Different Species of Legalists
Neither the “believer” who lives freely in sinfulness nor the legalist seeking to live as righteously as possible in their own strength for their own glory has understood the ugliness of sin.
Neither the “believer” who lives freely in sinfulness nor the legalist seeking to live as righteously as possible in their own strength and for their own glory has understood the sufficiency of the work of Christ and the grace of God given to us.
Neither the “believer” who lives freely in sinfulness nor the legalist seeking to live as righteously as possible in their own strength and for their own glory has understood their union with Christ and the internal transformation He has accomplished.
When it comes down to it probably most of us live life vacilating between and battling both of these tendencies. The answer to both is the message of the gospel. This is why we must preach it to ourselves every day.
The following was a quote that was posted by Charles Biggs on the Reformation Theology blog with regards to legalism. The quote is from Professor Dan Doriani. Know your sin. Know your tendencies. Cling to the gospel.
“Class-one legalists are auto-soterists; they declare what one must do in order to obtain God’s favor or salvation. The rich young ruler was a class-one legalist.
Class-two legalists declare what good deeds or spiritual disciplines one must perform to retain God’s favor and salvation.
Class-three legalists love the law so much they create new laws, laws not found in Scripture, and require submission to them. The Pharisees, who build fences around the law, were class-three legalists.
Class-four legalists avoid these gross errors, but they so accentuate obedience to the law of God that other ideas shrivel up. They reason, ‘God has redeemed us at the cost of his Son’s life. Now he demands our service in return. He has given us his Spirit and a new nature and has stated his will. With these resources, we obey his law in gratitude for our redemption. This is our duty to God.’ In an important way this is true, but class-four legalists dwell on the law of God until they forget the love of God. Worshiping, delighting in, communing with, and conforming to God are forgotten.
Class-four legalists can preach sermons in which every sentence is true, while the whole is oppressive. It is oppressive to proclaim Christ as the Lawgiver to whom we owe a vast debt, as if we must somehow repay him- - repay God! — for his gifts to us.
I count myself a member of the legion of recovering class-four legalists. We slide into a ‘Just Do It’ mentality occasionally, dispensing commands just because they are right.”