Often when I try to show professing Christians they must keep the moral law of Christ or their faith is dead (Jam 2:17) I get accused of legalism or of being a Pharisee. Most people misunderstand what legalism really is. I would consider a good example of legalism today to be those that require you to keep sect rules and say you are not saved if you don’t.

Wikipedia has one of the better definitions of legalism I have seen and one I pretty much agree with.

Legalism, in Christian theology, is a pejorative term referring to an over-emphasis on law or codes of conduct, or legal ideas, usually implying an allegation of misguided rigor, pride, superficiality, the neglect of mercy, and ignorance of the grace of God or emphasizing the letter of law over the spirit. Legalism is alleged against any view that obedience to law, not faith in God’s grace, is the pre-eminent principle of redemption. Its opposite error is antinomianism, which is alleged against a view that moral laws are not binding.

I find that many professing Christians will accuse you of legalism if you hold that Christians must be obedience to the moral law of Christ. I am not talking about sect rules here I am talking about the moral law of Christ as we find it in the New Testament. They that hold that the moral law of Christ is not binding are what I would call antinomians.

Dictionary.com definition of antinomianism — a person who maintains that Christians are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace as set forth in the gospel.