What stops you from obeying the truth of the gospel? This is Paul’s simple question to his Galatian audience today. As I said last week, Paul is going to hone in on what it looks like to live in the freedom of the gospel instead of living in religious slavery or legalism. In our text today, he continues with that central desire in mind – the desire to see Christians living in the freedom of the gospel rather than living in religious slavery.

And the way he gets after it this week is by asking in verse 7, “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Before asking that question, Paul notes that the Galatians “were running well” at one point, but now they are in danger of disobeying the truth of the gospel and he wants to know who persuaded them to become disobedient. The obvious answer to Paul’s question is that there are some legalists, known as the circumcision party or the Judaizers, who are attempting to force the Galatians to add their good works to the gospel as the basis for earning God’s favor.

But the question, if you think about it, digs a little deeper into what the Galatians were beginning to believe about God; Paul’s question is not merely meant to make the Galatians lay the blame on the shoulders of the heretics around them. Somewhere deep down inside, the Galatians had begun to believe something deceptive from Satan who is the Liar and the father of all lies who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The Galatians were beginning to believe lies about God and his interactions with mankind – namely in his work of salvation.

What had they begun to believe? What kind of lies had become so deeply lodged within their hearts that they were effectively stumbling over those lies while running the race that they once ran so well? What is it that stops you and I from obeying the truth of the gospel? What kind of deceptive beliefs could cause you and I to get tripped up in this race of gospel obedience? What kind of lies does Satan attempt to get you and I to believe so that we stumble in our running after Christ? Look at the text with me…

7You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

LIE #1: BELIEVING THAT GOD COMMANDS LEGALISM (V. 8)

In verse 8, Paul reminds the Galatians that “This persuasion is not from him who calls you.” Simply stated, the legalistic party of circumcision, the Judaizers, were attempting to persuade the Galatians to believe the lie that God commands legalism – that God commands that we earn his favor through our works – to gain salvation. If the Galatians would stop and think about this, they would see just how deceptive this kind of thinking is.

When God called the Galatians to himself in salvation, he did not call them to perform a list of good things to earn that salvation, because salvation is by grace, through faith, in Christ, according to Scripture, for the glory of God alone. If salvation is by grace (literally meaning unearned favor) then it cannot be earned through our good works. This is why Paul reminds the Galatians that “this persuasion is not from him who called you” (v. 8).

Now I do not think we intentionally believe that our works can earn us favor with God, but I do think that we can stumble in this race of living in the freedom of the gospel, and we can get tangled up in the net of religious slavery. It is not difficult for us to become disobedient to the truth of the gospel of God’s free grace.

We become disobedient to the truth of the gospel when we begin to just go through the motions of religious activity devoid of a vibrant relationship with our crucified, risen, and returning Savior. We also become disobedient to the truth of the gospel when we begin to begrudgingly obey God instead of joyfully obeying him because of the freedom he has given us in Christ Jesus.

The reality is this, mundane religious behavior and obligatory religious behavior are two of the ways that you can see that you have believed the lie that God commands legalism. Have you caught yourself just going through the motions of religion lately? Have you noticed lately how you only perform some kind of obedience to God because you are obligated to do so? If so… you have believed the lie that says that God wants you to or commands you to obey him, so that he will look favorably upon you; you have cheapened God’s grace and you have turned it into something that you can earn through your religious performance.

Going through the motions of religious performance or doing godly things because you must, these are the proof that you have begun to stumble in this race of following Jesus by grace, through faith, according to Scripture, for the glory of God alone. Going through the motions and begrudging obedience is actually disobedience to the truth of the gospel, because it is not reliant upon the joyful reception of God’s free grace; it is dependent upon your religious activity. Satan would love to keep you in this place!

LIE #2: BELIEVING THAT LEGALISM HAS NO CONSEQUENCES (VV. 9-10)

         The second way we begin to disobey the truth of the gospel is by believing that legalism has no consequences. This is why Paul reminds the Galatians in verses 9 – 10, that “A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.” I would have to say that this lie, believing that legalism has no consequences, is probably a lie that we are the most blind to, because it looks like obedience to God.

Notice too, that even with this realization of our blindness, that according to verse 10, Paul is still “confident in the Lord” that the Galatians will agree with him. Paul’s confidence is not in the Galatians’ ability to believe, his confidence is in the Lord who began the work of grace within them! Nevertheless, the Galatians, and we are often blind to our deceptive beliefs about legalism. We need to rely on the gracious work of God in Christ Jesus to set us free from the lies that we believe.

         Just as Paul was blind to whomever it was that was trying to persuade the Galatians to believe that legalism was what God wanted and that there would be no consequences for believing it, so too, we are often blind to the fact that the consequences for legalism are very heavy. Paul points to this heaviness of the consequences when he brings up the “leaven” that “leavens the whole lump” (v. 9) and when he says that “the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty” (v. 10).

