To many people, the Bible is full of laws about things we aren’t to do. These people’s sum total of knowledge about the scriptures is the Ten Commandments and maybe a few Bible stories. Yet based on that little bit of knowledge, they’ve come to the conclusion that the entire Bible is all negative and God wants to keep us from having any fun.
It’s not unusual for these people to make things up, which they think the Bible contains or leave things out that are in there. They don’t really know the Bible, so it’s not surprising that they make those mistakes. What’s a lot more surprising is the number of times believers, who should know the Bible, decide that the Bible either says something that it doesn’t or doesn’t say something that it does. Worse than that, we can find entire denominations which have added to what the Bible says.
The Bible has made it clear that we have no right to add to what it says, both in the Old Testament and the New. Yet that hasn’t stopped well-meaning men of God from adding things that they think should be there.
You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. – Deuteronomy 4:2
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. – Revelations 22:18-19
While the second of those verses can be understood to apply only to the book of Revelations, many theologians take it to apply to the entire New Testament. In either case, the Old Testament commandment, found in Deuteronomy, makes it clear that we are not to add to what God says or take anything away from it.
Yet people have added to it and taken away from it throughout church history and even in Old Testament times. It is as if these men have thought they knew better than God, when in fact they were proving that their ignorance, not only of His Word, but His will also. Many times, these changes to God’s Word take the form of legalism.
What is Legalism?
The idea of legalism is an old one and one that is not limited to Christianity. It is the idea that one can gain salvation through obedience to a series of laws or a formula. In this, salvation is based on works, rather than faith. Yet the message of the Bible is one of faith in God, not in adherence to works.
Many Christians think that the Jews of the Old Testament were saved through such adherence to the Old Testament Law, not truly understanding the Law’s message. They see the Law in the Old Testament, but forget to apply grace to it. Paul destroys this argument in his letter to the Galatians.
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. – Galatians 2:15-16
It wasn’t just Paul who said that this is a false message, Jesus said it too, rebuking the Pharisees for ignoring faith, justice and mercy.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. – Matthew 23:23
Yet the Pharisees were experts in the law, both the written law and the oral law. They could quote a commandment to any purpose, even if they had to make one up to do so. And yes, Jesus got after them about that too, replacing God’s commandments with rules written by men.
And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commands of men. 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men – the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do. – Mark 7:7-8
What Jesus was referring to here, was the Pharisees creating “fences” around the laws; rules created by men, which are intended to keep people from accidentally breaking God’s commandments. But in the process, the fences became more important than God’s Law, to the point where most people only knew the commandments of men, rather than the commandments of God.
There are a couple of problems with this. First, God’s commandments were never rules for how to get saved. Rather, their primary purpose was to show us that we are incapable of meeting God’s standard. Since we can’t do that on our own, we need a Savior; Jesus Christ. In addition to this, God’s commandments teach us about Him and His holiness. Rules created by man can’t do that. All they can do is put us under a burden of having to obey those rules, often without reason or understanding. First, allow me to show you a couple of seemingly unimportant commandments in the Old Testament Law and what we can learn from them:
- Leviticus 19:27 says not to cut the corners of the beard. During that time, the Egyptians wore a beard style more like a goatee, which is created by cutting off the corners or sides of the beard. God could have been telling the people of Israel to look different from the Egyptians, because as believers in Him, they should look different from the world around them. People should be able to look at them and know that they are believers, not so much from their beards, but from their lives.
- Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11 both instructed the Israelites to not wear garments made of wool and linen together. There can be many reasons for this, such as the difference in durability of the two materials and the difference in their insulating value. Linen is often worn in hot climates, as it helps the body cool, while wool is valued for keeping us warm. On the spiritual level, we can learn that God has made all things good, so who are we to decide that we can improve upon them?
Now let’s look at an example of the “fences” that the Pharisees erected around one of God’s laws and how that hides the lessons we can learn from that commandment.
There’s a commandment in the Old Testament, which tells us not to boil a kid (young goat) in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19b). This can teach us a lesson similar to that of not eating the seed corn, in that we always need to have continued growth in farming, whether it be corn or goats. Killing off the baby goats limits our future security.
Based on this commandment, Kosher law states that you can’t eat meat and dairy products in the same meal. While that helps ensure that the base commandment is not broken, it doesn’t pass on anything about the lesson in ensuring sustainability in one’s farming. People who obey that might technically be obeying the letter of God’s Law, but they are not obeying the spirit of that Law.
Legalism in the Church Today
Things really haven’t changed much when it comes to legalism, as there are still people who are creating commandments of men, with the intent of preventing their congregations from breaking God’s commandments. Like the fences created by the Pharisees, these are intended to help keep people from breaking God’s Law, but most of them don’t have the fine degree of finesse that we find in the work of the Pharisees.
