Is Legalism the Problem of the Hour?

Mike Leake

“…since Genesis 3, legalism (self-salvation) has always been our biggest problem. And this problem does not shift to something else when the cultural mood shifts–it just takes one of two different forms.” –Tullian Tchividjian. (Quoted from Church We Have a Problem)

Tchividjian has argued quite forcefully that legalism and lawlessness aren’t two ditches for us to fall into. Instead they are two different responses to the one problem—legalism. One person attempts to save himself by his good works (legalism). Another person attempts to save himself and find freedom and life by breaking the rules (lawlessness).

Though he—and others—make a very compelling argument, I am not convinced that legalism is the problem of the hour. In fact I don’t think he goes back far enough in Genesis 3 to see the real issue for humanity.

Our Deepest Problem

When the cunning serpent invites Eve to taste the forbidden fruit it is not an attempt at self-salvation that drives her. It is instead a plot to overturn the creature-Creator distinction. Her problem isn’t legalism it’s self-worship.

Now, I suppose one could argue that what she is engaging in is “back-door-legalism”. That is a phrase coined by Tchividjian to describe those that “avoid the gospel and try to save themselves by breaking the rules, doing whatever they want, developing their own autonomous standards, and so on”. In that case our first couple may very well have believed, “I can find freedom and fullness of life if I break the rules.”

So I suppose if we redefine legalism in these terms then legalism is really no different than self-worship and I don’t have much of a point to make. But I’d submit to you that whenever I use the term legalism with 99% of the people in our congregation what comes to their mind is a man that is trying to gain favor with God by his good works. It is self-salvation by obedience to the law. And that is fundamentally what I mean when I’m arguing here that legalism isn’t the greatest problem of the hour.

The way that I read Genesis 3 is that Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God because they chose self-worship over the worship of God. They weren’t concerned with saving themselves. They were concerned with exalting themselves and becoming God. Discontent with being image-bearers they sought to be the Imago Himself.

In Genesis 3:7 I believe we are introduced to legalism. Legalism becomes the problem when a self-worshipper is confronted with a holy God in the cool of the morning. Here Adam and Eve are seeking salvation. This is why I believe Tom Schreiner says, “Legalism has its origin in self-worship.” Self-worship comes first and legalism is the rancid fruit of self-worship. Self-worship, then, is the foundational problem of humanity.

In Our Day

But what happens when sinful man no longer gives a rip about a holy God walking in the cool of the morning? Legalism is a wrong-headed attempt at salvation through means of self effort; a sewing of fig leaves to hide from the Almighty. Today we aren’t cowering in a bush hoping that fig leaf underpants can hide our shame. No, we are bold and naked before the Almighty. Confident that “no disaster will come upon us” (Micah 3:12) we are by and large confident that our godlessness will have no consequence. Narcissism has become our greatest virtue.

D.A. Carson summarizes our culture well:

If we know the characteristic sins of the age, we can guess its foolish and fashionable assumptions—that morality is simply a matter of personal taste, that all silences need to be filled up with human chatter or background music, that 760 percent of the American people are victims, that it is better to feel than to think, that rights are more important than responsibilities, that even for children the right to choose supersedes all other rights, that real liberty can be enjoyed without virtue, that self-reproach is for fogies, that God is chum or even a gofer whose job is to make us rich or happy or religiously excited, that it is more satisfying to be envied than respected, that it is better for politicians and preachers to be cheerful than truthful, that Christian worship fails unless it is fun. (Worship by the Book, 30)

This way of thinking has certainly infiltrated our churches as well. Yes, we may very well be able to call this some humanistic or back-door-legalism. But if we approach this entrenched neglect of a holy God as if it’s the same as a man trying to appease God through self-effort, then we’ll be woefully inadequate in the way that we respond to our cultural assumptions. Telling a narcissist that God loves him isn’t good news, it is old news.

I agree that the unfettered gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to our lawlessness and our legalism. But I believe the gospel is a multi-faceted diamond and pending on who your audience is, you might want to emphasize one point over the other. What needs to be confronted, wrecked and ruined, and then transformed isn’t merely our plans of self-salvation but our self-worshipping hearts.

For the Saints

But surely legalism is the greatest problem within the church, right?

Again that probably depends on how we define legalism. If we mean people trying to please God by obeying the law, then I’m honestly not certain if it is the greatest problem in the church. If we mean people trying to please God by obeying imaginary laws that they’ve made up (i.e. laws of prosperity), then we might be closer to the mark. But I wonder if there isn’t an equally devastating problem of people that assume all is well with the Lord because of some supposed justification that took place some years ago and now it doesn’t matter much if we obey or not.

I’m not suggesting that what we need in our churches is a bunch of law preaching and banging people over the heads and telling them to get with the program. That’s foolishness and that’s terrible legalistic preaching. I still believe with my whole heart that we pastors had better leave people in the hands of Jesus or we haven’t preached a gospel sermon.

But I’m also not convinced that the solution is to simply rehearse over and over again justification and our settled position in Jesus Christ. Part of discipleship—yes, even discipleship from the pulpit—is teaching people how to live out the gospel. That doesn’t just mean showing them how Jesus is an answer to all of their sin problems. It is that, but discipleship also teaches people how to obey all that the Lord has commanded. Jesus commanded far more than just “repent and believe the gospel”.

I close with these words from John Piper:

Discipline is not legalism. Hard work is not legalism. Acting against carnal impulses is not legalism. They may be. But they may also be the torque of the engine of faith running on the fuel of the Spirit to the glory of the grace of God in a self-centered and undisciplined world.

