Articles
"Too Much Law," Says the 21st Century Pharisee
The number one cause of all self-righteousness, legalism, and vain worship is focusing too much on God’s Law… or so I’ve been told. Recently, a man was teaching on the Pharisee’s and Israel’s main failure in serving God. After all his study on their ultimate demise (i.e. Rom. 9-11) he concluded, “This is where focusing on the Law leads you.”
Today, more and more people accept and believe this. Nonetheless, Scripture reprimands it as patently false, and Christians must be able to recognize and explain why. There are inherent issues with this teaching: It undermines the blessing of God’s expressed will, misses the point of the Law which God intends to be understood even today, and leads us into making the same mistake that the Pharisees made.
To sum up, the Pharisees (along with unfaithful Israel) ultimately failed not because of “too much of God’s Law” but because of too little.
Is There Really Such A Thing As “Too Much” of God’s Law? David disagrees (Psa. 19:1-10). The sentiment of Psalm 119, also, rebukes that notion with a vengeance (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 18, 20-32, etc.). Moses, who says to never put the Law down (Deut. 6:6-9), condemns it. Now, there’s no need to exhaust this list as it’s already clear that God never indicated this but rather forcefully declared you can’t get enough of it.
To be clear, this is not an inconsequential statement. What’s really being communicated in its most basic terms is: “Focusing too much on God’s Law leads one to sin.” What else is self-righteousness, legalism, and empty worship but sin? One of the greatest perversions of our time! “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone” (Jas. 1:13). To suggest that God’s will leads one to sin is not just foolish and inaccurate; it is false teaching and sin.
God’s will is always and only for our good (Deut. 10:12-13; 30:14-16). Isn’t any notion which disagrees with that, in word or action, simply missing the point (or deliberately so)?
Was there a problem with God’s Law or was it with His people who were distorting it? A student of the Bible would conclude the latter. Jesus spent much of His ministry just correcting the misunderstandings of the Law (cf. Matt. 5:21-48). The last half of Matthew 5, Jesus will say over and over, “You’ve heard it said…but I say to you.” He’s not pointing to the Law saying, “You guys took the Law too literally. Let me show you how I’m changing it.” He’s saying, “You’ve heard shallow interpretations of the Law. Let me show you how I’m fulfilling it.” He pointedly says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus didn’t fulfill a bad Law but a righteous one (Matt. 5:18-20).
The Pharisees distorted God’s Law not because they followed it too much; it was because they weren’t following it in the first place. Had they been following it truly they would’ve recognized Jesus as its very fulfillment. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4). Paul emphasizes the same point Jesus made; Jesus is the goal, the “culmination” (NIV) of the Law. The Law’s purpose was to get us to Christ (Gal. 3:24-27).
With all that being said, no one would suggest that Jesus focused too much on the Law, or that it led Him further away from His Father, or that He was legalistic for abiding by it and stressing it. So, then, we should never insinuate that focusing on it led people away from God when Christ said it should’ve led them straight to Him! This is important, because this misconception inevitably leads to more error.
Won’t accepting this misunderstanding affect our relationship with God today? If one says that “too much of God’s law” was the problem then, is it not the logical conclusion that the same would be true now? So like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day who did not focus enough on God’s will, there are many today with this same problem.
And therein lies the modern-day Pharisee! One who says, “You’re too stuck on authority, Legalist!” “God doesn’t want you to stress so much on doing things for Him.” “You’re too focused on the letter of the law and not the spirit.” “You’re so trapped by this self-righteous idea that you can do anything for God.” But interestingly, the main difference is that the 1st century Pharisee would verbally stress the Law but hypocritically not follow it; in contrast, the 21st century Pharisee will put it aside and openly so, saying, “Too much Law!”
Now, clearly the Law of Moses has been put aside, and we should be glad for it. Glad, not because it failed or was corrupt, but because it succeeded in getting us to Christ. Glad, not because we’re under no law anymore, but because we’re under a law of liberty (Jas. 1:25; 2:12; cf. Rom. 8:2). Praise be to God!
