Matt Chancey offers the following insights:

...Legalism in the Church has traditionally been viewed as any teaching of practices and principles that go beyond what the Scripture teaches or necessarily implies. For instance, Jesus hammered the Pharisees for replacing the Scriptures with their own “traditions” (such as hand washings in Matthew 15). It wasn’t that the Pharisees were interpreting Scripture in a way Christ disagreed with; they were simply avoiding the Scriptures altogether.

But today, politically savvy pastors have redefined legalism to mean exegesis that they personally don’t understand or agree with. For instance, if someone teaches against tattoos or body mutilation, the syncretistic pastor cries “legalism!” even though the issue of body mutilation is not outside the domain of Scripture. How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us so:

“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:28

Some Christians might disagree with teachings against body mutilation on the grounds that Leviticus 19:28 was a law tied to the redemptive ceremonial system fulfilled in Christ. But this disagreement should not be grounded in a charge of legalism against the other side. A Christian might be wrong in his exegesis on body mutilation, but that, by default, does not make him a “legalist.” Unfortunately, many theologians dismiss contrary views by crying “legalism” in much the same way that liberals blow off conservatives by calling them “intolerant” or “bigots.”

Far too many theologians today are more concerned about wrapping the gospel in a package that is acceptable to liberals than they are about affirming what God says in His Word. If an issue is the least bit controversial in contemporary culture, theological dogma is ditched and theological pluralism is embraced. Anyone who dares offend this standard is charged with being a Pharisee or “legalistic.”

I find it odd that, in an age marked by an explosion of licentious antinomianism in the Church, most pastors are preoccupied with “legalism” so-called. Teenagers in the church can be fornicating with one another; wives can be leading their husbands around by the nose; or husbands can be passive and withdrawn from their responsibilities, but is this kind of open rebellion against the law of God attacked by pastors? Hardly. They’re too busy condemning the father whose daughters wear head coverings and Pilgrim dresses. “Legalism!” he cries, and most of his sermons denounce such “false piety,” while temple prostitution takes place right under his nose.

It seems to me that our priorities are all bent out of shape. The primary problem in the Church today is not an over-zealous, legalistic application of God’s Word to all areas of life. The primary problem is rank, unadulterated antinomianism. It is a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture. It is theological pluralism. It’s the “I’m okay, you’re okay” theology of syncretism. It’s the ear-tickling, hip, Burger King (“have it your way”) Christianity.

The answer is to go back to the Bible. The answer is to affirm that the Bible is sufficient to tackle all subjects of life, from nose rings to nuclear proliferation. We may disagree with the Biblical exegesis of our brothers, but let us never attack them for presuming that the Bible actually teaches on a particular subject. People who do this usually want to reserve part of their lives for themselves. But God wants every part of us — and He’ll have it. Better now than later.