LEGALISM

One perturbing drawback about being an English instructor is that people expect my grammar to be perfect. It’s like expecting pastors to be sinless because we believe they who teach what every Christian ought to know ought to be better than those they teach. We always look for authority figures to slip in their words-to provide a justification for our disobedience-which then frees us from perfection.

That’s legalism in a nutshell. The word simply means “adherence to the letter of the law”—the sign says “Do not swim,” so you shouldn’t have saved that drowning friend. It’s believing that the words of the law solely convey the intent of the law. But what makes people become legalists?

Jesus told the Pharisees, “Woe… because you give God a tenth… but you neglect justice and the love of God.” The experts of the law foolishly responded: “When you say these things, you insult us also.” So Jesus told them, “Woe to you… because you have taken away the key to knowledge.” These legalists then began “to besiege Him with questions, waiting to catch him in something He might say” (Luk 11.42-54). They finally “caught” Jesus in His words because they were looking for a way to justify themselves before God and man. I know I’m being a legalist whenever I try to justify my actions to man. Jesus alone justifies sins: we should let Him do what we cannot.

So what’s the difference between legalism and obedience? It’s really a matter of perspective….