Legalism teaches that in order to get to heaven, you must obey the law of God and live a good life. In other words, your good deeds will get you into heaven. I once served as a trainer for Evangelism Explosion, taking trainees out into the community once or twice a week, talking to people, and asking the diagnostic questions. Afterward, we correlated the answers we received. Ninety percent of the answers fell into the category of works righteousness. When we asked people what they would say if God were to ask them why He should let them enter heaven, most people replied, “I’ve lived a good life,” “I gave a tithe to the church,” “I worked with the Boy Scouts,” or something along those lines. Their confidence rested on some kind of performance record that they had achieved. Unfortunately, a person’s works are a counterfeit basis for assurance. The Scriptures make very clear that no one is justified by the works of the law (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:11). ¹

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Legalists Are Everywhere in the Bible

• Judaizers pop-up all over the New Testament; in Philippi, in Rome, and in Galatia.
• Note the following verses.

Philippians 3:2–3 (NKJV) 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,

Romans 2:28–29 (NKJV) 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Galatians 2:3–5 (NKJV) 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Galatians 5:1–3 (NKJV) 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

• But, legalistic activity is not just confined to the pages of the Bible.

Modern Day Judiazers

• You may think, “Well, what do Judaizers have to do with me? I have never run into anyone that told me that I had to be circumcised in order to be saved?”
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Unsaved Judiazers

• The unsaved variety consists of false cults.
• False cults tell their membership what they need to do in order to make heaven.
• Jehovah Witnesses say you have to witness.
• Muslims say you have to pray so many times a day.
• The more radical element state that the way to heaven is to kill a Christian.
• Buddhists believe in an eight-fold path to heaven which includes understanding the universe along with right conduct.
• Scientologists believe salvation comes through knowledge of the universe as well as yourself.
• You can go on and on but the bottom line is, it’s all works.

Saved Judiazers

• Unfortunately, a ‘saved’ variety of legalism also exists on planet earth.
• Seventh Day Adventists say you have to keep the Old Testament law and worship on Saturdays.
• The ‘Holiness’ segment of the Christian world state you have to ‘live holy’ which, over the course of time, is a changing definition.
• Jesus Only people say you have to be baptized a particular way in order to be saved.
• Catholic people say if you are a part of their church you’ll make it.
• Both, saved and unsaved versions of legalism amount to the same thing.
• In early New Testament times, it was the addition of circumcision to salvation.
• Today, it’s the addition of a myriad of other things besides simple faith in Jesus.
• The basic form is, “If you don’t do this __________ you’re not saved.’
• Or, ‘If you don’t do this _________ you’re not spiritual and therefore not pleasing to God.
• Legalism is more widespread today than it has ever been, simply because there are so many different groups saying so many different things about how to make heaven.
• That’s why the book of Galatians is more important to us now than it has ever been.

The Answer to Legalism

Ephesians 2:8–9 (KJV) 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

• Memorize this verse. It contains the element which is the answer to legalism.
• That element is understanding grace.
• This simple formula may help.
• Salvation is grace plus faith plus nothing else.
• Salvation or access to the things of God is not obtained through any self-effort of your own.

Titus 3:5 (KJV) 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

• Righteousness, in this context, means right standing with God.
• It means you are able to stand in the Presence of God as if you have never sinned.
• This ‘standing’ is only through the grace of God.
• Any effort on your own to arrive at ‘acceptability’ is disgustingly rejected by heaven.

Isaiah 64:6 (KJV) 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; And we all do fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

• God calls such attempts ‘filthy and ‘unclean’.’
• The Hebrew word ‘filthy rags’ refers to cloths used in the monthly menstrual discharge from the uterus of non-pregnant women.
• Per Old Testament Law, a woman with a menstrual discharge was considered unclean as well as anything she came into contact with.

Leviticus 15:19–22 (NKJV) 19 ‘If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. 20 Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean. 21 Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 22 And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

• The Lord speaking through the prophet Ezekiel spoke similar words.

Ezekiel 36:17 (NKJV) 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity.

• The Lord uses this ‘menstrual’ metaphor to show us how unclean it is when we try to work our way into God’s favor as opposed to believing our way to it.
• The attempt for acceptability tarnishes everything it touches.
• Blessed is the man who believes his way to righteousness by accepting Jesus instead of working his way there is what Paul declared.

Romans 4:1–3, 6-8 (NKJV) 1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”… 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

• Acceptability by works can be a problem even after we come to Jesus and receive His righteousness.
• It’s easy to slip back into ‘works’ mode.
• We feel we have to work in order to keep in God’s good graces.
• We feel we have to work in order to be pleasing to God.
• In order to feed that feeling, we partake of spiritual disciplines but with the wrong motive.
• We attend church services.
• We tithe.
• We teach.
• We witness.
• We pray.
• We read our Bibles.
• We do these things to gain His approval.
• We do it to stay on God’s good side.
• All of this is nothing but a works mentality when, instead, it should be engaged pulling from grace and motivated by love.
• I remember the day when the truth of God’s Word in this area dawned on my heart.
• I was afraid of going to hell even after I came to Jesus.
• I had a great amount of help with that feeling.
• The first church I attended after I came to Jesus made sure I was well entrenched.
• It was so liberating when the Lord, by His Spirit, unveiled the truth of what it means to be the righteousness of God in Christ.
• The fear of hell just melted away never to return.
• You don’t have to be tormented and work toiling with the threat of punishment hanging on you like the corpse of a dead man.
• Millenniums ago this was a form of sentence for a man who committed murder.
• They would strap the dead decaying body of the victim to the murderers own body.
• That’s what legalism is like.

Call to Action:

Legalism is poison to the Spirit led life. That’s why Paul addressed it and that’s why we should be concerned about rooting it out of our lives.

Question: What was your experience with legalism in the church. Please share your story in the comments section below.

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