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LEGALISM
LEGALISM - WHAT
IT IS
The term "legalism" or "legalist" is not found in the Bible, but the
serious error of legalism is certainly dealt with, especially by the Apostle Paul who ever and always boasted in
the cross and championed the grace of God (Gal. 6:14; 1:6). Perhaps the best way to see what Paul had to say
about how the flesh wrongly uses the law is to read carefully through the epistle to the
Galatians.
Legalism and
Justification
It is the deadly error of legalism that
teaches that justification or salvation is by the works of the law. The legalists of Judaea said it this way,
"Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1). Paul clearly confronted
this error in Galatians 2:16--"Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the
law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
The law can show us how unjust we are (Rom.
3:20b) and thus it can show us our need for justification, but the law can never justify: "Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight" (Rom. 3:20). "If righteousness come by the law,
then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:21).
Legalism and
Sanctification
The law cannot justify; neither can it
sanctify. The law can show us that we are unholy but it can never make us holy. The key to living the Christian
life is not found at Mount Sinai, but it is found at Mount Calvary (Romans 6; Gal. 2:20).
Paul argued strongly that the Christian life
must be continued on the basis of faith, not on a legal basis: "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are
ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:2-3). The Christian life is to continue just as it commenced! "As ye
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).
Holiness does not come by seeking to keep
the law in the energy of the flesh. C.H.Mackintosh defined legality as "the flesh attempting to carry out the
precepts of God." How successful is the flesh? "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good
thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Rom. 7:18 and see
verse 24).
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