Is obedience to God’s law legalism? It’s really a matter of the heart. It depends on your perspective and the motivation behind why you would keep God’s law but before we go there I want to pose a different question.

This is a question concerning Christ because Christ is our Lord and Savior, He is our example, and He is our guide. And even above these to have “Christ in us” is our only hope of making it to heaven as the apostle Paul has stated in Col 1:27.

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Col 1:27

So what is the question concerning Christ?  Well, Was Christ a legalist? He lived a perfect life of no sin. He kept the law and He is our pattern or example.  At this point many sincere Christians would chime in and say “Hold on now brother, we don’t want to get off into legalism…. Jesus kept the law for us because we cant….he kept the law so that we don’t have to”….

I agree that we cannot keep Gods law in our own power and strength. To attempt that is to attempt an impossibility but with God all things are possible. We simply need to understand the relations of the law and the gospel.

The gospel is not contrary to the law as some suppose but is in fact the means of giving us the righteousness that the law requires.

God is love. We all know and recognize this fact. Christ, being the Son of God and the image of God is a perfect manifestation of the love of the Father. He came to reveal the love of the Father. It is safe to say that Jesus Christ is love just as much as God the Father is love.

So now what was it that motivated Christ in His life? Was he a stickler for the rules? Was He a legalist? He was not a legalist but a lovelist.  It was love that motivated every thought, every word and every deed. Love is the foundation upon which the law hangs. Jesus clearly pointed this out when he was tempted by a legalist…I mean a lawyer….get it?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.    This is the first and great commandment.    And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.    On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matt 22:37-40

The foundation of the  law of God is that the principle of love would be in the heart and it is from this principle which all action towards God and man should flow. Christ is the exemplification of this principle. He loved God supremely and was willing to surrender His life so that the Father could be reconciled back to the human race. That love of the Father that was in His heart was manifested in His daily interactions with humanity.

The Fathers will is that we will have His law, His love, written upon our hearts. King David experienced this and put it to music.

I delight to do thy will, O my God:
yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8

In singing this song, David and all who sung it would be directed to the very place in which the law and the principle of the law were needed the most, which is in the heart.

Each expression within the law of ten commandments is but the outworking of the principle within the heart. If the love of God is in us it will be expressed by keeping the first four commandments. The expression of love toward our neighbor is manifested in the last six commandments.

The law in and of itself can never plant in our hearts the principle of love. It can only reveal that the love of God is not in us. The solution to the problem is found in Christ. Christ can give us what the law cannot.

Christ can give us only what he has and what He experienced. Psalm 40:8 is actually speaking of Christ. Notice how Paul the apostle applies it to Christ.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Hebrews 10:5-7

Christ came into the world to do the will of the Father. Why? Because He loved His Father. The principle of the law was in His heart. The relationship of Christ to His Father is the same relationship we can have when we receive Christ into our hearts.

I have learned much about God myself through the experience of parenting.

I love my children so much that I don’t allow them to do whatever they want because I want what is best for them. Am I being a mean or bad parent by saying no? Of course not!

Having been in this world for 3 plus decades, I know and understand cause and effect. There are certain consequences to our choices and it is my responsibility as a loving parent to guide them in the right choices and help them to see the reasoning behind it.

Now, I expect my children to do what I say. I command obedience and submission. Why? Because it is a training necessary that most do not get. It is learning to submit to a loving Father that knows what is best for us.

Love begets love and trust begets trust. If my children know that I love them with all of my heart and they know that they can trust my judgement than it is easier for them to submit to my will.

Our Father in heaven, who sees the end from the beginning, knows the best course for our lives. He sees in every moment the right and the wrong. We do not have that type of discernment but as we know that He loves us and we know that His will is perfect  we can lovingly submit to His will and commands.

This is what Christ did. And our only hope is based upon having Christ in us. To have Christ in us is to have love toward the Father in us and a willingness to do His will.

When Christ taught His disciples how to pray he mentioned a very important detail that we are to pray for.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10

Christ told us to pray that the Fathers will be done on earth. Where on earth is His will to be done?

I delight to do thy will, O my God:
yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8

Is obedience legalism? It is if you are trying to get to heaven based upon your own merits and efforts. It is if you are trying to do God’s will without the love of Christ first abiding within.

Obedience is not legalism if you have opened your heart to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the love of God that comes with receiving Him. John the disciple of Christ had this love and experienced this love when he wrote.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3

It is in knowing the love of God and His son for us that awakens love in us and creates within us a desire and determination to follow God’s will and way in place of our own.

Experiencing this, says David the psalmist, is a delight.