thing we need is questions that invite us to speculate and theorize. We need a preacher who will proclaim a message we will not hear anywhere else. 

God does not seek your opinion or your help. The message of the gospel does not invite you to hypothesize; it just tells you what has been done. 

In one of the greatest opening lines to a book, Gerhard Forde and Jim Nestingen write in their co-authored Free to Be, 

God has made a decision about you. God hasn’t waited to find out how sincere your are, how devout or religious you might be, or how well you understand the Bible and the Catechism. God hasn’t even waited to find out if your are interested or willing to take this decision seriously. God has simply decided (pg. 5). 

God isn’t asking questions or waiting for your opinion. He has decided, he has done for you what you could never do for yourself, and now he sends you a preacher saying, “I have a word for you…it is finished!” If we want to understand what the Christian life looks like, we must do what Luther suggests: take our eyes out of our faces and put them into our ears. The way to see and understand Christ and his message for you is to hear it, and it must come from the lips of another. Legalism invites you to look and observe and see what Christ wants from you, to follow his example, and to do what Jesus would do. The gospel proclaims Jesus as your Savior and Mediator and therefore shuts your eyes and opens your ears to the Word of God. 

Legalism – the boogie man we are all trying to avoid but unwilling to see – has taken up permanent residence in our lives and churches. It looks like redefining baptism into work rather than the promise of Christ’s finished work of death and resurrection. Legalism looks like using the Lord’s Supper as a means of making people question their faith rather than delivering faith in the very body and blood of Christ. Legalism looks like giving advice on how to behave better rather than simply proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in Christ. 

Legalism invites you to look and observe and see what Christ wants from you, to follow his example, and to do what Jesus would do. The gospel proclaims Jesus as your Savior and Mediator and therefore shuts your eyes and opens your ears to the Word of God. 

Legalism comes in many forms and exists in every Christian and in every Church, but at the end of the day, it probably begins with a question that lures you away from God’s promises toward something that gives you the false pretense of control. Very often, it involves an individual being controlled by a religious group or leader. But Jesus is not interested in giving you control, nor does he want you to be controlled by another sinner. Jesus promises freedom (John 8:36), and the freedom he provides frees you from the need to be in control or to be controlled. This freedom is experienced in surrender by letting go of our need to stick our nose where it doesn’t belong and in ceasing to place any trust in our own works. Like Abraham, we must be put to sleep so that God can do his work without our meddling in it, and then he wakes us up and says (my commentary to follow), “Surprise! Here’s something you didn’t expect…a promise that does not involve your effort or hard work…just trust me and it will be amazing” (Gen. 15:12ff).

Legalism is bondage, and it looks like Romans 1-3. It is sinful man running around like a lion in a cage trying to convince themselves and everyone around them that they are free; free from God, free from societal expectations, free from religious oppression. Sadly, they are anything but free; they are bound. Bound to their imaginary free will while being ridden by the devil like a rented mule. What feels like freedom is actually the worst kind of tyranny, and because we are simultaneously sinner and saint, this proclivity toward bondage is something we continue to fight against as Christ’s word of freedom must repent us daily. A freedom that comes to us from outside ourselves and gives Christ his rightful place as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Author and Finisher of our salvation. Let us not be so quick to point out the legalism in some other person or church but instead be more concerned about the log of legalism that is jutting out of our own eye, an eye that must be closed so that our ears can be opened. 

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).