Legalism
- Jake
- Mar 23
- 3 min read
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
We find out in Galatians 3 that through faith we are justified (Gal. 3:8) and in Romans 11:6 that grace cannot require work, or else it is no more grace. Good thing we see in Romans 4:5 that God does not count faith, though it is an action of believing, as a work. This is what I believe, you cannot earn your salvation through works. That is the defined definition of Legalism, but like many other things in the “Church”, the use of the term has been corrupted.
If you have gone to “Church” for any length of time, you would have heard this word Legalism. This is used as an all encompassing word to parry anytime someone mentions things like commandments, sin, works, or the law. If you try to hold people accountable for their actions or call them to follow God’s commandments, you are bound to hear them call you a legalist as a slur. This is turning the truth of God into a lie and worshipping the creature more than the Creator. Why do I say this?
First, a verse I hardly ever hear quoted and one that I covered in an earlier blog…
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
To love God is to keep his commandments. Jesus says the same thing in John 14:15. It’s very straightforward and it is all throughout the Bible that keeping God’s commandments is what matters. This is not talking about earning salvation, but it is talking about something I would say is even more important, it’s about how you love God. We should all aim to love God’s commandments like Psalm 119 beautifully captures.
Second, you are a servant to God and servants obey their masters.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
You are not made free from sin to then worship yourself by doing whatever it is you would like. You are made a servant to righteousness, meaning that if you are saved, then you are created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph. 2:10). Your faith should cause you to do good works, which is why in James 2:17-20 we see that faith without works is dead and that you should be able to see my faith through my works.
Lastly, when you are misusing terms that hold Biblical truth to deflect away from your sin, then this is obviously turning the truth of God into a lie. I would imagine that most people have heard verses like Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” and Isaiah 64:6 speaking of our righteousness being as filthy rags. These are often quoted as a way of protecting someone from having their sin called out. If we all have beams in our eyes (Mat. 7:3), then what right do you have to point out mine. These are misleading ways of using these verses and Legalism is misused in much the same way. When you tell people to obey God’s word, then you are at the same time calling them out when they don’t. What a surprise, people don’t like having to come to terms with their own wrongdoing and instead resort to name calling.
Many things in the Bible, that have such beautiful truths, get corrupted by traditions of men or doctrines of devils. It is one of the most amazing things that God has bestowed his grace upon us and asks us to just believe rather than to work for salvation. We love him, because he first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19). It is terrible to see terms, or verses, used to justify sin. When someone runs to the word Legalism to point a finger at someone who is speaking of how you truly love God, if you understand, you can see the devil in the details.
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