A few thoughts on legalism
The legalistic spirit could be one reason why Christians have a reputation for being judgemental.
I wrote this post for The Bridge fb group (send me a pm if you’d like an invite to join) about the risks of falling into legalism as new believers, and I thought I’d share it here too.
As new believers we are saved by grace through faith. It’s our belief in Jesus Christ and the truth of the Gospel - that he died for our sins and rose from the dead.
As humans we can find this hard to believe, that we have given grace and as new believers, one of the pitfalls we can fall into is forgetting the grace part and thinking that we need to do lots of things in order to be saved.
This is known as legalism, and there are many legalistic traps that can lure people in, and ties them up in spiritual bondage.
Some new believers get caught up in ‘KJV onlyism’, the belief that the KJV is the only trustworthy Bible version, others get pulled into the Hebrew roots movement/Torah observance, that we have to follow all the rules from the Old Testament. Another one is being overly focused on spiritual deception, or discernment ministries and being overly focused on what is wrong with particular false teachers, churches etc. (an important issue but one it’s easy to put too much focus on)
Legalism can lead to a very judgmental spirit, thinking other believers are doing it wrong. One of the characteristics of a legalistic attitude is that people start to promote legalistic viewpoints unconsciously seeking to tie others up in spiritual bondage.
We have been given grace, we are saved simply because we believe and we must allow ourselves to rest in this and celebrate, Hallelujah!
While some believers might have a personal conviction to keep the Sabbath or stop listening to secular music, (for example) it’s when we project this onto others that we become legalistic.
For example if you have a personal conviction to stop wearing short skirts and excessive make up and then look down at other believers who don’t have that conviction then that could be the legalistic spirit at work in you.
We all do it from time to time and we can have discernment about others, but it’s about being aware and recognizing when spiritual discernment becomes more legalistic and our main focus.
Satan loves the legalistic knots we get ourselves tied into because while we are focusing on the small details we can forget what being a Christian is all about, the fruits of the spirit, ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.’
We can see in the history of the church that excessive legalism puts people off Christianity and can push people away from the church and sadly the Gospel itself. It’s no wonder Satan leaves traps everywhere to tempt believers into falling into legalism.
As new believers without so much Bible knowledge and experience of Christianity behind us we can be especially vulnerable and led astray into legalism. Some of the members of the bridge admin have been pulled into legalism early on their walk and have seen it happen many times with new Christian’s.
What we have noticed is that believers are particularly vulnerable to legalism if,
They aren’t spending enough time reading their Bible/in prayer connection with God, and spending more time watching YouTube videos on Christian topics. (very tempting I know!)
They are not not part of a church with solid bible teaching, and not spending regular time with other believers.
In the truther movement sheep was an insult, but in actuality as the Bible says we are sheep liable to be led astray. This is why it’s so important we stay in God’s word and stay with the flock of other believers, real in-person connections.
If you find yourself focusing on the finer details of what’s right and wrong in Christianity, more than upon modelling the fruits of the spirit to others it could be that you have fallen into a bit of a legalistic hole. That’s not to say that the fine details of what the Bible says aren’t important (of course they are!) but when the focus is overly on following rules rather than connecting with God through prayer and reading his word and embodying the fruits of the spirit with others, then it can become an issue.
We say this all with love and prayers that your walk with Christ will be filled with the joy and freedom of knowing you are saved by grace.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. - 1 John 16-18