Passage: Galatians 1:6-10
The Big Idea
Some say legalism is just a different way of looking at things, and we can all just get along. But trying to follow a list of rules to please God is a direct rebellion against what Jesus did on the cross. Legalism isn’t good news at all; it’s bad news. That’s why Paul declares war on it. The real problem isn’t turning from a set of ideas but turning from a Person: the One who called us in grace.
This Is War
Legalism is a different gospel. And if “gospel” means good news, then legalism isn’t a gospel at all, because it’s bad news. It says: “You still have to do what no one has ever been able to do, in order to please God and turn yourself into a good person.”
This is war.
Paul asked the Colossians why, if they died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, they still submitted to rules like “Don’t touch, don’t taste, don’t handle.” Those rules are about things that perish, based on human commands and teachings. They look wise, with their self-made religion, false humility and harsh treatment of the body, but they’re worthless against the indulgence of the flesh (Colossians 2:20-23).
- The great enemy of the Christian is the flesh. Obeying laws by our own effort only feeds our flesh.
- The solution for the flesh is death.
- Then we walk in the Spirit: new life flowing from inside us, with new desires, new power, new resources and new motivations.
Turning Away from Him (Galatians 1:6-7)
Paul is astonished that they’re so quickly turning away from Him who called them in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel. Not that there really is another gospel; some people are simply troubling them and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Who do we listen to, and why? In the end, we’re responsible for the life we live. Some people will encourage you to follow Jesus, and some will try to pull you away, but in the end it’s up to you who you follow.
Even though someone was pressuring the Galatians, Paul tells them it was ultimately their decision to get off track. There’s something tempting about legalism. It appeals to our flesh. “I can do it!” we say.
What are they turning away from? Actually, who. That’s the problem!
God said through Jeremiah that the heavens should be appalled, because His people had committed two evils: they had forsaken Him, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can’t hold water (Jeremiah 2:12-13).
Called in Grace
Jesus is the source of grace. Grace and Jesus are practically synonymous.
Grace is the New Testament word for the New Covenant way of life, living by the Spirit. It’s the good side of the war.
Look at God’s promise of a New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Notice three things:
- Forgiveness of sins. He will remember their sins no more.
- A personal relationship with God. “They shall all know Me,” from the least to the greatest.
- God working on the inside. He writes His law on our hearts, enabling and changing us from the inside out. The Law was written on stones, which aren’t alive and can’t give life.
What does that have to do with us? Hebrews 8:8-13 quotes that very promise. Hebrews was written to believers who were especially vulnerable to going back to the Law and legalism, much like us. It says that by calling this covenant “new,” God made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 10:15-20 adds that the Spirit Himself testifies to this New Covenant, and that through Jesus’ blood we have confidence to enter God’s presence by a new and living way.
A new and living way. A Jesus way. That’s what we’re called into now. No longer a law to strain up toward, but new life in our souls, and a relationship with Jesus.
Their Own Righteousness
What were they turning to instead? Their own works. Rejecting God’s righteousness.
Paul describes Israel this way: not knowing the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they didn’t submit to God’s righteousness (Romans 10:3).
- God has a specific plan for righteousness: through faith.
- Trying to establish your own righteousness is the wrong way to use the Law.
A Distorted Gospel
The gospel of Christ is very clear: Jesus did everything. We do nothing but believe and trust in the work He did.
The distorted version says: “Jesus died for us, but we still need to do works to be accepted by Him or keep Him happy with us.”
And there’s nothing but trouble in legalism.
Why would anyone want to twist the gospel of Jesus?
- The gospel offends our pride. It tells us we need a Savior and can’t save ourselves. It gives us no credit at all; it’s all Jesus’ work for us.
- The gospel offends our wisdom. It saves us through something many consider foolish: God becoming a man and dying a humiliating death on our behalf.
- The gospel offends our knowledge. It asks us to believe something that goes against ordinary experience: that a dead man, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead in a glorious body that will never die again.
Let Him Be Accursed (Galatians 1:8-9)
Paul says that even if he himself, or an angel from heaven, preached any gospel other than the one he preached to them, let that one be accursed. And he says it twice.
It isn’t possible to be any harsher than Paul is right here. This is an all-out attack, and Paul isn’t mincing words.
So where’s Paul’s love? Picture a sinking ship, with people in the water about to drown. Two rescue ships arrive. But you know one of them is loaded with explosives and will blow up before it reaches port, killing everyone aboard. The most loving thing you could do is get everyone onto the right ship! Paul looks at this false gospel and says, “That rescue ship is going down. It can’t save anyone. I’ll do whatever it takes to warn people away from it.”
Pleasing God, Not Men (Galatians 1:10)
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.
- Those teaching another gospel were out to satisfy people. The heart of legalism is pleasing people.
- Paul doesn’t care about pleasing people. He’s a slave of Christ. That’s the safest place to be, and it’s exactly how Christ wants it.
- Paul wasn’t trying to talk anyone into anything. He was presenting the truth in power. You can’t argue someone into heaven. Salvation is an alignment of your will: humbly crying out to the Lord in faith in His work on the cross.
That’s the gospel: Jesus did it all. Trust Him, and you’re saved. And if you know someone who needs to hear it, bring them along to hear the good news.
Grace Takeaway
Legalism isn’t another way to follow Jesus; it’s turning away from Him. The gospel is simple: Jesus did everything, and we trust Him. Don’t trade the fountain of living water for a broken cistern of your own effort. Stay on the right rescue ship, and live to please God, who has already accepted you in Christ.
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