I've been following this whole thread.
This whole thing about legalism is a bit vague.
Can someone give some examples of legalism in the church today?
Is tithing legalism?
Tithing? In and of itself. No, I don't think so. The mistake is thinking just because something is in the law, you see it there, and then seek to do it that you are somehow now a legalist on your way to hell.
Biblically, a legalist is someone who seeks to be
justified (made righteous) by the works of the law, particularly external works of the law. Maybe Philippians 3 is the definitive place to know what legalism is:
"If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless." (Philippians 3:4-6 NASB)
I think some versions translate it 'legalistic righteousness'. The legalist relies on the virtue of external law keeping to earn points with God (but misses what really does matter to God).
An example to illustrate the mindset of the legalist is a person who drives into the empty parking lot of an old abandoned building to check his oil but won't park in the handicapped space to do that (that would be breaking the law)...while he bawls his wife out on his cell phone for not telling him the car was low on oil before he took it out this morning.
Legalist leave the tell tale trail of not knowing what matters to God. They'll miss the intent and purpose of a rule, or law and 'legalistically' keep it for the sake of a scorecard kind of mentality regarding that law. And along the way trampling and hurting people's feelings completely oblivious to what really matters to God--
character.
If Philippians 3 is, Biblically, where we know what legalism is, then perhaps Matthew 23:23-28 is the Biblical example of the legalist, and the traits that mark them. Clean on the outside, but full of dead men's bones on the inside, like a white washed tomb. Pretty to look at, and
dedicated to the honor of the occupant, but with no life inside.