Legalists were disturbing others and distorting the truth as they spread doctrinal heresy. Their heretical message was that the Galatian Christians should let Moses finish what Christ began. In other words, salvation is not by faith alone ... it requires works. Human achievement must accompany sincere faith before you can be certain of your salvation. We continue to hear that "different gospel" to this day and it is a lie. A theology that rests its salvation on one ounce of human performance is not good news, it is bad information. It is heresy. It is antithetical to the true message that lit the spark to the Reformation: Sola fide —faith alone.
A salvation that begins with God's love reaching down to lost humanity and is carried out by Christ's death and resurrection results in all the praise going to God. But a salvation that includes human achievement, hard work, personal effort, even religious deeds distorts the good news because man gets the glory, not God. The problem is, it appeals to the flesh. Paul's twice-repeated reaction to the one who introduced that doctrinal heresy is "Let him be accursed!" This is Paul's way of
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saying the person is doomed! The original word is anathema! It is the strongest single Greek term for condemnation.
Nevertheless, the heresy goes on. Most every cult you could name is a cult of salvation by works. It appeals to the flesh. It tells you, if you will stand so long on a street corner, if you will distribute so much literature, if you will sacrifice so much of life, if you will be baptized, if you will contribute your money, if you will pray or attend numerous meetings, then your good works and hard effort will cause God to smile on you. Ultimately, when the good is weighed against the bad on the Day of Judgment, you will finally earn His favor. The result in that, I say again, is man's glory, because you added to your salvation.
Grace says you have nothing to give, nothing to earn, nothing to pay. You couldn't if you tried! Remember what we learned in chapter 2? Salvation is a free gift. You simply lay hold of what Christ has provided. Period. And yet the heretical doctrine of works goes on all around the world and always will. It is effective because the pride of men and women is so strong. We simply have to do something in order to feel right about it. It just doesn't make good humanistic sense to get something valuable for nothing.
Please allow me to be absolutely straight with you: Stop tolerating the heretical gospel of works! It is legalism. Wake up to the fact that it will put you into a bondage syndrome that won't end. The true gospel of grace, however, will set you free. Free forever.
Let's take a closer look at Galatians 1:10: "For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ."
You wonder what Paul's life was like before Christ? He tells us; he was a man-pleaser. He says, "If I were still trying to please men. . . ." He was a legalist back in his years as a Pharisee. His goal, among other things, was to please people.
When he realized Christ was who He claimed to be and His death was effective and sufficient to provide the complete
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payment for sin, he was crushed to the bone when he realized the enormity of his guilt before God. He was stunned in meeting Christ on the road to Damascus. He learned then (and in subsequent years) that you cannot try to please people or live your life being afraid of people. There is only One to please and to fear on this earth and that is God.
I want to add something here especially for pastors and Christian leaders. Those who seek to please God only are invincible from within. Not only that, but when we stop striving to please people, we are also unintimidated from without. The church of Jesus Christ needs more invincible, unintimidated pastors. We put a lot of effort into training men and women for ministry. But there isn't equal effort in training congregations for ministers. That is most unfortunate. Church congregations need to know when to let a pastor lead, how to respect his judgment, and the importance of following him with confidence. Yes, he needs to be deserving of such respect and he needs to be accountable ... no question. But the tragedy is that there are numerous ministers who "seek the favor" and "strive to please" at any price. I don't know of a quicker way to ruin a ministry or, for that matter, to be consumed with anxiety. True spiritual leadership cannot occur as long as the leader runs scared of what people may think or say.
I can remember an experience that taught me this lesson permanently. I was pastoring a church in another state over twenty years ago. A particular issue arose that divided the leadership right down the middle. It was a volatile issue, and I realized it had the possibility of splitting the church. Adding to my pressure was the inescapable reality that my vote on the board of elders was the "swing vote." Our board of strong-minded men was equally divided on each side, and my vote was needed to break the tie. All eyes would ultimately be on me. The climactic meeting was set for a Thursday evening. I was relatively young and looking back, I was still too interested in pleasing people—I now admit to my own embarrassment.
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I told Cynthia I had to be alone overnight to think everything through. I got into my 1969 Volkswagen early Wednesday morning, turned onto the highway that led out of town, and rested my New Testament on the steering wheel as I drove along. I opened to Galatians, chapter 1, and began reading aloud, glancing up onto the road then back down at my Bible. Suddenly, verse 10 leaped off the page like a tiger with sharp claws,". . . am I striving to please men? . . ." Yes, it was the same verse of Scripture we have been analyzing, but that day I saw it for the first time. I immediately pulled to the side of the highway, turned off the engine and read the words aloud again and again and again. What a rebuke! I not only had my answer, I had stumbled upon a life-changing principle. Within a very few minutes, confidence replaced fear. I lost the nagging desire to please a group of men. My one goal was to please God. I was freed from the awful clutches of "striving to please men."
