Why Paul Had to Address Legalism at Galatia

[Mark H. Stevens, Th.D]

The principles to be derived from the example of the Galatian church are listed below:


Legalism is a result of a process of turning away from the truth. It is therefore deliberate (volitional). People deliberately choose legalism.


The type of legalism which a person follows is often be related to some kind of background exposure, practice, or principle. A person's culture and upbringing will determine what type of religion he follows. Galatians deals with religious legalism which came out of Jewish law and practice.


Legalism always has a pseudo-content, "another gospel of a different kind". Gal. 1:6.


Once legalism begins to operate in a believer's life, he becomes suspicious of another person's motives, methods, message. Gal. 1:10-12.


A mature Christian who has been in a legalistic religion can spot legalism a mile off. Paul was at the top of Judaism before his conversion. Gal. 1:13,14.


Legalism sometimes uses techniques of infiltration, or spying, to gather information, while operating under a cloak of respectability. The legalist will bide his time until it suits his purpose to act. Gal. 2:1-4.


When legalists are met with truth, in terms of content and procedure, it crumbles and is unable to fulfill its objectives. Strong teaching keeps legalists from getting their campaigns launched. Gal. 2:5-9.


When legalists lose a battle on one front, they will regroup and form another base of operations on another front. When legalists cannot get a grasp on a person when he is in the company of strong believers, they will concentrate on him when he is standing alone.


Legalism is often seen in leadership before it is seen in the congregation. And when a leader gets involved in legalism, he influences others to go with him. This happens often when a project is going sour and the leader is desperate for support. Example: when there is financial trouble, there is a great temptation to get away from principles of grace giving.


The content of legalism is often something that has a bonafide function in some other context. In the Galatian churches, legalism was a distortion of the Law. The Law has a real and bonafide function, "to bring us to Christ", and legalism distorted it. Other examples: legalism takes the doctrine of Separation and makes it the doctrine of spirituality; it takes the doctrine of Baptism and makes it the doctrine of church membership.
The term "bondage" in Gal. 5:1 means "the slavery to the principles and ways of regular human living." This is not the idea of degraded lasciviousness or debauchery. The Law was bonafide; circumcision was bonafide. But these were distorted by legalists to that they became the master of the person instead of his tools.


The legalistic person has been "bewitched." This terms means "to have evil brought upon you by vain praise." Legalism appeals to a person's lust for approbation and tries to drag him into legalism to satisfy it. Gal. 3:1-3.
The person in legalism is described as "foolish", meaning "not understanding." Legalism is one of the greatest robbers of Christian benefits; it robs people of their understanding of the Word of God and all of the benefits of the Grace life.


The legalist does not learn from experience. He has great tenacity; and despite many failures and vain strivings, he still can't see his error. He sees his programs not working, so he has to go from one thing to the next, always looking for something better, never satisfied, and never satisfying others. Gal. 3:4.


The very thing that the legalist puts himself under is that which rises up to smite him. When a Christian puts himself under the taboos of others, he can't measure up. So he puts himself under a church organization, and he still can't measure up. The very system that he embraces proves him to be deficient by always presenting a moving target. Grace is the only system which does not magnify the believer's deficiencies.

Grace to you, and peace...

[Anna]

ALEPH. Blessed [are] the undefiled in the way who walk in the law/Torah H 8451 of the LORD.

Psa 119:18 Open thou (Mark's) eyes , that (He) may behold wondrous things out of thy law/Torah H8451.


Psa 119:29 (Father) Remove from (Mark) the way of lying: and grant (Mark) thy law/Torah 8451 graciously.

Psa 119:34 Give (Mark) understanding , and (he) shall keep thy law/Torah H 8451; yea, (he) shall observe it with (his) whole heart.

Psa 119:44 So shall (Mark) keep thy law /Torah H8451 continually for ever and ever
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't it interesting Mark that David was inspired to tell us that it is the WICKED that forsake YHWH's law:

Psa 119:53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law/Torah H8451.

I would rather that some person call me a "legalist" a term that never appears in the Bible, rather than for YHWH to call me "WICKED" because I have forsaken Torah.

Please clarify Mark, have you forsaken the Torah?
.

