2 Samuel 23; Psalm 78:40–72; Ezekiel 30; Galatians 3
Rules and boundaries have an attractiveness to many people. On the road, most of us want speed limits, lane lines, passing rules and other laws intended to keep us safe. In school, teachers have rules to keep order in the classroom and help students learn. There are laws and rules in most societies to prevent harm to the defenseless and keep order for public safety. Even most quilters like patterns rather than tackle the process known as impromptu quilting where the design is made up as the pieces are sewn.
Christian living is not about rules yet the church at Galatia began thinking it was. Instead of believing they could live and grow as God’s people through the life and power of the Holy Spirit, they turned to observing or trying to observe the Laws of God. Paul told them they were “foolish” to listen to those who had “bewitched” them with false notions of spirituality that tore them away from Jesus:
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1–3)
He later explains to them how to tell the difference by listing the results; the fruit of the Spirit is so entirely different than the results of living in the flesh. They were on a slippery slope by thinking their own efforts apart from relying on the Spirit would get them there.
Like making an impromptu quilt, God does not follow a predictable pattern. While He never departs from the truth in His Word, His spiritual guidance is not a list of rules. Instead, it comes through a moment by moment listening and by obedience in faith.
Not only that, this has always been true. Salvation has never been through rule-keeping but by believing what God says. Growing in grace is just like salvation; it comes through believing what God says as we daily, even moment by moment commune with Him.
Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:5–9)
This is not easy yet it is easy. Up front, having a list of rules seems safer, more predictable, the way to live, but this is a sinful idea based on the idea that “I can do it.” It is so strong in the human heart that God gave the Law that we might realize we cannot construct our lives that way and please Him. We need the guidance and power of Jesus Christ.
The Law of Moses was given not to overturn the principles already established at the time of Abraham, nor to offer an alternative path to salvation. Rather, it made human sin clear and undeniable, pointing them toward a Savior who would redeem them. Faith in that promise was their justification yet they struggled against sin by striving and failing rather than believing God. In Galatians, Paul’s understanding of their history and how the Bible fits together is different from those who pressured people to keep the Law. He realized that it was temporary, not intended to save but to show the need for salvation.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:23–29)
APPLY: Faith isn’t about race, status, gender or anything else but trusting Christ alone for my justification. This trust makes me a “child of Abraham” and is “counted to me as righteousness” — I am saved because of Jesus Christ and I live for God because He lives in me. Rules push Him aside to make things tidy, predictable, safe — or so it seems — but all they do is reveal my inability to create the glory of God by myself; I need Jesus. Without Jesus, the relative security of Law becomes drudgery yet with Him, as unpredictable and impromptu as Spirit-filled living life is, life becomes a great adventure.