Legalists are ignorant of the Word of God and do not know how to distinguish between the ceremonial law and the moral law. The Lord Jesus came against the legalist of his day, but yet he did not break the Sabbath but observed the Sabbath day in the right content. He did not break one single law but fulfilled all the law. (Mat 5:17)
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
The opening words of Jesus in his ministry, is that he is anointed by God, as the seventh day was different than the six days. The seventh day was sanctified, separated from the other days. Jesus the very God became a man, had the same temptations, feelings and emotions and lived among men yet he was different, he lived among the sinner and yet he did not sin as he was holy and above the sinners, just like the Sabbath day was different than all the other days Jesus was different than the rest of the men.
The seventh day was a blessing to man, so Jesus was a blessing to man and he came to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance and give sight to the blind. He did most of his healings upon the sick on the Sabbath day; he did many miracles on the Sabbath day. He came to redeem us and to reconcile us back to God. He spoke these words on the Sabbath day and said, today this scripture is fulfilled. The Lord of the Sabbath is here. He is the holy one who can redeem us and sanctify us for his glory.
Mt 12:1 At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were a hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.
3 But he said unto them, have ye not read what David did, when he was a hungred, and they that were with him;
4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
6 But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple.
This incident happened on the Sabbath Day. Here we see the disciples of the Lord were hungry and they plucked some ears of corn. They rubbed between their hands to get the husk out so they can eat the corn. According to Pharisaic interpretation, to rub an ear of corn is a kind of threshing, and, as it is very wrong to thresh on the Sabbath day. This is a kind of works, as work was prohibited, as per fourth commandment Even if you are hungry you cannot rub the ear of the corn. This was their version of the Sabbath law. The Pharisees were intent readers of the Law.
But our Lord carried the war into the enemy's camp and asked, "Haven't you read?" The Pharisees were legalists. Legalism is adding man's laws to the law of God. It is an outwork of man's law, which God hates. Legalism has to do with man's traditions, which overrides the law of God. In here we see how the Lord dealt with the legalists as he went back to the scriptures and said, haven't you read? Because scripture is the final authority over tradition and legalism.
Mt 15:1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
(These traditions are doctrines of men, and not of God.)
Mt 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
The legalist love to observe the external part of the law. And they are very proud of it.
The Pharisees diligently observed the ceremonial law as they brought their offerings and sacrifices to the temple. They were perfect when it came to the outward appearing of the law. But the principal was wrong, as their hearts were far away from God. They had only the outward form and the customs.
They also added their own doctrines and traditions to the outward law to make them look good. Their hearts were not there, the internal worship was absent only the outward was there. This is legalism, as they put a heavy burden on the people with their own traditions and doctrines.
Mt 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto white sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
It was the legalists who keep the ceremonial aspect of the law. The reform teachings clearly identify that the ceremonial aspect of the law is being abolished on the cross. But the ignorant who cannot see the black and white, for them the ceremonial and the moral seems to be the same. So they brand the reformed teachings of the Sabbath as legalists. Let us see clearly in scripture how the Lord Jesus Christ abolished the ceremonial law of the Sabbath.
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
We see again some false apostles crept into the church and wanted bring back the bondage of the ceremonial laws back into the church. They wanted the church to go back to the seventh day Sabbaths, the Jewish Sabbaths and not on the first day of week.(Sunday) These were more important to the Jews.
In the Old Testament law there were sabbatical years. Every seventh year the land had a rest, no plowing or sowing done. There was the general release of the debtors. Every fiftieth year was a jubilee to the Lord, when freedom to slaves and debtors was proclaimed throughout the land; it was a time of sabbatical rest.