Legalism vs. Obedience When modern western Christians are told that they must obey the commands and teachings of Jesus and His Father, the word legalism pops into their minds. I think for a lot of people the meaning of Legalism is either not fully known, or perhaps misunderstood. I was tricked by a false teacher for years myself, and was guilty of confusing legalism with obedience. I think there is a common misunderstanding, but it is very important as Christians that we know what the difference between legalism and obedience, for two very important reasons. First, some of Jesus harshest words, were against Legalism. Jesus hated Legalism. The outspoken, bold rebukes that Jesus was so well know for and ended up getting him killed in a plot by the Legalist of His day. Secondly Jesus put such high importance on obedience that the grace, mercy, and the salvation of your very soul depends on it. Obedience was so important to Jesus, and so fundamental to the Christian way of thinking and life of separation, that Paul, Peter, James, John, all are very clear on the point that obedience out of unimaginable Love for Jesus and His Father are required to continue to recieve grace, mercy, and salvation. Not that you are obedient so that you can receive grace, mercy, and salvation. You will never be able to do it. It will never happen no matter how hard you try if this your motive. This is Legalism. But that your obedience is proof of your total and all consuming Love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Or to put it another way, no one with this total and all consuming Love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, would ever be disobedient to Him or His Father. This is Obedience. “If you love me, obey my commandments.” Jesus - John 14:15 It is very important that you very clearly and distinctly understand the meaning of and differences between these two words. Again Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John all agree that the very salvation of our souls depends on us knowing the difference. Knowing what Jesus had to say about legalism and disobedience, how many Legalist or disobedient people who call Him “Lord, Lord, Lord” or “claim belief” or “claim Christianity” do you think will be spending eternity in the presence of Holy and Righteous God?
Legalism vs. Obedience When modern western Christians are told that they must obey the commands and teachings of Jesus and His Father, the word legalism pops into their minds. I think for a lot of people the meaning of Legalism is either not fully known, or perhaps misunderstood. I was tricked by a false teacher for years myself, and was guilty of confusing legalism with obedience. I think there is a common misunderstanding, but it is very important as Christians that we know what the difference between legalism and obedience, for two very important reasons. First, some of Jesus harshest words, were against Legalism. Jesus hated Legalism. The outspoken, bold rebukes that Jesus was so well know for and ended up getting him killed in a plot by the Legalist of His day. Secondly Jesus put such high importance on obedience that the grace, mercy, and the salvation of your very soul depends on it. Obedience was so important to Jesus, and so fundamental to the Christian way of thinking and life of separation, that Paul, Peter, James, John, all are very clear on the point that obedience out of unimaginable Love for Jesus and His Father are required to continue to recieve grace, mercy, and salvation. Not that you are obedient so that you can receive grace, mercy, and salvation. You will never be able to do it. It will never happen no matter how hard you try if this your motive. This is Legalism. But that your obedience is proof of your total and all consuming Love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Or to put it another way, no one with this total and all consuming Love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, would ever be disobedient to Him or His Father. This is Obedience. “If you love me, obey my commandments.” Jesus - John 14:15 It is very important that you very clearly and distinctly understand the meaning of and differences between these two words. Again Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John all agree that the very salvation of our souls depends on us knowing the difference. Knowing what Jesus had to say about legalism and disobedience, how many Legalist or disobedient people who call Him “Lord, Lord, Lord” or “claim belief” or “claim Christianity” do you think will be spending eternity in the presence of Holy and Righteous God? “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as `Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. ” Matt 7:21 Knowing what Jesus taught and the example He gave for us to mold our lives after, how many holy, separated, cross-bearing, pure, self-denying, humble, righteous, meek, slaves and servants of the Master Jesus Christ do you think will be spending eternity with Him? I can’t even begin stress how direly important it is to very clearly and distinctly understand the meaning of and differences between legalism and obedience. Don’t forget that Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John all agree that the very salvation of our souls depends on us knowing the difference. Legalism is anything a person does in order to get to heaven or receive salvation, or as if under Law. This can be anything from Doing 20 Hail Mary's,Saying the exact same prayer over and over day after day night after night,Animal sacrifice,Praying or reading the bible