Proclamation! | Spring | 2018 | Articles
*RECOVERING LEGALISTS
By Kelsie Petersen
The book of Galatians is a powerful antidote for Adventism and for all forms of legalism and pseudo-Christian systems of works-righteousness. I’ve heard so many people share that the reading and hearing of this short book has been the catalyst that propelled them out of more than one false religious system.
As I was rolling around the ideas for this post in my head, I had a few thoughts that might be interesting to you before we really dive in.
Did you know that at an average reading speed of 200 words per minute, you can read the entire book of Galatians in 15 minutes? It’s an incredibly short book, but it’s power-packed with so much truth that it’s easy to see why it has become a favorite of so many of us who are recovering from the old covenant and discovering the new!
Have you ever read Galatians out loud? I tried once. I don’t remember how far I got, but I do remember being struck by the passion and conviction with which Paul was speaking. It’s impossible to read those words in a dull, lackluster tone. Paul’s conviction and desperation to reach the Galatians with his message of “It is finished” fairly oozes out of every phrase. If you haven’t tried to read this book out loud, you really should consider it. For me, even just the little bit I got through has added so much perspective as to how strongly Paul felt about both the topic and about his audience.
A simple internet search will yield several different outlines of the book of Galatians. An outline can be helpful before reading, during reading, and after, in order to keep the context of the book in mind. In fact, as I was reading through Galatians over the past few days, I jotted down my own informal outline of sorts.
From chapter 1:1–2:15, Paul establishes himself as someone who has authority and can be trusted.
Between chapters Sure! 2:16–5:12, he basically grabs the Galatians by the shoulders and gives them a good shake. He repeats his message right side up, upside down, forwards, backwards, diagonally, and inside-out: “The Law is GONE!” I had a private laugh picturing Paul taking a Galatian man by the shoulders and nearly shouting at him, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth!?”
From chapter 5:13–6:10, Paul lays out for them what the life of the believer should (and should not) look like.
Finally, in the remaining verses of Chapter 6, he summarizes his message and signs off.
What now?
As recovering legalists (if I may use that term), we feel the first five-and-a-half chapters most keenly, because they provide the prescription, the antidote, for what burdened us: the law. As I have moved farther from my exit point from Adventism, however—or perhaps just because of the circumstances of my life, I find myself turning more and more to the last main section of this book found in Chapters 5:13–6:10. Here I find the outline, the plan, for our new life as Christians: life by the Spirit.
As recovering law keepers, we sometimes miss the sense of security we got from living in the “box” which the law gave us. We had a “to do” list! We knew what the plan was.
The good news is—there is still a plan apart from the law! The bad news is—apart from the law, the plan is much shorter, with far fewer details.
Is there a list with this new plan, you ask? The answer is yes, but it’s not a “to do” list at all. It’s a “to BE” list. Even more shocking, we’re not in charge of accomplishing the list anymore! (This news should cause my fellow “ controllers” to feel pretty nervous!)
To be or not to…do?
Reading through Galatians 5:13–6:10, I found a volley of things “to be” and things “not to do”. Being the list-maker that I am, therefore, I compiled the following groups of behaviors and characteristics:
We are to be:
Free, led by the Spirit, a servant, loving, joyful, patient, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled, humble, introspective, and self-examining.
We are not to:
Indulge the sinful nature, engage in sexual immorality, be involved in impurity, practice witchcraft, hate, cause discord, be jealous, have fits of rage, pursue selfish ambition, create dissensions and factions, envy, be drunk, participate in orgies, become conceited, or provoke others.
Of course there are a few things listed that we should do and things we should not be, but on the whole, the comparison of being vs. doing is quite profound to me. The whole message of the gospel is that we are freed from doing the works of the flesh. Instead, we are free to be the righteousness of God.
Of course, those who would put us back under the yoke of the law always want to know if our new freedom means that we are now free to do anything we feel the urge to do, because we are no longer under the law. Paul addresses this right at the start of this section, by saying,
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. BUT do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love.” (emphasis mine)
As I showed in the above lists, the difference between living in freedom by the Spirit is quite visibly different from living under the law, because the FRUIT of the Spirit is so vastly unlike the ACTS of the sinful nature (5:22, 5:19). I heard a quote once, and while I unfortunately can’t remember who said it, I do remember clearly what it said,
The believer does not have license to live in sin; rather he has liberty to live in freedom.
