This morning I saw a really helpful post by Matthew R. Olson entitled The Attraction to Legalism. In it he discusses how easy it is to become a legalist, and how hard it is to identify yourself as such. He makes the following point:
I have heard the argument, “I am not a legalist, because I believe that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works.” Wrong. Legalism is more than just a false doctrine of justification; it is also false doctrine of sanctification. Paul made this very clear in Galatians. They had begun “by means of the Spirit” and were now attempting to live their lives “by means of the flesh.” It is possible to be an orthodox Christian and still be a legalist. The same error that plagued the Jews, and early church, is alive today—in all of our churches.Indeed, legalism is an enemy of the gospel and can ever so easily threaten each our churches. I recommend that you click here and read the entire post.
(HT: David Crabb)
1 comment:
Good Evening pastor! I am preaching through the book of Galatians, as reading chapter 3 I was hit with an epiphany. It seems that Paul is implying that Legalism bewitches the believer in such a way that they became foolish. There is no doubt legalism/self righteousness is very attractive to our sinful flesh. So as I thought of this I googled "the attraction of legalism" and ran in to your post! Thank you for the link to such a great resource. Grace and Peace!
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