Legalism at ETBU
One of the biggest complaints around the college that I went to was about the rules for the dormitories. Many of us would say, “The people running this school are a bunch of legalists!” We used that word to describe anyone who made us do things we didn’t want to do, like have a curfew, clean our rooms, or not be allowed into the dorm rooms of the opposite sex.
Those accusations were not only unfair, they were also untrue. I’m fairly certain that the administrators of our school weren’t legalists. The rules our university decided to implement were the result of wisdom, not legalism. They never said that these things were the rules of God. They just said that they were the rules of the university. There’s a big difference.
What Is Legalism?
In Christin circles, many of us call things “legalism” that aren’t. For example, asking a brother or sister in Christ to not curse isn’t legalism. The Bible plainly says that “no corrupting talk (should) come out of our mouths” (Eph. 4:29). Encouraging a brother or sister in Christ to not watch shows filled with sexual content isn’t legalistic. The Bible plainly says that “sexual immorality and all impurity…must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Eph. 5:3).
What, then, is legalism? There’s more than one form of legalism. The most basic type of legalism might be the most devastating. It’s the belief that we can be saved by keeping God’s law. Salvation by the law is diametrically opposed to salvation by grace. The Bible says plainly and repeatedly that we’re saved by grace, through faith in Christ, that only Christ can give us the righteousness we need to get into heaven. If we’re trusting in any other righteousness other than Jesus’, we’re legalists headed to hell.
There are two other kinds of legalism that we’ll see in our text this morning. One is when we elevate the rules or traditions of men to the point where they bind people’s consciences before God. We’ll call this “elevation legalism.”
Then there’s the type of legalism that tries to get around the law of God. This is when we try to find loopholes in God’s word instead of obeying the plain meaning and spirit of the word. We’ll call this “loophole legalism.”
Elevation Legalism
In verses 1-8, we see Jesus confront what I’m calling “elevation legalism.” Verse one says that “some of the scribes (or teachers of the law) had come from Jerusalem.” Its ninety miles from Jerusalem to Capernaum. They didn’t have cars or trains. They either walked or rode a donkey for ninety miles. This means that they were highly motivated to confront Jesus. News of his ministry in Galilee had reached Jerusalem and the religious hierarchy was very concerned about his growing popularity. Powerful people don’t like to lose popularity.
Not a Hygiene Problem
When they ask why Jesus’ disciples are eating with “hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed” (v. 2), they’re not concerned about hygiene. Their issue is ritual cleanness and defilement. The washing they’re talking about was a symbolic washing and didn’t even use enough water to actually clean someone’s hands. The issue was religious rule keeping. They weren’t germaphobes.
“The Tradition of the Elders”
In verses 3-4, Mark helps his Gentile audience in Rome by giving them some cultural context to help them understand why this dispute is happening. He says this handwashing rule is part of “the tradition of the elders” (v. 3). What’s he referring to? He’s referring to rules and regulations that were added to the Old Testament law in order to preserve the purity of the people of God.
What happened in the history of Israel was that the rabbis, or teachers of the law, would teach and interpret the law and then add to the law’s requirements. They added laws to the law that weren’t in the law. These additional regulations is what Mark refers to as “the traditions of the elders.” These oral teachings were finally written down in the third century as the Mishnah, which is part of the Talmud. It comprises volumes and volumes of interpretation and application of the law to every area of life.
There are laws for ritual cleanliness in the Old Testament, but there’s no law about washing hands before you eat. There’s a law that says the priests must wash their hands before they enter the Holy Place and offer sacrifices (Ex. 30:18-19). But there was no law for ordinary people to disinfect before lunch.
Twenty-five percent of the Mishnah is about ritual cleanliness and purity. The Pharisees and scribes were convinced that salvation was dependent on ethnic separation, that they were saved by keeping themselves free of any contamination from Gentile sinners. So they made up all kinds of rules to “clean” themselves of the filth of Gentile sinners. Mark mentions one in verse 4, “When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.” The word for “wash” here is the word for “baptize.” When a Jew came home from the grocery store, if they wanted to be ritually clean, they had to be totally immersed in water, or baptized. There were lots of Gentiles in the marketplace, so a thorough cleaning would be needed. Pots and pans and furniture all had to be cleaned a certain way in order to stay in God’s good graces. And Mark notes that “there are many other traditions that they observe” (v. 4).
