One of the most shocking truths that many professing Christians cannot accept is that Christianity is not a set of rules. This very fundamental truth must be understood. Not only is this critical to truly understanding what the authentic Faith is, but it is also critical to removing one of the biggest, if not the biggest stumbling block that hinders people who are otherwise open to the Christian faith, from accepting Jesus Christ. It is rightly repugnant to people, not because it is holy and offends people by being holy, but because it is unholy and hypocritical.
Being Under the Law of God is a Curse
Legalism is the attempt to attaining righteousness through adherence to the law of God. Legalism has its many forms, as evident in the many religions which aim to please God and enter Heaven, through adherence to a certain concept of righteousness in accordance with each particular religion, sect, or cult.
In the context of Christianity, legalism is the attempt to attain righteousness, by adhering to the laws of God as laid down in the scriptures and as expounded upon in Church teaching. This gives the appearance of holiness, which is nothing but a false holiness. It belies a false view of holiness that religious people do not see in themselves. For to have a true Faith is to believe on the Lord Jesus and surrender to God and do His will; it is not adherence to a set of rules or laws. It is to strive to please God by glorifying Him in all things does, and in all that one is.
It is evident that Christians are certainly by no means immune from falling into legalism, for legalism is innate to human nature. Legalistic professing Christians are aplenty. Legalism is not only an outworking of rebellion against God, but is rebellion against God. Legalism is not only false religion that gives off an odious stench to God, but rebellion against God. It is a false holiness, which completely perverts what true holiness is, and the mother of all religious hypocrisy.
Many professing Christians erroneously think that adhering to rules and laws is what pleases God, but this is damnable heresy, a doctrine of demons. To believe this is itself sin, and itself hostility towards God out of one’s rebellion towards God, to which some may ask, “Didn’t Jesus say to the workers of lawlessness, ‘depart from me?”. The question then is, what is lawlessness and not lawlessness? That is the question.
Saint Paul declared that the ‘law [of God] is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted’ (1 Timothy 1:9-11). The law is not itself evil or wrong, but just and right (1 Timothy 1:8). The law is not the problem. Rather, it is we, in our sin, who are the problem which is why we need the law in our state of sin.
However, it is not the law, nor our adherence to the Law that brings us Salvation. Not even perfect adherence to the Law, that as perfect as the Pharisees can bring us Salvation, because such perfect adherence to the Law is merely outward. Without an inward regeneration of the heart that truly loves God, outward adherence to the Law is useless. God is not pleased with such people at all, and in fact, utterly abominates mere outward adherence to the Law.
Legalism is False Holiness
One may then ask, “what about adhering to the Law while having a regenerate heart inwardly?”. Only an inward regeneration of the heart that leads to perfection in holiness is acceptable before God. Outward holiness has no substance and is nothing but a false holiness laboured for in vain, for holiness begins in the heart. Such holiness will manifest in virtue exhibited by the person in their actions, words, and deeds.
True holiness is only possible in a heart transformed from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27). A ‘heart of stone’ refers to heart that is lifeless before God, unregenerate, and hardened before God in its rebellion, whereas as ‘heart of flesh’ is one that has life breathed into it, regenerated, and receptive to God and the things of God.
Being under the law is a curse, for it to be in rebellion against God, and therefore under His judgment, as Saint Paul testifies: ‘For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”’ (Galatians 3:10). This poses a conundrum, in which one is cursed for relying on the works of the law, but yet cursed for not abiding by the law. The conundrum lies in the problem of our rebellion before God by having turned away from Him and seeking independence of God. That is exactly why we cannot in our flesh abide by the Law of God, which is the curse on all of humankind in its fallen state (Romans 8:7). As a result, each person in their state of sin is cursed for having fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and also having a fallen nature that cannot obey God (Romans 8:7).
Therefore, no one can by their own efforts be righteous before God, for whom only perfect righteousness is acceptable. Owing to the fallen sin nature of humankind, we are not only unrighteous before God, but cannot be righteous before God through our own works and our own efforts. Our righteous works in our state of sin are unacceptable before God because of our inherent, innate sin nature, our rebellious heart that seeks independence from God, which taint any righteous work we do. As the scriptures testify:
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
(Isaiah 64:6)
Hence why we can only be justified before God and receive Salvation by faith, and not by our works. As Saint Paul explains:
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
(Galatians 3:11-14)
What then does it mean to be ‘justified’? To be justified is to be forgiven by God for one’s sins and have one’s sins atoned for by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the wiping away of one’s past sins and being made clean before God. It is to be transformed from being a sinner to a saint, to pass from death to life, the life eternal, and the life that is spiritual that one was truly made for.