a half hour everyday,Tithing,Caring for your personal temple,Going to church every Sunday religiously,Gnat straining,Selling your house, cars, all your possessions and giving all the money too the poor, or even,Trying to obey every law and command of Jesus, Legalism is anything a person does in order to get to heaven or receive salvation, or as if under Law. Motive - That is the difference - Motive! Take for instance “Praying or reading the bible a half hour everyday” If you do this as a task, or as a chore you must do to be a good Christian and thus receive salvation, than even prayer and reading the Bible can be legalistic in motive and intention. On the other hand, if you pray without ceasing and thirst and hunger for the Word of God like the air you breath and the food you eat, than you are an faithful and obedient servant who has given out of love, all of your heart, and all of your mind and all of your desires to the will of Jesus and His Father in Heaven. When you put your Faith in Him you surrender your life to the will of your Master. This is true Faith. This is Faith that saves. Legalism ObediencePharisees = Legalism Disciples = ObedienceCaiaphas = Legalism Peter, James, John = ObedienceSaul of Tarsus = Meticulously Legalistic Apostle Paul = Meticulously Obedient Bad GoodPharisees = Bad Disciples = GoodCaiaphas = Bad Peter, James, John = GoodSaul of Tarsus = Bad Apostle Paul = Good If Jesus is the all consuming love and desire of your Heart, than you prefer to live every second of your life as a slave and servant according to the desire of your Master Jesus Christ. People who have this all consuming love are meticulously obedient to their Master and lover of their soul Jesus Christ. True Christians are obedient out of their Faith, true love and desire to please Jesus even at their own personal expense or personal suffering, (Obedience) not out of their will to get into heaven alone, or in order to receive salvation or as a task one must do, or as a chore, or as if under Law.(Legalism) You are not forced to have this type of Faith and love for Jesus, but the Bible tells us, if we don’t have this type of love for Jesus, than we are not worthy of Him and will not enter the Kingdom of God. It is like the guy I worked with about 10 years ago back in Ann Arbor. Although this guy would frequently get drunk and beat his wife, he claimed he really loved her. We all know that what his man called love is not real love. This man had a very warped definition of love and even though he really believed in his heart that he loved his wife, the fact still remains, that if he really loved his wife he would not continue to beat her. For this man to claim he loved his wife while his continual actions screamed otherwise, is proof he drowning in the water of his own dilutions. The Apostle Paul Put it like this. Here are four Scriptures written by Paul.
“I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.” Galatians 2:21 "But no, you won't listen. So you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin. For there is going to come a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who persist in doing what is good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on sinning” Apostle Paul - Rom 2:5-9 “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.” Apostle Paul - Galatians 5:4 “So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.” Apostle Paul - Rom 6:15-18 Is Paul contradicting himself in these Scriptures? Are the Romans Scriptures right or are the Galatians Scriptures right? If you believe that all Scripture is the inspired word of God your answer must be that both Scriptures are correct. In Galatians Paul is talking about Legalism. In Romans Paul is talking about Obedience. Paul is telling us that the difference between Legalism and Obedience is revealed by the motive or condition of our hearts - “trying to make yourselves right” (Legalism) “saved by keeping the law” .(Legalism) “choose to obey...your master” (Obedience) “obeyed with all your heart” (Obedience) “slaves to your new master, righteousness” (Obedience) The words of Jesus also back up what Paul is telling us “If you love me, you will obey what I command” Jesus also tells us that the motive or condition of the heart is love for Him. Now since all the Scriptures are true, and we have we words of Jesus which back up our assumptions, we can speak firm and bold as Truth and not opinion. We can soundly state that true Christians are obedient out of their true Faith, true love and heart felt desire to please Jesus even at their own personal expense or personal suffering, (Obedience) not out of their will to get into heaven alone, or in order to receive grace and salvation or as a task one must do, or as a chore, or as if under Law.(Legalism) The choice is yours to make. You can choose to drown in the water of your own dilutions or You can choose to live in Truth, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your strength, all your soul ,and live in Faith and obedience to your Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ. “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as `Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. ” Matt 7:21 “If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15 "So why do you call me `Lord,' when you won't obey me?” Luke 6:46 “He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke11:28 “He will give eternal life to those who persist in doing what is good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds.” Romans 2:7-8 |
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