Reflections from Romans
To Stand on the Letter of the Law and Forsake the Heart of the Law is Legalism.
Romans 8:3–4 (ESV)
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The law given by God is holy and righteous. It is a reflection of God’s own holiness, justice, and mercy. The requirements of the law are righteous, for in their revelation is the knowledge of how to live rightly before a holy God. Those who walk in the law of the Lord are blessed, and God has commanded that his precepts be kept diligently. Storing up the words in one’s heart is the way to avoid sin. Righteous is the Lord, and righteous are his rules.
Yet to stand on the letter of the law and forsake the heart of the law is legalism. Washing the outside of the cup, the straining out of gnats, and whitewashing sepulchres may display a kind of righteousness, but in reality, that righteousness falls short of the target. Righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, for legalistic righteousness is like filthy garments. No one outside of faith in God, through the Son, is righteous, no not one.
But hope rises like the light of dawn. Christ has condemned the power and state of sin in the flesh. The Lord Jesus has lived the perfect life of fidelity to the law; fulfilling it, not abolishing it. The only One who is good, who was not weakened in his flesh because of sin, is the only one who could, by his perfect life, render the state of sin and sinful flesh judged. The force of the law met with the greater force of a perfect, holy life. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, yet Christ has redeemed those who believe. For now that faith in Christ has come, there is no longer a guardian - the law. Justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone, sets us free from the law of sin and death.
As believers in Christ, and because of our union with Him, we are beneficiaries of the imputed righteousness of Christ’s pure life. As such, we meet the righteous requirements of holiness made by the law, through Christ alone. Our state of sin is condemned. Our state of condemnation under the law is changed to exoneration from the law. Our ability to obey the law and truly live for the Lord is made possible through faith in Christ and by the power of the Spirit who dwells in us.
Soli Deo Gloria