TEXT : Galatians 3:1- 9
TITLE: How Legalism easily usurps the gospel
Date : 20 /11 /2011
We know that our
physical bodies are subject
to various diseases and attacks upon our immune systems
. This past week a girl at our children’s school was diagnosed with leukaemia . This past week I also spoke to a man in a supermarket who told me that he has been diagnosed with cancer .
What is true of the body is also true of the spirit. All of us
are spiritually fallen people ( Genesis 3) . In
God’s eyes this amounts to ‘spiritual deadness‘ ( e.g. Eph 2:1), and the
outworking of this upon us ,
physically , emotionally and spiritually, is of a
many and varied nature. Many
people on the face of this earth
are demon possessed, as they were also in
Jesus’ day . Many are enslaved by addictions (drugs , alcohol ,
pornography) which often cause their early death . Many
live their lives in a completely unbalanced manner e.g. trough
compulsive behaviour such as
eating disorders ( obesity or anorexia
/ bulimia) kleptomania ,
compulsive lying , gambling,
work-aholism . Many
are therefore subjected to mental
illnesses and depressions and anxieties .
All these things are essentially spiritual problems and they all take their toll upon our bodies
and this is ultimately the reason why we will all die .
Our bodies take a beating in the cause of life and we truly
see that the wages of sin is death (
Rom 6:23) and not one escapes this .
Thankfully , in Christ, we are restored in soul / spirit and eventually at the resurrection we shall also be restored in our bodies
. In heaven (our final and eternal
state) we will enjoy that perfect state
in a spiritually pure environment in
which also our new bodies will never die again.
In the meantime
we must trust Christ and His Word
to keep us focused on these
eternal realities. The Bible
helps us to see that life in this fallen world is a battlefield. There
is an enemy, Satan. He uses all possible means at his disposal to get us down. He knows us well. He knows our weaknesses and sometimes He attacks Christians directly . There are many countries where Christians suffer such direct attacks . At other times he uses subtler forms of
attacks in the form of trickery and deceit, often masking himself as an angel of the light ( 2 Cor 11:14) – a wolf in sheep’s clothing (
Matt 7:15) . He knows theology , and he
has studied the art of subtly
changing the message of the
Christian faith, handing it back to us in twisted form.
The right words are all there, but the primary truth has now become subject to secondary forms of
truth.
Let me explain this with the help of an actual
situation sketched for us in Galatians
3: 1- 9 .
In this letter
we find one of the most
vicious diseases that
attack our spiritual immunity system : Legalism !
A note on the letter to the Galatians:
Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because he had seen that
they had allowed their hearts, which at one time had yielded to Christ, only to be led astray by what he calls “a different
gospel - not that there is another one “. This has happened through “ some
who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” (Gal 1:6,7)
What was this different gospel , which was no gospel ?
Follow Paul
through his argument in Galatians
3 : 1- 9
[3:1] O foolish ( Gr aneotoi lit. senseless)
Galatians! Who has bewitched you? JB
Philips translates: "Oh, you dear
idiots of Galatia… surely you can’t be so idiotic ?" Paul is clearly annoyed ! What they were doing was so senseless. It almost
seemed as if some sorcerer had
cast a spell over ( bewitched) them . Those who had ‘bewitched’
them were the so called ‘Judaizers’ -
people in those days , who in
addition to acknowledging the fact
that Christ had come in the flesh were also insisting that the keeping of the law and circumcision were
necessary for salvation. This amounted to a
“Christ –plus“ situation ; a
deadly compromise of the gospel, in which the gospel was lost and where the law and circumcision rite won the day ! The
gospel (Christ) was being replaced
by the law.
Don’t get this wrong! The problem is not with the law . The law is holy
( Rom 7:12) and spiritual ( Rom 7:14) , the law is good ( Rom 7:16) because it is of
God. However, the law is no way
to justify you before God . On the
contrary, it constantly accuses you because the law is perfect and
you are not . So in terms of obtaining a right standing before God, the law can never help you. It can , as we
have seen, only make us more guilty.
So it is foolish to want to tie people up with the law. We must look
further than the law. The Bible says
that (at) the end of
the law is Christ ( Rom 10:4).
So, these Judaizers
under Satan’s influence subtly
indicate to the Galatian believers that their
simple faith in Christ is not
enough. They needed to add the law and circumcision . By adding this ‘tail’
to Christ, Christ becomes in reality obscured, and the law becomes once again greater than Christ, and the result is therefore that the gospel
becomes ‘ no gospel’. This was
simply the way of the Pharisees among the Jews resurrected and reintroduced in the life of
the Gentile - Christian church .
Paul responds !
“It was before your eyes
that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed
as crucified [1].” Jesus
Christ is the gospel . Period !
Now see how Paul challenges
them :
[2] Let me ask you
only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with
faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now
being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain—if
indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and
works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—
Paul had come to Galatia to preach the gospel to
them. He had publicly portrayed before their eyes the
person of Jesus Christ ( The
Saviour from heaven) and the work of of the Lord Jesus ( Christ crucified).
They had heard the gospel! With the
eye of faith they had seen
Christ crucified on the cross for them
! They had believed in Christ , and
so they had also received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us testifies to Christ.
