7 Warning Signs That Legalism is Sneaking into Your Faith

1. Transactional Mindset

When we begin to view their relationship with God as a transactional exchange—a mentality of “doing something to get something”—it undermines grace’s essence and distorts faith’s true nature.

In this mindset, faith gets reduced to actions in exchange for blessings, favor, or salvation. This approach is legalism’s essence: rule-following takes precedence over a genuine relationship with God.

Instead of experiencing a freeing, joyful, grace-filled relationship with God, people with a transactional mindset feel burdened. The obligation or duty to earn God’s approval through their own efforts ways us down. If we can be righteous, we don’t need God or a relationship with him. Through being transactional, we do “good” and then feel God owes us for our faithfulness. The problem is, God isn’t a convenience store where we obey and get our blessings. We become bitter and lose faith when we don’t get what we expect.

We obey because we’ve already been blessed. He loved us despite the fact we deserved punishment and hell. Living from his power and righteousness is living in truth and strengthens our faith.

Ultimately, a transactional mindset robs us of grace’s transformative power. It prevents us from experiencing the fullness of God’s love and mercy. We must recognize and challenge this mindset and instead embrace a faith rooted in grace, love, and relationship with God.

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2. Judging Others

Once legalism sneaks into our faith and we rely upon our strength, we become self-righteous. We find ourselves constantly evaluating and critiquing the actions, beliefs, or others’ behaviors through a lens of moral superiority.

Our judgment often stems from struggling to fit external standards, and we begin to compare ourselves to others around us. With Christ as the standard, we learn humility and how much we need his power and strength. Apart from that, we can only measure ourselves to others, which leads to a critical spirit diminishing the ability to extend grace and understanding to others. This results in division rather than unity in the church. 

Judging others and embracing self-righteousness contradicts Jesus’ teachings. He emphasized love, forgiveness, and humility. Judgment also creates barriers to authentic relationships with God and other people. It undermines the foundational principle of grace: recognizing we all fall short of God’s perfect standard and need His mercy and forgiveness.

Therefore, we must guard against judgmental attitudes and self-righteousness and cultivate a spirit of humility, compassion, and grace. By focusing on the love of God and our absolute need for him in all things, we can extend that love to others without judgment or condemnation.

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3. Pretending to be Naturally Holy

We can’t truly live up to God’s standards on our own. So, we pretend, acting not from authentic love but from an idea of what a Christian should be. But it’s not who we really are.

This duplicity is a warning we’re sliding into legalism. When we pretend, we present ourselves differently depending on our group rather than living from our beliefs and walking with the Spirit.

Pretending often involves projecting a façade of righteousness and holiness around fellow Christians or at church activities. However, we adopt a different persona when interacting with other friend groups or secular settings. We fear judgment or rejection from both Christians and unbelievers, so we conform to external standards rather than being a genuine person.

Jesus used the word hypocrite often, which essentially means being an actor in a play. He addressed the religious Jews of his day and how they followed God for show or apart from relationships. We can do this today, and this insincere faith undermines our witness before others and leads others to act with the same hypocrisy.

Pretending undermines our faith’s sincerity and integrity, creating a disconnect between outward appearances and inner convictions. It fosters a culture of hypocrisy and deception within the faith community, eroding trust and authenticity in relationships. We must guard against pretending by cultivating authenticity, transparency, and integrity in our faith journey.

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4. Fear of Breaking the Rules

Without living in a relationship with God, we don’t experience God's real love for us. We live from fear instead. The fear of breaking the rules serves as a warning sign legalism may be seeping into our faith.

Fear of breaking the rules stems from rigid interpretating religious doctrines and being preoccupied with maintaining outward appearances of righteousness. We feel compelled to abide by predetermined rules and guidelines, which may or may not be valid, fearing consequences rather than understanding the blessings.

This fear creates a sense of bondage and oppression as we become preoccupied with avoiding sin and earning God’s favor through our own efforts. Our Christianity doesn’t bring us the freedom Christ promises. On the contrary, we are slaves to the rules and other’s expectations. The fear of breaking the rules means we experience immense guilt at any (perceived or actual) misstep. This fear can become paralyzing, unable to move forward in spiritual growth for fear of never being good enough. We might even become convinced we’ve lost our salvation over some errant thought, feeling, or action.