Working it through
As someone still in recovery from a legalistic system (a “place” I will probably always be, to some degree), I find that certain terms I hear in sermons or in conversations with other Christians can really make my ears burn. Words such as “obedience,” “sanctification,” “law,” “truth,” and the like make me perk up and pay attention. I will admit that because of my experience growing up in Adventism as well as many unfortunate experiences within evangelical Christianity, I always cringe when I hear those words. My experience predisposes me to expect that I am about to get a “to-do” list and a guilt trip to go with it!
I have to work extra hard to wade through my own habitual responses to make sure that I am hearing the speaker rightly and to determine whether he or she is handling these concepts properly in light of the new covenant. I can do that internal filtering and analysis, but it requires more work for me than it would for many others.
Because of my knee-jerk reactions to behavior requirements, the idea of really putting teeth to this portion of Galatians to determine how these realities work in my personal life and how they should function in a local church body is a little daunting. I will admit that I am more than a little nervous to venture anywhere near anything that looks like a “to do” list!
Something has impacted me, however, as I have sat in this passage of Scripture over the last couple of weeks: these are not “to do” lists. Yes, one is a “NOT to do” list, but when seen in its proper perspective of describing the believer living his or her life IN the Spirit with the fruit of the Spirit being evident in one’s life, these acts of the flesh should be on the decline. When we do fall into sins such as these examples, we should feel the conflict with the Spirit and with God’s word. Galatians 5:17 addresses this fact:
“For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so you do not do what you want.”
If, however, we find ourselves desiring any of the acts of the flesh listed here or in other parts of the New Testament, it is time for a little self-reflection. Since the Spirit and the sinful nature are in conflict with each other, we can know that any desires we feel towards any of these things are NOT of the Spirit, and indulging them is sin.
This resisting of sinful desires is relatively straightforward when applied to our own personal lives, but Paul takes this subject a step further, calling us to hold each other accountable—and, honestly, to get right into other people’s business, provided they are fellow believers. Take a look at chapter 6, verse 1:
“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.”
When read in the context of this section of Galatians, it is clear that we are not told to move indiscriminately through the body, pointing out the sins of others. We are to be “spiritual”— that is, Spirit-focused—ourselves. We are to be gentle, and verse 1 even goes on to say that we need to watch ourselves in the process, lest we ourselves be tempted.
I have heard so many times, even just in the last few months, that we should not judge others. While it is true that we should not condemn others and cast judgment upon them, it is clear from a careful reading of Scripture that, as believers, we’re accountable to each other, and we are to warn each other away from sin. Warning a brother or sister away from sin does not come without heavy personal responsibility to check ourselves, and to guard our hearts from temptation, but I believe that Scripture makes it clear that this sort of accountability and candor is an important function of the body of Christ.
On the other side of this coin, if we are going to be obedient to Scripture in warning our brothers and sisters away from sin, we also have to be humble and willing to BE warned away from sin by perhaps those same brothers and sisters. If someone comes to us, in love, we also need to be humble and willing to prayerfully consider their warning, aligning everything with the Word of God. If what they say is true, we can humbly acknowledge it, repent of our sin, and be restored, as Paul says in Galatians 6:1!
It has become an increasingly unpopular to disagree with anyone about anything. Many Christians still maintain their disagreement with “the world” on hot button issues, such as abortion, but there seems to also be an increasing resistance to disagreeing with anyone who calls themselves a Christian, in the name of grace. On the other side, as with anything under the sun, this call to accountability can obviously be grossly misused, but that danger does not preclude accountability between believers. We are not islands. We need other believers around us to encourage us, to help bear our burdens, and to spur us on in the deepening of our faith, both internally and in its working out in our lives.
Our call is to live our life by the Spirit. Paul makes that mandate crystal clear throughout the entire book of Galatians, from his initial retelling of his story and his own calling, in his passionate plea to the Galatians not to allow themselves to be placed back under the yoke of slavery to the law, and finally with his appeal to them to be controlled by the Spirit and not to indulge the sinful nature and its acts. I love this verse in the middle of Paul’s closing comments to the churches in Galatia:
“May I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
We are called to be free, my friends! Let us walk in newness of life and serve one another in His great love! †
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