Legalism

Before I post a link to an article, I want to make a comment.

God wants good works towards Him based on a loving personal relationship, not on good works based on a reliance of oneself and ones' ability to live holy by following a given set of rules - yes there is a difference. Yes there are moral rules and guidelines to follow and understand, but they are to instruct me in righteousness as I seek Him inwardly, and they teach me about the nature of God. The scriptures give me an understanding of the nature of Him who has called me out of this world, to a new life which in Him, which is hidden in Christ - the Holy Spirit bears witness to this truth.

His good works in me come, not based on my own understanding of what holiness is, but rather based on the inner workings of the Holy Spirit in my life since I accepted Him, and it is in my yielding to Him in all things, and not on my adherence to seek His favor by good works.

Because I love Him in my soul, I will seek out those things that please Him to do them; this I will do as His Holy Spirit teaches me all things. These are the workings of the Holy Spirit within me...

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, [b]he is a new creation[/b]; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, [b]but a new creation[/b]. Galations 6:15

Therefore, my salvation is not based upon me believing that my good works toward Him will save me, but on reliance on Him, that He who has begun a good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

I just need to yield to Him.

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present {yield} yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Romans 6:13

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[i]The legalist and a true holy man or woman of God may have the same "works," but they both have different understandings and perspectives of how and where their works fit into their salvation.[/i]

[url=http://www.apostolic.net/biblicalstudies/legalism.htm]the article[/url]

ya, this is really good.
It answered a lot of questions I had about what it meant to be legalistic. and now i know i was, may the Lord help me to continue to overcome and hate it.

I've seen it even in churches who are considered to be some what worldly. May the Lord preserve us from unbiblical teaching.

The church I attend had a horrible battle with legalism that was just about over when I first started attending several years ago. In particular, many had major standards for what was acceptable for a woman to wear, how long her dress had to be, and how long her hair was to be as well. In essence, all of these things had to do with measurements made by measuring sticks. If you passed the yard stick test, you were holy.

But the Lord says "Be holy as I am holy." In a Sunday school lesson I proposed the idea: "If holiness is measured by a yard stick, then how do we measure God? He's bigger than the yard stick."

Holiness is indeed an inner issue of the heart. It was not long after this that those bound by legalism had entirely left the church.