The Bondage of Legalism - Mark 7:1-23

How many of you have read an amazing book that was just absolutely riveting, a story that unfolded page by page by a masterful storyteller, skillfully woven together with a tapestry of words that makes the images simply come alive in your mind?

It’s amazing how a good book back fuel our imagination for months.

But then comes the movie. And then comes the groans.

We’ve been reading the Chronicles of Narnia aloud with our children most nights. After we finished the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we made the poor decision of watching the movie. Then again after Prince Caspian. And again after the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

It seemed that with each movie the directors took greater and greater amounts of creative liberties with the story, so that we were constantly remarking to each other “that’s not how it happened in the book”

Sometimes filmmakers take creative liberties and everything comes out alright. The Lord of the Rings series would be a fine example, in my opinion. While there are a few lamentable omissions and alterations, the end product is still an excellent one, and the Lord of the Ring franchise goes down in history as a cinematic masterpiece.

But other times creative liberties are taken and it completely changes the feel, themes, direction, and purpose of the story.

In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Louis writes an allegory about the need to be born-again and a variety of other clearly Christian themes if you’re looking for it.

In the film, much of that imagery is lost or poorly communicated as the filmmakers take creative liberties and even invent a new purpose for their quest that does not appear int he books at all. The final result is an inferior story with poorly developed characters and disappointing finish.

Creative Liberties are not always a good thing. Sometimes they can take the good right out of the original author’s design.

Such is the case with our text today. In Mark chapter 7 we find Jesus clashing majorly with the Pharisees. The Pharisees. The most holy, the most righteous, and the most upright of the Jews.

Have you ever heard that joke, how can you tell if someone owns a Telsa. They’ll tell you. You won’t have to guess, they’ll just come right out and inform you.

Well, how could the Jews tell if one of their fellow countrymen was a Pharisee? Yep. They’ll tell you.

Not only were these some of the most learn-ed scholars in the Law, but they wanted you to know that.

But the irony is that these Pharisees has taken the Word of God and mixed in the tradition of men, and so you could say they took Creative Liberties with the Law of God. And not the good kind.

Here we find the ugliness of legalism. Now, legalism is a term that we would do well to define.

There are many who throw around the terminology of legalism around on things that aren’t actually legalistic. Leonard Ravenhill, the well-known Christian author and evangelist, once wrote “When there is something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it ‘legalism’.”

Legitimate calls to obedience to Christ can thus easily be called into question or attacked with the pejorative label “you’re just being legalistic”

This is an error we must avoid. We must not call legalism what God has clearly prescribed for His church to obey.

By the same token, there are legitimate forms of legalism out there that we must be willing to face and address.

Here are two related definitions for legalism:

One form a legalism might be what the Galatians struggled with. They were looking to OT Law-keeping in order to earn or merit salvation or favor from God. This approach is a self-righteousness approach, but one that looks at what may very well be legitimate commands of God and say “by keeping this I shall earn my salvation”

For the Galatians, it has been called a Jesus+ mentality. Jesus, plus the OT Law. Jesus, plus my own good works.

Jesus+ is an error denounced by Paul. It is an insult to the Gospel of Christ and offends every member of the Trinity. It insults the holiness of the Father, by suggesting that it could be attainable through mere human effort. It insults the cross of Christ because it implies that it either isn’t necessary or sufficient. And it insults the regenerating and empowering work of the Spirit because it implies that we can do it ourselves.

The second form of legalism is the kind the Pharisees dealt with.

creating additional rules not found in Scripture and giving them the same weight as Scripture, and/or forcing those rules upon others.

Scripture says X, well it would really be better if we also didn’t do Y, and if you do, you’re on the same level as someone who did X.

Why is this such an issue? What’s wrong with such legalistic approaches?

Let’s see what Jesus has to say about it.

The Pharisees took some creative liberties with the Law. What is the result of their tampering? What are the errors of this form of legalism?

First, Legalism

Creates Expectations of Outward Conformity while Ignoring the Heart

Mark 7:1–7 ESV

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

Verse one says the Pharisees gathered to him having come down from Jerusalem.

This is the first time the Pharisees are back on the scene since waaaay back in chapter three where Jesus challenged them on blasphemy of the Spirit. That episode was the culmination of a series of interactions with the Pharisees where their opposition to him and the tensions represented there only rose.

We had three chapter Pharisee free, but now Mark re-introduces the Pharisees and Jesus is going to butt heads with them once again.

The text says they see the disciples eating with unwashed hands and they take offense to this.

It is interesting that the ESV does not translated the Greek word for “bread” in this passage. If you had an NASB, CSB, or nearly any other translation you would see the word “bread” in verse two. On the heels of the miracle of feeding the 5k and the leftover bread that was collected, I cannot help but wonder if there is a connection to the miracle here. It might be a generic use of the word bread, just simply meaning food, or it might refer to how the disciples were eating the meal that Christ provided.

