From Within, Out of the Heart
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:21–23)
The legalists of Christ’s day taught that the problem of mankind was not spiritual or internal, rather it was action-related and external. One just needed to change his behavior in order to be acceptable to God.
The importance of outward obedience: Before we dismiss their basic teachings, we should acknowledge that there was a point to their stress on outward conformity. It has always been a weakness among the people of God to confine our faith to an inner expression, to a thought, to an emotion, or to an understanding, and think that this is enough. Even today, many a Christian, I am afraid, focuses on experiencing a feeling in worship, something to touch him or “inspire” her, and neglects the importance of obedience. Consequently there is a problem in churches with people following through with faith to the point of outward obedience.
James wrote, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22, NKJV). Christ told the parable of the two sons:
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Matthew 21:28–31)
Christ used this to speak of true repentance, but the emphasis here is also on doing the will of the Father, and not just mumbling some nice sounding words of acquiescence.
So the legalists had a point — that outward obedience to the will of God is the supreme test among men of one’s true spirituality. Words are empty without actions. Again, as James said, “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18, NKJV). John wrote. “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 John 3:10, NKJV).
Where the legalists got it completely wrong: Yet legalism makes two fundamental errors, to the point where it is properly called heresy: (1) they put their emphasis on outward obedience to the neglect of inward faith; (2) they taught that righteousness could be gained by works, rather than through faith.
The scripture clearly taught that the Lord and the Word of God was not merely to be outwardly obeyed but inwardly loved. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart” (Deut. 6:5–6) .”Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Prov 3:5–6).
Several generations had grown up, by the time of Jesus, who had heard legalism’s answers to their dilemmas, so much so that a blindness had come over the minds of the Jewish nation. Jesus’ taught that the real problem was not our actions, but our heart. What we needed was a new birth (John 3:6) and a new heart. The true defilement of mankind was spiritual, in the heart and soul of each person. Actions along, even good actions, did not change the heart.
It is the true inspired genius of the Christian faith that the problem of mankind is spiritual in nature, and until this is changed we are unfit for the kingdom of God.
Neither can we earn our salvation, or even help to earn it, by our good works. We are saved by grace through faith and neither our faith nor our salvation is from works (Eph. 2:8). We need to repent of sin and trust in Christ and in him alone in order to be saved.
The result of legalism: Legalists are notoriously hard to live among. They move the entire discussion of morality and religion to the level of observable acts of righteousness, not to the heart. So they judge each other, they compete with each other, and they condemn those who do not obey their rules. They write additional rules also, which God had commanded them not to do: “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you” (Deut. 4:2).
Legalism takes the entire matter of conversion of the soul to God and relocates it to the level of behavior, and they could care less about what the motivation for obedience could be, whether fear, guilt, pride, competitiveness, avoidance of shame, acceptance by others, or just plain force of habit.
Let’s be clear on this: we need an inward change of heart to be right with God, and this is exactly what the Christian message emphasized and what true faith brings today. We repent of our sins and trust in Christ. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Rom. 10:9–10).
Outward obedience is important, but it is inward faith that truly changes us. Outward obedience is to be the evidence of the inward change of our hearts.
