In my previous post, I focused on my past experience to illustrate what grace is not. In fact, I focused on my legalistic past, which is just the opposite of living by God’s grace. In this post, we’re going to examine legalism even more closely to see the danger it presents to all Christians.
So that we have a common frame of reference, let’s first define legalism. Legalism is the attempt to be accepted and loved by God, and thereby attain and maintain salvation, by living according to a set of laws and rules and through the performance of good works. To put it in simpler terms, if I live right, I’ll be okay with God. If I live wrong, God will be angry with me. That’s legalism. And sadly, that’s the way a lot of Christians approach their life of faith.
Is that what God had in mind for His children? Does He want or even expect us to live up to His perfect standards? Let’s take a look at Scriptures.
The first thing we generally think of when we think about living by God’s laws is the Ten Commandments. Surely God wants us to obey those, right? Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had some interesting things to say about that. In 2 Corinthians 3:7-9, he states, “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!”
Paul’s reference to letters engraved on stone is a clear reference to the Ten Commandments. Notice how he described them. He calls the Ten Commandments a “ministry that brought death” and a “ministry that brought condemnation.” Additionally, in verse 6, he refers to them as letters that kill. “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6)
Death? Condemnation? Kills? What kind of language is that to describe God’s holy commandments? Paul explains what he means In Romans 7:6 when he says, “For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.”
Think about that for a moment. The law arouses sinful passions in us. How? If you have children, you certainly know how. You lay down a law and what do your kids want to do? Just the opposite. “Don’t get into the cookies.” The temptation for an Oreo can be too great. “Don’t turn on the television until your homework is done.” Guess what they’d rather do. “Be home by 10:00.” Anyone want to bet that 10:00 gets stretched by several minutes?
And I certainly don’t want to leave the adults out either. “Doesn’t the speed limit sign really say that I can go over by 10 mph?” Nope. “I know I’m only supposed to get an hour for lunch, but no one at work will care if I take an extra 10 minutes.” Your boss might think differently. “With all the money the government takes, I don’t need to worry about claiming this extra income on my taxes.” Any comments from the IRS?
That’s just the way it works. Our flesh resists anything that tries to keep it from what it craves. Paul understood this all too well. Listen to his own personal story. “I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘“You shall not covet.”’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.” (Romans 7:7b-11)
Notice that sin, through the commandment to not covet, produced in him all kinds of coveting. So just like the examples above, Paul found himself wanting to do the very thing that the law said not to do. And further notice the end result – death! Paul heard the commandment to not covet. His flesh said, “But I want this,” or “I want that.” And what did Paul find himself doing? Coveting. And his coveting certainly didn’t bring him life. It brought him death. There is never life in sin. There is life only in Jesus Christ.
Not only this, but read the books of the Law in the Old Testament (Leviticus and Deuteronomy, for example) and what was the penalty for breaking the laws of God? Death! There was nothing but death surrounding the law. It brought both spiritual death and physical death.
So this begs the obvious question. Why would any Christian want to put himself under the law? First, as we’ve already seen, it brings nothing but death. Second, the law was given through Moses to the Israelites. So unless you are Jewish, the law was never given to you in the first place. It was never intended for a Gentile. And third, you could never live up to it anyway. Only one person ever could. (More on that in the future.) Try as hard as you like, you will never be able to perfectly obey the commandments of God. It’s an impossible task and it was meant to be. (More on this in the future too.)
So if your idea of pleasing God and getting on His good side is to go through life living in obedience to His laws, good luck. You’re going to lose. The more you try, the more it will stir up the desires of the flesh. And that is not the way to please our Father. Then how can we please Him? That’s what we will begin to explore in the next post.
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