Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
(John Lennon / Paul McCartney 1967)
What an way to begin a blog post on legalism! Calm down, nobody is helping anybody get high. I take that back, I hope we get eight miles high* on Jesus, His Word, and His grace!!
In an attempt to answer this question, I asked fifteen friends for their definition of legalism. These folks are all in the ministry in one way or another - pastors, retired pastors, missionaries, Christian school administrators. Of the fifteen contacted, eight responded. Here, with a little help from my friends, are some definitions of legalism.
“I can’t easily define legalism, but I do interpret it this way. Jesus addressed Pharisees and Jews generally, who had the Torah (law of Moses) and the halakhah, the extra laws brought in to help you keep the other ones. Jesus took aim at Pharisees for upholding and strictly promoting halakhah while neglecting the greater, living truths behind them. “You tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God” (Luke 11:42). Where Christians get hung up on maintaining extraneous requirements and push them on to others, we’re in the legalism field.”
“I would define legalism as 'requiring someone to practice a strict adherence or obedience to a law or ritual in order to aquire salvation or acceptance with God.'"
“I always define ‘legalism” as one who uses man’s law above God’s Word.”
“Belief that one is saved primarily by keeping rules/laws rather than by saving faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation by works rather than salvation by grace. I see legalism as doctrinal, believing one must do good works to be saved. I view legalistic in terms of behavior.”
“I'm not sure I feel comfortable saying Paul talks about legalism. He talks about relying on works for salvation. My own hunch is that Paul is specifically imagining the works of circumcision, food and sabbath observance. These were traditional "boundary markers" for Jews. So if I were to say a definition, it would be relying on the works of the law to be justified before God.”
“My definition of legalism would be something like, "a sustained environment of individual rules or laws being upheld as the definition of goodness or right-standing." I would say "sustained," because I think we're all prone to being legalistic from time to time, when we temporarily elevate rules or our preferences over reasonably mitigating factors.”
“I think that Jesus deals head on with this in Matthew 5-7 when he is talking about the Kingdom kind of Righteousness which he pitted against the Pharisaical kind of external, showy righteousness. I like the phrase which Dallas Willard describes legalism as “…legalism—thinks of rightness only in terms of particular actions.” (Divine Conspiracy) An outward righteousness creates so much deadness and hardness of heart.”
“Legalism is a demand, a feeling, a belief, a position held (often, as it were, over others) that works have value in bringing us into a relationship with God.”
I believe I can summarize their definitions this way: Legalism is...
+ the belief that one can be right with God by the works of the Old Testament Law of Moses
+ this is easily expanded to include trying to be right with God following any set of rules or laws
+ these rules, obligations, or laws are extra-biblical and manmade
+ an external or outward righteousness, with an emphasis on doing the right things the right way
Legalism is not about intentional and determined effort to live a life pleasing to God, rather it is the belief that one is saved or made right with God by keeping rules or laws, that salvation is by what I do, and do the right way, rather than by the grace of God.
(I made a mistake in the question I posed to my friends, I didn’t include legalistic. While they are obviously related, there is a slight difference. “Legalism is doctrinal, believing one must do good works to be saved. Legalistic refers to behavior”, “when we temporarily elevate rules or our preferences over reasonably mitigating factors.”)
Even though the word legalism is not in the Bible, does legalism itself appear in the Bible, as defined and summarized above?
“I can’t easily define legalism, but I do interpret it this way. Jesus addressed Pharisees and Jews generally, who had the Torah (law of Moses) and the halakhah, the extra laws brought in to help you keep the other ones. Jesus took aim at Pharisees for upholding and strictly promoting halakhah while neglecting the greater, living truths behind them. “You tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God” (Luke 11:42). Where Christians get hung up on maintaining extraneous requirements and push them on to others, we’re in the legalism field.”
“I would define legalism as 'requiring someone to practice a strict adherence or obedience to a law or ritual in order to aquire salvation or acceptance with God.'"
“I always define ‘legalism” as one who uses man’s law above God’s Word.”
“Belief that one is saved primarily by keeping rules/laws rather than by saving faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation by works rather than salvation by grace. I see legalism as doctrinal, believing one must do good works to be saved. I view legalistic in terms of behavior.”
“I'm not sure I feel comfortable saying Paul talks about legalism. He talks about relying on works for salvation. My own hunch is that Paul is specifically imagining the works of circumcision, food and sabbath observance. These were traditional "boundary markers" for Jews. So if I were to say a definition, it would be relying on the works of the law to be justified before God.”
“My definition of legalism would be something like, "a sustained environment of individual rules or laws being upheld as the definition of goodness or right-standing." I would say "sustained," because I think we're all prone to being legalistic from time to time, when we temporarily elevate rules or our preferences over reasonably mitigating factors.”
“I think that Jesus deals head on with this in Matthew 5-7 when he is talking about the Kingdom kind of Righteousness which he pitted against the Pharisaical kind of external, showy righteousness. I like the phrase which Dallas Willard describes legalism as “…legalism—thinks of rightness only in terms of particular actions.” (Divine Conspiracy) An outward righteousness creates so much deadness and hardness of heart.”
“Legalism is a demand, a feeling, a belief, a position held (often, as it were, over others) that works have value in bringing us into a relationship with God.”
I believe I can summarize their definitions this way: Legalism is...
+ the belief that one can be right with God by the works of the Old Testament Law of Moses
+ this is easily expanded to include trying to be right with God following any set of rules or laws
+ these rules, obligations, or laws are extra-biblical and manmade
+ an external or outward righteousness, with an emphasis on doing the right things the right way
Legalism is not about intentional and determined effort to live a life pleasing to God, rather it is the belief that one is saved or made right with God by keeping rules or laws, that salvation is by what I do, and do the right way, rather than by the grace of God.
(I made a mistake in the question I posed to my friends, I didn’t include legalistic. While they are obviously related, there is a slight difference. “Legalism is doctrinal, believing one must do good works to be saved. Legalistic refers to behavior”, “when we temporarily elevate rules or our preferences over reasonably mitigating factors.”)
Even though the word legalism is not in the Bible, does legalism itself appear in the Bible, as defined and summarized above?
NEXT: Do we find legalism in the New Testament?
* Eight Miles High, the Byrds; written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn (a.k.a. Roger McGuinn), and David Crosby; 1966.
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