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Galatians 3:10–14
“All who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’ ” (v. 10).
Antinomianism, the belief that Christians are in no sense obligated to obey the law of God, is one of two serious errors with respect to God’s law that those who profess belief in Jesus can make. The second error is commonly known as legalism, and it comes in two main forms.
One form of legalism says that we are saved by our obedience to the law of God. We find this type of legalism in the book of Galatians, where Paul must correct churches that had been deceived into thinking that they had to add circumcision to their faith in Christ to be justified or declared righteous in the sight of God. False teachers believed that the righteousness of Christ was not enough but had to be supplemented with one’s works of the law, with deeds done in obedience to God’s commandments. Certainly, believers must obey the Lord, but the Galatians made the mistake of thinking that their obedience was the basis of their right standing with God and not the fruit of that standing, which comes by faith in Jesus alone. To rely on one’s obedience to the law—on one’s good works—is to set Christ aside and to make salvation impossible, for if one tries to save himself by his works, he must obey the law perfectly, and no sinner can do that. To seek to justify ourselves by our good deeds is to put ourselves under a curse (Gal. 3:10–14). Only the righteousness of Christ—His perfect record of good deeds—imputed to us or put on our account through faith in Him alone can save us (2:15–16).
The second form of legalism takes human standards and makes them the standard of holiness. Among Protestants, this type of legalism is perhaps more common than the first. Many churches have said that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone but then have added all sorts of rules and regulations that one must keep in order to be sure that one is in Christ. These churches might absolutely forbid things such as drinking alcohol, watching movies or television, dancing, and playing cards. Others might not make official rules that add to Scripture, but they might implicitly convey the idea that true holiness can be measured by externals.
Certainly, authentic holiness will manifest itself in our behavior, but holy behaviors are determined by the Word of God, not what we think is best. True sanctification is seen in character qualities that manifest the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
It is relatively easy to follow a man-made rule such as “no alcohol ever.” It is much harder to bear the fruit of patience when we deal with difficult people or to show the fruit of kindness even to our enemies. If we want to know what true holiness looks like, we must know the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). True growth in holiness is seen as we increasingly manifest this fruit in our lives.
For Further Study
- Deuteronomy 27:26
- Matthew 15:1–20
- Matthew 23:1–12
- Acts 15:1–21