The Word Legalism Is Overused

The word legalism is overused. Sometimes I tell my students at the seminary where I teach that they may use this word once a year and no more. All too often legalism is employed whenever we consider obedience inconvenient. Legalism then becomes a "scare tactic word" masking an underlying indifference or mistrust of radical holiness.

What does legalism really mean? It is the proper word whenever one of the following is true:

• I am being asked to obey in order to win God's favor. A works based-based view of salvation is essentially legalistic

• I am being asked to obey a command over and above that which God has given to me in the Bible. Essentially, I am being asked to obey against my conscience, which is subject to Scripture alone. "All members of this church must refrain from growing facial hair," for example, is an example of legalism.

• I am obeying God's commandments from impure motives. When the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son viewed his obedience as a form of slavery, his obedience was legalistic.

Is obeying from a consideration of gain-reaping life through actions of mortification-a form of legalism? Yes, if we think that Paul is teaching us that"life" is the reward given to those who put sin to death. But Paul is not saying that. Life is the fruit, not the root of justification.

How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home
By Derek Thomas
pg 49-50