This, however, does not mean that one should not do good works, for as Saint James taught, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Rather, it is that one does not receive Salvation and justification before God by one’s own works, because one’s inborn nature is in rebellion against God. To receive Salvation at all, a person needs to receive prevenient or first grace, to be drawn to Jesus, in having one’s rebellious heart turned towards God. How can one please God who is so perfect in holiness, in such an unholy, wretched state? One simply cannot. Thus, one needs His prevenience grace, in which He initiates Salvation for us in reconciling us to Him.
None of us seek reconciliation with God but hides from God owing to our fallen human nature, just as Adam and Eve sought to hide from God after they sinned. We cannot even in our own strength seek to be reconciled to God because our own nature hinders us from doing so. Even if we do attempt to seek God, as is evident with the many world religions and religious people around the world and throughout human history, we are seeking Him on our own terms, and seek to worship Him on our own terms, instead of rightly worshipping Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
Humankind simply cannot worship God rightly without knowing Jesus Christ, who is the mediator between God and humankind, the way, the truth, and the life, by whom no one can come to the Father God except through Him (John 14:6). Religion is the worship of God. False religion is the false or wrongful worship of God, whereas true religion is the true and right worship of God. True religion worships God in spirit and in truth. False religion, by contrast, worships God through rules and laws, and by works which are all done in vain.
How is all false religion worship that is in vain? It is in vain because it does not please God, as it is not born out of a true, genuine love for God. It is mere outward worship of God that means nothing to Him. As the scriptures testify:
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“‘This people honour me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
(Mark 7:1-13)
Legalism is the Perversion of the Law of God
The Pharisees were full of legalism. They replaced the commandments of God with their own human traditions and hold those traditions to be that to which people are bound, as a matter of being righteous before God. This is usurpation of God’s law and authority, a grave sin, amounting to blasphemy of God.
The Pharisees imposed a rule that people must wash their hands before eating, as well as wash cups and pots. Contravening the rule of washing hands before eating was treated as very grave sin in the eyes of the Pharisees, leading them to scold Jesus, asking “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”(Mark 7:5), to which Jesus rebuked them, saying that they “honour Him with their lips, but their heart is far from me, in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7).
It was not merely hypocrisy in false worship that they were guilty of, but also the usurpation of the law of God, and placing their own rules and laws in its place. As Jesus Himself said to them, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” and that “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mark 7:8-9).
Jesus then showed them an example of their perversion of the law of God, and their rendering of their perversion into a rule which people are bound. They claimed to teach the law of Moses which prescribes, ‘Honour your father and your mother’ and ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die’ (Mark 7:10). However, the Pharisees reinterpreted this to mean that ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is given to God”, which “no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother”, amounting a law which justified the mistreatment of one’s father and mother (Mark 7:11-12). This made ‘void the word of God’ by their own rules and traditions (Mark 7:13). There is absolutely no holiness in any tradition that makes void the law of God, even to the point of perverting it to justify the mistreatment of others.
This was only one of many examples of the perversion of the law of God under the false guise of obedience to the law of God (Mark 7:13). Just as the Pharisees perverted the law of God on many issues, religious people of today who profess Christ do the same. Legalism is not simply the outright rejection of the law of God as the average irreligious secular person does, but the perversion in using it unlawfully to justify oneself. It is the artful, deceitful use of the law in the wrong way, which is far worse than rejecting the law of God and seeking independence from God without pretending to seek Him. What exactly in oneself does legalism seek to justify? The desires of one’s flesh, being the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).
The problem is not with the law for ‘the law is good, if one uses it lawfully’ (1 Timothy 1:8), but rather the unlawful use of the law. Perverting the law of God to justify oneself, under the false guise of holiness is such a use, and an abomination to God. This perversion manifests in two ways. The first is the imposition of rules that God Himself never imposed. The second is the subtraction of that which God Himself did require. Both stem from the misinterpretation and misapplication of a requirement of God to render it to mean something God Himself does not mean.
1. The Addition of Rules
The law of God is itself not only complete and perfect but must also be acknowledged as that from God Himself. Acknowledging that the complete and perfect law of God is from the true Lawgiver Himself is part of having true Faith. True worship of God is holiness, and it begins with acknowledging God and His ways. This includes not only the entirety of His law, but that His law is perfect and has no need for addition. True holiness is the wholehearted pursuit of virtue as ordered towards God.
