Creeping Legalism
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
Galatians 3:1-3
The Apostle Paul rebukes the believers here in the churches across Galatia for how they were straying away from the fundamental truth of the gospel. The question is poised to the Galatians. Did they receive the Spirit by obedience unto the law or did they receive the Spirit only by faith alone? The answer is faith in Christ alone! Paul asks why they are becoming legalistic and adding rules to salvation when they were first saved by faith alone. Abraham was considered righteous because of his faith first, for he was not circumcised before he believed. Thus proves once again that one is justified and declared righteous because of his or her faith alone. Not faith plus works. He calls upon the foolish Galatians to turn back away from false teaching.
I recently attended a conference where one of the speakers gave a testimony about her Christian upbringing in the Midwest. She mentioned it was a church with strict rules and a fundamentalist-bend within it’s culture. An example of a rule included not being allowed to go to the movie theater because it was a place of temptation for mischief and hooliganism. If one did not follow these rules, they were condemned in the church and were told to follow the rules in order to “become more spiritual” or to be “right with the Lord.” She made it clear that her church preached the gospel but they had these additional rules to be the “measuring rod” for one’s spiritual condition.
While these churches be accused of complete legalism like the Judaizers promoted back in the early church (works + faith-based salvation), one could characterize these churches as legalistic-leaning churches. I was a part of these churches as well. The church I became a Christian and grew up in promoted legalistic type of rules to promote “spiritual growth” such as believing that there is only one English Bible version which is the King James Version, avoiding the movie theater, not having Facebook, dressing a certain way, keeping my haircut short, etc. While they certainly had the right and good intention, they were promoting a philosophy that was trending and slowly creeping towards legalism.
This is a danger that we must be aware and cognizant of. Any church can become legalistic in it’s culture and we must do what it takes to prevent that type of culture creeping through the front doors. We must continually love one another and lift each other up. We must not compare our the state of our spiritual condition with one another.
In order for us to prevent this culture to creep in, we must continuously humble ourselves and remind ourselves of the grace of God that is bestowed upon us regardless of what kind of condition we were in. This includes sharing and reflecting upon our own testimonies of where and who we were before our salvation then where and who we are after. This includes continuously lifting each other up and keeping accountability through vulnerable sharing. This includes the act of love for one another even those that may be difficult to love. We must discipline ourselves in these areas so that we may continuously remain a gospel-centered church.
Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended. 11 One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace will have the king for a friend.
Proverbs 22:10-11
Humility begins when we fear the Lord above all else. It is only through humility where we will be rewarded with riches and honor. We must remove those that go against this and begin to mock one another for there will be strife and quarrels if the one that begins strife is in the midst of our congregation. However the one that has grace and loves others with a pure heart will find friends even in kings. Cast out the scorner and mockers, stay away from them.