I did a U-turn, drove back home to the surprise of my wife, who was not expecting to see me until the next day, and told her of the discovery. She smiled in agreement. She had noticed my insecurity earlier that morning. The following night I openly declared my convictions, which displeased some of the board members but resulted in what proved to be the best decision. A few left the church ... yet for the first time in my ministry I experienced a fresh surge of freedom. Invincible and unintimidated, I displayed a calm assurance in my leadership style that has stayed with me; thank God. And what a difference it has made. I was liberated from the bondage of striving to please people.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons I write with such passion about the importance of being free—why I plead with you so earnestly to allow the quickening power of God's grace to awaken within you a hunger for liberty. Those who let freedom be taken from them not only embrace heresy, they live under the thumb of grace killers who love to control and intimidate.
The second tool I find legalists using is ecclesiastical harassment; they are those who spy and enslave:
Squaring Off Against Legalism
Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. And it was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. (Gal. 2:1-7)
I know of few scriptures that more boldly expose the damaging style of legalism. E
arlier we analyzed those who disturb and distort the gospel. Now, we are considering those who spy on and enslave individuals who wish to be free. In a few sentences let me give you the background to what Paul wrote about here in Galatians 2.
Fourteen years earlier, the apostle Paul had been given a direct revelation from God that he was called to minister especially to the Gentiles. Peter, you may remember, was called to minister especially to the Jews. A great question grew out of Paul's reaching out to Gentiles: Should a Gentile be circumcised in order for him to be a Christian? There were related questions. Does he need to maintain a certain diet? Does he need to fulfill the requirements of the Mosiac Law? Does he need to become "somewhat Jewish"? In other words, was it necessary for Moses to complete what Christ had begun? Paul emphatically said no. In doing so, he presented the gospel of Christ based on the message of grace. Not surprisingly, the Gentiles responded by the thousands. This caused some of the Jewish believers to get a little nervous, especially those who held to a more legalistic position of
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salvation. The influx of so many Gentile converts disturbed them no little bit.
The apostle Paul's response was commendable: "Let's let the distinguished church fathers, the pillars of the church, answer this one. We need their seasoned wisdom." And so off he went to Jerusalem where the meeting would be held, taking along with him Barnabas (a circumcised Jew) and Titus (an uncir-cumcised Gentile), both of whom had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul tells us what he did when he arrived: "... I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain" (v. 2).
This assures us that he came with an open attitude. He said, in effect, "Men, I want you to know that I have been teaching the good news of Christ according to grace. Am I right or do I need to be corrected?" Their answer, in brief, was, "You're right. We approve of this message." Don't miss the third verse: "But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised."
You think the legalists took that sitting down? No way:
But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour. . . . (vv. 4-5)
Good for him! Why didn't Paul tolerate their disagreement and submit to their legalistic demands? Because liberty is worth fighting for! The sneaking legalists were making their move, and he refused to submit to them for even sixty minutes.
We need to pause and analyze the words "spy out our liberty." The Greek term kataskopos is translated "spy out." A. T. Robertson says it means "to reconnoitre, to make a treacherous investigation." 6 Why? That's not difficult to answer: To enslave! There were those who not only disliked Paul's freedom
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but who also wanted others to live in the same bondage they did. (By the way, people like that still exist.)
In verse 4 Paul says they "sneaked in" to bring them into bondage. In verse 5 he states, "I didn't submit, to make sure you kept free." Good principle: When there is a sneaking in of legalism, there will also be the need for those in leadership to stand fast. The strong must defend the weak. Paul was undaunted, unintimidated, unrelenting in his determination. With confidence, he pursued the freedom each one of those Gentile converts had every right to claim. He withstood legalism, and so must we. Trust me, legalists don't get the message if you're unsure and soft with them. No need to be mean-spirited, but there is the need to be firm.