[Mark H. Stevens, Th.D]

The legalist does not learn from experience. He has great tenacity; and despite many failures and vain strivings, he still can't see his error. He sees his programs not working, so he has to go from one thing to the next, always looking for something better, never satisfied, and never satisfying others. Gal. 3:4.

[Anna]

Torah vs Legalism

The entire issue of “legalistic” stems from the erroneous teaching that “Jesus nailed the Law to the cross,” or some other way of saying that Yeshua abolished the Torah. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Consider this example of Yeshua’s teaching:

“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law [Torah] until all is accomplished.” (Matt 5:18, NASB)

“… whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot [commandments] and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:19, CJB)

Have heaven and earth passed away yet? If not, the entire Torah — every commandment, every word, every letter, the smallest part of every letter — is still in force and binding upon G-d’s people. Do you want to be called “least” or “greatest” in the Kingdom? If you want to be called “great” then you will obey and teach even the least of the commandments of Torah. (See further comments on these two verses at http://www.familybible.org/Teaching/Model/Chapter_9.htm

According to an accurate interpretation of the Scriptures, we are now, and have always been, “under the whole Torah (Law)” — the Torah is G-d’s only standard of righteousness. When we are “saved” (brought into a saving relationship with Yeshua HaMashiach) we are given the gift of the indwelling Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) Who enables us to live righteous lives in accordance with the whole Torah.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works [obedience to Torah], which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph 2:10, NASB)

“For we are of G-d’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions [obedience to Torah] already prepared by G-d for us to do.” (Eph 2:10, CJB)

The only provisions of Torah which are not applicable to the Believer today are (1) those Mitzvot (commandments) that apply to the Temple and its sacrificial system (because there is no Temple at this time — they will be applicable when the next Temple is dedicated), (2) those Mitzvot that apply to the civil rule of law under a theocratic government (there is no theocratic government at this time — they will be applicable when King Messiah returns and physically reigns on earth), or (3) those Mitzvot which apply only within Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel — Believers who live in Eretz Israel are subject to these Mitzvot; those in the Diaspora outside of Eretz Israel are not). See http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm for the list.

When Rav Sha'ul (the Apostle Paul) wrote his letters, he originally wrote them (I believe) in Hebrew. They were then translated into Greek and Aramaic, and then into Latin, and finally into English. The problem he had (and that we have today) is that in Hebrew and Greek, there is no word for the English concept of “legalism.” And so he tried to explain his teaching using the only vocabulary that he had. When the letters were finally translated into English, the translators had already made up their minds that Torah had been “cancelled,” and that bias was incorporated into their translation. A careful re-reading of all of Rav Sha'ul's letters in their original Hebrew context will reveal that what he actually taught is that we are still subject to every single provision of Torah (with the exceptions as listed immediately above — all of which he carefully observed until his death), but we are not subject to the Rabbinical interpretation of Torah, the “Tradition of the Elders” (though Rav Sha'ul personally remained observant to the Traditions).

A careful reading of Rav Sha'ul’s biography in the book of Acts will reveal that he taught and practiced faithful obedience to the “least commandment” of Torah — including “the tradition of the elders.” In his defense before King Agrippa, he said,

“… I am about to make my defense before you today; especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.” (Acts 26:1-5)

Look at the last event of his life as recorded in Acts 28:

“After three days Sha'ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: ‘Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans. …’ They said to him, ‘We have not received any letters about you from Y'hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you.’”

These people with whom he was speaking were the “local Jewish leaders” in Rome who were extremely familiar with the most minute detail of both the Torah and the Tradition of the Elders. Rav Sha'ul said that he has not offended in even the slightest provision of “the traditions of our fathers” and they agreed that nobody, not even the strictest of the Pharisees, “has reported or said anything bad about you.” If the Torah was no longer in effect for Rav Sha'ul, then he would not have kept the slightest provisions of even “traditions of our fathers” — it is simply inconceivable that he would have taught that Torah had been abolished and then continued to live under its strict application and interpretation.

Those who call obedience to God “legalism”, according to Yeshua, “will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.” However, we are obedient to Torah not in order to be saved, but because we have already been saved and have been empowered by Ruach HaKodesh to live according to G-d’s only standard of righteousness, the Torah.