- Women shouldn’t wear pants – The Biblical foundation for this supposedly comes from Deuteronomy 22:5, which states that women shouldn’t wear men’s clothing and men shouldn’t wear women’s clothing. It must be noted however that neither men nor women wore pants in that time, as they both wore tunics. There were probably some slight differences in the style of those tunics, but not much. The legalistic command is really not about pants so much, as it is that women’s pants are usually tight-fitting, showing off her body. That can cause men to look at the women, lusting after them and thereby sinning. So, the women are told not to wear pants, to keep men from sinning.
- Women shouldn’t do fancy hairdos, wear earrings or makeup – The Biblical foundation for this is even less clear, as it is based on 1 Peter 3:3-4, which says: “Do not let your adornment be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart…” First, we must notice that this doesn’t say anything about jewelry and makeup, although it is used to support this legalistic commandment. But even if it did, the verse is clear in stating that these outward signs of beauty shouldn’t be a woman’s primary focus, but rather the inward beauty of the heart. Proper reading of the verse, in context, shows that it doesn’t prohibit women from any of this.
There are many more such legalistic commandments, dealing with things like going to the movies, dancing and other activities. In each and every case, I think it’s safe to say that the commandment was invented with the idea of keeping people out of sin. The prohibition for going to the movies is based on the fact that there are many movies with bad language, sexually explicit scenes and other things that we’re better off not seeing.
In the case of dancing, the prohibition is based on the sensuality that is displayed as part of many types of dancing. But this does not automatically make all dancing bad. While sensual dancing could cause someone watching to sin in their hearts, not all dancing is sensual. The Jews have used dance as a form of worship throughout the centuries. Is that bad?
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21 And Miriam answered them: “Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!” – Exodus 15:20-21
Notice who this was; Miriam the prophetess. She was Aaron’s sister, which means that she was Moses’ sister as well. Yet Moses didn’t rebuke her for the “sin” of dancing. Was she any less of a prophetess because she danced? Was she any less holy? By no means; she used her dance to praise the Lord and I would venture to guess that God was just as pleased with her dance, as he was with David’s, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14).
The Answer for Legalism
Those who promulgate legalism tend to do so against people who aren’t able to argue against them. This usually means people who are both ignorant of the scriptures and under their authority. These people will keep those under their authority ignorant of the scriptures, intentionally not teaching them, so that they can sell them their personal brand of legalism.
It’s easy to keep most people ignorant of the scriptures, because few bother to read the Bible for themselves. They expect their pastors to teach them and don’t question what those pastors say. While most pastors try to give their congregations the best teaching they can, there are many who don’t know the Word of God well themselves. Rather than learn it, they settle for legalism.
Sadly, much of this legalism seems to be propagated against women. That’s not to say that women are more ignorant of the scriptures than men are, just that those who push legalism seem to try and use it to control women. Many have congregations which consist mostly of women and so those are the people they have available to oppress.
Regardless of who is being oppressed by legalism, the cure is to learn the scriptures, so that you can provide an accurate biblical answer to the legalism that is being taught. Just providing the right answer will probably not be enough though, as they are unlikely to accept it. You must be able to scripturally demonstrate what is wrong with their interpretation, as well as provide sufficient Biblical support for the correct interpretation.
It is quite possible that they won’t be convinced, regardless of what proof is offered. The question then becomes just how far you are willing to go, in order to come out from under that oppression. It is quite likely that you will need to leave that ministry and find another church to attend, in order to get out of it.
Please don’t take my wrong here; there is no place for a rebellious heart in the kingdom of God. I’m not talking about rebellion, but rather answering to a higher authority. If you find that you are in a church that is teaching legalism, are sure that it is legalism, and those who are teaching that legalism won’t change, then you have to ask what God would have you do. He may have to leave that ministry; but if He does, it will be to take you to a place where you can be properly fed and ministered to. Don’t just leave, without having such a destination that God has shown you.
God doesn’t support legalism; but He doesn’t support rebellion either. Yet, it is important, when coming out of legalism, to avoid rebellion in the process. It is also important to avoid going to the other extreme and entering into a church which openly permits sin, in order to avoid any appearance of legalism. Sin is still sin and calling sin out for what it is, isn’t legalism; it’s holiness.
Ultimately, we are all responsible before God for what we believe. We can’t stand before His divine throne and say, “Brother so-and-so taught me this.” If we do, He will likely ask if we checked the accuracy of their teachings against the Bible. That’s the only true authority we have, and as such, is the only true weapon we have to use against legalism.