But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
Galatians 3:11
For several weeks now, we have been studying the first four chapters of Romans. If there’s one point that the apostle drives home over and over again in the beginning of this letter, it is that we are justified (that is, declared righteous before God) by faith and not by the works of the law. As Paul writes in Rom 3:28, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” For the apostle to spend so much time on this topic, we must realize that it is an important one!
Our study of this fact carried us over to the book of Galatians, an important book of the Bible when it comes to defending the doctrine of justification by faith alone because the Galatians were on the verge of casting off this truth! You get the sense of the seriousness of this error in the apostle’s greeting to the Galatians. You’ll find none of the pleasantries that Paul’s other letters include. Instead, Paul barely greets them before he says in v. 6, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel…” Paul did not consider their departure from the faith into Old Testament Judaism a light thing, and neither should we!
The sin of the Galatians is that they were trying to live according to the old covenant in the light of the new covenant! You may think this issue to be a dead one. Surely the church would not be in danger of such error when the truth is so clearly set forth in the word of God, right? Well, let’s see what the Galatians were getting into that had Paul so concerned, and then you decide whether or not similar issues exist today. The three practices mentioned in this letter, three errors that evidenced a departure from justification by faith, were (1) circumcision, (2) eating restrictions, and (3) observances of days and seasons.
Circumcision was by far the biggest issue among the Galatians. The question of circumcision had already been brought before the apostles and the definitive answer in Ac 15:24-29 was that it was NOT required. With such clear instruction, Paul told the Galatians bluntly ” if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.” (Gal 5:2). With that in mind, have you ever wondered why we live in a nation founded on Christian principles, but 80% of the men are circumcised? Most would argue it’s done for health reasons, but did you know that it originally gained popularity in the U.S. for moral reasons! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_male_circumcision)
Speaking of health reasons, that’s usually what I hear to be the motivation for Christians today who follow the food restrictions of the Old Testament. But, it was refusing to eat the foods of the Gentiles which God was now allowing that led Paul to rebuke Peter publicly. (Gal 2:11-16) And if anyone should have understood liberty in Christ, it should have been Peter since God had given him the vision of Ac 10:11-15 where he was told to kill and eat unclean animals, a picture of God’s plan to extend salvation to the Gentiles. How shocking to see Gentile Christians today throwing off a liberty that signified their being brought to Christ! And listen to one of the doctrines of demons that 1 Tim 4:1-5 says men will practice which will evidence a departure from the faith in the latter days: “commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
Last among the Galatian church was a practice that prompted Paul to say, “I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” (Gal 4:11) What could be so disturbing to the apostle? What did he refer to as a turning “to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage” (v. 9)? V. 10 reveals they were observing “days and months and seasons and years.” If there’s any culture that understands the bondage associated with being controlled by the observance of various days throughout the year, it should be ours. The Galatians were observing religious days and festivals, but Col 2:16-17 exhorts us to not be pressured about keeping such traditions. Why? They tend to distract from our real focus which should be Christ! Just listen: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Our life should be about living for the glory of God on a daily basis, 24/7, 365 days a year!
I hope it’s clear that these same tendencies that had the apostle Paul so upset 2000 years ago are alive and well within the church today! No doubt, the real issue is with adding anything to the work of Christ. The fact that we are justified by faith means that Jesus paid it all. The law was never intended as a way of salvation, but it was rather a means to lead us to Christ. (Gal 3:24) The law, because of our inability to keep it, tells us we’re sinners who fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:19-23) and thus declares we need a Savior! We can never do enough to please God. Our hope is in the work of Jesus Christ alone! “…not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…” (Tit 3:5) That’s the point I hope we all understand, but in light of that, I hope we also see the danger of adding the works of the law. Even if we say we’re not observing these things to be accepted with God, watch out! These may just be the stepping stones along the way to that conclusion, and we may be planting the seeds of justification by works within our children!
Jamie