Is it Legalistic?
2 Cor. 3:6 “Not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Colossians 2:20-23
“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations–Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using–according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
Legalism in Christian theology, is the act of putting the Law of Moses above the Gospel by establishing requirements for salvation beyond repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Also, modern day Christians often feel sanctification is a matter of submitting to certain rules or standards. Thus, one’s Christian progress is judged by whether or not one keeps the prescribed rules. Too often they elevate mere human preferences to the level of biblical absolutes.
Sadly the opposite can also be true. For some Christians use the claim “it is legalism” to avoid obeying the clear teachings of Christ and the Apostles. The above verse, 2 Corinthians 3:6 is often quoted to excuse one from needing to obey the commandments of Christ, or specific commands of God spoken through the Apostles or Paul, etc.
The context of the verse (3:6) is that Paul was speaking about the difference between the Law of Moses and the grace delivered by and through the Holy Spirit. He was reminding us that all the Law can do is show us our sin and the sinfulness of sin, so as to bring us to Jesus for salvation. It was our school master to teach us that we need the grace of God to be saved. The book of Galatians was written to show that the Law is good, but by exposing our sin it becomes death to us. It can not change us or forgive us or save us. It can only expose sin and point to death.
Only Christ can save. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and point us to the wonderful grace of God in Christ Jesus. Through Him we can be forgiven and cleansed (1 John 1:9), so He says, keeping the letter of the law only brings death. It can do no more. It is the work of the Holy Spirit which brings us to Christ and gives us new life in Him.
I am often called legalistic because I take God at his word and believe Him, not adding to nor taking away from what He says. The problem of the Pharisees in the time of Christ is they feared God would not enforce His own rules, so they added additional rules to force on people in an attempt to guarantee that they followed God to the letter. However, most often their additional rules only confused and made it all the more difficult to be obedient to God and His rules/laws. For example they accused Jesus of working on the Sabbath when he had done no physical labor at all, He only spoke and the man was healed.
Claiming that we are living under Grace, one must remember that the teachings of Jesus, the Apostles and the writings of the New Testament letters were all written under Grace. They are not legalistic and must be taken as truth and grace. Simply obey, do not try to reinterpret them according to the whims and preferences of modern day culture.