Define Legalism for a Child
Dannah Gresh is a best-selling author of many books and a popular speaker who is particularly passionate about helping parents build strong relationships with their children and encouraging tweens and teens to seek sexual purity. Dannah`s most recent books include It`s Great to Be a Girl, Raising Body-Confident Daughters, and A Girl`s Guide to Understanding Boys. Dannah and her husband Bob live at State College, Pennsylvania, and have three adult children. Learn more about Dannah and her work by visiting her organization`s Pure Freedom website. During the Qin Dynasty, all books that did not support legalistic philosophy were burned, and writers, philosophers, and teachers of other philosophies were executed. The excesses of Qin Dynasty legalism made the regime very unpopular with the people of the time. After the overthrow of the Qin, legalism was abandoned in favor of Confucianism, which greatly influenced the development of Chinese culture. In Genesis 3:3, Eve demonstrated this form of legalism when she misquoted God: “From the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, `Thou shalt not eat it, and thou shalt not touch it, lest he die.`” (emphasis added). Eve added God`s actual commandment, but she gave her “rules” the same weight as God`s own words. Like the term Trinity, the word legalism is not used in the Bible, but rather describes principles that are clearly described in the Bible.
At the heart of the debate between legalism and grace is the understanding of how we can be saved and how we can be certain of our heavenly hope. Many of us have encountered this kind of stubborn Christianity. If not, we have probably met someone who has experienced legalism or practices legalism in their own practices. Even Jesus met people who practiced this in His day, known as the Pharisees. In this article, we will examine the definition of legalism, examples in the Bible, and what this dangerous way of thinking looks like in a modern context. To further illustrate what legalism can look like, R.C. Sproul describes three forms of legalism. Recently, one of my young children came out of a shower and I asked in what I think is a special moment of intuition: “Have you used soap?” After a moment of reluctance, the child knowingly replied, “You told me not to forget to use shampoo. You didn`t say anything about soap. This is a form of legalism. A ditch passes on both sides of the narrow road. It often seems that if we are not in one, we are in the other: worldliness on the left and legalism on the right.
“Legalism exists when people try to ensure justice in God`s eyes through good works. Legalists believe they deserve or can gain God`s approval by meeting the requirements of the law,” said Thomas R. Schreiner. A legalist believes that their good works and obedience to God influence their salvation. Legalism focuses more on God`s laws than on the relationship with God. He maintains the external laws without a truly subjugated heart. And legalism adds human rules to divine laws and treats them as divine. Legalism is formed “where only the observance of God`s law is treated as an end in itself.” Sproul points out that legalism separates obedience from God`s love and salvation. “The legalist focuses solely on obeying simple rules and destroying the broader context of God`s love and salvation in which He gave His law in the first place.” I love this verse: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in Christ has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to us when we are “in Christ.” Paul went from strict legalism to a relationship. He got caught up in the all-consuming goodness of Jesus, not in the all-consuming futility of keeping the law. Closely related to the first, Sproul says that legalism “obeys outward appearances, while the heart is far from any desire to honor God, the purpose of His law, or His Christ.” Legalism separates obedience from our relationship with God.
If we take care to teach our children the difference between the biblical commandments and the “rules of the house,” we will also equip them to understand not only what the Bible says, but also why we believe them. Legalism means redefining the rules of life through our concepts, or in other words, elevating our reasoning above God`s Word to determine how we should live. Every time we place our thoughts above God`s thoughts, deny what Ephesians 2 says about salvation by God`s grace alone, or redefine what Genesis 1 says about God`s creation of the world in six days, we begin a path of error. Legalistic parenting can infiltrate without warning. You won`t find scriptures that say your kids can`t have a smartphone, listen to a pop culture singer, or wear makeup. However, there are scriptures that make these decisions defensible “family preferences.” So call them that and fold if you can. (Maybe this pop culture artist sings sweet songs. A phone in itself is not bad if kids use it appropriately. Light makeup can mask blemishes and create a healthy look.) Our goal is for our children to obey Christ from a voluntary heart of love and appreciation. May they learn from us to live obediently by an attitude of humility and grace.
He continues, “Therefore, we must strive to live our lives according to these commandments. Such behavior is not legalism. Legalism is a servile observation of the law in the belief that it gains merit. Legalism was practiced by enacting laws to control the Chinese people. These laws would include how to deal with social superiors, women, children, servants, as well as criminal law dealing with theft or murder. As it was self-evident that people would act in their own interests and always in the worst way, penalties for breaking the law were severe and included heavy fines, conscription into the military, or conviction for years of community service in the construction of public monuments or fortifications. Britannica.com: Encyclopedia Article on Legalism What Sproul calls “the most common and deadly form of legalism” is when we “add our own rules to God`s law and treat them as divine.” Jesus rebuked the Pharisees at this point, saying, “You teach human traditions as if they were the Word of God. We do not have the right to impose restrictions on people where He has no explicit restriction. In law, using legalism as a guiding principle means reviewing established court decisions and laws of Congress, and then ruling on cases solely on the basis of them. If a hungry person steals food, legalism would require a judge to convict them of theft on the basis of applicable law, regardless of their specific circumstances. Legalism is derived from the Latin lex “domination”.
The best way for your children to discover the joy and freedom of faith is to connect with them instead of teaching them. Be that person for your children and let love – not legalism – spill over into your family. You can develop the traits and approaches needed to avoid legalistic parenting within your family. The most common form of legalism is the elevation of strongly rooted preferences (house rules) at the level of biblical commandments. Children need to know the difference between when something is done because we think it is better and when something is required of God for all men. Legalism is the obsessive adherence to the letter of the law, often to the detriment of the spirit. We could argue that if the mind refers to the intent of the law, it is also the heart of a child. You see, a better definition of legalism might be: keeping the rules to get god`s grace or people by doing certain things and not doing other things without worrying about the heart.
Perhaps this is why Jesus had so many conflicts with the legalists of his time. He wants our hearts. And He wants the hearts of our children. For more than 200 years, the Chinese people have experienced war as their daily reality, and a legalistic approach to trying to control people`s worst impulses – controlling people by threatening to severely punish injustice – seemed the best way to deal with chaos. Shang Yang`s legalism dealt with everyday situations, but extended to how to behave in wartime, and he is credited with the all-out war tactics that allowed the Qin state to defeat other belligerent states in order to control China. Every family necessarily has what I call “house rules.” You can choose not to let your kids drink caffeine, stay awake after 11 p.m., or listen to certain genres of music. In fact, when your children are very young, you have to make most of their decisions because they don`t intuitively know what`s best for them. That`s why God gave them parents! The rules of the house are usually not determined by biblical commandments, but by wisdom.
While God`s limitations are important to us in teaching our children, they should not overshadow our children`s relationship with Jesus — or with us.
