Hard and Soft Religion

Whether you practice judgmental legalism or relativistic atheism you are practicing a form of religion that is opposed to the gospel of grace found in Jesus Christ.

This video clip was taken from the sermon 'The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Conflict' which can be found at http://www.marshillchurch.org/sermons...

Understanding Legalism

By Tony Reinke @ http://spurgeon.wordpress.com

How do we define legalism? Because the term legalism is a very serious one (and because my heart is especially susceptible to it) I frequently think about how the roots of legalism sprout in our lives. So today I want to work towards a definition.

Three events from last year (that all took place back in Omaha in the same week) reveal why clarification on the dangers of legalism are necessary. First was a conversation with a woman who had decided it was okay that her daughter skip church for soccer games. “I don’t want to be legalistic about church,” she said. Another encounter was with a man who defined legalism as “living by lots of rules.” And the third encounter was over an issue concerning alcohol and how those who say Christians should not drink are legalists.

I’m not saying these people are right or wrong in their convictions. What I am saying is that each statement sadly reveals a misunderstanding about legalism. What we commonly forget is that legalism is dangerous whether your biblical convictions are right or wrong. Holding biblically accurate convictions does not automatically protect from legalism.

Rules are not the problem

The danger of legalism does not seem to be found primarily by living with rules or not living by rules — whether you attend church every week or not, whether you drink wine or not.

Jesus says, ‘take every precaution you need to prevent your heart from sinning.’ “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matt. 5:29).

If you apply the entire bible to the Christian life, you can end up with a long list of helpful rules and reminders (like the “one anothers”). Count how many times the phrase “do not” occurs in the Proverbs. It’s no wonder that Jonathan Edwards came up with his long list of resolutions.

Rules are not the central problem in legalism.

A false gospel

Legalism is (most dangerously) a soteriological problem. That is, legalism is a false gospel. Legalism is the damning lie that says God’s pleasure and joy in me is dependent upon my obedience.

It is legalism that causes the Pharisee to look proudly into the sky in the presence of a tax collector. It is legalism that causes a missionary in Africa to think God is more pleased with him than the Christian businessman in America. And it is legalism that causes the preacher behind the pulpit to think God is more pleased with him than the tatooed Christian teenager sitting in the back row.

The common salvation (Jude 3)

Legalism is the lie that God will find more pleasure in me because my obedience is greater than others or that God looks at me with disgust because I am not growing in grace as quickly as my friends. It is the failure to remember that God’s pleasure in us comes outside of us (in Christ). Legalism causes the heart to forget that God sings over us because of the work He has done, not because of what we have done (Zeph. 3:15-17).

Believers equally bring pleasure to God because the pleasure He receives in us is the purchased pleasure of the substitution of Jesus Christ. Any imagined superiority to other Christians (not rules or a lack of rules) is the sure sign of the legalist.

The irony of legalism

The great irony (and danger) of legalism is this … If you think God is more pleased with you because you take your child to a soccer game instead of church, if you think God is more pleased with you because you do not live by rules, and if you think God is more pleased with you because you do drink alcohol – you are just as legalistic as the man who thinks that perfect church attendance, lists of rules and abstaining from alcohol makes him more pleasing to God.

Whether our convictions are biblical or unbiblical is another issue altogether. Legalism is not so much objective (are my convictions biblical or not?) but subjective (what do my convictions get me?). So legalism is just as dangerous whether your convictions are biblically accurate or not. From what I hear, this is not the common definition floating around the broad Evangelical landscape.

Sadly, churches that do not train their sheep to boast only in the righteousness of the Cross of Christ, but are frequently carried into other controversies and debates, or pride themselves in a lack of rules and regulations, can equally create a breeding ground for self-righteous legalism. And this is true even if the church is biblically correct every time on every debate.

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Related: Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney

I Just Love Rules, Don’t You? Part Two

^{This chapter is from Damsels in Distress and is reprinted by permission from P&R Publishing (Phillipsburg, NJ). This chapter is being reprinted in two parts. This is part two.}

by Martha Peace

Legalism

What Legalism Does

There are many problems with legalism. Consider the following list:

