Legalism vs True Obedience

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. – Romans 2:28-29 NIV

I’ve been working my way through Romans recently. As I was reading Romans 2, I was struck by the difference between legalism and obedience. Much of Romans 2 is about legalism and hypocrisy. Some might argue that legalism is a form of obedience, but it’s truly not. I would contend that legalism is self-focused, but true obedience is focused on God. Self is completely taken out of the equation.

I believe legalism comes in two forms. The first is the one addressed in Romans 2.

You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? – Romans 2:23

This type of legalism boasts in the knowledge of the Bible (the law). It is haughty and considers itself better than those who don’t know the Bible as well. It looks down on those who don’t live lives that are as sanitized (but they would call it “holy”) as theirs. But while criticizing others (even if it is only inwardly), they’re breaking commandments themselves.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? – Matthew 7:3-4

Oftentimes, people are unaware of their hypocrisy, because they’ve blinded themselves. As 1st Corinthians 8:1 puts it, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” They’re puffed up, but they’re still lawbreakers. Not only are they prideful, but they’re also not loving others, both of which are sinful.

It’s easy to fall into this as someone who has grown up in church. We grew up memorizing Scripture and learning how to be good and check all the boxes. I am so grateful that I had the blessing of growing up in a Christian home and being in church all the time. My parents did not instill legalism in me, but it was easy to fall into nonetheless.

We get shocked by “sin” in the church. I’m using quotation marks, because we like to define sin differently than God does. We would say sin is sexual sin, addiction, drunkenness, abusiveness, murder, etc, but we like to exempt ourselves because our sin is hidden or not as bad comparatively. Check out the sins listed in Romans 1:29-31:

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

We can easily pick out the sins that seem horrific to us. Depravity, murder, God-hating, inventing ways of doing evil – those all sound pretty terrible. But what about envy? Gossip? Slander? Disobedience to parents? Having no love or mercy? I’ve seen all of these things in abundance in almost every church I’ve been part of. We tend to have a sin-o-meter by which we measure sin. We sanctimoniously clutch our pearls and look down our noses at those who are less “righteous” than ourselves. We become rooted in pride, rather than helping them up, building them up in love.

The second type of legalism is the one I’ve suffered from the most, especially being a pastor’s daughter (and now pastor’s wife), who is more closely scrutinized. Although, let’s face it, legalism is a huge issue for those who have grown up in church in general, not just those in leadership positions.

Those who suffer from this type of legalism are carefully trying to obey every letter of the law – not for bragging rights, but to try to be “good enough.” Good enough to be a Christian, good enough so others won’t judge them, good enough so God won’t hate them, good enough to make it into heaven someday. These legalists are not boastful, but rather are filled with self-condemnation.

In both cases of legalism, the issue is pride. We are too focused on ourselves.

True obedience is focused on God and pleasing Him. We take ourselves completely out of the equation. Our obedience becomes about pleasing Him and is done out of love for Him. It’s a complete heart change. We can’t facilitate or take any credit for this chance, because it’s something only the Holy Spirit can do in us.

If we’re continuing to sin, that doesn’t mean we need to step it up in our obedience. Obedience is important, as is self-discipline (see 1st Timothy 1:7), but I would argue that obeying for the sake of obedience is not really obedience at all. It’s legalism, which leads to hypocrisy, judgment and self-condemnation. If we’re sinning, whether that be struggling with a specific sin or a lack of love for others (which is sin!), we need more of the Spirit, not more effort on our part. We cannot make ourselves love others. We cannot make ourselves overcome sin. Maybe for a time we can muster up enough will power, but it’s not sustainable. We cannot change our own hearts. We need to press into Jesus and ask for more of Him, more the Spirit’s changing power in our hearts. True obedience can only come from a changed heart.