Earlier, I quoted Eugene Peterson. Because his words fit what I am trying to communicate, let's return to one further paragraph:
There are people who do not want us to be free. They don't want us to be free before God, accepted just as we are by his grace. They don't want us to be free to express our faith originally and creatively in the world. They want to control us; they want to use us for their own purposes. They themselves refuse to live arduously and openly in faith, but huddle together with a few others and try to get a sense of approval by insisting that all look alike, talk alike and act alike, thus validating one another's worth. They try to enlarge their numbers only on the condition that new members act and talk and behave the way they do. These people infiltrate communities of faith "to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus" and not infrequently find ways to control, restrict and reduce the lives of free Christians. Without being aware of it, we become anxious about what others will say about us, obsessively concerned about what others think we should do. We no longer live the good news but anxiously try to memorize and recite the script that someone else has assigned to us. In such an event we may be secure, but we will not be free. We may survive as a religious community, but we will not
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experience what it means to be human, alive in love and faith, expansive in hope. Conforming and self-congratulatory behavior is not free. But Paul "did not yield in submission even for a moment, that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you." Every free person who benefits from Paul's courage will continue vigilant in the resistance movement he formed. 7
Several months ago I was conversing with a man I greatly admire. He is a Christian leader in a position that carries with it heavy and extensive responsibilities. He said he was grieved on behalf of a missionary family he and his wife had known for years. The legalism they had encountered again and again on the mission field from fellow missionaries was so petty, so unbelievably small-minded, they had returned to the States and no longer planned to remain career missionaries. He said it was over a jar of peanut butter. I thought he was joking, to which he responded. "No, it's no joke at all." I could hardly believe the story.
The particular place they were sent to serve the Lord did not have access to peanut butter. This particular family happened to enjoy peanut butter a great deal. Rather creatively, they made arrangements with some of their friends in the States to send them peanut butter every now and then so they could enjoy it with their meals. The problem, is they didn't know until they started receiving the supply of peanut butter that the other missionaries considered it a mark of spirituality that you not have peanut butter with your meals. I suppose the line went something like this: "We believe since we can't get peanut butter here, we should give it up for the cause of Christ," or some such nonsense. A basis of spirituality was "bearing the cross" of living without peanut butter.
The young family didn't buy into that line of thinking. Their family kept getting regular shipments of peanut butter. They didn't flaunt it, they just enjoyed it in the privacy of their own home. Pressure began to intensify. You would expect adult missionaries to be big enough to let others eat what they pleased,
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right? Wrong. The legalism was so petty, the pressure got so intense and the exclusive treatment became so unfair, it finished them off spiritually. They finally had enough. Unable to continue against the mounting pressure, they packed it in and were soon homeward bound, disillusioned and probably a bit cynical. What we have here is a classic modern-day example of a group of squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another's liberty. Not even missionaries are exempted.
Would you please give up your list of do's and don'ts for everybody else? Just keep it for yourself. If you're not into peanut butter, that is fine. That's great! In fact, you have every right to take hands off. If that's your thing, you shouldn't eat it! But don't tell me or someone else we can't enjoy it. And don't judge us because we do.
The examples of such harassment are legion. Recently, I heard about a fellow who attended a legalistic college where students were to live according to very strict rules. They weren't supposed to do any work on Sundays. None! Guess what? He spied on his wife and caught her hanging out a few articles of clothing she washed on Sunday afternoon. Are you ready? The guy turned
in his wife to the authorities! I'll bet she was fun to live with the next day or two. Candidly, there are days in my life when the pettiness of some people makes me want to scream.
In one of his more serious moments, Mike Yaconelli, editor of The Wittenburg Door, wrote strong words concerning pettiness in the church.
Petty people are ugly people. They are people who have lost their vision. They are people who have turned their eyes away from what matters and focused, instead, on what doesn't matter. The result is that the rest of us are immobilized by their obsession with the insignificant. It is time to rid the church of pettiness. It is time the church refused to be victimized by petty people. It is time the church stopped ignoring pettiness. It is time the church quit pretending that pettiness doesn't matter. . . . Pettiness has become a serious disease in the
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Church of Jesus Christ—a disease which continues to result in terminal cases of discord, disruption, and destruction. Petty people are dangerous people because they appear to be only a nuisance instead of what they really are—a health hazard. 8
Yaconelli is correct: Now is the time for the church (and that's you and me, my friend) to acknowledge the need for a "grace awakening" in the land—a new reformation of freedom that proclaims that liberty is worth fighting for.
The third grace killer identified in the book of Galatians is hypocrisy — those who lie and deceive (Gal. 2:11-14). This is one of those rare accounts in Scripture where two important church leaders clash. The two are Paul, the apostle, and Peter, here called Cephas. "But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned" (v. 11).
Question: Why would Paul rebuke Peter? He tells us:
For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision, (v. 12)
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