Galatians 3: Legalism

Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

On his first missionary journey, Paul learns to his surprise that non-Jews seem more receptive than Jews to the news about Jesus. He begins a policy that he comes to follow throughout his ministry career. He goes first to the synagogue and preaches among the Jews; if they reject him, he turns to the Gentiles.

Before his conversion Paul was a loyal and strict Jew, proud to be a "legalist." If a person could reach God by obeying the law, then he, a strict Pharisee, would have done it. In a twist of history, he gains a new reputation as "the Apostle to the Gentiles." As he sees God working among non-Jews, Paul becomes their champion.

This letter to the churches in Galatia (located in modern-day Turkey) dates from the time of the early Jew-Gentile controversy. Paul is emotionally worked up. In fact, he is downright furious at misguided attempts to shackle the church with Jewish legalism. Paul has felt the gust of freedom that comes after liberation from a set of confining laws, and he is not about to let that freedom slip away.

In the first paragraph of chapter 3, Paul explodes with the full force of his passionate beliefs. He then proceeds to give a "Christian," rather than Jewish, interpretation of the Old Testament covenants with Abraham and Moses. Chapters 3-4 draw sharp contrasts; a prisoner and a free man, a sheltered child and an adult. Don't act like a slave or a child, Paul says. Act like a privileged son, an heir to a great fortune! Galatians shatters the idea that God's love is conditioned upon how many rules we obey. Legalism is like a cage: it can only condemn people and lock them behind bars. As Paul points out, no one has perfectly kept all of God's laws, and all who try to do so ultimately fail (3:10-11).

Reflection

For years, I've always struggled with the beliefs of our Jewish friends and their tendencies towards legalism. In fact, just recently at our home ABF, we have discussed this very issue. By looking closely at Paul's work- here specifically in Galatians, he uses a clever argument to put the entire Old Testament law in a new perspective. The law- as he says- was never intended to make possible a way to God. Rather, the law was given to "lead us to Christ" by convincing us of the impossibility of gaining God's acceptance on our own. In fact, Paul- to prove his point- mentions a 430 year gap between Abraham and Moses. God gave his promises to Abraham, who lived long before Moses ever received the law; therefore, Abraham couldn't possibly have depended on the law. God's promise reached final fulfillment in Christ.