In Jesus' time on earth
there were two main Jewish sects, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The
Pharisees had their own definition of 'righteous', and they added many
of their own rules and regulations to the law of Moses. The Sadducees
were slow to believe anything supernatural, and even denied basic things
like the resurrection of the dead. They would treat righteousness as a
relative and ambiguous thing. These two sects, the Pharisees and
Sadducees, represented two opposing ends of a spectrum. These ends are
called legalism and liberalism, with the Pharisees representing legalism
and the Sadducees representing liberalism.
Its important for Christians to understand this, because the spectrum hasn't changed, and because there are still people today falling into legalism and liberalism. Its important to notice that Jesus does not commend either the Sadducees or the Pharisees, and on separate occasions He calls both of them wrong. Jesus silences the Pharisees in Matthew 22:18-22, who are trying to trap Him, and right after that, in Matthew 22:23-32, He rebukes the Sadducees for not believing in the resurrection. He does this because both ends of the spectrum are not good and not correct. Legalism is largely what Paul fights against in his letters; and liberalism is fought against by basically every New Testament writer - James, John, the writer of Hebrews, even Paul and more. Understanding that it is a spectrum, with two evil extremes on both ends, is very helpful in understanding the Bible. There are a number of passages that might seem to contradict, but if you know that these passages are meant to correct two opposite extremes, then it makes sense.
Legalism
Legalism starts with good intentions. A person wants to be righteous, which is always a good thing. But that person lacks maturity and understanding. They fail to biblically define and understand what righteousness is. So when someone comes along and says "rock music is sinful," or "showing your belly is sinful," or any number of other things, they automatically accept it as fact. So there starts a list of sinful things without any foundation in the word of God, and that list becomes a huge burden. Legalistic people do not in reality please God, because their silly rules are a distraction from doing the things that God truly does desire. In the Bible Jesus commands us to love and to forgive and to make disciples and to pray and to worship and to seek first the kingdom of God. These are positive actions directed toward one end - the glory of God on earth. And these commands have nothing to do with alcohol or the way a person dresses or the words a person uses, or any of the things legalistic people are typically talking about. Thus you can see how all these rules, which are found no where in Scripture, become a distraction from the real commands and the things that God really desires. And when those legalistic people place their rules on other people, especially when they accompany them with threats of hell, you can see how it creates more problems. There is a reason Jesus reserved His most vicious comments for the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Read Matthew 23 (the whole chapter) sometime, and you will see how God feels about hypocritical teachers who place heavy burdens on people. The solution to legalism is to question everything that is supposedly sinful. And the way to do that is to read the Bible. If something is truly sinful, there will be a reasonable basis in Scripture for saying so. But if Scripture does not address the issue, then there is good reason to ignore it. We must have a good understanding of God's word to know what is sin and what is not sin. Paul wrote about the freedom a believer has in Christ. Legalism is affront to that freedom.
Liberalism
At the opposite end of the spectrum there are some people trying to shoot down the very commands of God. Whereas legalism is adding to Scripture, liberalism is subtracting from Scripture. Liberalism seeks to create doubt in the word of God, and ignores the sins that are truly sins. The liberals will say that homosexuality is not a sin, even though its clear in Romans 1:26-27 that God thinks otherwise. Liberals will say that there are no gender roles in marriage, even though Paul and Peter both wrote about the roles of husbands and wives. Liberals will distort Jesus' teachings on judging and forgiveness to condemn those who rightly say wrong beliefs are wrong or rebuke those who sin. Liberalism falls into a bigger cloud of fallacies, relating itself to relativism and universalism. Its basically the idea that there is no right or wrong, and that everything is relative, so there is no room for rebuking someone's sin or wrong beliefs. It subtracts from Scripture by ignoring plainly written truths in Scripture, and the result is obvious: sin. Sin is not good, and sin leads to hell, and anything that encourages sin is likewise not good by leading to the thing that leads to hell. So liberalism is just as bad as legalism, and it can cause just as many problems, but in a different way.
