Legalism vs. Grace: Resting in Christ's Finished Work
Orientation
Legalism begins with a fundamental blindness to your completeness in Christ, leading to a cycle of striving, condemnation, and burnout.
- It imagines a spiritual deficiency that must be made up by personal effort or feeling.
- It consults fluctuating emotions to determine standing before God.
- It leads to increased religious activity when feeling distant and self-applause when feeling close.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:10)
— Colossians 2:10
Clarification
Grace is not a feeling to achieve but the objective reality of being brought near to God by Christ's finished work, independent of your performance.
- Assurance is grounded in Scripture and Christ's blood, not inward emotions.
- Thanksgiving is the spontaneous result of faith seeing what is already possessed in Christ.
- The legalistic mindset often arises from a drift from apostolic teaching centered on Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)
— Ephesians 2:13
Structure
Biblical logic reveals two mutually exclusive foundations: self-focused striving under law or Christ-focused rest under grace.
- Legalism stems from misunderstanding and leads to self-reliance and fear.
- Grace stems from faith in Christ's finished work and leads to assurance and joy.
- Faith is the connector that brings you into appreciation of what is already yours in Christ.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:20-21)
— Galatians 2:20-21
Weight-Bearing Prose
Legalism is a theological category error. It applies a principle of law (do to be accepted) to a believer who is already accepted in the Beloved (Eph 1:6). This creates the cause-effect chain of self-focused striving. The legalist’s desires—to be near God, to please Him—are not wrong, but the means are. He looks to his own efforts and feelings as the cause, making self the measure. This is the ‘works’ Paul contrasts with ‘grace.’ Grace recognizes the objective, finished reality: you were brought near by Christ’s blood (Eph 2:13). Your standing is not in your fluctuating condition but in His unchanging work. Faith, in Pauline categories, is not a work you perform to get grace; it is the hand that receives what grace has already provided. It connects you to the ‘good things’ already in you in Christ Jesus (Philemon 6). The legalistic deception shifts focus from Christ to self, undermining the very foundation of assurance, which is justification by faith alone, apart from works of the law (Rom 3:28).
Integration
Your assurance is not found in how you feel today or what you did yesterday. It is anchored in Christ’s finished work, declared in Scripture. You are complete in Him. When feelings of distance come, the answer is not to strive harder but to look again to the blood that brought you near. Faith simply agrees with what God says is true about you in Christ. This is your resting place. There is no pressure to advance or perform to maintain favor. Christ is your favor. He is your acceptance. He is your righteousness. Let the truth that you are complete in Him settle your heart. This is grace.