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What’s worse: legalism or antinomianism? Antinomianism is the belief that God’s grace frees Christians from the obligation of following his moral law. Legalism is the belief that we merit at least some part of our salvation through adherence to God’s moral law – and maybe a few of our own rules too. (Check out my glossary of terms page for definitions of such words as salvation and sin.) Though many Christians these days may lean towards antinomianism in practice, I think most would say that God probably likes legalists better than libertines. We humans are comfortable with legalism – it is intuitive. We’re used to giving and getting love based upon performance. And, though we usually will justify our own shortcomings, we easily condemn others for those heinous offenses we know God just can’t forgive.

For years I thought I was a pretty good person; I was only a few hang-ups away from not really having any serious bad habits. I thought I was better than most people. If only I could stop doing this and that thing I would be practically perfect in every way. Then God would really like me, and of course the blessings would start to flow. Fortunately for me, I kept on sinning and through my failures I began to understand my real problems. I had been focused on outward appearances, but my heart was corrupt. For one thing, I was a legalist. I was trying to prove my worth to God and myself by my ability to perform. I was trying to earn a good standing before God through my good works. I was the prodigal son’s jerky brother (more on that in a future post).

I am hopelessly incapable of keeping God’s law through my own self-will; I need grace. I can only love God because he first loved me. I can only truly love others – not just pursue my own self-interest – because my relationships do not earn me rewards. I can love without an agenda. I am made right with God and subsequently others through grace, not works. This is a wonderful gift from God, because if I did need to perform to earn God’s love, I would fail.

So, which is worse? Both are sins, but the problem is we rarely identify legalism as sin. That’s why it’s so dangerous. This insidious belief corrupts our relationship with God. We humans have a hard time accepting the fact that there is nothing good in us – nothing good we can do - apart from God. We just can’t accept the fact that we can’t be like God, despite what the serpent promised. Most Christians affirm that we are saved by grace, but also believe (or at least act like) we have to maintain our salvation through works. At the very least we think it must be up to us to purify ourselves before we are allowed into heaven.

Most legalists accept grace as part of the equation, they just want to also add something to it. God gives us a boost with grace, and then we have to get ourselves the rest of the way by accomplishing this or that. In the end, God’s acceptance of us is based upon our performance the legalist would claim. This is not the good news proclaimed by Jesus and his apostles. “. . . [I]t is by grace [we] have been saved, through faith--and this not from [our]selves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. (Eph 2:8-9)

We don’t do anything to earn our salvation; we don’t do anything to sanctify ourselves. We are made right with God through Jesus, not our works. We are sanctified by the Spirit, not by our effort. We are declared good, through Jesus, and made good, through the Spirit. Antinomianism, though incorrect, is preferable to legalism. This can be observed in the writings of Paul. He disciplines and corrects the Corinthians – many of the congregants were having sex with prostitutes. Paul questions the very faith of the Galatians who were being carried away by legalism. He says in Gal 1:6-7: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” In the book of Galatians Paul lays out a forceful argument against legalism. It is clear that we are saved and purified by grace – no fulfillment of any law is required for us to be made right with God.

Does this mean we can now sin as we like and it doesn’t matter? Certainly not; sin hurts others, it hurts ourselves, it wastes our lives, it does not allow the nature God to be demonstrated in us, it does not allow us to demonstrate the nature of God’s kingdom in this world. We do not need to perform to enter into a relationship with God, but a relationship with God will change us. If it is true, as the Bible teaches, that the Spirit of God lives in us as Jesus’ followers, then we should be in the process of transformation. We should be bearing fruit of goodness.

How are we changed? Not by focusing upon rules and regulations. Not through self-will and self-discipline. We are changed through love and gratitude. We are changed as we grow in our relationship with God. We are changed as we allow the Spirit to transform our desires. We are changed by focusing upon God and the love he has demonstrated through Jesus. We will mature into grown sons and daughters of God as we follow Jesus – as we take up our crosses, as we eat his flesh and drink his blood (those are his words, and many of his disciples deserted him when he said them, John 6:53).

If you want to listen to a longer discussion concerning book of  Galatians  check out The White Horse Inn