Legalism of the Right and Left

One of the greatest gifts Tim Keller gave to the contemporary church was his reminder that we need to be attentive to the dangers of both legalism and lawlessness, that these were equal and opposite departures from the gospel of grace. His was a call to be attentive to the ways that the church must be on guard against these twin dangers; that gospel ministry is a sort of two-front warfare.1

I believe that Keller’s contribution is vital for the church in every age, but that it is particularly needed in our day when the church can easily find itself bowing down to idols on both the right and the left. For the purposes of this essay, I don’t primarily have in mind the political spectrum of Republican and Democratic platforms, but rather the religious/theological spectrum of traditionalism and progressivism.

Often, we associate the theological right with legalism and the theological left with lawlessness. But I have witnessed and want to reflect on what I believe is a form of legalism that exists on both the right and the left of our cultural moment. Indeed, we must be attentive to the ills of legalism on the right and left if we are to guard the gospel of grace in our time and if we are to help our churches worship the Triune God from the heart.

Of course, the issue of legalism is nothing new. Jesus had some of his harshest words for the religious leaders of his day because of this very issue. Consider the exchange that Christ has with the scribes and Pharisees at the start of Matthew chapter 15. A group comes all the way from Jerusalem to investigate what is happening with this Jesus of Nazareth, and the question they ask is: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders in not washing their hands when they eat?” Of all the questions they could have asked the Son of God, this was their lead. Talk about an exercise in missing the point.

They raise an issue of ceremonial cleansing: Jesus and his disciples, after him, do not wash their hands according to the tradition of the elders. What Jesus and the disciples are doing isn’t violating a biblical command, but rather a tradition of men, an interpretation and application of the Mosaic Law that had been passed down and commended by many esteemed rabbis.

In response, Jesus immediately turns the tables and forces them to see how inordinate their concern is compared to the weightier matters of the law. As usual, Jesus does this by answering a question with a better one: “Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” It’s a question that gets to the heart of the matter.

Jesus makes clear that there is a vital distinction which must be made between the commandment of the Lord, the Word of God, and the commands that emerge from mere human tradition, the word of men. The issue, in Jesus’ mind, is that these men, in all they have taught and commended in their traditions, have supplanted the final authority of the Word of God in Holy Scripture. They are seeking to make their word God’s word.

They, and we, are tempted to what might be called the legalism of the right: valuing externals as a way to regulate religious life and demarcate the righteous. It is amazing how many issues of food and drink are often primary examples of this brand of legalism. We see it in other religious traditions: observant Jews still observe kosher laws. Muslims won’t drink alcohol. Mormons won’t drink coffee. But as Christ-followers, we insist that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating & drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). We take our stand on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 15:11: “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

But perhaps more subtle, and certainly more prevalent, in our cultural moment is actually the temptation to ‘legalism of the left,’ which also values externals, except in this case it is to express moral superiority before the eyes of others. Ironically, there is a deep ‘secular legalism’ all around us, a chic ethic merely concerned with outward behavior. It’s been called “virtue signaling.”2 You have to fly this type of flag; you have to don this type of bumper sticker; you have to support this social cause or this particular political party and wear it on your sleeve, and then you will be the kind of person who is seen in the community as morally upright and standing on the ‘right side of history.’

That is not the way of Christ. Christ comes and says: “If you really want to be righteous, if you really want to live a life that is pleasing to God, if you really want to be marked by an ethic of love, then you must stop skirting the issue and playing with mere externals. You have to give me your heart. And if you do, I’ll increasingly transform it to be more like mine, leading to a life that looks more and more like me.”

Both the legalism of the right and the left miss the heart, which is what Jesus points our attention to in Matthew 15:19-20: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Both sides must heed the call of Matthew 15:7-9: “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Jesus reminds us that there is an outward show that looks good (not consuming the wrong kinds of food), or the right words that are uttered (showing alignment with the latest social justice initiative), but at the end of the day, no heart. No authenticity. No genuine worship. It is two different versions of teaching the commands of men as if they were the commands of God. They bind the consciences of God’s people where they should not be bound, rather than focusing all their energy on what God has said and seeking to be observant of his words, his commands.

Jesus has told us where not to look, what not to be concerned about when it comes to our purity to offer worship to God: our hands and our stomachs. Now he is telling us where to look, what to be concerned about: our hearts. We need to go to the heart of the issue. We don’t want to settle for mere behavior modification. That will only be superficial and fleeting. We want to go all the way, worshiping from the heart. That’s our call today, for our worship of the Triune God must come from renewed hearts and not settle for the legalism of the right or the left.