2.11.2026

Which is easier? Legalism or grace?

I think our initial response would be grace. We think of legalism as being harsh, when actually, legalism is the easier way out.

I’m preaching through  selected  passages from the Sermon on the Mount right now as we work our way through Matthew. One of the passages that I’m not really dealing with is one that I read this past Sunday. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus  makes the remarkable statement, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.” 

It’s that word “exceeds” that bugs me. It sounds like I need to work harder at being righteous.

After all, who could be more righteous than the Pharisees and scribes? The Pharisees didn’t just tithe their income, they tithed the spices they used in their cooking! 

There was a group of Pharisees called the “bruised and bleeding” because whenever they would see a woman in the marketplace (oh, you temptresses!), they would shut their eyes, trip and fall. Can’t get more “righteouser” than that! 

These were men who avoided anything and anyone unclean. They prayed often (even loudly on the street corners) and gave to the less fortunate (often giving a trumpet a little blast, so others could see them giving), and when God told the men to wear tassels on their cloaks as a reminder that they belonged to God, the Pharisees made sure their tassels were longer than anyone else's! 

With all that, how could our righteousness possibly exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees?

Here’s how: think back on my original question, “Which is easier, legalism or grace?”

Legalism.

In Mark 10:1-9, the Pharisees try to trap Jesus by asking him a question about the Law and divorce. Now I’m saving the details for Bible study tonight, but if you read it, you’ll see that Jesus changed the discussion from what the Law said about divorce to what God originally said about marriage. 

God’s intention was for marriage to be permanent. So . . . which is easier? Divorce or staying married?

For the Pharisees, divorce was easier. Much easier. They could divorce their spouses for any reason whatsoever, and then get another one. And the process for getting a divorce was a simple matter. All a man had to do was to give her a certificate of divorce and throw her out of the house. 

See how easy?

But things like covenant, fidelity, and steadfast love (which are needed in a marriage) are not always so easy. But the Pharisees and Scribes interpreted the Law in ways that actually got around keeping the Law and the way they interpreted the Law often left the people around them “bruised and bleeding.”

Instead of focusing on every detail of the Law and how to apply it (and get around it), Jesus wants his followers to soar over the law. So in Matthew 5, Jesus gave several examples:

The Law said “you shall not kill.”  Jesus said that was not righteous enough. As citizens of the kingdom of Heaven, we should never let anger get out of hand so much that we want to kill someone!

The Law said, “You shall not commit adultery,” but Jesus said, that’s not far enough. We have to stop adultery at the first lingering look, not just the actual act.

The third example was divorce. Once a Jewish man divorced his wife, she was no longer his problem. So what if her only options were to go back to her family (if they wanted her back, which most of the time they didn’t), get married again, or become a prostitute. Jesus told the free wheeling Pharisees there were consequences for divorce and divorce didn’t end their responsibility for their ex-wife. 

The fourth example was swearing oaths. The law said, “You shall not swear falsely,” but the Scribes got around that by saying it depended on what you’re swearing by. The more precious the object that you swore by, the more binding the oath. But Jesus said, “No, that’s not righteous enough.”  Don’t swear at all. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. 

The final example was retaliation. The Law famously called for “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Jesus said that wasn’t righteous enough. When someone harms you, don’t strike back. The righteous thing to do is to forgive. Forgiveness is hard. Striking back is easy. 

Legalism is easier. Legalism is also harsher – at least for the victim of the legalistic person. But for the legalistic person, legalism is quite delightful. It makes us feel superior to others. It takes the work out of figuring out how to serve God. 

If I can get my behavior down to a list of things then when a problem person comes along, I can think about the list and treat the other as a problem and not a person. 

That might be fine for a Pharisee, but it’s not fine for a child of God. As children of God, we think about the other person. We deal with anger before it gets out of hand. We stay faithful in marriage. We don’t wallow in lustful thoughts. We tell the truth simply and keep our word. We forgive. 

In short, we love.

Blessings, 
Pastor Terry