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The ancient church father Tertullian is reputed to have said, “Just as Jesus was crucified between two thieves, so the gospel is ever crucified between these two errors.”
What is legalism?  Did William Branham teach a legalistic version of the Gospel?  Are his followers legalistic?


What are these errors to which Tertullian was referring? The theological terms are '''legalism''' and '''antinomianism'''. Another way to describe them could be moralism and relativism (or pragmatism).
=What is legalism?=


*'''Legalism''' says that we have to live a holy, good life if we want God to love us.  
'''The New Testament does not use the word “legalism”''' and, therefore, it is easy to throw around the term without defining it Biblically. But legalism is evil and the New Testament does indeed deal with it, even if it does not use the word.  
*'''Antinomianism''' says that because we are saved, we don’t have to live a holy, good life.


The Gospel is simply the good news that God has accomplished our salvation for us through Christ, in order to bring us into a right relationship with him and eventually to destroy all the results of sin in the world.
The word “legalism” can be used in at least two senses, but both have a common root problem.  


“Moralism/legalism” stresses truth without grace, for it claims we must obey the truth to be saved. On the other hand, “relativism/antinomianism” stresses grace without truth, for it claims we are all accepted by God, and we each have to decide what is right for us. We must never forget that '''Jesus was full of grace and truth'''. (John 1:14)<ref>Timothy J. Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-centered Ministry in Your City (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012).</ref>
==God's Word as regulations==


Gospel freedom is freedom that both takes away the guilt of sin and eats away at the motivation to sin.  
First, legalism means treating biblical standards of conduct as regulations to be kept by our own power in order to earn God’s favor. In other words legalism will be present wherever a person is trying to be ethical in his own strength, that is, without relying on the merciful help of God in Christ.  


The gospel neither leads us to live a guilty life (since God has lovingly accepted us), nor an unholy life (since the God who has accepted us is perfectly holy). To forget the first is to fall into legalism, and lose our freedom; to forget the second is to abuse our freedom. Both mean we lose grasp of the gospel.
Simply put, moral behavior that is not from faith is legalism. The legalist is always a very moral person. In fact, the majority of moral people are legalists because their behaviour does not grow out of a humble, contrite reliance on the merciful enabling of God.  


=Legalism=
On the contrary, for the legalist, morality serves as an expression of self-reliance and self-assertion.  The first meaning of legalism is the terrible mistake of treating biblical standards of conduct as regulations to be kept by our own power in order to earn God’s favor. It is a danger we must guard against in our own hearts every day.  And we are all prone to it.
 
==Erecting a code of conduct beyond scripture==
 
The second meaning of legalism is the erecting of specific requirements of conduct beyond the teaching of Scripture and making adherence to them the means by which a person is qualified for full participation in the local family of God, the church. This is where unbiblical exclusivism arises.
 
There is no getting around the fact that the church does not include everyone.  We do exclude people from our church because we believe worship should imply commitment to the lordship of Christ, the head of the church.
 
But exclusion of people from the church should never be taken lightly. It is a very serious matter. Schools and clubs and societies can set up any human regulations they wish in order to keep certain people out and preserve by rule a particular atmosphere. But the church is not man’s institution. It belongs to Christ. He is the head of the body, and he alone should set the entrance requirements.<ref>John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).</ref>
 
==What legalism does==


*Legalism kills love for God (Revelation 3:14–22).
*Legalism kills love for God (Revelation 3:14–22).
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