1. Legalism takes our attention off Jesus Christ by focusing on our own efforts rather than what He has done for us.
2. Legalism takes away the believer’s freedom by substituting conformity for control by the Spirit.
3. Legalism attempts to put God in the position of being a debtor. It thinks God owes us something when we do good.
4. Legalism results in regression in the Christian life.
5. Legalism is performance-oriented. It focuses more on what one does than on who one is.
6. Legalism brings about harshness and conflict in one’s relationships. The reason for this is because legalism creates an elitist attitude in which conformity is demanded and failure is not tolerated.
7. Legalism will rob a Christian of joy, for he will never know the “rest” that faith brings. A legalist is so intent on doing that he does not know how to enjoy God’s acceptance.
8. Legalists are very zealous. This is why legalism brings results, but the results are counterfeits.
9. Legalism is selective in the matters it chooses and promotes. It will take parts of God’s Law but ignore the rest. It is never consistent. An interesting aspect is not what legalism forbids but what it overlooks.
10. Legalism will affect everything if unchecked. Given time it will control everything—individual churches, schools, and denominations.
11. Legalism attacks grace. Legalists will accuse those who preach grace of being antinomian (lawless). But this cannot be true because what grace really does is strip away any pretense of spiritual achievement. Grace promotes obedience to God because of His blessings to us. Grace is a license to serve, not a license to sin.
12. Legalism is inflexible and condemnatory. It refuses to see many, if any, gray areas in the Christian life. Legalists have rules for almost every area of life and have a negative judgmental attitude toward those who do not comply with their standards. This can result in a very tense environment.
13. Legalism promotes pride and self-righteousness. Of course the legalist denies this, but it is true nevertheless.
14. Legalism opts for a lower standard than God’s. The kind of legalism that emphasizes many man-made rules becomes satisfied with what is really an inferior standard. Consider the following vivid contrast between man-made rules and God’s high and holy law. Man-made rules: don’t wear jewelry or makeup or denim clothing, burn your secular music because it has demons in it, don’t practice any birth control, insist that men’s hair must be above their ears. God’s Law: love God and love others.

Why Is Scripture So against Legalism?

Legalists can appear to others (and certainly to themselves) to be so godly. Their emphasis is on minor, little things, but they miss the heart and real intention of God’s law such as hospitality, love, caring for widows and orphans, generosity, kindness, justice, and mercy. No wonder the Lord Jesus admonished them strongly, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness . . .” (Matt. 23:23).

Legalism also creates a proud person: “I’m keeping the rules so I must be spiritual.” The Lord Jesus shocked the people who thought there were none more righteous than the Pharisees, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). In other words, they had to have perfect righteousness, which, of course, only God could do for them.

Legalism creates self-righteousness. It looks down on those not as spiritual as we are. We see this example in the Scriptures when the Lord Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees questioned His disciples. When Jesus heard about what was being said, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12–13). The Pharisees should have been glad that the “sinners” could spend time with our Lord.

Legalism emphasizes outward show. Remember the Pharisee who stood on the street corner praying out loud thanking God that he was not like the sinner standing nearby? The Lord Jesus said that legalists were like tombstones that were whitewashed and gleaming on the outside but were full of dead men’s bones on the inside. He told them, “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt. 23:28). Just about anyone can manage to put on an outward show at least for a little while, but the true believer wants the attention called to God not himself.

Legalism can become very rigid and crowd out love. Legalistic homes will often lack love because they have a lot of rules and rigidity. One legalistic rule they might have, for example, is that a girl should not marry a man who has been a Christian for less time than she has. Parents can exasperate children because the parents see their rules as “thus saith the Lord,” instead of recognizing areas where their children have freedom in the Lord to differ with others.

Legalism can create a dependence on human leaders. It is common for Christians to follow a man (or a movement) because he provides a new set of regulations for given situations. People turn to this kind of leader rather than turn to the Word of God through personal study. People can be held in emotional bondage to such leaders because they will sometimes say, “It’s OK for you to do that but if you really want God’s best then. . . .” Well, who wouldn’t want God’s best? Even though it may appear to be the legalist who desires God’s best, it is not. What legalists really desire is making themselves look good.

Remember that you should not automatically label someone a legalist just because he or she has different rules or follows a more rigid lifestyle. Legalists have a wrong attitude toward their rules. They add rules to the gospel or to how we grow as Christians. They tend to be rigid, angry, harsh, and often self-righteous instead of loving, kind, and gentle. Churches and Christian schools must have rules. Rules help us live together and they protect us. So, do not automatically write off a church or school because they have rules. The question to consider is: What is their attitude toward their rules?

Scripture soundly condemns those who have external, lipservice religion but whose hearts are far away from God. The strong believer (the one who understands his liberty in Christ and knows how to exercise it responsibly) has an obligation to the weaker brother (the legalistic kind). He must love him and seek to help him understand his freedom in Christ and the relationship between law and grace. We are to exemplify true biblical Christianity, not just criticize legalists. Our lives should model God’s grace at work in our hearts.

