THE BONDAGE OF LEGALISM

Van Gogh:The Prison Exercise Yard, 1890

Review:
Breaking the Bondage of Legalism:
When Trying Harder Isn't Enough
Neil T. Anderson, Rich Miller, and Paul Travis
Harvest House, 313 pages
In their book Breaking the Bondage of Legalism: When Trying Harder Isn't Enough, coauthors Neil T. Anderson, Rich Miller, and Paul Travis, all associated with Freedom in Christ Ministries, address a very real, and in some circles a very pressing problem. Many of us are familiar with churches with stringent rules of personal conduct, and for some in these churches, the psychological pressure can be crushing. Mssrs. Anderson, Miller and Travis describe the problem, examine the underlying causes, and prescribe a remedy. A book like this is certainly needed, but does it hit the mark?
The first problem in dealing with a subject like this is how to define the word itself. The term "legalism" is often used loosely to describe an oppressive system or mentality involving rules and regulations, but it is not always clear exactly who or what is in view. Much to their credit, our authors attempt a formal definition. "Christian legalism," they tell us, "is seeking to attain, gain, or maintain acceptance with God, or achieve spiritual growth, through keeping a written or unwritten code or standard of performance" (p. 37). The definition, it will be noted, is broad and sweeping. It could include justification, sanctification, and assurance. Sometimes the word appears to refer to an excessive attention to detail. Sometimes it seems to mean reliance on human effort. At other times it means having one's assurance of acceptance with God based on personal performance. Our authors would no doubt say that legalism means all of these things and even more.
The problem here is that the authors have defined "legalism" so broadly as to exclude from the Christian life any objective standards and any personal effort to meet them. They claim that at the heart of legalism is a pernicious falsehood, viz., the belief that "my Christian growth is primarily dependent upon my efforts to maintain Christian disciplines or practices rather than upon God's grace" (pp. 40-41). What they have done here is to place "Christian discipline and practices" in opposition to "God's grace." But it is a false dichotomy. Why does it have to be either / or? Doesn't the Bible present it as both / and? Did anyone grow spiritually without Christian disciplines and practices?
Some aspects of "legalism," thus defined, are clearly Biblical. Christians are required, in fact, to "keep commandments," and, to some extent, the quality of our relationship with God is conditioned on our obedience. Our Lord Himself said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21). The Bible is filled with specific injunctions that govern all aspects of our lives. Does a truly spiritual Christian simply ignore what the Bible says about these things?
To their credit, at the end of their book the authors do maintain that to develop and maintain a relationship with Christ does require time spent in prayer, and this, in turn, will result in a Christ-like life. Their theory of sanctification is this: ". . . as you develop your intimate relationship with the Father in prayer, and as you learn to lean on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, you will begin to live like Jesus. You will find that it is not trying to keep laws, but trusting in the Lord, that keeps you from sin and enable you to walk in righteousness" (p. 229).
All of which brings us to a deeper concern we have about the authors' book. Modern day legalism, as they describe it, is mostly confined to certain groups, viz., conservative "Holiness" and Pentecostal churches, and so-called "Independent, Fundamental" Baptists. Once we move outside of these circles we are far more likely to encounter the exact opposite problem: lax moral standards and pervasive worldliness. For every professing Christian who is caught in a "legalistic" church there are probably at least ten (admittedly not a scientific estimate) who cannot seem to make the connection between their profession of faith in Christ and the way they live. Their personal lives are virtually indistinguishable from those of their unsaved neighbors. Their pastors rarely mention the word "sin," Christian ethics is never discussed in a systematic way, and church discipline is virtually non-existent. Some churches today don't even maintain formal membership rolls. The members of these churches may feel good about themselves, but their relatives, neighbors, and coworkers are likely to think that they are hypocrites. For the majority of Christians today the authors may be flogging a dead horse.
Nevertheless, our authors have much to say that is valuable and worthwhile. They point out that our salvation rests on the finished work of Christ on the cross, and not on our own merits. They note that God genuinely loves His children and desires their good. They point out that the key to success in the Christian life is union and communion with Christ. And they are largely correct in their assessment that these critical perspectives are often missing in legalistic churches, and that this, in turn, will tend to rob Christians of their sense of assurance. Some of these Christians are, in effect, back where Martin Luther was before he discovered the doctrine of justification by faith.
Our feeling is that it is not the presence of rules, but the absence of a relationship – a meaningful relationship with Christ -- that is the problem with legalism. What we need is a genuine revival.

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