Let’s not fear legalism so much that we become afraid to speak of discipline, hard work, and making war against the flesh in real concrete terms.

Today in Blogworld 01.15.14

Mike Leake 2 Comments

Writing is Sanctification

I really appreciate the challenge that Lore Ferguson gives us writers in this piece.

A Few Good Men, Not a Few Good Yes Men

“What minister who knows his own heart would trust himself to lead a congregation on his own and according to his own wisdom?”  -Carl Trueman

Sludge and Sanctification

What if the “sludge” created by raising children is for our sanctification and not for our temporary happiness?

A Plea to Critics about Criticism

I love this from Dave Miller. I especially like his challenge to highlight our Bible’s and find a big forest with a few yellow flowers.

This is clever:

(HT: Jared Wilson)

Pray For Your Daughter: 31 Day Challenge—Day Fifteen

Mike Leake

Day Fifteen: That she would be content in her circumstances

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place… (Acts 17:26)

Our younger daughter is our little go-ahead girl. When she was 18 months old, she decided it was time for her to go to school. So, when my wife was dropping off our oldest at her class, she decided to go hop into the coat room and start taking her boots off, too. When my wife realized what was happening and explained to Hannah that she couldn’t go to school yet, she was heartbroken. Then, she examined the other children and said to her mom, “I need a pack-pack.” Since then, this tendency has only increased. She’s always up to something. She’s very, very bright (terrifyingly smart, actually) and just wants to go and do the next thing. The struggle for her is contentment—accepting the limitations that exist (primarily her age—it’s tough being not-quite four), and enjoying her present circumstances. She needs to see that while there’s lots of exciting adventures to come, we need to appreciate our current circumstances, for God has placed us here at this time for our good.

Father, thank you that you establish the times in which we live, and that you know all our days from beginning to end. Please help my daughter to be content in her circumstances, and to enjoy the day you’ve given her even as you prepare her for the next. Amen.

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Aaron Armstrong is the author of Awaiting a Savior and Contend. He and his wife, Emily, have three kids (two girls and one boy). Aaron blogs daily at bloggingtheologically.com.

How to Play a Gospel Djembe

Mike Leake

Djembe. Pronounce it the way you would if you were introducing your friend Jim Bey to a pretty girl. It’s an African drum that you play with your bare hands. I’ve tried learning to play it but I lack the one thing necessary; rhythm. But perhaps I hope that I can play a gospel djembe.

Since I’ve already confessed my failure at playing a djembe, allow my friend Nate Claiborne to explain how to play a djembe:

To play the djembe you differentiate between deep, bassy center hits and mid-range more percussive rim shots. To play a beat you alternate between the two (simulating a drum beat that alternates between bass drum and snare). If you just hit one or the other, you’re not playing the instrument correctly, though you are technically producing a rhythm. If you just beat the center of the drum, you’ll produce a bass heavy “four on the floor” dance beat that is only useful in certain upbeat contexts. If you just hit the rim, you’re producing something akin to a slow drum roll, or bongo sound—again, only giving you limited usefulness. If you combine the two, you can play an variety of rhythmic variations that are useful in almost every context.

That’s how you play djembe. Now, how do you play a gospel djembe? Much the same way. You beat the center and slap the rim. The center is the indicative—that which Christ has done on our behalf. The rim is the imperative—that which we do in response to what Christ has already done.

Focusing on one at the expense of the other not only isn’t producing good music, it’s going to have consequences in the life of the church. If we hit the center over and over again then there will be very good things said. Vital emphases will be recovered. People will be helped. Lives will be saved from the wreckage of legalism. But we’ll also be missing something. Imperatives.

In the same way to only slap the edges (imperatives) will provide helpful in a season. Many good and true things will be said. Some will be helped. But eventually we’ll fall flat because something vital is missing. Indicatives.

Playing the Gospel Djembe

The way to play the gospel djembe is to hit that center really hard. Keep banging away at it and never losing that bassy middle. Preach Christ and Him crucified. Over and over and over again. Never move away from the foundation of what Jesus Christ has done our behalf. Ground every single tap of the rim in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

But tap the rim.

Please.

Don’t be afraid to tell people that they must be holy. And they need to be taught how to be holy—and that doesn’t happen just by banging the drum middle. I agree with Mark Jones:

Not infrequently will one hear that we should just ‘preach the gospel’ and then let the Spirit do his work in believers. Of course this statement can be taken in a number of ways that even the staunchest opponent of antinomianism could agree to. But often there is such an overreaction to ‘moralizing sermons’ that preachers fail to give appropriate, soul-searching application in the form of commands. Direct and specific application is something that Paul does not omit in his letters. For example, he reminds the Thessalonians to love one another and then urges them ‘to do this more and more’ (1 Thess. 4:10). Try harder? Yes. Do more? Yes. For Paul the law functioned as a means of sanctification. (Jones, Antinomianism, 38)

To effectively play the gospel djembe means that we will play with balance. And I can’t speak to this balance any better than Nate did when we were discussing this analogy:

The balance comes by combining the two in an appropriate way that changes to fit the contours and rhythms of daily life. The easy thing to do is just hit the center or bang the edge. But the call in Scripture is to make music*.

Let’s make music.

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*For this article and illustration I am very much indebted to an email conversation with Nate Claiborne. You should follow Nate on Twitter or check out his blog.