45 Bible Verses about Legalism

but Israel who pursued the law of righteousness did not attain to the law of righteousness. For what reason? Because they are not of faith, but as it were of works of the law; for they stumbled at the stone of stumbling,

Wherefore by the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified is his sight, for by the law there is an acknowledgment of sin.

For as many as are of works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. And it is evident that no one is justified by the law before God, because the just shall live by faith,

knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, we also have believed in Jesus Christ, that we may be justified by faith and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in.

Wherefore by the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified is his sight, for by the law there is an acknowledgment of sin. BUT now God's righteousness has been made manifest without the law, being testified to by the law and the prophets, but God's righteousness is through the faith of Jesus Christ, in all and upon all that believe. For there is no difference;read more.
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus,

But for the same reason also I consider all things to be a loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them worthless that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my righteousness by the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by the faith,

although I have ground of confidence in the flesh. If any other one thinks he may trust in the flesh, I [may] more; circumcised the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal persecuting the church, as to righteousness by the law being blameless.

and was a proficient in Judaism beyond many of my age among my people, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.

(Added verse not retained in Sawyer)

And, providentially, a certain priest went down that way, and seeing him passed by on the other side. And in like manner a Levite also, being at the place, came and saw him, and passed by on the other side.

But this multitude which know not the law are accursed.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.

But take heed not to perform your righteousness before men, to be seen by them; otherwise indeed, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. When, therefore, you give in charity, sound not a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward.

And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes, and love the first tables at feasts, and the first seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi.

And he said to them, You are they that justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts; for that which is high among men is an abomination before God.

for not knowing God's righteousness, and seeking to set up their righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God's righteousness.

And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, hypocrites, as it is written; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me;

but in vain do they worship me, teaching for teachings the commandments of men; for leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear fair without, but within are full of the bones of the dead and of all impurity. So also you on the outside appear just to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

And he answered and said to them, Why do you transgress the command of God by your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother; and he that reviles father or mother, let him surely die. But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother what you might be profited with by me is a gift,read more.
then he shall not honor his father or his mother; and you have made the law of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching teachings and commandments of men.

And he said to them, Well do you reject the commandment of God, to keep your tradition; for Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, He that reviles father or mother, let him surely die. But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, It is a corban, which is a gift, by whatever you might be profited by me, [he shall be free];read more.
and suffer him no longer to do any thing for his father or his mother; making the word of God of no effect by your tradition which you have delivered; and many such things you do.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess. Blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is in the cup and platter, that its outside may be clean also.

Did not Moses give you the law? and no one of you performs the law. Why do you seek to kill me?

Then some of the Pharisees said, This man is not of God, for he does not keep the sabbath. Others said, How can a sinful man perform such miracles? And there was a division among them.

And Jesus said to them, Observe and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

And he charged them, saying, Observe and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Do you observe days, and months, and times, and years? I am afraid of you, lest I have expended labor on you in vain.

Behold, I Paul tell you, that if you are circumcised Christ will not profit you. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is bound to perform the whole law. You have departed from Christ, whoever of you are justified by the law, you have fallen from the grace.

Now, therefore, why do you try God, to put on the necks of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we could bear?

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and offend in one point, is guilty of all.

But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same manner as they.

Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy but to complete.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree,

Tell me, you that wish to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by a servant woman, and the other by a free woman. But he by the servant woman was born of the flesh, and he by the free woman, by the promise.read more.
These things are allegorical, for those [women] are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for servitude, which is Hagar; for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; and the present Jerusalem answers to her, for she is in servitude with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us; for it is written, Rejoice, barren woman, that did not bear, break forth and cry, woman that had no pain, for the children of the desolate are more numerous than those of her who had a husband. But we, brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise. But as then he that was born of the flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit, so also now. But what says the Scripture? Cast out the servant-woman and her son; for the son of the servant woman shall not be an heir, with the son of the free. Wherefore, brothers, we are not children of the servant woman, but of the free.

For by grace are you saved through the faith; and that not of you; [it is] the gift of God; not of works, that no one may boast;

And the Pharisees said to him, See what they do on the sabbath, which it is not lawful to do.

And some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what is not lawful on the sabbath?

And the synagogue ruler answered, being angry because Jesus had performed a cure on the sabbath, and said to the multitude, There are six days in which you ought to work; in them, therefore, come and be cured, and not on the sabbath.

who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the writing but of the spirit; for the writing kills, but the spirit makes alive.

I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is defiled in itself, except to him that thinks any thing to be defiled; to him it is defiled.

And he said, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, instructed at the feet of Gamaliel in the accurate interpretation of the law of our fathers, and am a zealous worshipper of God as you all are to-day;

And one of the lawyers answered and said to him, Teacher, in saying these things you reproach us also.