To add new rules to the law of God is the sin of blasphemy, as it is to impute that God is not holy enough and that one is holier than God Himself. It is also the sin of usurpation as it the negation of the authority of God Himself as the Lawgiver. It is not merely the undermining of His authority, but its negation, for to even regard oneself as having authority to make any law of God is itself to reject the entirety of His authority as Lawgiver.
Rules that add to the Law of God may be either those that prescribe that which God did not prescribe or proscribe something God did not proscribe. An example of an arbitrary man-made rule that prescribes something God Himself did not prescribe is that people must wear certain formal clothes to church, and that if people do not wear such clothes, that they are sinning against God, simply for not dressing in a certain way.
Another example is the rule that people must homeschool their children, and that anyone who does not, but instead sends their children to a public school is sinning against God. The issue of homeschooling has been a huge issue among some Christians who view the idea of sending children to public schools or even private Christian school with absolute disdain and are tyrannical about it.
The rule that people must attend theological college to be a minister of the Gospel, be it as a pastor or evangelist, is another arbitrary rule which plagues some Christian denominations. This rule implies that people cannot preach the Gospel to people unless they have undergone some intellectual training, as if preaching the Gospel is an intellectual exercise! These are all arbitrary, and such things are not required by God Himself! To make such actions required by God Himself is to add to His Law!
There are also that rules of proscription that add to the Law of God. One example is the rule that people must not drink any alcohol at all, and that if anyone drinks alcohol, he or she is sinning against God – all while forgetting that Jesus turned water into wine at a social gathering (John 2:1-11). The issue of alcohol consumption has been a very controversial issue among evangelicals and Baptists, who make all kinds of illogical and irrational arguments to deny that Jesus turned water into wine.
They also proscribe rules such as that Christians must not watch secular television or movies, or listen to certain kinds of music, such as rock or metal music, simply because it is modern and not traditional, or eat certain kinds of food. These rules are only a few of the whole myriad of ridiculous rules of prescription and especially proscription that religious people make up. These people may as well write seventy-seven volumes of rule books on these rules!
One may try to argue that these rules are necessary precautions needed to be taken to avoid sin, and not the same as the rules of the Pharisees that required people to wash their hands before eating. The problem is not only that living out the Christian faith is not about following rules, or even that that making up these arbitrary rules these rules do not pertain to holiness at all, but that making up such rules is itself heresy. It is not in following rules as a precaution against falling into sin that makes one holy, as religious people think. Rather, it is in humbling oneself before God, fearing Him and practising virtue that one becomes holy, leading one to having no desire to sin.
Holiness is not the avoidance of sin, but the practise of virtue, for it is the practice of virtue by which one draws close to God. One need not even be apprehensive or fearful about committing sin if one practises virtue because virtue drives out all sin and wickedness. As Saint Francis de Sales said, “It is not those who commit the least faults who are most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immoderately apprehensive of tripping.”
True Faith in Jesus does not comprise of any rules at all, including rules imposed to purportedly avoid sin. Such rules do not aid a person in becoming more holy, but only incite him to become self-righteous, proud of his own purported holiness as defined in accordance with his own eyes, just like the Pharisees who ironically, many of these religious people love to criticise.
2. Subtraction from the Law of God
The other way legalism manifests is in subtracting away and making void what God Himself required. Few realise this as the subtraction from the Law of God is the less obvious side of legalism which manifests itself more obviously in the addition of rules. However, subtraction from the Law of God itself is an equally grave matter.
Whereas the addition of rules maximises man-made, arbitrary requirements, subtraction minimises that which is required by God Himself. The former emphasises all kinds of man-made requirements as one sees fit to impose on people to avoid sin. The latter minimises that which is actually required by God Himself, and often takes a very liberal or permissive approach to certain serious matters of holiness that they cannot accept. What makes it so perversely perturbing is that people on one hand maximise their own arbitrary, and often tyrannical rules of addition, while minimising, to the point of making void, that which God does require as a matter of holiness.
One key area in which religious people subtract from the Law of God is on the issue of chastity. Religious people are full of lust because their hearts does not truly fear God with a holy reverence, and are controlled by their flesh. Many theological intellectual types are very libertine and greedy for material wealth. This is the main reason religious people regard it as mandatory that people marry as young as possible to avoid the sin of fornication (The other reason is to push young people, especially young men into working, instead of lazing around and having too much free time). They twist scripture to justify their stance, perhaps permitting only few very narrow exceptions, despite it being so clear that marriage is not mandatory in scripture or in accordance with Church teaching whatsoever.