There is a simple solution to both: Try not to go too far in one direction or the other, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, try to understand God's word - the Bible.
Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise - why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool - why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Ecclesiastes 7:16-18
Its important for Christians to understand this, because the spectrum hasn't changed, and because there are still people today falling into legalism and liberalism. Its important to notice that Jesus does not commend either the Sadducees or the Pharisees, and on separate occasions He calls both of them wrong. Jesus silences the Pharisees in Matthew 22:18-22, who are trying to trap Him, and right after that, in Matthew 22:23-32, He rebukes the Sadducees for not believing in the resurrection. He does this because both ends of the spectrum are not good and not correct. Legalism is largely what Paul fights against in his letters; and liberalism is fought against by basically every New Testament writer - James, John, the writer of Hebrews, even Paul and more. Understanding that it is a spectrum, with two evil extremes on both ends, is very helpful in understanding the Bible. There are a number of passages that might seem to contradict, but if you know that these passages are meant to correct two opposite extremes, then it makes sense.
Legalism
Legalism starts with good intentions. A person wants to be righteous, which is always a good thing. But that person lacks maturity and understanding. They fail to biblically define and understand what righteousness is. So when someone comes along and says "rock music is sinful," or "showing your belly is sinful," or any number of other things, they automatically accept it as fact. So there starts a list of sinful things without any foundation in the word of God, and that list becomes a huge burden. Legalistic people do not in reality please God, because their silly rules are a distraction from doing the things that God truly does desire. In the Bible Jesus commands us to love and to forgive and to make disciples and to pray and to worship and to seek first the kingdom of God. These are positive actions directed toward one end - the glory of God on earth. And these commands have nothing to do with alcohol or the way a person dresses or the words a person uses, or any of the things legalistic people are typically talking about. Thus you can see how all these rules, which are found no where in Scripture, become a distraction from the real commands and the things that God really desires. And when those legalistic people place their rules on other people, especially when they accompany them with threats of hell, you can see how it creates more problems. There is a reason Jesus reserved His most vicious comments for the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Read Matthew 23 (the whole chapter) sometime, and you will see how God feels about hypocritical teachers who place heavy burdens on people. The solution to legalism is to question everything that is supposedly sinful. And the way to do that is to read the Bible. If something is truly sinful, there will be a reasonable basis in Scripture for saying so. But if Scripture does not address the issue, then there is good reason to ignore it. We must have a good understanding of God's word to know what is sin and what is not sin. Paul wrote about the freedom a believer has in Christ. Legalism is affront to that freedom.
Liberalism
At the opposite end of the spectrum there are some people trying to shoot down the very commands of God. Whereas legalism is adding to Scripture, liberalism is subtracting from Scripture. Liberalism seeks to create doubt in the word of God, and ignores the sins that are truly sins. The liberals will say that homosexuality is not a sin, even though its clear in Romans 1:26-27 that God thinks otherwise. Liberals will say that there are no gender roles in marriage, even though Paul and Peter both wrote about the roles of husbands and wives. Liberals will distort Jesus' teachings on judging and forgiveness to condemn those who rightly say wrong beliefs are wrong or rebuke those who sin. Liberalism falls into a bigger cloud of fallacies, relating itself to relativism and universalism. Its basically the idea that there is no right or wrong, and that everything is relative, so there is no room for rebuking someone's sin or wrong beliefs. It subtracts from Scripture by ignoring plainly written truths in Scripture, and the result is obvious: sin. Sin is not good, and sin leads to hell, and anything that encourages sin is likewise not good by leading to the thing that leads to hell. So liberalism is just as bad as legalism, and it can cause just as many problems, but in a different way.
There is a simple solution to both: Try not to go too far in one direction or the other, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, try to understand God's word - the Bible.
Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise - why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool - why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Ecclesiastes 7:16-18
Good summary, thanks. This also helps me think more clearly about something that came up a couple of days ago.
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