         First of all, Paul’s point in using the analogy of “leaven” is an illustration straight from the bakery that reminds us that a small pinch of leaven (yeast) is what makes bread become fluffy; in the same way, a little pinch of law in regard to our right standing with God, is something that “contaminates the whole gospel” and leaves us living in disobedience to the gospel; effectively disqualifying us from the race of following Jesus in spiritual freedom.2

This is why Martin Luther would say that “in theology a tiny error overthrows the whole teaching”.3 Introducing a tiny little pinch of legalism into your relationship with Jesus will result in you sinfully trying to earn your way into God’s good grace rather than receiving his grace as a gift apart from your works.

When Paul brings the Galatians’ attention to his illustration of leaven, he is literally giving them a historical illustration right out of their own history with the Mosaic Law. In Exodus 12:15 and Deuteronomy 16:2 – 4, God commanded Israel to eat unleavened bread for an entire week once a year during the Passover feast as they celebrated the fact that the angel of death had passed over the homes and families of those who had the blood on their doorposts while in slavery in Egypt.

The command during this feast, to remove the leaven, and to even sweep out the leaven from their homes, was meant to remind them that a little bit of sin mixed into their relationship with God, would inflate them, infect them, and cause them to base their relationship on their own behavior rather than on the shed blood that was painted on their doorposts. They literally were being called to sweep the sin of legalism and licentiousness out of their lives, otherwise they would be cut off from God.4 The consequence of legalism is separation from God because legalism rejects the blood on the doorpost as it consumes the leaven of the law.

Secondly, Paul mentions in verse 10, that “the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty”. The imagery Paul is using here is the picture of someone who has rejected Christ’s work at the cross and the empty tomb. Someone who believes that there are no consequences for legalism, believes that his or her behaviors can keep them right with God and therefore, they have rejected the power of Christ’s broken body and shed blood on their behalf which means that they reject the power of Christ’s crucifixion to pay the penalty for their sin. Instead, they will bear the penalty for their sin for all of eternity in separation from God in hell.

Again, I do not think that we actively or knowingly walk around believing that there are no consequences for our legalistic lifestyles. But the proof that we have believed this lie from the pit of hell can easily be seen in the way we view ourselves and others.

When we stop confessing our own personal sins daily, we have begun to believe that our behavior makes us right with God and therefore we believe the lie that says that legalism has no consequences. When we turn up our noses in disgust of others who commit quote – un – quote “greater” sins than we do, we prove that we believe that we are better than them because of our own behavior and therefore we do believe that legalism has no consequences.

         The consequence for legalism is that we become puffed up with our own sinful, law-based behaviors, our spiritual pride, and will therefore pay the penalty for those sins because we have rejected Christ’s work on our behalf at the cross and the empty tomb. Have you stopped confessing your sin to God daily and do you find yourself disgusted by other people’s sins, rather than your own sins?

It is highly possibly, then, that you have begun to believe the lie that says, that there are no consequences for your legalism. You have stopped obeying the gospel. You are no longer running the race of spiritual freedom in Christ Jesus. You have fallen on the sidelines into religious slavery. You have tripped over your own feet in the race of following God by grace, through faith, in Christ, according to Scripture, for the glory of God alone. This is exactly where Satan, the father of lies, wants to keep you: believing that there are no consequences for your legalism as you ignore your own sin and live in disgust over other people’s sins.

LIE #3: BELIEVING A CROSS – LESS GOSPEL (V. 11)5

         The third thing that keeps us from obeying the truth of the gospel, is believing a cross – less gospel. Paul certainly did not believe or preach a cross – less gospel. This is why Paul says in verse 11, that “if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.” Simply stated, Paul was being persecuted by the legalistic Judaizers because he preached the grace of the bloody cross of Jesus Christ instead of legalism in the law.

         When Paul uses the word “offense” to describe the cross of Christ, he is literally saying that when he preaches the bloody cross of Christ, he is preaching a scandalous message that becomes a stumbling block to legalists.6 A legalist can claim with his or her words that he or she believes in the cross of Christ but their lifestyle of religious slavery proves that they have believed a cross – less gospel; they have no need for the cross they claim to believe, because they trust in their own works instead of trusting in Christ’s work at the cross.

         The bottom line is that the legalists in Galatia were claiming to believe in the power of the cross even as they demanded obedience to the law for right standing with God. They were blind to the free grace that was available to them in the cross of Christ. They believed that they actually contributed to their right standing with God through their obedience to the law. To believe these things is to believe a cross – less gospel, because the cross of Christ knows nothing of our efforts in acquiring or maintaining our salvation.

         Do you think you have believed a cross – less gospel? Have you begun to mix your own good and godly behaviors into your sense of right standing with God? I think that if you are having trouble with admitting that you struggle with this, then you need to look no further than your own boredom with God or your constant fear that you do not belong to God or that somehow you have committed something too egregious for God to save you.