A Model of God’s Grace

Read the following list and see if in your heart you are a model of God’s grace or a Pharisee: [4]

• Do you take seriously the total corruption of your human nature? This does not mean that every person will be as bad as they could possibly be, but it does mean that all of your nature has been affected by sin (your will, intellect, affections, and conscience). (Gen. 6:5)
• Do you believe that the Bible alone is the inspired Word of God and authoritative over your life? (2 Tim. 3:16–17)
• Do you have a right respect for the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, understanding that you cannot add anything to His work? Not even baptism, communion, ceremonial acts of worship, or perfect church attendance? (Eph. 2:1–10)
• Do you give God credit for any fruit in your life, knowing that it is the Holy Spirit who produces such fruit? (Gal. 5:13–23)
• Do you view life through the lens of loving God and loving others? (Matt. 22:35–40)
• Would you patiently teach younger Christians, or would you try to impose standards on them in areas where God has given us freedom?
• Are you discerning between “thus saith the Lord” and your own personal standards? For example: women are to be modest in dress versus women cannot wear eye shadow.
• Are you more likely to think, I’m glad I’m not like so-and so . . . or to think, It is only by God’s grace that I am not worse than so-and-so. I will pray for her.
• Do you have disdain for others, thinking, I would never do what she did, or do you have compassion and think, Because of my sin nature, I am capable of doing something worse. How can I help her?
• Would you be horrified if you saw your friend’s daughter at church and she had on a toe ring? Or would you think, Well, that’s not me, but it is not a sin to wear a toe ring. This is an area where we both have freedom, me not to wear one and she to wear one.
• Would your first reaction to a church’s music that you did not approve of be, “That music is awful. They must not be Christians!” or would it be, “Just because I do not like their music certainly does not mean they are not Christians.”
• Do you believe that if you wear makeup you are out of God’s will, or do you think that makeup is a matter of “freedom in the Lord,” and you can enjoy that freedom?
• Have you been discouraged, thinking, If I don’t read my Bible every day, I must not be a Christian, or if you miss a day reading the Bible, do you think, Certainly God wants me to read my Bible every day, but He accomplished the work of my salvation on the cross. I cannot add to or keep my salvation by reading the Bible.
• Have you found yourself suspicious of another woman’s spirituality or salvation if her hair is short? Or do you realize that hair styles are cultural and this is an area where she has freedom in the Lord?
• Have you ever thought or said, “My child would never do what her child just did”? or would you be quick to think, As far as I know, my child has never done what her child did, but that does not mean that he won’t do it or something worse in the future.
• Are you drawn toward systems that are full of rules, such as “courtship,” thinking that if you follow the rules just right, God will have to bless your children’s marriages? Or do you realize that courtship is not a “thus saith the Lord” issue, but is based on man-made rules drawn from Old Testament stories. What is biblical is wisdom, discernment, marrying only a Christian, chastity before marriage, and knowing that both your child and his or her spouse will sin—but there are biblical ways to deal with it.
• Have you ever thought, If I overeat (or any other sin), God will be mad at me, and I must not be saved, or would you think, My salvation does not now nor did it ever depend on what I eat. I must believe God when His Word says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Conclusion

The legalist thinks that her outward religious activities will cause God to be obligated to save her or, if not that, then at least she will be more pleasing to God if she keeps her rules and regulations. We have seen that instead of having disdain for those who do not follow our rules, we must put up with non-sinful differences; instead of having a sense of superiority over others, we must have humble compassion, understanding that we could be worse than they; instead of holding to an unbiblical view of God’s grace, our lives should be a model of God’s grace; and instead of fearing the consequences if we do not do everything just right, we should enjoy the freedoms the Lord has given us and be grateful for the forgiveness we have in Christ.

Do not too quickly label people as legalists just because they have stricter or different personal standards than you. Legalism is not what you or they do but what you or they think about what you do. The legalistic heart is in bondage to a sinful system of spirituality. If this is a problem in your heart, you must repent and come out of the darkness of self-righteousness and into the light of God’s glorious grace.

