Is calling for obedience the same as legalism?

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:15-17

 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:14-26

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Obedience to what Jesus has commanded seems to be the missing ingredient in most Western churches. When obedience is emphasized, the teachers are criticized as teaching legalism. The Apostle Paul soundly condemns legalism in his letter to the Galatians.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:6-9

This “other gospel” that Paul refers to is that of legalism, requiring Gentiles to be circumcised to be saved. It was a message of Jesus plus.

But, does Paul encourage obedience? Yes. And, it is clearly not legalism.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. ² Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. ³ For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴ But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. ⁵ For each will have to bear his own load.

Galatians 6:1-5

Paul instructs the Galatians, and us, that if a brother is caught in a transgression, that is, he disobeyed God, those mature in Christ are to restore the disobedient one in a spirit of gentleness. This is an example of how Paul expects obedience to Jesus and responding to a disobedient one.

So, Paul can blast legalism on the one hand and encourage obedience on the other. So, they must be two different things.

In John 14:15, Jesus makes obedience (keeping his commands) a mark of our love for him. So, is obedience required of us? If we love Jesus, will we obey him? Is it legalism to teach people this?

Part of the Great Commission is to “teach them to observe (or obey) all things that I have commanded you.” Teaching obedience is a fundamental element of the Great Commission, Jesus’ final commission to the church. Is this legalism? No. If we fail to teach people to obey Jesus’ commands, then we have failed Jesus and not obeyed his final command to us.

Our passage in James 2:14-26 brings clarity to this discussion. While we are justified by grace, through faith, in Christ, James makes it clear that the faith that justifies us will manifest in good works of obedience to Jesus. Is this legalism? No.

Legalism has a few manifestations or definitions. The primary definition that fits the arguments Paul makes in Galatians is believing that my salvation is dependent on my obedience to God’s law or other law rather than on faith in the finished work of Christ. This is the flaw of Phariseeism. The Pharisees added to the law’s requirements for how to live. For example, they created a rule about how far one could walk on the Sabbath without breaking the law of the Sabbath. That is mentioned nowhere in the law. It was their invention.

Modern-day American Pharisees do the same thing. Scripture doesn’t say a believer cannot drink any alcoholic beverage, nor does it say a person cannot go to a movie or a dance. It doesn’t say women have to wear dresses and can’t wear pants. Many Christians have adopted rules like these to help believers avoid sinning. That is exactly what the Pharisees did. To help people not violate the Sabbath, they made an additional rule about how far one could walk. If one never walked further than that rule, they could be confident that they had not violated the law of the Sabbath. The Bible is clear that we are not to engage in fornication, so someone made up the rule that Christian kids can’t go to dances because that is where sometimes, and maybe often, a guy and girl will get all hot and bothered while holding each other close and dancing a slow dance. That slow dance can become a precursor to fornication. So, to avoid fornication, don’t dance. There is some logic to that, but by making it a rule, or law, it makes something that the Scripture does not say is sin a sin. That is legalism.

There are clear commands in Scripture that apply to New Covenant believers. I’ll not get into the arguments over Old vs. New Covenant and what applies and what doesn’t. We all understand that commands in the New Testament are made to New Testament believers. To avoid teaching these commands and their required obedience is to fail as a disciple-maker. Obedience to the Biblical commands does not displace the message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It is the message that when we love Jesus, we obey him.

Be a disciple who loves Jesus and obeys his commands. Don’t be a legalist who attempts to earn his salvation.