However, these same people justify all kinds of perverted, unnatural acts, including that of sodomy, as long as done under the canopy of marriage, as if marriage was a license for degeneracy. Even many unbelievers would be repulsed by their degenerate acts! Such permissiveness is one example of subtracting from the law of God, and therefore making void what God requires.
Another key area religious people subtract from the law of God is that of charity. Religious people are known for their lack of charitableness, especially towards the needy, as were the Pharisees. This lack of charity by those who profess Christ is one of the biggest stumbling blocks posed to unbelievers, causing them to be even more repulsed by the religious hypocrisy under the banner of Christianity, each time they witness uncharitableness by professing Christians. However, at the same time, demonstrating charitableness to all people, in humility and in sincerely, can be, and often is, a powerful way to draw people to Christ.
Legalists emphasise that which need not be emphasised, and do not emphasise that they should emphasise. Charity is what they notoriously fail to emphasise at all. This is why Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). Legalism leads to an unmerciful, ungracious, and uncharitable mindset which is the exact opposite of how Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus came to save the sinner, not condemn him, so likewise we should seek to save the sinner, not condemn him.
These legalists pervert scriptures to justify their own lust, especially their own sexual lusts and their love of money. They twist scripture to justify marrying out of lust, which is itself wrong, for whoever has lusted in his heart has already sinned (Matthew 5:28). Marrying out of lust does not make one more honourable but makes one twice a sinner for abusing the sacrament of marriage. The Church teaches that people must master chastity as a prerequisite virtue for marriage, which is the opposite of what those legalists teach. Yet, these legalists, in their uncharitableness and lack of mercy, declare that those who have committed such sexual sin in the past should not be allowed to marry, to punish such people and make them face the consequences of their sins.
These legalists are also full of the love of material possessions. They see such things as God’s blessings bestowed upon them, all smug behind their wealth. They love to show off their expensive houses, respectable careers, flashy cars, and luxury holidays they take yearly, full of the pride of life. They think they ‘deserve’ it for working hard. They are notorious for twisting scripture on all kinds of issues, but tell them the truth about what Jesus said about wealth, and they become absolutely enraged and froth at the mouth.
These religious people, out of their love for mammon, find all kinds of ways to justify it. Despite being so strict about holiness, imposing all kinds of rules, whether knowingly or not, about what people can wear, what types of entertainment they can enjoy, and what lifestyles they should live, they have extremely lax standards of holiness in relation to the issue of mammon. They aggressively argue against the words of Jesus Himself who said that “no one can serve both God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) and that it is “easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich [person] to enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:24), because they cannot accept that one must give up one’s wealth to be holy before God. These people also minimise to the point of making void scriptural obligations to help the needy and poor, exhibiting harsh attitudes towards needy people, such as refugees and migrants, as well as poor people, and fail to even try to empathise with them.
Sins against charity are the most serious sin of all before God, because these directly oppose God Himself, who is charity. For all their professions and outward appearance of holiness, religious people neglect charity, what Jesus called the “weightier matters of the law” in pronouncing woe upon the religious people: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23).
What is the use of watching only Christian TV shows, reading scriptures and prayer if one neglects the ‘weightier matters of the law’, being ‘justice’, ‘mercy’ and ‘faithfulness’? None at all. God will not hear the prayers of those who neglect such matters, for even their prayers are an abomination before Him, because their hearts are far from Him, but yet still seek His blessing and favour.
Striving for True Holiness
Legalism is heresy because it sets out a path of Salvation that does not lead to Heaven. It is a false path to Heaven. Legalism does not only lead to false holiness, but is false holiness. It replaces the commandments of God with human tradition and laws. It leads to only religious hypocrisy which God absolutely despises, for it is the mockery of God, not the glorifying of God.
Religious hypocrisy mocks true holiness because it treats holiness as that which is merely external or outward. True holiness begins in the heart, and manifests in outward actions pertaining to the weightier matters of the law, being justice, mercy, and faithfulness, done in all manner of earnestness.
Striving for true holiness requires the complete and absolute rejection of arbitrary rules, and the pursuit of virtue. True holiness is the practice of virtue, with the cardinal virtue being charity. Legalism produces only the outward appearance of holiness which is no holiness at all.
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