So in the Christian league of Christians are you nearer the top or the bottom?
I have never met a joyful legalist only prisoners.
The proof of your maturity is not in disciplines, the beatitude check-list or the law/Torah. But it is in the awareness of your own impurity, that you cannot fulfil the laws and everybody’s personal lists of acceptability, but you need Him and you need a community that will hold you accountable and ask you the hard questions. This is spiritual maturity and it is achievable.
In the next few verses we have the heart of Paul’s message to the Galatians. Here is the firt very important key point.
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.” (Galatians 2 v 19)
- It is difficult for us if we have never had the Torah/the Law as a benchmark for our life within our culture to truly understand the importance of this. Paul did have this. If you have been brought up as a child in a Christian home you might understand it more than those who haven’t. But it isn’t long down the Christian road that we can all feel the weight of continuing to be a good person no matter what our upbringing or culture is. The Church can subconsciously give us a list to follow. If my Christianity is about keeping to the rules then all that will lead to is finding myself in a place where I feel ultra-good about myself or feel utterly worthless!
- Being made right before God is never achieved by working at being right or good or the best you can be. To die to the law means to have zero confidence in my ability to be right with God.
- There is nothing wrong with the standard/rules (the law/Torah) of engagement with God. That is still there. It hasn’t died. It reminds us that we will never achieve that standard. We will always fall short of being good enough. We will never feel that ‘I am a good Christian’ based on our accomplishing the rules.
- All the law does is remind you that you are not good enough. To die to it means I refuse to listen to its loud voice that reminds me what I already know, I have sinned and I will sin, in fact, I am a sinner. It will tell me nothing new. But in order to live for God I choose to ignore that condemning voice, I am deaf to it.
- The problem at the time were the people surrounding Paul influencing others to keep acknowledging the law. They wanted people to keep striving to keep the rules as a means of being acceptable to God. They are still amongst us. Watch out for them. If you can’t see them they are very much speaking into your mind.
Die to trying to be good in order to please God and others. You will find that you live better.
Missions Paul 