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Legalism

<<A legalist is someone who is a little to the right of where you are.>>

I've never heard that one before!

In a previous church, my husband was accused of legalism. He took this accusation very much to heart and we began a season of soul-searching and study on the issue. During this time, we discussed legalism with a number of people. One friend really helped us in this matter. First, he asked a number of questions:

1. Did we believe that it was necessary for us to obey any laws or perform any works in order for us to gain God's favor and earn our salvation? We answered no--there was nothing that we could possibly do that would add to our salvation in any way.

2. Did we believe that our outside actions were more important to God than our hearts? No, we didn't.

3. Did we believe that our standards and convictions made us more pleasing in God's eyes? Did we believe that we were the prime agents in our own sanctification? No, we certainly didn't.

4. Did we bind people's consciences in any way by adding to the law of God and insisting they follow a code of conduct found nowhere in Scripture? No. In fact, we were so wimpy that we didn't even insist anyone else follow what clearly WAS commanded in Scripture. We figured it wasn't our place to insist on anything.

Although our friend already knew the answers to his questions, he asked them that we might have a firm grasp of what legalism truly is--and why Jesus was so opposed to legalism.

Then he said something interesting, "From the outside, it's hard to discern legalism from a desire to live a holy life." That simple statement has been helpful to us and has kept us from applying the "legalism" lable judgmentally to others.

copyright 1994 , 1997 by Rebecca Prewett

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