Please note !
They had not believed by becoming
circumcised; they had not pledged allegiance to the law. They had only believed in Jesus Christ, and on this confession of their faith they were justified
by God and they were
baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ (1 Cor
12:13 – baptized by one Spirit into
one body - this does not refer to
water baptism)
This being
the facts of their experience, Paul argues that it is
silly, that having begun with the Spirit,
they would now aim to perfect
that experience by returning to
the flesh (by
the human keeping of the law)! In this
case this wonderful experience, this Spirit induced conversion which came by a pure faith in Christ alone , would be
of no purpose.
Now Paul in
typical fashion musters all his guns to drive
this point home. It was a
masterstroke . These Judaizers (or legalists)
looked to Moses as their teacher. So Paul went a few centuries ahead from
Moses and reminded them that the
father of faith was in
fact Abraham .
[6] just as Abraham “believed
God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
[7] Know then that it
is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
[9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the
man of faith.
Here’s an interesting
question : How or on what basis was Abraham
justified before God? Let me remind you that at that time there was as yet no law and no sign of circumcision. To be precise, the law came
only 430 years later ( Gal 3:17) Abraham simply believed the God who had
spoken to him and this fact ( and nothing else) was credited to him as righteousness . He was
the father of all who would believe –
from all nations of the world . All
this , says Paul , the Galatians should have known . They should never have
fallen under the spell of these false teachers . If only they had kept Christ
crucified ( i.e. Christ and His work)
before their eyes , this would not have happened .
The
spiritual disease that had
attacked the thinking and the faith of the
Galatians was this wretched substitute
for the gospel , called legalism . Now we must
be concerned about this, because it is the easiest trap
to fall into, and to be honest , all of us have fallen into it at various times, and
perhaps we are still there.
In conclusion let us consider how we
may watch out for the insidious tentacles of this
phenomenon and how we may keep ourselves in the love of
Christ.
I will do this
by giving you an ordinary
example . John and Jill have
just become Christians . They are exited
about the Lord and they have the first love glow about them. They obviously
have yet a lot to learn about the Christian faith. And if they
have just joined an ordinary busy
evangelical church where so many things are happening, and
where there are so many well meaning people
wanting them to get involved
in so many good things. They are excited to learn about
prayer, and they are fired up by the recent conference on evangelism, they are into a
bible reading program, and a home fellowship , the music group, the diaconal
ministry teams etc . One by one they
add more and more spiritual
activities to their portfolio. All these
activities are good ; some are
vital AND YET without realizing it there
is a dangerous shift taking place in
their mind and hearts . What God
had intended to be a means of experiencing grace , becomes within them a means
to earn “spiritual brownie points “ .
By and by their love
and thankfulness for Christ Himself
is replaced by commitment to activity. But there is
something else happening in their heart. They now begin to look
at the Christian faith through the eyes of their performances and
activities . The shift is plainly seen on Sundays . On one Sunday they participate in worship with zeal and sincerity, and they feel good about having been at church. Now something happens during
the week . There are activities that they cannot participate in
for one or the other reason . John or Jill
have also not been able to have good , consistent Bible
reading times and because of that they feel that God disapproves of them , and
the next Sunday in church they are disappointed in themselves. Worship
feels ‘flat as a pancake’ .
What is happening here ? Their confidence is no longer in the
gospel. It is in their performance which hasn’t been so great lately . The joylessness of legalism !
The answer : Let the Gospel be
your center
Just in case you are wondering whether
breaking free from legalism means that you must stop reading the Bible and that you should not
go to the prayer meeting or evangelism outreach on Saturday
etc . No, it
doesn’t mean that all , and
neglecting these things may mean that you fall into another trap of the devil .You may now become spiritually lazy by not using the spiritual gifts that God desires you to employ for His glory and for the building up of the church.
You must get your thinking about the gospel
right !
Remember the basis of your salvation ! When you first put your faith in Jesus , God
justifies you and forgives you all your sin and gives you the righteousness of His Son.
Thereafter He continues to work in you.
That work is called sanctification. Sanctification is the process of making
you more like Jesus , and this process
will not end in this life until Jesus comes
or when you meet Him at death. Both works are God’s works . God works in you to will and to do His
good work (Phil 2:12,13) . You respond
to the work of the Holy Spirit in you . That is a typical sign of the
new birth . You fight sin ; you
flee temptation; you pursue holiness ; you work in the kingdom. However you must
NEVER be tempted to think that
your performance in all this will
contribute to your justification. Not one of these good spiritual activities
will make you more saved and more loved by God . You are always accepted by virtue of Christ’s finished work on the
cross alone !
The point is this : Do everything out of a true love and appreciation for God Worship is your core business , not works . Works follow worship.
Keep Christ (His person)
and the cross
(His work) central , and remain
thankful .
And because of this ( and not for a legalistic reason) you would never ever again want to miss worship on Sunday . This is because you love Him, and you want to be with Him , and you want to be with those whom He loves
! Amen
[1] Gr . estaurÅmenos : perfect tense of the participle : the force
of this is that Christ’s work was
completed on the cross , and the benefits of His crucifixion are ongoing and available
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