4th Sunday after Pentecost
June 27, 2004
Galatians 2:1-21

The Truth of the Gospel Excludes Legalism

  I think you would agree that there are not many things in life that are really free, no strings or expectations attached. We talk about things that money can’t buy, like love. However, even love comes with some expectations. The woman or man you’re trying to attract is looking for a certain type of person, not just anyone. And surely you have some standards too. Not just anyone will do!

  In fact, we’re rather used to conditions being attached to almost everything. You can have this job if you meet the requirements. You can go to this school if you meet the requirements. You can join this group if you meet the requirements. If, if, if! Sometimes the conditions are hard or unusual, but not always. Sometimes they’re quite easy! Yet they’re still conditions.

  Now whenever something has a condition or requirement attached to it, we are talking about a form of legalism. We may not like or use the term ‘legalism’ but we’re all very used to the concept. And that’s why the Gospel is so very difficult for us to keep straight. We can hardly conceive of an important relationship that is really unconditional, that has no requirements. Can it really be that Jesus makes us his friends and requires nothing from us? He’s not even looking for a good attitude, a generally nice person? Would you and I ever look for the rottenest, meanest, dirtiest, scummiest person to be our friend? No way! And that’s why we have such a hard time with the truth of the Gospel. It doesn’t compute. Our instincts get in the way and we end up attaching some kind of condition to God’s justice, mercy and love for us.

  That is what Paul is talking about in this letter. Legalism is our habit; it’s what we expect and just about all we can understand. But Jesus’ life, death and resurrection exclude all conditions and requirements for salvation. And until we understand that, we will never understand the truth of the Gospel. So then, understand that the truth of the Gospel excludes all legalism.

  In Galatians chapter 2, we have two examples of how the truth of the Gospel excludes all legalism. First, Paul says, ¹Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us-- ⁵we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.

  The question here was whether on not Titus could be a Christian without being circumcised according to Jewish law. At this early date, no one had really made a distinction between Jews and Christians. Almost all Christians were Jews! They were all circumcised and they all observed Jewish customs. Before Jesus, to become a member of the people of God and have the hope of eternal life, you had to become a Jew. If you were a man you had to be circumcised. There was no other way. So when these non-Jews became Christians, they were becoming Jews who believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The Jewish Christians naturally assumed that they would be circumcised and taught the Law of Moses like they had always done.

  But Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, said no! This requirement of circumcision was incompatible with the Gospel. Jesus didn’t send them out with the instructions to make disciples of all nations by circumcising them and teaching them the Law of Moses. The nations were to be told the Good News of forgiveness through faith in Christ. Then they were to be baptized and taught to obey all that Jesus had taught. There were no Jewish requirements or conditions attached. Well, the guys in Jerusalem had a hard time with that, but they had to agree with Paul. The truth of the Gospel didn’t require a man to be circumcised according to Jewish practice. Titus remained a Greek.

  Sometime later there was a second test case involving the apostle Peter. ¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; ¹²for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. ¹³And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

  Peter knew that the old food restrictions were no longer valid. We all remember Peter’s vision of the sheet with all the different animals which God told him to kill and eat. This was to prepare him to go see the soldier Cornelius. Jesus had removed the old barriers between Jews and Gentiles. They were now to be one people through faith in Christ. However, Peter was still a Jew and a human being. He gave in to pressure from some Jews who had more nationalistic fervour. They said that Jews could not eat with Gentiles because their food was unclean. The pressure must have been intense to sway Peter and also Barnabas who had been with Paul for a few years already. All the Jews withdrew from their Gentile brothers and ceased to eat with them.

  That was too much for Paul! This was inconsistent with the truth of the Gospel. There were no more distinctions between Jews and Gentiles because of Jesus. This segregation—a sort of apartheid—implied that the Gentiles were somehow second rate, not good enough to eat with Jews. That was a complete denial of the truth of the Gospel! So Paul confronted Peter in public. And again, Paul was proven correct. This condition could not be applied to the Gospel.

  In both of these cases, the truth of the Gospel was being compromised by legalism. Some requirement or condition was added to faith in Christ. It’s a trap into which we easily fall. You don’t have to be a Christian long to run in to examples of such legalism. You meet well meaning Christians for example, who will tell you that a true Christian abstains from alcohol, smoking, dancing, cards, and the like. Some will tell you outright that such things are sins and quote bible verses to back it up. Others will say that they’re not technically sins, but a mature Christian doesn’t do such things.

