The False Teachers
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he dealt with Judiazers who had crept into the church and were insisting that Christians must follow all ceremonial requirements of the Levitical order to be saved. Gentile Christians were being told they must perform the rites of circumcision, observe the dietary restrictions, and practice all the feast days in order to be right with God. In essence, they were laying burdens upon the Gentile believers that they must convert to Judaism in order to be eligible for salvation in Christ.
This was not the case! All mankind, both Jew and Gentile, are saved by faith and not by works of the law. The law was not able to save anyone, because no sinful person is capable of perfectly fulfilling the law anyway! While it showed man our need for salvation, it was inadequate to provide it. Even those who were encouraging this were incapable of actually living it out.
For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Galatians 6:13
Instead, the instruction of the early church toward Gentile believers was simply to avoid immorality and idolatry.
Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:19-20
Their Motivation
However, if these men were teaching that believers must keep the law when they themselves were not doing it perfectly anyway, what could be their motivation? There’s a hint in the verse I mentioned earlier. They wanted to “boast in your flesh”. That is, they wanted to get credit with their unbelieving contemporaries for getting the church to comply with their expectations. This is more explicitly stated in the verse prior, and gives their reasoning more fully as well.
It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
Galatians 6:12
They may not be those who perfectly fulfill the law but they were those who did so enough that the culture in which they lived would accept them. Except that they kept company with believers who did not, and that was making it hard for them to avoid the persecution anyway!
Their solution wasn’t to stand firm in Christ and tell the world to pound sand. Instead, it was to create unnecessary burdens on Christians to appease the world so that everyone could just get along.
What About Today?
Church congregations I know don’t have a problem of people trying to convince its members to practice Jewish social ordinances in order to avoid upsetting those outside the church today. However, aside from perhaps in Israel, those aren’t the social ordinances driving our modern culture.
Instead, we have our own cultural norms and taboos which are not based upon the righteousness of God but rather are expectations which have nothing to do with the standards God has laid out. Throughout my life I have seen many instances of this. When believers are told that it is “loving ones neighbor” to comply with their invented expectations it has the same effect.
Believers are called to love others. In fact, it was our savior who closely related the love of others with the love of God. However, when that “love” is not properly defined as God would define it, this becomes a burden that God has not laid upon his people!
So many today want to just blend in. The more lawless the surrounding culture becomes, the more radically deviant their behaviors must become from what simple Christian living looks like. I’m not talking about sins necessarily. Sometimes, our modern legalists invent demands which aren’t even opposed to God’s commands but rather a new, false standard all together.
Whether it’s paper straws or being accepting of various sexual immoralities, those seeking to blend in begin to pressure believers in their social circles to follow their footsteps. You see, it’s not enough to be accepting of sexual immorality. You cannot be seen as one who has fellowship with those who reject it as sin. Otherwise, you are guilty by association just like the Judiazers in the early church full of Gentiles!
If we don’t want to be found as depending upon a false righteousness outside of the righteousness of Christ for salvation, we MUST avoid this error! It is not a matter of loving one’s neighbor to live up to their godless expectations.
We will be pressured to comply with all sort of things which have nothing to do with godliness. First, we must resist the impulse to adopt these norms uncritically due to the temptation to fit in. Second, even if we find good reasons to adopt some behaviors in line with norms, we should never make it a matter of faith for a fellow believer.
Don’t use appeals of “love” to force burdens on a fellow believer that God has not placed upon them. Otherwise, you may find yourself promoting a faith that is quite different from a faith in Christ.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:36
