If you are a Bible-believing Christian who loves Jesus, keeps His commandments, and teaches others to keep His commandments, you’ve probably been called a “legalist.”
Those who levy this charge against you, truly believe that the apostle Paul would do the same.
The argument goes something like this: If you think you have an obligation to obey God, you have a works-based salvation. You can’t earn your salvation, so you can’t lose it no matter how much you disobey God. Believing and teaching that you must obey God is legalism.
This is an astonishing charge, since part of the great commission is teaching others to obey Jesus’ commands! (Matt. 28:19-20)
It is assumed by many people that the Apostle Paul equated careful, love-motivated obedience to God’s law with legalism, but this is simply not true. Where Paul taught that “the law” has no bearing on salvation, he was not referring to loving adherence to God’s commands, but to the keeping of the Pharisaic traditions that Jesus blasted as “the doctrines and commandments of men”. (Matt. 15:9)
Paul taught repentance and faith to every person (Acts 20:21). A person who repents (God’s first requirement) is a person who turns away from known lawbreaking (sin) and submits to the law of God, indeed has the law of God written on his heart. Without this heart change from rebellion to submissive obedience, there is no salvation possible. When Paul taught repentance, he was essentially teaching transgressors to return to obedience to God.
Where Paul asks, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2) he is reminding the Galatians that they were not saved by attending to Jewish initiation rituals and ceremonies, but by receiving the Word of God with real faith (the kind of faith that is not a hearer only, but a doer of the Word–James 1:22).
Paul had to spend considerable time refuting the troublesome Judaizers, who confused new Gentile converts by teaching them that unless they became good Jews–following all of the man-made traditions of Judaism–they could not be saved.
The truth is that Paul himself would be considered a legalist by many today, if only they would pay close attention to all that he wrote!
Unfortunately, many teachers today wrench some of his statements from their context, while ignoring others, in order to uphold their false, sin-excusing doctrines. Apparently men were already twisting Paul’s teachings to their own destruction in Peter’s time. Peter warned of this while he also acknowledged that some of Paul’s writings could be hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16). However, there can be no doubt that Paul taught Christians to obey God’s law, which is the same law summed up by Jesus as love to God and love to neighbor, upon which all the law and prophets hang (Matt. 22:37-40). This simply put means that loving God and loving neighbor is the entire focus of all the law and prophets. We are supposed to receive instruction as to how to love God and to love our neighbor.
Notice that Paul taught that ritual circumcision has no bearing on salvation, while obedience to God’s commands is extremely important.
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. (I Cor. 7:19)
Please examine these important teachings by Paul:
Noting the highlighted portions of the previous verses, it should be clear that Paul taught people they must obey their parents, must not have any gods before the Lord (idolatry), must not covet, must not lie, must not steal, must not murder, must not take the Lord’s name in vain (blasphemy), and must not commit adultery (among other things). Paul has here upheld 8 of the 10 commandments, and has clearly stated that some of these sins will exclude one from the kingdom of God! Here is the ninth:
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (I Cor. 16:22)
Is Paul not teaching that we must LOVE the Lord our God (the first commandment) or be cursed?
But the Decalogue has ten commandments.
We must not forget the Sabbath commandment. Did Paul do and teach seventh-day Sabbath observance? (Matt. 5:19)
Paul, indeed kept the seventh-day Sabbath along with a multitude of believers assembling together to hear the word of God. The passages in Romans and Colossians, so often taken out of context, do not even deal with the idea of whether a NT believer should remember the Sabbath day or not. Paul is here encouraging NT believers to have their conscience unto God as their only judge and to throw off the yoke of man’s religious condemnation.
Paul taught men to search the scriptures. Where might Paul expect his audience to go to be “persuaded in his own mind”? Certainly not to the ever-shifting opinions of men!
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
The only word of truth Paul ever referred to was the law and the prophets. He surely knew that he himself would also be judged of God according to Isaiah 8:20.
Rom. 2:6-11 God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and
immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God.
Truly, the law of God was written on Paul’s heart, and he taught others to obey God. His problem was with “legalists”, those who wrongfully insisted that in order to turn to God, one must convert to orthodox religious customs. His contention was never with those who obeyed God’s law from the heart! In short, Paul was in complete agreement with Peter and the other apostles who testified that it is better to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Rom. 6:16
What? Obedience leads to righteousness? Indeed it does, and here Paul agrees with John, who wrote that only those who DO RIGHT are considered righteous! (I Jn. 3:7) Paul also wrote the following:
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Rom. 8:13
That’s a big IF, friends. According to Paul, you have to mortify the deeds of your body by the power of the Spirit if you want to retain spiritual life. And Paul lived what he preached–he kept his own body under subjection lest after preaching to others he himself should be a castaway (I Cor. 9:27).
One last, very important passage by Paul:
What did Paul say would happen to those who do not OBEY truth?–They will have indignation, wrath, tribulation and anguish! What did Paul say one must do to receive eternal life?–Patiently continue in well-doing (doing what is right or LAWFUL according to God’s standards!)
It truly is amazing that anyone would believe or teach that lawlessness is permissible in the Kingdom of God. To be part of this kingdom, one must faithfully serve its King!! Remember dear friends, the testimony of the One who was crucified on our behalf:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Mat 7:21
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his
kingdom ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND ALL THEM WHICH DO INIQUITY;and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:41-42)
God bless you!
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