  Ever had anyone ask you when you were born again? What was the date of your conversion? If you don’t know, or if you say that you have always been a Christian and were baptized as a baby, they will leave you no doubt that you probably are not saved! Another might ask you about what spiritual gift you have, especially whether you speak in tongues. If you don’t speak in tongues or have some other extraordinary gift, again, you’re not a mature Christian. Yet another will insist that Christians must be pacifists and refuse military service, or that we must be vegetarians. Some even say that it’s a sin to have professional, paid clergy! Every one of these examples is a condition that compromises the truth of the Gospel. If you don’t meet the requirement, you are not a true believer, or else you’re a baby Christian, whatever that means! They leave you wondering if you’re saved or not.

  Christians don’t exert themselves to come up with this stuff. The old Adam in us just brings it out on its own. We quickly succumb to a sort of spiritual pride and start imposing our own conditions just like we do in the rest of life. I, for example, am convinced that Christians ought to tithe, that is, that we ought to give at least 10% of what we earn as an offering to God for the work of his Church. The tithe is the standard of the Old Testament and of Judaism. It is a model from the history of God’s people which should inform our practice today. But, and this is a big ‘but’, tithing is a requirement of the Law of Moses that Christ fulfilled for us. He didn’t give us a new command about tithing. I cannot tell another Christian that he or she must give 10% of his income as an offering to God or else he cannot inherit eternal life. If I did that, I would be just like the men in Paul’s day who were saying that circumcision was necessary, or like Peter who felt compelled to observe certain food laws. I would be imposing a condition on salvation, compromising the truth of the Gospel.

  What then is this “truth of the Gospel”? ¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. ¹⁷But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

  The truth of the Gospel comes down to two fundamental points. First, we are justified by faith in Christ alone. And second, life after being justified is a life in union with Christ.

  We recognize by nature that we need or ought to have some kind of relationship with our maker. But on our own we can only think of that relationship as we do other relationships. There must be some requirements or conditions. If I am to please God and have his favour, then I must live up to some standard. That seems reasonable. And I suppose that we could say that there are as many standards as there are people in the world. Everyone comes to his own understanding of what condition must be met to please God whether it be circumcision, a pilgrimage to Mecca, abstinence from alcohol or whatever.

  But what God says is quite different, for which we can be extremely grateful! He a priori, categorically excludes any conditions on our part. He put all the requirements on himself, on his Son Jesus. God said that our relationship with him will be based only on the life, death and resurrection of Christ. He justifies us because of Christ. That means that he forgives all our sins, past, present and future, for the sake of Jesus. He declares us innocent and just and adopts us as his own children.

  He delivers all that to us by faith. We don’t have to discover it. He sends people to tell us the Good News. This Gospel creates faith in us as we hear it. God himself causes us to trust this Gospel that we are justified for Christ’s sake. So then, we do nothing to make God want to justify us and we do nothing to effect our justification. It’s God’s idea and work from beginning to end.

  It has always been that way, even for the Jews. Paul says, We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. The Jews always knew that their standing with God was a matter of faith and not merit. But, that old sinful nature got in the way and they forgot their own Scriptures to which Paul alludes. David says in Psalm 143 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness. Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. Abraham, the first Hebrew, was justified by faith. So was David. So was every Jew since. That is the truth of the Gospel.

  That truth gives peace and freedom from the fear of judgment. Since everything depends on Christ, you and I can’t mess it up! We have nothing to contribute. That is why Paul is so adamant about not compromising the truth of the Gospel in any way and calls down curses on anyone who would pervert this truth. The Gospel is our release from the fear of judgment and from the bondage of legalism. We don’t have to become artificial atheists, deny the existence of God and embrace monkeys to man evolution to be free. We have only to stick to the truth of the Gospel!

  This truth of the Gospel not only justifies us but it enables us to live in union with Christ. And there is the power to be rid of legalism once for all. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

  God’s law requires that all who have sinned die. That’s us! In Christ we did die! His death, his crucifixion counts for ours. The requirement of the law has been fulfilled. And God didn’t renew the law’s contract! Christ now lives in us and he no longer lives under the law. Neither do we. There is no law to condemn us, no conditions to meet to please God. We have died with respect to the law.

  Does that mean then that anything goes? No, for I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Since Christ lives in us, we now do what Christ does. He is in control; his Spirit possesses us. The Holy Spirit does no evil. Thus, there is no law regulating what I eat and drink, but the Spirit will not let me abuse my body, his temple, through gluttony and drunkenness. There is no law about what clothes I wear but, again, the Spirit will not let me cause a public scandal or lead others into temptation by what I wear. There is no law that regulates what I do with my money, but the Spirit of Christ will not let me withhold my offerings of thanksgiving to God. In this way we do the will of God, not by compulsion, meeting conditions, but willingly by the power of the Spirit.

  You see then, our justification has no conditions. It is the gift of God, the result of his love for us. Our sanctification, our life in faith in Christ, is controlled by Christ himself. The Holy Spirit will guide us to live holy lives. There is no place in the Christian faith for legalism! And that is the truth of the Gospel!