Isn’t legalism any time you teach change through external obedience? Not exactly. Legalism is either when you (a) feel closer to God when you do them, or (b) you put so much emphasis on developing the outward behavior that you neglect the inward change that comes only through faith in the gospel.
– Greear, J.D.; Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary; B&H Publishing Group; Nashville, TN; Copyright 2011; Kindle Edition; page 198
So it would be a mistake to identify the “two cliffs” as being legalism and lawlessness. What some call license is just another form of legalism. And if people outside the church are guilty of break-the-rules legalism, many people inside the church are still guilty of keeping-the-rules legalism.
– Tchividian, Tullian; One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World; David Cook Publishers; copyright 2013; Kindle Edition; Location 2241
Some claim that to constantly be striking a “note of grace, grace, grace” in our sermons is not helpful in our culture today. The objection goes like this: “Surely Pharisaism and moralism is not a problem in our culture today. Rather, our problem is license and antinomianism. People lack a sense of right or wrong. It is ‘carrying coal to Newcastle’ to talk about grace all the time to postmodern people.” But I don’t believe that’s the case. Unless you point to the “good news” of grace, people won’t even be able to hear the “bad news” of God’s judgment. Also, unless you critique moralism, many irreligious people won’t know the difference between moralism and what you’re offering. The way to get antinomians to move away from lawlessness is to distinguish the gospel from legalism. Why? Because modern and post-modern people have been rejecting Christianity for years thinking that it was indistinguishable from moralism. Non-Christians will always automatically hear gospel presentations as appeals to become moral and religious, unless in your preaching you use the good news of grace to deconstruct legalism. Only if you show them there’s a difference – that what they really rejected wasn’t real Christianity at all – will they even begin to consider Christianity?
– Tim Keller
as quoted by Tchividian, Tullian; One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World; David Cook Publishers; copyright 2013; Kindle Edition; Location2182
A low view of law always produces legalism; a high view of law makes a person a seeker after grace.
– J. Graham Machen
as quoted by Tchividian, Tullian; One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World; David Cook Publishers; copyright 2013; Kindle Edition; Location 990
The ironic thing about legalism is that it not only doesn’t make people work harder, it makes them give up. Moralism doesn’t produce morality; rather it produces immorality.
– Tchividian, Tullian; One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World; David Cook Publishers; copyright 2013; Kindle Edition; Location 917
Setting aside the obvious objection that Christ settled all our accounts, once for all such [legalistic] groups inevitably start with the narcissistic presupposition mentioned earlier – simply that Christianity is all about cleaning up and doing your part. These groups focus primarily (in my experience, almost exclusively) on our sin, and not only our Savior. Because of this, they breed self-righteousness, guilt and the almost irresistible temptation to pretend, or to be less than hones. Little or no attention is given to the gospel. There’s no reminder of what Christ has done for our sin – cleansing us from its guilt and power – and of the resources that are already ours by virtue of our union with Him. These groups thrive, either intentionally or not, on a “do more, try harder” moralism that robs us of the joy and freedom Jesus paid dearly to secure for us.
– Tchividjian, Tullian; Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free; David C Cook Publishers, Copyright 2013, Kindle Edition, page 66
Legalism does not make people “better”; it makes them worse. Moralism doesn’t produce morality; it produces immorality. We make a terrible mistake when we believe that the answer to poor performance, be it moral, spiritual or relational, is mere Law. People get worse, not better when you lay down the Law.
– Tchividjian, Tullian; Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free; David C Cook Publishers, Copyright 2013, Kindle Edition, page 45
I do not think that the evangelical movement today has thought enough about its doctrine to be self-consciously antinomian. Rather, I think that we have become distracted from God’s Word – both his commands and his promises. Usually antinomianism and legalism are regarded as opposites, but they are actually coconspirators against the gospel-driven life.
Horton, Michael; The Gospel Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; Copyright 2009; page 147
Prayer without meditation on the Word of God will disintegrate into humanistic spirituality. It will simply reflect our own fallen ideas and feelings – not God’s. And meditation, without the humility of desperate prayer, will create proud legalism or hopeless despair.
– Piper, John; When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy; Crossway; Wheaton, Ill.; copyright 2004; p. 149
We are performance oriented by nature and our culture, and sometimes our upbringing, reinforces this legalistic mind-set. All too often a child’s acceptance by his or her parents is based on the child’s performance, and this certainly tends to be true in our society. We carry this same type of thinking to our relationship with God. So, whether it is our response to God’s discipline of us or our practice of those spiritual disciplines that are so good and helpful, we tend to think it is the “law” of God rather than the grace of God that disciplines us.
– Bridges, Jerry; The Disciplined of Grace:God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness; NavPress; Colorado Springs; copyright 1994; p. 79
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