In Romans 8 the Apostle Paul explains his victory over the body of death about which he had described his exasperation in chapter 7.  The righteousness of the law was fulfilled in Paul and every other believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  This brought life, peace, and freedom that is the reality for a son of God.  A son of God does not live the life of bondage of a slave, motivated by an external fright.  The implication is the love of a child, who is intimate with his Father.  Paul writes in 8:14-16:

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

The “spirit of bondage again to fear” describes existence under the law or one of legalism.

The distinguishing factor between the misery of bondage to fear and one of “life and peace” (8:5) is not degree of difficulty.  Paul is not saying that life gets harder when you raise the standard.  It is the means by which someone functions.

A believer, who Paul says in 8:1, “walks after the Spirit,” “not after the flesh,” lives like a son of God, which is to be internally empowered and motivated.  This is a loving, intimate life with God.  He’s in relations with God as a son and wants to please Him like he’s in the family and God is His Father, different than a slave, intimated by the bondage and fear.  He is “led by the Spirit of God” (8:14), so it’s happening from the inside out.

Legalism is the outside-in life.  Legalism isn’t the number of or degree of difficulty of the standards, the right things to do.  Legalism can be lowering the standard, because you are doing outside-in. Very often, today especially, people operate in the flesh, so their way of “succeeding” is to lower the standards.  That’s what the Pharisees did.  They ranked laws so they could reduce everything to what they deemed most important.  Raising the standard doesn’t make it more spiritual either.  Adding more laws than what the Bible even teaches is bondage and fear. However, one would expect something better if someone was doing it out of love with internal motivation.

When someone does what he does out of love, because He is a son, because he has intimacy, for the Father, he isn’t looking to reduce or lower.  He wants to increase.  He wants it to be better.  That’s how it looks.  And that is directly connected to the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.  When actions are internally motivated and empowered by the Spirit, they will be loving, which is striving for more.

I’ve contended for a while that evangelicals with the low standards, the worldly lifestyles, are the legalists.  They are left-winged legalists.  Jesus said that the world hates believers because they are not of this world.  They don’t fit into the system.  The lasciviousness of the left winged legalists is the lowering of standards to fit into the system.  They don’t have to be hated that way.  They’re “still Christians,” and yet they lower the standards to conform to the world.  Those who don’t lower their standards, they call legalists.  Legalism doesn’t have to do with lowering the standard.  Someone will do better if he’s doing it out of love.