It was a number of years before I fully realized that the letter to the Galatians was written primarily to expose legalism. The apostle Paul told the Galatians that legalism is a yoke of bondage that not only will profit nothing, but it causes us to fall from grace. Being obedient to one s under-standing of the commandments of God is not legalism. Being obedient to one s understanding of the commandments of God with the idea that correct implementation of his commandments will earn or merit justification and an eternal home in heaven is legalism. It is an effort on the part of man to relate to God upon the basis of a legal code rather than through faith.
Legalism is insidious.
It causes man to reverse his priorities and values while at the same time it has him thinking he is growing in grace and righteousness. Legalism is a philosophy that has given birth to a number of other isms that help to perpetuate and reinforce the concept. They are isms that have negative connotations, and we like to accuse other parties in the Christian religion of being guilty of practicing the isms, but we have defined them and apply them so as to support our own prejudices and to exclude our traditional practices. An objective and sincere examination of these isms and a comparison of them to our practices in the Churches of Christ will show that we have been throwing rocks while living in glass houses, so to speak. Let s notice a few.