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^{4. The first four on this list were adapted from J. C. Ryles’s book Warnings to the Churches (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), 62–66. This material was originally published in Home Truths and later in Knots United (first published in 1877).}

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^{Martha Peace is a gifted teacher and exhorter. She worked for eight years as a biblical counselor at the Atlanta Biblical Counseling Center, where she counseled women, children, and teenagers. She also instructed for 6 years at Carver Bible Institute and College in Atlanta where she taught women’s classes including “The Excellent Wife,” “Raising Kids Without Raising Cain,” “Introduction to Biblical Counseling,” “Advanced Biblical Counseling,” “Personal Purity,” and “The Book of Esther.” Martha has authored a workbook, Raising Kids Without Raising Cain, and books entitled The Excellent Wife, The Study Guide to The Excellent Wife, and Becoming a Titus 2 Woman.}

I Just Love Rules, Don’t You? Part One

^{From Damsels in Distress and is reprinted by permission from P&R Publishing (Phillipsburg, NJ). This chapter is being reprinted in two parts.}

by Martha Peace

Legalism

Our daughter, Anna, attended a well-known Bible college back in the 1980s. At that school they had a rather thick rule book. To her dismay, she broke four of the rules before she even had time to read the book! Not being a rebel in her heart, Anna had no problem keeping the rules once she knew what they were, but what she did have a problem with were those students who loved the rules so much that they became like self-appointed, private investigators looking to trap and turn in students who broke or appeared to break the slightest rule. These students became like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who were religious in a bad sense. The students and the Pharisees became amazingly creative in their ability to make up religious rules that they thought saved them or made them more pleasing to God. Usually accompanying those self-imposed standards was a disdain for those who did not follow their rules, a sense of superiority over others, an unbiblical view of grace, and fear of consequences if they did not do everything just right.

The modern-day legalist is a lot like those students and the Pharisees. The legalist is drawn toward unbiblical thinking—so much so that there are strong Scriptural warnings against such man-made religion:

“Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. . . .” (Mark 8:15, NASB)

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Col. 2:8)

Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. (Heb. 13:9)

The life of legalists is not the joyous Christian walk that God intends. It is a life of burden for themselves and the others they influence. Martin Luther vividly described the mindset of the legalist: “Christ’s a fine Master. He makes the beginning, but Moses [the Old Testament Law] must complete the structure. The devil’s nature shows itself therein: [if] he cannot ruin people by wronging and persecuting them, he will do it by improving them.”[1] In this chapter we want to cover what the Bible teaches about legalism, typical legalistic thoughts and actions, and how to overcome the sinful bent to add to God’s standard of righteousness.

What the Bible Teaches about Legalism

The Pharisees were a Jewish religious sect that evolved into very rigid, self-righteous, letter of (their) law group. They were thought to be the epitome of righteousness. They hated the Lord Jesus because He saw through their façade and knew their hearts. The Pharisees made up hundreds of new laws that they were comfortable keeping. In order to justify observing certain laws and not others, they divided God’s Law into greater laws (that they kept) and lesser laws (that were in their opinion optional). The laws that they arbitrarily decided were the “greater” laws were, of course, the ones they would not have broken anyway.

The Old Testament Pharisee and the modern-day legalist are a lot alike. They are both sinfully proud. They think they can earn God’s favor or that they deserve it in some way, and they look down on those who are not as “spiritual” as they think they are. Legalism is a vivid example of not trusting in the Lord, but instead leaning on your own understanding (see Prov. 3:5).

Biblical Principles Concerning Legalism [2]

To understand legalism, let’s look at twelve biblical principles:

1. Legalism aims to attain spirituality by means of what one does or does not do. A legalist establishes an external standard of spirituality and then judges everyone by that standard. Since the individual has established the standard, normally that person always achieves it: [3]

For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. (Rom. 10:3)

2. The Law is a divine rule or commandment. Often when people say the Law, they are referring to the Ten Commandments or to the entire Mosaic Law located in the first five books of the Bible:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides Me. . . .’ ” (Ex. 20:22–23)

3. The Law has three aspects:

a. The sacrificial system: The Jews would bring animals for sacrifice and the priests would carry out the sacrifice. There were varying reasons for the different sacrifices, but the main reason was as a guilt offering to atone for Israel’s sin. This is no longer necessary because the sacrifice was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ:

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (Heb. 7:26–27)

b. The civil law: The civil law was given to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. There were many civil laws, including dietary laws, laws dictating which years to let the land rest from planting crops, and laws telling how many days after a male baby’s birth he was to be circumcised. We are no longer under the civil laws:

But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. After there had been much debate Peter stood up and said to them . . . “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” (Acts 15:5–7, 11)

c. The moral law: We, like those in the Old Testament times, are under the moral law of God. For example, we are told not to commit adultery in the Old Testament, and the New Testament standard is the same. In fact, the Lord Jesus further explained that we are not even to lust in our hearts. The moral law of God convicts us, restrains sin in society, and is the rule of life for the believer:

Then God spoke all these words saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. . . . You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex. 20:1, 14)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I [the Lord] say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:27–28)

4. God has provided all the resources for man’s salvation from sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, is the only provision for sinful man’s salvation that is acceptable to God. Christ obeyed God’s Law perfectly by living the sinless life that we should live but cannot. God’s provision for salvation is undeserved by man. Because of sin, man deserves condemnation. Because of God’s gracious provision, man can be saved but only through faith in Christ alone:

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3–4)

5. Liberty is the life of the Christian under the control of the Holy Spirit. In Christ the believer is free to live a life pleasing to God no longer under the penalty and power of sin.

