Legalism

I was talking to pastor/friend the other day (yes, pastors have friends!). We were discussing how, in our emphasis on grace, some people seem to be despising the law of God. We are so anti-legalism that it can sound like we are anti-law. Indeed, I think that some of what is written on grace these days certainly approaches this.

Sidebar – For those of you who are students of theology, I think this is one of the beauties of the Reformed Tradition. Following Calvin’s lead, I think the Reformed tradition offers a proper, biblical understanding of law and grace that is missing in other traditions. Dispensationalism tends to dismiss the law as part of the old era. Luther sets the law and the gospel into such an antithesis that the law is practically evil. Calvin and those of the Reformed tradition, though, maintain what is called the third use of the law. The first use of the law is called the civil use. Here, the law is used to restrain evil behavior. The second use of the law (also known as the pedagogical use) is the law shows us our sin and our desperate need for a Savior. The third use of the law is it is an instruction on how we are to live as believers. Luther rejected this third use and, on a practical level, so do the Dispensationalists. That is why most of the non-Reformed writers on grace seem to minimize the seriousness of sin. As much as I enjoyed theses authors’ books on grace, they talk about grace without calling us to see the absolute horror and ugliness of sin, nor do they call us to radical obedience. That in turn leads to a cheap grace.

Because of the heavy emphasis on grace these days, anytime someone says anything about keeping the law, he will be accused of legalism. I think this is one of the reasons why some dismiss me as a legalist when I talk about the Sabbath. To say that we should not work on Sundays, shop on Sundays, or give our lives to organized sports on Sunday, sounds legalistic. It certainly is counter-cultural. To say that God’s people ought to gather together every Sunday for the sacred assembly sounds even more legalistic. That is because, to most contemporary evangelical Christians, to make any claim that we should obey the law smacks of legalism.

Yet, here is the irony. Just a few years ago, Evangelicals were outraged because Judge Roy Moore of Alabama was forced to remove the Ten Commandments from the courtroom. Christians have been outraged that we can’t post the Ten Commandments in schools, courthouses, libraries or any other public space. They see this as robbing us of our Christian heritage. Yet, at the very same time, most Evangelicals regard the Fourth Commandment as an option. Maybe we should get a new version of the Ten Commandments with the fourth one scratched out.

If asked, most Christians would say that the Fourth Commandment (Remember the Sabbath Day) does not apply today. Some might even say, “I agree that worshiping on Sunday and not working on Sunday is a good thing, but I don’t want to be legalistic about it.”

Here is where we have our misunderstanding. Obeying the law is not legalism. If you obey the law so that God will love you, then that is legalism. If you add a bunch of rules to the law that are not in the Bible and say that Christians must follow these extra-biblical rules, then that is legalism. If you think that God will like you more if you obey the law, then that is legalism. However, saying that we ought to keep the law or that God is honored by keeping the law, is not legalism. The law of God still defines sin for us. Without the law, we would not know what sin is (see Romans 7:7, 13). Breaking the commandments is still sin, even under grace. If you love God, then why would you want to sin against Him?

Again, if you seek to keep the law so that God will love you, then that is legalism. However, if you seek to keep the commandments because God loves you, then that is grace.

The Ten Commandments provide for us a summary of the law. As such, we are not free to pick and choose which ones we want and which ones we do not want. They stand and fall together. All the Ten Commandments are rooted in the character of God and the nature of creation. If you break them, they will break you, not because God is harsh, but because the Ten Commandments are built into the fabric of the universe. If you try to disobey the law of gravity by jumping off the roof of your house, you will get hurt. That is not because God is cruel and trying to keep you down, but it is just the nature of the universe. The same is true for the moral laws. God doesn’t say, “Do not commit adultery” because he wants to rob you of joy, but because He wants to increase your joy. The same is true of the Sabbath, coveting, idol worship, etc… The commandments are not just good, they are good for you. Furthermore, these laws are not just good ideas, or helpful suggestions. They are laws of God.

I certainly don’t want to return to the legalism of my past. This rediscovery of grace has changed my life. But this message of grace is not a call to disregard God’s good commandments and engage in a life of self-indulgent living. Grace, properly understood, leads to a greater desire for holiness. It actually empowers us to live in a godly way that legalism cannot (those of you who hear me preach regularly know that is one of my reoccurring themes).

So, be done with legalism, but don’t throw out the law of God with it.