THE CURSE OF LEGALISM

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”

Galatians 3:10-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Imagine if salvation was dependent on a person perfectly complying with a set standard for living with the emphasis on the word “perfectly” here.

Now, as you ponder this scenario, ask yourself this question:

“Have I ever done anything perfectly in my life?”

I believe the answer will be an emphatic “NO” because there hasn’t been one human being outside of Jesus who has ever lived errorless. We are all inherently flawed and when it comes to righteousness, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

When it came to Old Testament times, the Jews, God’s chosen people at that time, were required to comply with the Law God passed on to Moses, a Law that intended to show the Israelites how to live. As long as they perfectly kept this Law, they would be considered right and righteous with God. Any violation would lead to a need for atonement for sin but even worse, it would result in a curse. We know this because of the Law in the Book of Deuteronomy:

“Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” 27:26

Herein is found the curse of legalism and the folly in the kind of gospel message that the Jews in Paul’s day were spreading among the newly minted Christians in Galatia. This perversion of the true Gospel given by God through His Son Jesus pushed followers to comply with the Jewish Law of the Old Testament in addition to believing in Christ as Savior. Essentially, this was adding requirements that had been superseded by the new covenant God had established, a new covenant bringing salvation to all people, Jew or Gentile. All one had to do is place their faith and trust in God’s only Son Jesus as Savior, Jesus who was the One true source of redemption and justification.

The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk had this message to share regarding living in a way that would garner God’s favor:

“...the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” 2:4

As we saw in yesterday’s message, Paul invoked Abraham, the man considered to be the father of the Jews, to remind the Galatian Christians that God credited the prominent Old Testament figure righteous because of his faith, not because of any compliance with the Law. In God’s view, Abraham was righteous because of his faithfulness.  

Conversely, the Law of the Old Testament wasn’t based on faith but rather works. This verse from the Book of Leviticus, another book of the Law, validates this:

“The person who does these things will live by them.” 18:5

In other words, the Law requires a legalistic approach to being found blameless by God. One needs to flawlessly adhere to a range of standards that they are destined to fail to live by because the truth of the matter is that no one can perfectly do any one thing let alone a litany of expected behaviors.

This is the curse of legalism and the blessing found in true salvation. For through mere belief in Jesus, and in Him alone, a person is automatically justified or made just as if they had never sinned in the eyes of God. This is because Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, has already taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29). His blood that was shed on Calvary’s cross has washed away every sin stain and left us white as snow, cleansed and perfectly righteous before God.

Indeed, we are saved through Christ and Him alone, the only One who can bring us to eternal life with God. Let’s rejoice in this truth as we celebrate the Messiah’s birth this Christmas.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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