Liberty within God’s Laws and Dangers of Legalism:
FREEDOM WITHIN THE LAW, NOT FREEDOM FROM THE LAW
Freedom and liberty exist for those who live within the moral laws of God especially the Ten Commandments. Paul says in Gal 2:21 that no one can be saved by the law. We are saved by grace, otherwise Christ died in vain. Paul then says in Gal 3:21 that the law is good. Is this a contradiction? Is Paul running in circles , of course not. Paul is stating that there is NO CONFLICT BETWEEN OBEYING GOD AND FAITH AND GRACE.
The concept that we are saved by grace and don’t have to obey God, is an invented concept with a false gospel message. The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 2:18-22 warns us to be careful of the idea that we can live any way we want without obeying God’s Laws and still be in God’s kingdom. Why would He have to come and die for us if we could continue to live in sin and be in His family? Why would God have to send His Son to die for us if He wanted us to continue living in sin and bringing all the misery, pain and agony that sin behavior entails? PROVERBS 16:11 Christ was burdened and deeply saddened by all the misery heartache, sickness and poverty that He saw all around him that resulted from sin. Why would He die so people could remain in those horrible conditions? He wouldn’t! Sin hurts people!
Why was circumcision being pushed by the Judaizers? They wished to force all gentile converts to become Jewish first by being circumcised and following other more Jewish matters and rituals. They knew that this would limit the number of Gentiles who would enter the church. That was the real goal; blocking raw gentiles from God’s Church. Without proper contextual knowledge the world easily misunderstands Galatians. Most of the worldly Bible scholars are biased against the law because of the Sabbath and or love of religious pictures and statutes. See Gal 4:17.
- What does freedom from the law mean? We are free from the penalty for breaking the law because of Grace Romans 3:20, 6:1-2.
- What are the misconceptions about law, faith and grace? See Rom 3:31.
- What does liberty in Christ mean? See I Cor 5:13-14. IF THERE WERE NO LAW YOU WOULD NOT NEED GRACE. If there is no law against bank robbing you cannot be guilty of bank robbery. But no one can keep all of God’s Laws perfectly enough to earn salvation. So salvation is given by grace. If you robbed two banks and the governor gave you a pardon (grace) he would not be saying you are allowed to keep on robbing banks would he ? Liberty in Christ does not mean license to sin. Gal 5:1-6 says do not get caught in the yoke of bondage of Judaism and being circumcised as an adult which is very difficult and a form of bondage. Christ said that the religious leaders of Judaism ,the scribes and Pharisees, were putting a yoke of bondage on the Jewish people in THE MANNER in which they administered religious rules. See Matt 11:28-30 and Mark 7:7-9.Keeping of the law does not justify us from any mistakes we have made. The sacrifice of Christ can make us righteous, legally and symbolically before God. But within the law we have the liberty to grow spiritually. See Jesus’ magnification of the law in Matt 5. Paul says use our liberty from circumcision and other Jewish issues for growth in love in Gal 5:12-14. Paul further adds that no law exists against true righteousness. See Gal 5:21-23. But we must have grace to be saved . Remember if there is no law, there no need for grace and if not for grace one cannot be free of the penalty of the law and grow. Paul is supporting the proper use of both law and grace. See IICor3:17-18.
- Why is LEGALISM Phobia so Popular?
- THE LAW IS NOT FOR JUSTIFICATION BUT GUIDANCE INTO TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS
- THE LAW AND GRACE WORK TOGETHER AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER
- Those that are anti-law embrace legalism phobia. They actually go so far in their complaints a about ‘legalism’ as to say it is bad for someone to try to obey God.
- How could God not favor one who wanted to obey Him ? This is self evidently ridiculous and false. Those who say keeping God’s Law is harmful are guilty of obvious biases. They wish to fit into society and alter the Sabbath Law and some the laws against use of pictures and statutes in worship.
- Those that wish to counterbalance other sins. This person may have nagging guilt regarding some sins during the year ,so they counter it by giving generously to charities or overly strict obedience to other laws. We cannot impress God with our righteousness. However some try to earn salvation by overly and in an unbalanced manner obeying the law. We cannot earn salvation or be so righteous as to obligate God to give us salvation. Paul explains that the Judaizers were not really so obedient despite appearances. See Gal 6:13. See Luke 18:9-12 where the Pharisee falsely revels in his legal righteousness and brags about his scrupulous tithing and fasting. His self-righteousness is clearly offensive to God. IT IS VITAL THAT WE APPRECIATE THE GRACE PROVIDED BY the SUFFERING OF JESUS out OF LOVE FOR US. SEE AGAIN GAL 5:1-3.
- The real problem with legalism is those that misuse the law. It is not for justification. No man can be justified before God on his own merits. You can stop robbing banks but this would not acquit you of past robberies.
pod prep 2-28-15
