William
Barclay warned of the dangers of legalism
Editor's
note: The following is an excerpt from William Barclay's commentary
on Galatians 5:1-12.
It
was Paul's position that the way of grace and the way of law were
mutually exclusive. The way of law makes salvation dependent on
human achievement; the man who takes the way of grace simply casts
himself and his sin upon the mercy of God. Paul went on to argue
that if you accepted circumcision, that is to say, if you accepted
one part of the law, logically you had to accept the whole law.
To
Paul all that mattered was faith which works through love. That
is just another way of saying that the essence of Christianity
is not law but a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The Christian's
faith is founded not on a book but on a person; its dynamic is
not obedience to any law but love to Jesus Christ.
Once,
the Galatians had known that, but now they were turning back to
the law. "A little leaven.," said Paul, "leavens the whole lump."
For the Jew leaven nearly always stood for evil influence. What
Paul is saying is, "This legalistic movement may not have gone
very far yet, but you must root it out before it destroys your
whole religion."
September 2000
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