Legalism is appealing for two reasons.
First, it makes holiness manageable. A heart wholly devoted to God is a tough demand, but a list of ten rules I can cope with. [...]
Second, legalism makes holiness an achievement on our part. "Yes, I was saved by grace," the legalist says, "but I'm the godly person I am today because I've kept this code of behavior or practiced these spiritual disciplines." (44, breaks added)
Our attempts at "manageable holiness" are futile, but revealing. They show that we don't want to be in that uncomfortable position of having to rely on God. We think that if we could just reduce the Christian life to something we can handle, then it won't be so bad. There would be less difficulty, less uncertainty.
The problems here are many. The Christian life really is more than we can handle whether we want to see it that way or not. God would rather us be honestly, humbly imperfect while trusting him, rather than perfect (by our standards) on our own.
Having a level of personal spiritual "achievement" may be appealing (Chester's second point above), but it is ultimately damning because it turns grace on its head. Grace is about God giving me what I don't deserve out of his generous mercy. Legalism is about what I have accomplished and therefore earned. So, not only are we kidding ourselves, we are insulting God.
This is why the author says we must "repent not only of our sin but also of our 'righteousness' when we think of it as our righteousness." We need a righteousness not based on law-keeping, but on faith in Christ, receiving his righteousness (Philippians 3:4-9).
Can you think of a way that you have tried to make holiness more manageable?
What are some areas that may be tempting for Christians to compare themselves with others?
How can we focus with faith on Christ rather than measuring our ourselves and comparing ourselves with others?
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