Can you imagine living like this? One commentator calls this “regulation madness.” By elevating the rules of men to the same level as the Word of God, the teachers of the law thought that they were helping people get closer to God, but they were actually keeping people from God. Majoring on minors is a surefire way to miss the glory and freedom found in the Word of God. This is what happens when we’re more committed to our traditions than to the Word of God.
Examples of Elevation Legalism
This kind of thing can happen to any person or church or denomination. For example, some Christians define true godliness by not wearing lipstick, going to movies, or dancing, as if these things had anything to do with our standing before God. The Bible gives us no explicit commands about these things. Thus, we must not bind people’s consciences where God intends to leave them free. We’re free to wear lipstick or not, go to movies or not, dance or not. We’re not free to think that everyone else should do what we decide to do on these matters.
Another example is when churches put specific prohibitions about drinking alcohol or views of the millennium in their statement of faith and require all their members to have the same view. This is legalism because Scripture isn’t clear about these things. There’s freedom for loving disagreement. We should be able to articulate and defend our positions, but on matters like this we must not say that everyone must believe what I believe. That’s elevating your conviction to the level of the Word of God, and that’s legalism.
Elevation legalism is dangerous because it actually hinders our growth in true righteousness. In other words, it’s easier to not drink alcohol than it is to love our enemies. It’s easier to stop wearing lipstick than it is to kill pride in our hearts. Focusing on the traditions of men hinders us from seeing the real sin that fills our hearts.
Elevation Legalism and Empty Worship
It’s also dangerous because it might lead us to think that we know God because we do certain things. This is what Jesus says in verses 6-7. The Pharisees thought that they knew God, but they didn’t. When they used their lips to talk to God, they were talking to a God they didn’t truly know. When they worshipped, they worshipped themselves, their appearance, their reputation, their ability to keep a bunch of regulations. Their worship was full of pride, thus their worship was empty, or vain. As long as they believed that their obedience to the “commandments of men” made them right with God, their hearts would remain far from God.
Our default position is to look at outward appearances. But this is not how God works. When Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the next king of Israel, the Lord told him not to get distracted by the size and stature of Jesse’s sons. He said, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). The Lord was looking closer at Jesse’s sons than Samuel was. He could see what Samuel couldn’t.
In our culture, and especially in this city, we’re consumed with image and appearance. We want to appear successful, smart, sexy, sophisticated, wealthy, funny, intelligent, and well-connected. We want to look good. Even churches can become consumed with form rather than content. Form is not unimportant, but songs and sermons meant to entertain and make us feel good while lacking gospel truth are killing the spiritual health of the church of Jesus Christ.
Do you honor God with your lips or with your heart? What makes your heart come alive – the glory and gospel of Jesus or the trinkets in your pocket and in your home? Do you think that God accepts you because you do religious things, or is your hope in the finished work and righteousness of Jesus Christ? Elevation legalism is dangerous and deadly. I pray you don’t believe the lie that God accepts you because you can keep some rules that he never wrote.
Loophole Legalism
In verses 9-13, Jesus exposes another form of legalism, what I’m calling “loophole legalism.” What’s going on here? Despite the clear teaching of the fifth commandment, the teachers of the law were telling people that they could devote their material wealth to God and therefore be free from helping their parents. They concocted a way to get around the law through a man-made loophole in order to benefit themselves.
The term “Corban” in verse 11 was the practice of setting aside one’s personal wealth or private property to God. It was a method of deferred giving, where you would promise that at your death you would give all your worldly goods to the work of God.
In principle, this is a really good thing. A couple months ago, I mentioned the ministry of the Southern Baptist’s of Texas Foundation. One of the things they do is help Christians plan their estate and write their wills. They strongly encourage, and I think rightly so, people to tithe their estate to kingdom work. They don’t charge anything to those who commit to tithing their estate to their church or some other ministry. This is a good thing because it means that our final financial transaction in this world will be for the glory of Jesus.
