You will be free. . It is an obsessive conformity to an artificial stand for the purpose of exalting oneself. A legalist assumes the place of authority and pushes it to unwarranted extremes. . . They aren t spelled out in Scripture, you understand. They ve been passed down or they have been dictated to the legalist and have become an obsession to him or her.
Legalism is rigid, grim, exacting, and law-like in nature.
Pride, which is at the heart of legalism, works in sync with other motivating factors. It leads to an emphasis on what should NOT be, and what one should NOT do. It flourishes in a drab context of negativism. Legalists were twisting truth among the Galatian assembly. They were disturbing others and distorting the truth as they spread doctrinal heresy.