Berating them is.
And demanding they clean up their act before they even come to Christ is.
Jesus gave us the template for dealing with brothers and sisters in Christ who are in sin.
So if those folks were not Christians, then berating them does no good. Sinners will sin and them changing that will not make them righteous before God.
And if they claim to be believers, the person berating them did it wrong.
Legalism (theology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(theology)#:~:text=The%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Christianity%20in,deeds%20in%20order%20to%20gain
In Christian theology, legalism (or nomism) is a pejorative term referring to putting law above gospel.[1][2] The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States defines legalism as a pejorative descriptor for “the direct or indirect attachment of behaviors, disciplines, and practices to the belief in order to achieve salvation and right standing before God”, emphasizing a need “to perform certain deeds in order to gain salvation” (works) as opposed to the doctrine of justification by faith – the belief in salvation through the grace of God, “bestowed upon the individual through faith in Jesus Christ.”[3]
Berating them is.
***It is not berating to point out open engagement in sin. That’s why Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery “go and sin no more”.
And demanding they clean up their act before they even come to Christ is.
***There is some truth to that. What is going on is people openly going against christian teaching with no intention of following the precepts but trying to access the benefits of christian fellowship. It is not legalistic to point that stuff out.
Jesus gave us the template for dealing with brothers and sisters in Christ who are in sin.
***People who openly discard the 10 commandments and christian teachings are operating as wolves in sheep’s clothing, as vipers, as false teachers, as hypocrites. Jesus was clear about how to treat those people.
So if those folks were not Christians, then berating them does no good.
***That is if one accepts your position that they were being berated to begin with. Were Ananias and Saphira “berated” when they lied to the Holy Spirit?
Sinners will sin and them changing that will not make them righteous before God.
***Non sequitur. “them changing that” —> who is them? The sinner or the supposed ‘berater’?
And if they claim to be believers, the person berating them did it wrong.
***Again, in order to address your argument one has to accept that they were berating. I don’t. You are engaging a loaded definition of legalism.