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom. 6:5–7)

6. Legalism is an unbiblical response to the law of God. The unbiblical response to God’s law is man’s attempt to add his own good works to God’s grace. In so doing man seeks to conform to a code for the purpose of glorifying self:

Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Gal. 3:11)

7. The problem with legalism is in man’s heart (what he thinks) . The natural heart is a legalistic heart; man thinks he can help God or make God a debtor to him, or that he deserves what God has done for him. It is pride that keeps us from seeing our sin and how utterly dependent we are on God to do the work of our salvation:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Cor. 2:14)

8. Because of man’s nature and his propensity to sin, he wants to make the Christian life workable in the flesh. The legalist looks for techniques and formulas (step one, step two . . .). Commands are too general. He thinks he needs more organization concerning the answer to the complexities of life. Some modern-day examples are “steps to find God’s will” or “witness to X number of people each day” or “clothing must be a certain style” or “abstain from certain foods”:

Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. . . . (Rom. 14:20)

9. Legalism is any attempt to change people through conformity to rules. Churches that are unbiblically authoritarian often do this.

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:1–3)

10. Legalism is manifested in a variety of ways: men think their acts should gain God’s favor because God is somehow obligated to them; men outwardly go through the motions of vain, repetitious religion; men commit acts based only on human wisdom and strength without regard to the Word of God or the Holy Spirit:

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Col. 2:8)

11. Legalism is an unbiblical response to the Old Testament narrative stories. This code may be biblical or man-made. Legalists often go to Old Testament narrative stories, miss the point, and make their rules in relation to the story. Examples are dietary rules, courtship rules, and promises made because of parental “blessings.”

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” (Gen. 28:1–4)

All Scripture is “profitable for teaching” us, but not all Scripture is written about us or to us (see 2 Tim. 3:16). Thus, parents who make up certain rules or special promised “blessings” for their child based on Old Testament narrative stories such as Isaac’s blessings to Jacob are missing the point of the passage. The point is what God is doing to fulfill His covenant promises to the children of Israel. Sometimes parents unintentionally misuse the passage and place an unbiblical burden of man-made rules or false expectations on their child.

Another example would be courtship rules. Having personal standards and family traditions such as the young man asking the father’s permission before asking the young lady out is fine. Not dating in a frivolous way is fine. What is not fine is thinking that these personal standards are a God-mandated rule that guarantees success in the marriage. Instead of hard-and-fast rules, the biblical standard is wisdom, discernment, marrying only a Christian, chastity before marriage, and knowing that both the child and his or her spouse will sin—but there are biblical ways to deal with their sin. So, have standards and base them on biblical principles. [sic] but do not elevate them to a “thus said the Lord” level.

12. Legalism seeks to exalt self and gain merit rather than to glorify God because of what He has done. The power source is self not the Holy Spirit. Israel fell into this kind of legalism:

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matt. 6:5–7)

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<sup>1. Timothy George, The New American Commentary, Galatians (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994), 96.
2. This material was adapted with permission from material by Howard Dial, pastor of Berachah Bible Church, Fayetteville, Georgia.
3. John MacArthur and Wayne Mack, Introduction to Biblical Counseling (Dallas: Word, 1994), 381–82.</sup>

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Martha Peace is a gifted teacher and exhorter. She worked for eight years as a biblical counselor at the Atlanta Biblical Counseling Center, where she counseled women, children, and teenagers. She also instructed for 6 years at Carver Bible Institute and College in Atlanta where she taught women’s classes including “The Excellent Wife,” “Raising Kids Without Raising Cain,” “Introduction to Biblical Counseling,” “Advanced Biblical Counseling,” “Personal Purity,” and “The Book of Esther.” Martha has authored a workbook, Raising Kids Without Raising Cain, and books entitled The Excellent Wife, The Study Guide to The Excellent Wife, and Becoming a Titus 2 Woman.}