If it is indeed the latter, this complaint is all the more shocking. You just saw Jesus turn five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed 5k men, and all you care about is that they’re eating it with unwashed hands??

This is the complaint. Why? Mark helpfully provides us with some background information in verse 3-4. This was their tradition. It is worth noting that there is nothing in the OT Law about washing hands prior to eating a meal. There is a requirement for ritual washing for priests prior to performing his priestly duties, but that was not for all Israel for every meal.

Now, of course, from a hygienic standpoint, wash your hands! But for the Pharisees this was not about hygiene, but ritual cleanliness. This is why their complain uses the word “defiled” in both verse 2 and verse 5 “Why do your disciples no walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands??

Notice that they themselves don’t point to Scripture as the basis of their practice, but the tradition of the elders. This is how we’ve come to do things, and we are all obligated to abide by that standard.

Jesus has a stinging rebuke to this.

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites.

The word for “well” might be better translated as “correctly” or “rightly did Isaiah prophesy” as the NASB puts it.

That word for hypocrites in is interesting. Originally this was a word that used of play actors. You might have an individual who would play multiple parts in a play, and they would have these masks that they would wear depending on which character they were in a given moment. The word eventually became a pejorative against those who would purport to be one thing, but were really something else.

In this case, the Pharisees claimed to be reighteous and holy by their extra-biblical commands, but in reality they were not concerned about holiness at all!

The passage from Isaiah is a stinging indictment upon the people. In the context of Isaiah, the prophet was dealing with a people that at times seemed to observe the Law in many respects, but it was only outward actions. God rejected their religious observance because they treated it like a box to check. Great judgment came upon those people.

And now Jesus says “you’re just like them. Indeed, this passage is about you just as much as it was about them”

All you are concerned about is getting everyone to conform to the outward expectations of your rules. You are completely forgetting the matter of the heart. What about repentance? What about sorry for sin? What about love for God and neighbor?

This is the ugliness of legalism. It creates rules and raises them to the level of Scripture and then condemns everyone who doesn’t live up to the artificial standard.

Jesus isn’t done. Legalism doesn’t just create rules, but the hyper fixation on the rules themselves turns the Pharisees into rules lawyers so that they can know what the workarounds are.

Legalism

Creates Legal Loopholes while ignoring the intent of God’s Law

Let’s keep reading because Jesus isn’t done with these Pharisees

Mark 7:9–13 ESV

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Jesus words are very pointed here. “You have a fine way of rejecting God’s commands in favor of your own rules” Ouch!

Jesus goes on to explain what he means. God gave a clear command: honor your parents!

One of the ways that you can do that is with your property. In those days it was common for families to live together and it was expected that children would provide for their parents in their old age.

But the Pharisees are rules lawyers. You want to get out of your obligations to provide for your parents? Well, we have just the solution for you:

All you gotta do is tell your parents that whatever it was that would have been given to them, its actually dedicated for the Lord. So sorry, you’re on your own.

This accomplishes multiple things: 1) makes you look more spiritual, 2) insulates you from criticism, because who is going to tell you not to dedicated things to God, huh? but 3) (and most importantly) it means you get to hold on to your own property and enjoy longer because your vow of dedication need not be fulfilled until you die.

In fact, now that you’ve made that vow, you aren’t even allowed to use that property for your parents, because it’s been dedicated, and do you really want to take back from God what you’ve already told him you’d give him?

God has clearly said what he expects from the people, and the Pharisees blow all that up with their legal loopholes. It completely ignores the intent and design of God’s law in favor of rigid adherence to the tradition that they have added on to the Scriptures.

And that was just one example. Jesus concludes that paragraph at the end of verse 13 “Any many such things you do?

Did you know we do this every time we try to justify our own sin? I know this isn’t quite right, but I’m only doing it because XYZ or it’s actually good that I’m doing this because my motivations are ABC.

Seeking to skirt the intent of God’s commands to justify actions that are clearly at odds with that intent.

Jesus then calls the crowd together to address one more point of legalism:

Creates an Emphasis on Outward Actions while ignoring Inward Attitudes

This is closely related to the first point, but is slightly different.

Let’s read the final section:

Mark 7:14–23 ESV

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

There are many things here we don’t have time to probe in depth today. The Pharisees were hyper-concerned with the outward actions and such a high emphasis on ritual cleanness and avoiding anything defiling. You have to remain ritually clean!

But the net result was that they ignored the heart. What are your heart motivations? What drives you? What comes forth from you?

The Pharisees were concerned about only eating the clean animals vs the unclean according to the Law of Moses. That’s all well and good, but if you eat nothing but “clean” animals but harbor hatred in your heart, are you clean or defiled? Defiled!

