LEGALISM IS A PERVASIVE ISSUE that rules in the churches where the Spirit of God is grieved. This is a strong statement, and is not meant to disparage the good-hearted and hard-working people that pour their lives into their local churches all over our world. Nevertheless, the statement stands. This issue was one that the Apostle Paul dealt with frequently in his letters to the churches. Most of the early converts were Jews, and their place of meeting was the local synagogue.
As Christianity began to find its way forward, even in Paul’s time, a few churches as we know them today began to also spring up. In the earliest days, the synagogues had more issues with legalism than the early Christian churches, but Paul’s experiences were such that he constantly warned against it. Here, his warning begins to a Christian church with, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal. 1:1-3)
Legalism, having rigid rules of conduct to follow, easily descends into a theology of works. The doing of good as external evidence of righteousness becomes the harsh master demanding that good acts become the evidentiary display of the ‘goodness of being’ as the indicator of the indwelling Spirit. Obviously, the church in Galatia had wandered from grace and turned towards deficient religious practices. Paul asks a rhetorical question. “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” (Gal. 1:5) His emphatic and clear answers start immediately. He doesn’t leave time or room for doubt.
Paul begins his argument against legalism, “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” (Gal. 3:6) All Jews and all Christians would have to agree with this scriptural statement; it is a foundational tenet of both Judaism and Christianity. He goes on, “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:7) He next appeals to the veracity of Scripture. “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’” (Gal. 3:8) He presses his line of reasoning to the primary point. “So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Gal. 3:9)
Returning to the subject, Paul warns, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’” (Gal. 3:10) What was written in the Book of the Law? The Rabbis, by the second century B.C., had developed the 613 laws that bound Jews to the necessity of good works throughout all the practices of their daily lives.
Doing ‘everything written’ was an impossible task, and therein lies the magnitude of what was accomplished by Jesus on the cross. Paul argues against the law. “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, ‘The man who does these things will live by them.’” (Gal. 3:11-12) He then brings his main point to bear. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” (Gal. 3:13-14)
For clarity and simplicity, we might simply say, “Jesus died for our sins, so that we can receive the Holy Spirit.” Paul says it this way: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Rom. 1:16-17)
It was this short passage, and in particular the struggle in the last verse, ‘are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?,’ that launched the Protestant Reformation, which brought about evangelical Christianity. Having struggled for years, Martin Luther encountered this verse at a very low point in his life, and his sixteenth-century article recounts, *“Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith … as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” He wrote this in response to Romans 1:17: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ It is this particular verse, if we can grasp the depths of its meaning, that sets us free from believing that we have to please God through our works to be accepted by him. In works lies a lifetime of struggle and disturbed spirit, constantly lashed by the legalistic tongue. Instead, resting faith is simply this: We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ alone. Good works should be the outcome of this, yes, but they do not precede this fact.
Father, may we ever remember these central facts so important to our faith, and never be confused and anxious about our salvation – it remains always the promised and completed gift from you. Help us, Father; equip us to live lives of joy in serving you out of the overflow of your Spirit.
Q. What part of my spiritual journey is guided by legalism, and at what price?
*Martin Luther, “Schmalkalden Articles” – 1537.
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