Fear of breaking the rules undermines the foundational principles of grace, love, and freedom in Christ.

Therefore, we must guard against the fear of breaking rules. Instead, we embrace the liberating truth of God’s grace and unconditional love.

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5. No Questions Allowed

Living in legalism carries no security. So, we must self-protect, especially against ideas that might challenge our belief system. Dogmatism, characterized by an unwavering adherence to our beliefs without openness to challenge, serves as a warning sign legalism may be infiltrating our faith.

In the context of faith, dogmatism treats religious doctrines as immutable laws rather than engaging in a dynamic and evolving relationship with God. This rigid mindset often leads to an atmosphere of intolerance and closed-mindedness within the faith community, stifling intellectual curiosity and hindering spiritual growth. This attitude alienates those with different interpretations of scripture or theological doctrines, fostering division and discord within the faith community. It also alienates any unbeliever who might have honest questions.

We don’t know everything. One of the local church’s roles is to share ideas and collaborating as people address doubts and challenges. Jesus allowed questions and challenges, and he had the most reason to shut down any resistance to his teaching since it was perfect. We must have the humility to realize we don’t have it all figured out. Challenges to our faith cause us to research more deeply and ask God questions, too, deepening our confidence in Scripture and our relationship with God.

We must guard against dogmatism and develop a spirit of humility, openness, and receptivity to diverse perspectives within the family of God.

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6. Lack of Joy and Peace

Christ is the Prince of Peace. The complete contentment we long for exists within him. Operating outside a relationship with God causes frustration and burnout, not peace and joy. A lack of joy and peace serves as a compelling warning sign of legalism.

In a legalistic framework, the focus on rigid adherence to religious laws and regulations leads to a sense of burden and obligation as individuals strive to earn God’s approval through their own efforts rather than resting in His unconditional love and acceptance. Legalism brings us into a constant state of anxiety and fear. This anxiety robs believers of the peace from knowing they are fully accepted and forgiven by God through Jesus Christ.

In our worldly context, we often consider rest and peace situational. There’s no conflict with anyone, so we have peace. But the peace of Christ transcends any worldly situation. God’s shalom pre-existed Creation, including any events of history or our lives.

A performance-driven life breeds a joyless existence where we measure our worth and spiritual standing based on external actions rather than love and grace. Like peace, God’s joy existed before us and isn’t dependent upon us or our behavior. When we act as if we must achieve joy or peace, we live in a lie and get only fear and anxiety instead.

In Christ, we walk in joy and peace when we live in the Spirit, and when we begin to lose those amazing gifts, it should be a sign to us to return and cling to the God who loves us.

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7. Pride

Ultimately, legalism is rooted in pride. We believe we can walk faith in our own strength. Our personal pride becomes a massive warning sign legalism is sneaking into our faith.

Pride often manifests as a sense of superiority or self-righteousness, as we think we’re more spiritually advanced or morally upright than others due to our strict adherence to religious rules or possibly academic knowledge.

This hinders any genuine relationship with God. Personal pride in our abilities goes contrary to the truth. God resists the proud and gives grace and help to the humble (James 4:6). Our self-reliant mentality prevents believers from fully experiencing the transformative power of God's love and redemption in their lives.

Personal pride fosters a sense of entitlement, as we believe we’re entitled to special treatment or recognition because of our perceived spiritual superiority. Jesus humbled himself, coming from heaven to earth to be with us. While that was an impossible distance, he went further and became a poor baby instead of a rich king. The apostle Paul tells us to have this same mindset (Philippians 2:5-11).

Our humility approaches God in truth and brings us the help we require for life and blessing. Since God resists the proud, we must guard against self-righteous tendencies and cultivate a spirit of humility, gratitude, and grace in our faith journey.

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How Does Breaking Legalism Help Us Experience Love?

All this talk about how we cannot achieve perfection or goodness on our own may seem a bit depressing. However, it actually opens us up to live a better life than legalism will ever provide.

God values us greatly. The reality that we can do nothing in our own strength doesn’t dismiss how much we are worth to God. We know how much something costs because of how much others will pay for it. God gave his own Son, the best he had, as the price for you, me, and all of Creation to be redeemed. The One who gave us his Son will also give us all things for blessing and life if we come to him humbly and trust in him completely. Let us obey from that love, experiencing eternal life and bringing hope to the world.

Peace.

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