Your heart is the key thing here!

There has been much debate about the meaning of the phrase in verse 19 “thus he declared all foods clean” This seems to be a parenthetical remark by Mark helping us understand. Later in the book of Acts we see God give Peter a vision and it seems that all dietary restrictions are not to be enforced upon the church.

Here Jesus’ words seem to indicated that it is now morally permissible to eat traditionally “unclean” food. The law wasn’t about food. It never was. Food doesn’t defile you morally.

It’s about the heart. Out of the heart of man come all these evil things: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft murder” and the so forth. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

Jesus says that the Pharisees are so concerned with external actions that they are missing the real issue! It’s the heart! You’ve got to deal with the heart! If you ignore the heart you’ve missed the whole point!

You know, our culture tries to tell us that mankind by nature is basically good. There are entire schools of psychology built upon the assumption that if we end up doing bad things it isn’t because we’re bad people, but it’s because of our environment. We weren’t nurtured properly. If we can just get kids into the write environment, if we can just create the perfect setting, then they will turn out alright.

Does our environment have an effect upon us and the choices we make? Absolutely. But are our entirely lives just merely a function of how we were raised? No. This approach completely ignores our fundamental issue: our hearts are rotten. We do evil things not because we had bad influences but because our hearts are evil.

We aren’t morally defiles from external forces acting against us. We are morally defiled because of our heart attitudes, motivations, and desires. And creating lists of rules and legal loopholes does absolutely nothing to rectify that issue.

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Colossians 2:20–23 ESV

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

They are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. It doesn’t actually help!

This is at the heart of Jesus condemnation of the Pharisees and their teaching. They are promising you holiness, but cannot deliver! It’s an empty promise!

Not long ago I was listen to a sermon by another pastor I know as he was preaching from 2 Corinthians. In that sermon he said this:

Legalism markets itself as a way to be separate from the world, but in the end its just more worldliness.

By adding things to God’s word, or by creating legal loopholes, or by focusing all your energy on the external while ignoring the root issues, we think we are being more holy but at the end of the day its just more worldliness. This is what the world does! This is what other religions teach! This is how the world operates! You want to go down that road? It’s just more wordiness.

Here at Pillar Fellowship, we are a member church of IFCA International. Those letters IFCA once stood for “Independant Fundamental Churches of America” I say once stood because when we went internation, the A didn’t make as much sense, but instead of changing the name completely they just went to the acronym.

Fundamental churches. Fundamentalism.

We are in a theological stream that has had its struggles with legalism. Fundamentalism as a whole has a reputation for being a graceless legalistic movement that adds commands to the Scriptures. It was common for church covenants stipulate that members of the church could not drink any alcohol, smoke, play cards, or go to the movie theater. The women aren’t allowed to wear pants etc.

There are some Fundamentalist circles where some of those things are still issues. Several years ago the IFCA changed their membership requirements to remove the prohibitions against things like alcohol consumption because we began to realize that such a rule was an extra-biblical rule. Instead our by-laws require sobriety and a pursuit of holiness, rather than abstinence from alcohol.

Why do I bring that up. Our theological tradition has a history of legalism. It would be foolish for us to say we no longer have those struggles. It’s easy to see when we look back with hindsight. It’s not always so easy to see when we’re in the middle of it.

Fundamentalists often see the world in black and white, with very little to no grays. Legalism is a very natural temptation for us that we must always be on guard against.

I was reading one commentary this week and the author of that particular book created an outline of this passage and framed things this way:

How to be a hypocrite:

1. Make every effort to force your rules on others (for best result, communicate how much more righteous you are than everyone else)

The easiest way for this to happen is through taking our own personal applications of the principles of Scripture and equating those with Scripture itself. The Bible says train your children, and the best way for that to happen is to home school, so obvious if you’re going to be obedient to Scripture you must home school your children. I’m an advocate for homeschooling. But if I make that a law, I’m created a law where there is no law based on a legitimate application of a biblical principle.

2. Make up lots of rules (for best results, create rules that are unrelated to what God cares about).

I might have phrased this one differently along the lines of “Make up rules that allow you to dodge the things that God cares about”

3. Make up rules especially about external behaviors (for best results, care as little as possible about matters of the heart)

Jesus came to save us from what’s in our hearts. He came to save us from the things that defile us from the inside out. He came to save us from legalism. If all we are ever focused on are external appearances and realities, we will never get to the heart of the Gospel. I don’t need more rules. I need more Gospel. I need more Jesus.

It is good to desire holiness. Hebrews says that without holiness no one will see the Lord.

But we must remember where that holiness comes from. It doesn’t begin with rule-keeping. It comes through the righteousness that is credited to our account when we come to Jesus in faith and then Jesus progressively conforms us to His image through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So may we be a holy people! May that holiness include freedom from legalism.