45 Bible Verses about Legalism

but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not attain to such a law. Wherefore? because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the Stone of stumbling;

because, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law is the knowledge of sin.

For as many as are of works of law are under a curse; for it has been written, "Cursed is every one who continues not in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them." Now that by law no one is justified with God, is evident; because "The righteous one shall live by faith."

yet knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of law; because by works of law no flesh shall be justified.

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye suffer those who are entering in to enter.

because, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe; for there is no distinction;read more.
for all sinned, and are coming short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Nay, more, I even account all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I suffered the loss of all things, and account them refuse, that I may gain Christ. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of law, but that which is through faith in Christ??he righteousness which is of God by faith:

though I might have confidence even in flesh; if any other man supposes that he has occasion for confidence in flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the assembly: as to the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

and was making progress in Judaism above many companions of the same age in my own nation, being more exceedingly a zealot for my ancestral instructions.

"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.

OMITTED TEXT.

And by chance, a certain priest was going down that way; and, seeing him, he passed by on the opposite side. And, in like manner, a Levite also, coming to the place, and seeing him, passed by on the opposite side.

But this multitude, who know not the law, are accursed."

The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector! I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'

"Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen by them, otherwise at least ye have no reward with your Father Who is in Heaven. When, therefore, you are doing alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say to you, they receive their reward.

But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes; and they love the first place in the feasts, and the front seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called by men 'Rabbi.'

And He said to them, "Ye are those who justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; because that which is exalted among men is an abomination before God.

for, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God;

And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it has been written, This people honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.

But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Having left the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men."

"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye are like white-washed sepulchres, which outwardly, indeed, appear beautiful, but within are full of bones of the dead and of all uncleanness. So ye also outwardly, indeed, appear righteous to men; but within ye are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

And He, answering, said to them, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He that speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die,' But ye say, 'Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, That by which you might be profited by me is an offering,'read more.
shall in no wise honor his father; and ye made void the word of God because of your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

And He said to them, "Well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may hold your tradition! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He that speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.' But ye say, 'If a man say to his father or mother, That wherewith you might be profited by me is Corban,' that is, 'an offering to God,'read more.
ye no longer suffer him to do anything for his father or his mother; making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye handed down; and many such things ye do."

"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but within they are full from extortion and excess! Blind Pharisees! cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that its outside also may become clean.

Did not Moses give you the law? and not one of you does the law. Why are ye seeking to kill Me?"

Some of the Pharisees, therefore, said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.

And Jesus said to them, "Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

And He was charging them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod."

Then they understood that He did not bid them beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Ye are scrupulously observing days, and months, and seasons, and years! I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have toiled for you in vain.

Behold, I, Paul, say to you, that, if ye be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Ye were separated from Christ, whoever of you are being justified by law; ye fell out of grace;

Now, therefore, why do ye tempt God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were strong enough to bear?

For whosoever keeps the whole law, but stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

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

"Think not that I came to destroy the law, or the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfill.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; because it has been written, "Cursed is every one who is hung upon a tree";

Tell me, ye who are wishing to be under law, do ye not hear the law? For it has been written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bond-woman, and one by the free-woman. But the one by the bond-woman has been born after the flesh; and the one by the free-woman, through promise.read more.
Which things are an allegory; for these women are two covenants; one, indeed, from mount Sinai, bringing forth into servitude, which is Hagar (for the word Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia), and corresponds to the present Jerusalem; for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which, indeed, is our mother; for it has been written, "Rejoice, O barren, that bear not! Break forth and cry, you that travail not! because many are the children of the desolate, rather than of her who has the husband." But ye, brethren, after the manner of Isaac, are children of promise. But, just as then, the one born after the flesh kept persecuting him born after the Spirit, so also is it now. But what says the Scripture? "Cast out the bond-woman and her son; for the son of the bond-woman shall in nowise inherit with the son of the free-woman." Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a bond-woman, but of the free-woman.

For by grace ye have been saved through faith: and this, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any one should boast;

And the Pharisees said to them, "Behold, why are they doing on the sabbath that which is not lawful?"

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are ye doing that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath?"

But the synagogue-ruler, answering, (being much displeased that Jesus healed her on the sabbath), said to the multitude, "There are six days in which it behooves us to work; in these, therefore, coming, be healed, and not on the sabbath day."

Who also qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.

I know, and have been persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: except that to him who accounts anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

and he says, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been trained according to the exactness of the ancestral law, being zealous for God, even as ye all are to-day;

And one of the lawyers, answering, says to Him, "Teacher, in saying these things, Thou insultest us also!"