         If you are bored with God, then you have believed a cross – less gospel and have reduced your relationship with God down to a series of boring religious behaviors. If you live in constant fear that you do not belong to God or that his gracious salvation over you has run out because of your struggle with sin, then you have believed a cross – less gospel, because you have based God’s grace and your salvation on the shifting sands of your own behaviors rather than on the solid rock of Christ’s accomplishments at the cross of Calvary.

         Do you find yourself living in boredom as you perform your religious duties? Have you struggled with living in fear that God cannot save you or that his grace has somehow ran too dry to keep you in his loving hands? If so, it is highly possible that you have deceptively believed in a cross – less gospel.

APPLICATION…

         By way of application, it is important to notice the last thing Paul says in our passage in verse 12. The very last thing Paul says in verse 12 has been called the harshest thing Paul has ever said when he says, “I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.”7 This is a graphic way of saying that he foresees the future of anyone who believes, lives, and preaches the lies we have just examined.

The future that Paul sees for the legalist who never surrenders to our crucified, risen, and returning Savior is like the future of the foreskin that was cutoff during circumcision; the foreskin was cutoff and tossed aside into the trash forever. Better yet, Paul sees the future of an unrepentant legalist to be just like castration. That is the future for those who surrender themselves to legalism. That future is as powerless and hopeless as a castrated man trying to make babies. We must remember that God does not call us to legalism, a little bit of legalism will infect everything, there are consequences for practicing legalism, and the power of the cross is meaningless to a legalist.

You and I will stumble in this race of following Jesus in the freedom that he purchased for us at the cross and the empty tomb because we sometimes believe the lies that God commands legalism, that there are no consequences for legalism, and that the power of the cross is not good enough to overcome our sin and keep us in the nail scarred hands of our crucified, risen, and returning, Savior.

         Thankfully, legalism can be fought against in our day – to – day lives. But legalism cannot be fought with more legalism. You do not fight legalism by just trying to be better and you do not fight legalism by performing more religious rituals. You fight legalism by continuing to surrender at the foot of a bloody cross, in the doorway of an empty tomb, in light of the promise of heaven, apart from your own behaviors. Grace is the only thing that defeats legalism!

CONCLUSION…

         In conclusion, the grace of the finished work of Christ at the cross and the empty tomb and the promise of heaven, this is the only way that every one of us can defeat the legalism that lives within us as we seek to run the race of following Christ in the freedom that he purchased for us. Obeying the truth of the gospel means rejecting the lies that God commands legalism, that legalism has no consequences, and that the gospel is the cross plus my contribution.

         Again, if you find yourself just going through the motions of religious performance, or begrudging obedience, or minimal personal repentance from sin while being more disgusted with the sins of others around you, or being constantly bored with God, or living in constant fear over losing your salvation, then you have believed at some level that God does command legalism, that legalism has no consequences, and that the cross is not enough to save you or keep you in God’s good graces.

         These lies from the pit of hell, from the mouth of the father of all lies, from the enemy who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, must be rejected with all their accompanying thoughts and behaviors. The bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven – the gospel – is the weapon that clears the lane so that you and I can run this race in full obedience to the truth of the gospel.

         Christ died a brutal death on the cross, and he rose again on the third day, and he promised eternity in heaven for all who trust and believe in him. He did all of this so that when you and I struggle with believing lies, with going through the motions, with obeying God out of begrudging duty, with not confessing our sins as we look down our noses at other sinners, with becoming bored in our religious activities, and with living in constant fear of losing our salvation, when we struggle with these things, we can find freedom once again at the foot of that bloody cross, in the doorway of that empty tomb, in light of the promise of heaven.

Jesus went to that cross for you. The power of Christ’s empty tomb is available to you. The promise of the hope of heaven is meant to sustain you. God’s promises in the gospel are far more powerful than the lies we sometimes believe. You and I can be set free to live in obedience to the truth of the gospel as we run this race in the freedom that was purchased at the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. It is at the cross, it is at the empty tomb, and it is in the light of the hope of heaven that the lie of legalism in all its forms goes to die once and for all.

Go to the bloody cross my friends. Go to the empty tomb. Go to the promise of the hope of heaven. In this place is where you will practice obedience to the truth of the gospel. In this place is where the lies of legalism inside you will slowly die and you will be set free to run without hindrance the race that has been set before you and you can rest assured that you will finish that race in eternity not by your own behaviors, but by the grace and lovingkindness of God in our crucified, risen, and returning Savior (Acts 20:24; 2 Tim. 4:7). – Amen!!!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Philip, Graham, Ryken, Galatians, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing Company, 2005), 208.

3 Ibid., 209.

4 Ibid., 208.

5 Ibid., 212 – 215.

6 Ibid., 213.

7 Ibid., 210.