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Legalism, An Evil in the Church
by Rene Brown
Of all the problems in the church, one of the most universal is "legalism". First let us try to define
legalism as it pertains to the church. Simply put, it is trying to establish our righteousness by keeping a
law or someone else trying to establish your righteousness by putting you under law. You would seldom
find a Christian who has any real knowledge of the gospel and God's word that would admit to living
under legalism. Yet many are doing that very thing. While many espouse a life lived in the grace of God,
they seek, day after day, to establish or maintain a position with God through keeping laws - Moses’ law,
denominational rules, others’ law, or laws of their own making.
What brings people in general and church leaders in particular into legalism? In the past century, one
thing has been the continual drift of much of the church towards a very liberal interpretation of God's
word. God's word has been questioned as to authenticity and accuracy, questioned as to whether it is
really "God breathed" or written by the Holy Spirit Himself. In some cases people have re-written the
bible to conform to what many would like to have it say; that is conformed to modern morality.
As a reaction to this slide into a liberal interpretation of God's word, some desiring to establish a holy
life see the solution as making God's word a written code of law to live by to establish and maintain
holiness. And so God's written word becomes a rule book to maintain righteousness. Considering the
place that "grace" has in God's word, perhaps most easily seen Paul’s letters in the New Testament, this is
amazing.
Part of the problem is that man is inherently a religious creature. He was made in God's image and so
there is something in him that just naturally yearns for the religious, something that causes him to seek
after God. But the opposing force that confuses this natural bent to seeking after God is man's sinful
nature that causes him to want to establish his own righteousness. Man wants to do it his way. This
perversion is what brought the Israelites to the condition we see in the Pharisees in Jesus' day.
God's word plainly says that man shall live by faith. Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV) "Behold the proud, His
soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith." Galatians 2: 16 (NKJV) "knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works
of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 3: 11 (NKJV) “But that no one is justified by the law in
the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith." Somehow the Pharisees had missed this
admonition. Not being content with the Ten Commandments or "Moses' law", they added hundreds of
other defining laws to live by so that more and more as time went on they were trying to establish their
righteousness completely by keeping these laws.
What was Jesus' answer to them? In Mark 7:6-7 (NKJV) we read, “He answered and said to them,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But
their heart is far from Me. 7And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men." For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men; the washing of pitchers
and cups, and many other such things you do." So Jesus condemned their attempts to establish
righteousness by adding more and more defining points to God's law. Their problem is somewhat like that
of a man who puts on a shirt and begins to button the shirt on the wrong button hole. He continues on
down the front of the shirt buttoning more and more buttons. But nothing gets any better. If we start
wrong, we continue wrong, and it never gets better. No amount of laws added will make things better nor
will it make us righteous.
by Rene Brown
Of all the problems in the church, one of the most universal is "legalism". First let us try to define
legalism as it pertains to the church. Simply put, it is trying to establish our righteousness by keeping a
law or someone else trying to establish your righteousness by putting you under law. You would seldom
find a Christian who has any real knowledge of the gospel and God's word that would admit to living
under legalism. Yet many are doing that very thing. While many espouse a life lived in the grace of God,
they seek, day after day, to establish or maintain a position with God through keeping laws - Moses’ law,
denominational rules, others’ law, or laws of their own making.
What brings people in general and church leaders in particular into legalism? In the past century, one
thing has been the continual drift of much of the church towards a very liberal interpretation of God's
word. God's word has been questioned as to authenticity and accuracy, questioned as to whether it is
really "God breathed" or written by the Holy Spirit Himself. In some cases people have re-written the
bible to conform to what many would like to have it say; that is conformed to modern morality.
As a reaction to this slide into a liberal interpretation of God's word, some desiring to establish a holy
life see the solution as making God's word a written code of law to live by to establish and maintain
holiness. And so God's written word becomes a rule book to maintain righteousness. Considering the
place that "grace" has in God's word, perhaps most easily seen Paul’s letters in the New Testament, this is
amazing.
Part of the problem is that man is inherently a religious creature. He was made in God's image and so
there is something in him that just naturally yearns for the religious, something that causes him to seek
after God. But the opposing force that confuses this natural bent to seeking after God is man's sinful
nature that causes him to want to establish his own righteousness. Man wants to do it his way. This
perversion is what brought the Israelites to the condition we see in the Pharisees in Jesus' day.
God's word plainly says that man shall live by faith. Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV) "Behold the proud, His
soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith." Galatians 2: 16 (NKJV) "knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works
of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 3: 11 (NKJV) “But that no one is justified by the law in
the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith." Somehow the Pharisees had missed this
admonition. Not being content with the Ten Commandments or "Moses' law", they added hundreds of
other defining laws to live by so that more and more as time went on they were trying to establish their
righteousness completely by keeping these laws.
What was Jesus' answer to them? In Mark 7:6-7 (NKJV) we read, “He answered and said to them,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But
their heart is far from Me. 7And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men." For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men; the washing of pitchers
and cups, and many other such things you do." So Jesus condemned their attempts to establish
righteousness by adding more and more defining points to God's law. Their problem is somewhat like that
of a man who puts on a shirt and begins to button the shirt on the wrong button hole. He continues on
down the front of the shirt buttoning more and more buttons. But nothing gets any better. If we start
wrong, we continue wrong, and it never gets better. No amount of laws added will make things better nor
will it make us righteous.