The teachers of the law, however, had twisted this principle and said that if a person’s wealth was “Corban,” or devoted to God, it couldn’t be used to care for their parents in their old age. This meant that when your parents got older and needed your help, you’d say, “Dad, Mom, I’d like to help you, but since I’ve devoted all my wealth to God, I can’t give God’s money to you.” But, strangely, the regulations for Corban allowed a person to use their wealth for themselves during their lifetimes, just not anyone else.
Do you see why this man-made law was evil? It allowed people to get out from under their God-given responsibility to honor their parents. How did Jesus feel about it? Verse 9, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” He says that they are breaking the law in order to keep their own rules. Moses, God’s spokesman, said that we should honor our parents (v. 10). But the teachers of the law said that there’s a way around that. Moses gave divine revelation. The scribes gave their opinions. By trying to get around the Word of God, they were actually making it void. They did this in many other ways as well (v. 13).
Examples of Loophole Legalism
The traditions of the Pharisees were opening up all kinds of loopholes that allowed people to get out from under the clear teaching of Scripture. We also do this, usually in subtle ways.
For example, the prevailing sentiment in our culture is that our aging parents are a burden to be endured rather than a responsibility to be pursued. The Bible, however, gives us simple instructions about caring for them. Paul tells Timothy, “If a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return for their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God…If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:4, 8).
Every situation will look different, but we must not neglect our parents in their time of greatest need. Sacrifices will need to be made. Comforts given up. Money spent. In so doing, we “make some return for our parents” who did this and so much more for us, and please God.
Young adults, you may be tempted to think that this doesn’t apply to you because your parents aren’t in that stage of life yet. But there are lots of things you can do to honor your parents. Call them. Ask them for counsel when you need to make a big decision. Involve them in the process of finding a spouse. To ignore them in the name of freedom or distance isn’t honoring them.
Another example of how we avoid the clear teaching of the Word is with pornography. You may think that it’s not adultery because it’s not with a real person. Jesus disagrees with you. “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:28). You might minimize it because you think it doesn’t hurt anyone. Your spouse or future spouse disagrees with you. The women and children being bought and sold for sex would disagree with you. Porn is wrong, no matter how you spin it.
Another example might be lying in order to achieve a positive outcome. You may think that lying on your taxes is no big deal because you’re not hurting anyone and our government doesn’t manage our money well anyways. So you lie and steal in order to get around laws you don’t like. There’s no loophole in the eighth and ninth commandments. Lying is lying and stealing is stealing. The end does not justify the means.
Another example is if we think that abortion is okay in the cases of rape or incest. I can’t imagine how hard those situations are. But we’re never free to break the law of God in order to make our lives easier. We’re never free to get around the law of God for the sake of our personal comfort. There are no loopholes in God’s law.
You Can Be Free from the Law
I’ve talked about the importance of keeping God’s law, of not adding to or subtracting from it. This is serious business. Jesus called people who did this “hypocrites” (v. 6). But we have to be on our guard here. Remember what I said is the most devastating kind of legalism. It’s when we believe that we will be accepted by God by keeping his laws.
Why is this so devastating? Because it totally nullifies Jesus’ death on the cross. If you can enter God’s family by keeping God’s rules, then why did God’s Son die? “If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Gal. 2:21).
The gospel tells us that, though God’s law is good, it cannot save. The gospel tells us that we’ve all broken the law of God and that the penalty for breaking his law is death. It tells us that there’s only One person who’s ever kept the law of God, and that’s Jesus. Jesus never sinned, never elevated man’s traditions above God’s word, never created a loophole around God’s truth, never broke a single command of God. And it got him killed. His death on the cross was to take the penalty that we deserve, to absorb the judgment that God owes us, to show us that God is a God of justice and a God of love. On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave to confirm that he was who he said he was and that the Father accepted his payment for our sins. He now sits at the right hand of God, waiting to return as Judge for all law-breakers not clothed with his righteousness and as Savior for all law-breakers who are trusting in his righteousness alone.
Trust Christ and repent of your sins today. You can be free from the tyranny of the law if you stop relying on yourself. Turn your heart to God in true worship. Rejoice that Jesus kept the law for you and has set you free from its grip. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).