At its core, legalism is the desire to appear holy. He tries to be justified before men and not before God. Human legalism leads to human self-satisfaction. Human self-satisfaction denies the necessity of Christ`s saving and enabling grace. Human justice includes the cruellest of Satan`s lies that a person can be righteous by keeping the law. If this were true, there would have been no need for Christ`s birth, life, death, and resurrection. We have replaced the proclamation of Christ with an easy-to-listen legalism to do more and try harder. Although antinomianism is in one sense the “opposite” error of legalism, in another sense it is the “same” error, for it also ignores God`s law of the person and the character of God (who undergoes no change from the old covenant to the new covenant). He does not recognize that the law that condemns us for our sins was given to teach us not to sin. (141) People do not drift towards holiness. Apart from efforts motivated by grace, people do not tend to godliness, prayer, obedience to the scriptures, faith and joy in the Lord. We drift towards compromise and call it tolerance; We drift towards disobedience and call it freedom; We drift into superstition and call it faith. We appreciate the indiscipline of loss of self-control and call it relaxation; We lean towards the absence of prayer and pretend that we have escaped legalism; We slip into ungodliness and convince ourselves that we have been liberated.
This book has nourished my faith while revealing the subtle ways in which I am tempted by both legalism and antinomianism, and how the gospel is the answer to both. Yes, a book on an 18th century Scottish theological controversy about law and grace did it all. Thanks to Tony Reinke for inspiring the idea of the 20 quotes. The following 20 quotes caught my attention while reading Sinclair Ferguson`s new book, The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance – Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (Crossway, 2016). (Read Tim Keller`s foreword.) The implications of legalism are staggering in their arrogance. Legalism claims that Jesus` death on the cross was either unnecessary or inadequate. He is basically saying to God: Your plan did not work. The cross was not enough and I must add my good works to be saved. – C.J. Mahaney In the struggle against the legalism of mere obedience, we conclude with the establishment of the most dangerous law of all, the law of the world and the law of grace.
In our efforts to combat legalism, we find ourselves in the worst form of legalism. The only way to overcome this legality is through sincere obedience to Christ when He calls us to follow Him; for in Jesus the law is fulfilled and abolished at the same time. “The essence of legalism is a distortion of the heart of God`s grace and the God of grace.” (88) A low conception of law always leads to legalism; A high vision of the law makes a person a seeker of mercy. Only Christ can deliver us from the prison of legalism, and only if we are willing to be delivered. Let us not be deceived by external appearances. Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). It keeps its deadliest diseases the most hygienic. He dressed his captains in religious robes and housed his weapons in temples. Legalism is a more dangerous disease than alcoholism because it doesn`t look like it. alcoholism makes men fail; Legalism helps them succeed in the world.
alcoholism makes men dependent on the bottle; Legalism makes them self-sufficient, not dependent on anyone. Alcoholism destroys moral determination; Legalism gives it strength. Alcoholics do not feel welcome in the church; Legalists like to hear their morality praised in church. “Legalism is almost as old as Eden himself. In essence, it is any teaching that denigrates or distorts God`s generous love and the full freedom of His grace. He then distorts God`s grace revealed in His law and does not see the law in its proper context in salvation history as an expression of a merciful father. That is the nature of legalism. In fact, we could say that this is the nature of legalism. (95) Believers have as much to fear from legalism as they do from obstinacy. The former diverts attention from the beauty of the message, while the latter satisfies it. – Max Anders “By definition, Grace excludes all qualifying.
Grace, therefore, eliminates boasting; he suffocates with boasting; It silences all negotiations on our contribution before they can even begin. By definition, we cannot “qualify” for grace in any way, by any means, or by any action. It is therefore the understanding of God`s grace—that is, the understanding of God Himself—that destroys legalism. Grace points out the bankruptcy of legalism and shows that it is not only useless; It is useless; His breath of life is muffled from him. (110) When we focus on following the rules, when we focus on accepting God through our efforts, when we focus on fulfilling the beliefs and standards of others, God becomes a killer of darkness and the living relationship we desire with Him becomes boring, distant, and difficult to bear. As we turn the plates of legalism, our Christian path becomes more and more of a burden as another plate is constantly added. And to maintain the plates, we focus more on the plates, our legalistic rulebook, than on our intimate, exciting, and joyful journey with the living God. If there`s something in the Bible that churches don`t like, they call it “legalism.” “Antinomianism and legalism are not so much opposed to each other, but they are both antithetical to grace. Therefore, Scripture never prescribes one as an antidote to the other. On the contrary, grace, the grace of God in Christ in our union with Christ, is the antidote to both. (156) The irony of legalism is that not only does it not make people work harder, it makes them give up.
Moralism does not produce morality; On the contrary, it produces immorality. “The commandments are the railroad tracks on which life flows, strengthened by the love of God poured into the heart by the Holy Ghost. Love strengthens the engine; The law sets the direction. They are interdependent. The idea that love can work independently of the law is a chimera. This is not only a bad theology; It`s bad psychology. He must use the law to give eyes to love. Neither the Old Testament believer nor the Savior separated God`s law from His gracious person. It was not legalism for Jesus to do all that His Father had commanded Him to do.
It`s not for us either. (168–169, 173) If you feel that you can follow a few little rules or some clever tricks to make you a mature Christian, then you have fallen into a subtle trap of legalism. God saves us from the reductionism of such legalism, which anchors spirituality as a set of wooden laws and then says, “If you can do these six, sixteen, or sixty-six things, you will be pious.” Christianity, piety, is much more than a checklist. Being “in Christ” is a relationship, and like all relationships, it deserves disciplined preservation, but never legalistic reductionism. You don`t become a master musician by playing as you want, imagining that learning scales is pure legality and servitude! No, true freedom in all areas of life is the result of regular discipline. This is no less true of the prayer life. No matter how outwardly pious legalism appears, it dishonors God by revealing a deep distrust of God. Stop and think about it for a minute.
Why do men insist on putting agreements in writing? Why are legally valid contracts necessary? For one reason only: men are fallible.
