Laws are written to provide order to living. They regulate what we can and can’t do. They endeavour to define what is acceptable, and to protect us from what is unacceptable. They try to protect us from unscrupulous people who would take advantage of those who are vulnerable among us. Every year more and more laws are made to try to curb the growing abuses that exist. Even though we sometimes complain about too many laws, few of us would be satisfied with the anarchy that would result from a world without law. Unfortunately, laws are necessary.

Moses realised this as the Israelites were being shaped into a nation. The Ten Commandments spelled out the special relationship that was to exist between God and the people. They also defined the kind of behaviour that was to exist between people and their neighbours and they contributed towards defining the Israelites as a nation. The observance of those laws gradually became an expression of Israel’s religious faith.

However, over time the religious leaders added other laws to explain and determine and the meaning of religious behaviour. These new laws and regulations became a vast tomb (pun intended) of Halacha, Jewish religious law, known as the Mishnah and the Gemarrah, together known as the Talmud. As Judaism developed, obedience to law degenerated into legalism. God’s favour was made contingent on rigid adherence to the minute details of the law. God ‘s love was thought proportionate to the people’s obedience. The words of the prophets resonated and challenged this strict adherence to law. In his day, Jeremiah announced a new covenant when the Lord says,

“I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33).

Amos thundered God’s judgment over religious activity that had no relationship to social justice,

“Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

saying, “When will the new moon be over

so that we may sell grain;

and the Sabbath,

so that we may offer wheat for sale?

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

and practice deceit with false balances,

buying the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” (Amos 8:4-6)

Micah sought to wrest religion from legalism and challenged the people

“to do justice, to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah. 6:8).

And, of course, Jesus gave a new thrust to the law with his response to the Pharisees:

“The Pharisees came together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 34-40.)

In the letter to the Galatians, Paul wrestled with this issue: how important is observing the law? Is there any place for the law? Does the observance of the law earn God’s favour? Paul also struggled with the question: Should the Gentiles, to whom he preached, first become Jews (i.e. followers of the law)

before being considered Christian? There were many Christians who were adamant that this should indeed be the case. But, Paul, argued, that no amount of adherence to law would merit God’s grace.

Before becoming a follower of Jesus, Paul was a Pharisee, observing the law. He worked to keep Judaism pure and untainted by Gentiles, so much so that he attempted to annihilate Christians. His persecution of the new believers brought him face to face with a living Messiah and transformed his moralistic legalism into caring compassion.

The law, argues Paul, serves one purpose, to reveal the perversity of human nature. For example, laws that say, “You shall not commit adultery”, “You shall not steal”, “You shall not tell lies”, (Exodus 20) really says as much about the character of a person as it does about what God requires. The law exposes an inherent weakness. If such things were not being committed, there would no need of such laws. The reason we have laws governing driving whilst in a drunken state are made precisely because people do drink and drive.

The question arises, “How then can anyone find favour with God if not by following God’s commandments, if not by reading God’s word, if not by “being born again,” if not by being baptized? And Paul’s answer cried out then and still does today,

“It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words!.. I, Paul, declare to everyone who lets themselves be obligated to obey the whole law, You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from the Messiah; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in the Messiah, Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5: 1-6)

Paul is teaching us that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has opened new doors for love and acceptance that remove the burdens of legalism and call for a simple faith response. Laws might curtail the temptation to abuse a given relationship, but obedience to the law in no way entitles one to special privileges from God. No amount of Bible reading, attending services, praying or good works can earn God’s blessing. We have already received the grace of God – there is no need therefore to work for it!

Paul’s teaching has much to say to the modern church and to various aspects of Messianic Judaism.

I have no arguments with Rabbis and Ministers who want to recommend or suggest or advocate a particular way of relating to God. After all, it is from our own personal experience that we can best witness for God. However, when the recommendations, suggestions become “commands” then I fear that we are going down a very misguided path. When we are told, “This is what we must do” or “This is how we must pray” or “This is how we are to dress” etc, we have entered the dark world of legalism.

As an example, I was more than a little dismayed when at the Messiah 2002 Conference held in Harrisburg Pennsylvania last July, it was stated that when we prayed, we should use the name Yeshua instead of the name Jesus. I personally find such an instruction legalistic. I am being told how I should address my Messiah, how I should pray to Him, what to call Him. Perhaps my reaction stems from the fact that for many years, I was taught to hate the name Jesus. It was a lesson that I enthusiastically absorbed until it as an innate reaction I felt whenever I heard the name Jesus. Now that I had at last come to recognise my Messiah, and to love Him and exalt in His name, I rejoice that I can now actively love that name above all names. I enjoy calling my Messiah Jesus. I marvel at the fact that He could turn me around so completely that from hating that name, I can rejoice in that very same name. Yes, I also enjoy calling him Yeshua because it reminds me that Jesus is THE Jewish Messiah and thus I rejoice that I can use both Jesus and Yeshua when referring to my Messiah. However, I do not want to be told that I must use either one or the other.

I have also had the experience when I am told what to wear when attending a service, whether to wear a kipah (skull cap) or a tallit (prayer shawl). Some Rabbi have told me that it is necessary to adhere to the dietary laws, to observe all the festivals (including Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement] – which I find completely unnecessary since Jesus, having died for me, has thus had all my sins forgiven). Now I have no arguments with any of these practices as long as they are recommendations and suggestions as to how I could live my life as a disciple of Jesus. It is when they become “law” that I object.

I find such practices within the church as well. Well-meaning people have said to me, “This is how you should pray!” Some have told me that if I am not charismatic, then I am deficient in my faith. Others have said that if I do not raise my hands, fall on the ground, become slain in the spirit, then I have “lost it!”

Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive. Seek me and you will find me.” He did not tell us how we should ask or how we should seek. Yeshua did not lay down hard and fast rules governing how we are supposed to approach Him. The only condition he laid down was that we should seek him with all our hearts. How sad then, that many religious leaders seek to lay down rules and regulations (often called “guidelines”), that dictate the name we use when referring to Jesus, that tell us what clothes we should wear, what foods we should eat, what method of worship we must use.

Paul describes this so powerfully:

“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “You, are a Jew and you have discarded the Jewish laws to live like a Gentile. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles obey the Jewish laws you abandoned?

We, who are Jews by birth and not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles, know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be accepted by God because of our faith in Christ-and not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law.”

But what if we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then find out that we are still sinners? Has Christ led us into sin? Of course not! Rather, I make myself guilty if I rebuild the old system I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, I realized I could never earn God’s approval. So I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless, for if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

(Galatians 2: 14-21)

Jesus came to bring us freedom. We have to cherish this truly wonderful gift.

A Christian friend

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