Legalism

For several years now I have off and on given serious thought to the question of legalism. This thought was provoked by a number of situations, including me being accused of legalism and of me suspecting it in others. Discussions with respected parties led me to conclude that what really is lacking when we talk about legalism is a good definition of it. Of course, if we cannot define a word, then we probably don't know what we're talking about. In any case, it will be of tremendous help to have a definition, and so I have sought one. It has taken me approximately three years now, thinking off and on, having many conversations, and reading a good deal, to arrive at a definition I feel is satisfactory. I have identified four ideas which I believe to be legalism, all of which seem prevalent in the church today. Two of them will probably be familiar, and one or the other of these seem to be what most people think of when you talk about legalism. These four ideas do not to my mind constitute such a coherent system that I would say with confidence that I have exhausted the definition of legalism, but I think I have made a good start, and it is certainly a better definition than I was able to discover anywhere else. The following ideas, therefore, I take to each be a variant of legalism:

(1) Obedience to the law comprises some part of the basis of salvation.

This is classic works-righteousness, a universal human tendency, that our standing before God is dependent in some way upon our obedience to the law. Paul says that “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” (Gal. 2:16b) The Westminster Confession of Faith says that, “By breaking the first covenant [of works] through sin, mankind was made incapable of life through that covenant” (WCF vii.3) This was the chief part of the legalism of the Pharisees, who believed that they would be acceptable to God on the basis of their obedience to the law.

(2) There are moral requirements which are not prescribed in Scripture.

This is adding commandments to God’s law that He did not give. It is fundamentally a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture. James says that, “He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law” (James 4:11). James is obviously talking about unlawful judging rather than lawful judging. Why does someone who unlawfully judges his brother speak evil of the law and judge the law? Because if we require something of our brother and judge our brother on the basis of a law not given by God in Scripture, we implicitly assert that God’s law is not good enough, and that He has not therein communicated all that we need to direct our faith and life. “The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him” (WSC Q2). “. . . good works are only such as God hath commanded in His holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intention” (WCF xvi.1). “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to His Word, or beside it in matters of faith and worship: so that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience” (WCF xx.2).

(3) The law can make us holy.

One of the most critical and most misunderstood distinctions is in the function of the law, which is the substance of holiness, but not the source of holiness. In other words, the law tells us what holiness is, but it cannot give what it requires. This is also expressed in the popular phrase “you can’t legislate morality.” But this can only be understood if we recognize that you can’t make someone moral by giving them a law, but you can certainly tell them what morality is. This is the mistake that I fear the theonomists of my acquaintance are susceptible to making. For while they might not explicity say it, they certainly can and often do give the distinct impression that our society would be much more upright and moral if only we had the right laws in place. Even on Sinai the law of God only came in the context of God’s redemption (Ex. 20:1). I do not believe that anything conclusive can be said about how God’s law should be related to the laws of society until we have squarely faced the fact that the law cannot produce holiness. Paul repeatedly urges this in his epistles: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son . . .” (Rom. 8:3). “. . . if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Gal. 2:21). “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law” (Gal. 3:21).

(4) We have the power in ourselves to produce the obedience required in the law.

This point appears to be by far and away the most widely ignored aspect of legalism. In fact, I have almost never heard it addressed from a pulpit. What I repeatedly hear is to “try to obey your parents” or, “it is difficult to obey the law”. It was observed to me that almost all who are reformed in their doctrines of regeneration and justification turn into Arminians when it comes to sanctification. The Bible never once tells anyone to try anything. It only tells us to do. It would tell us to “try” if the source of the trying was ourselves. However, as Christians we must trust in the active obedience of Christ, as well as the passive obedience, for it is in His active obedience that He provides the holiness of life that God requires of His people. It is a pagan notion that nothing can be required that is not within the power of the agent to execute. It is a Christian notion that there is nothing that God does require which we have within our power to obey. Hence Augustine prays, “Give what you command, and command what you will”. God promises the grace of holiness in Ezekiel: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezek. 36:27); and Paul says that “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).