Legalism

Colossians 1:25-29

COL-426

We are studying "The Error of Legalism," number 38, in Colossians 2:16-17.

The pope is visiting in Canada. He is on a tour to Canada and New Mexico, speaking to youth. And as he speaks, he uses the religious words. He talks about Jesus Christ. He talks about heaven. He talks about salvation. And he talks about all the things that are important to a sinner who needs to get right with God. And he speaks to young people to find challenge in their life by becoming oriented to what God thinks and the ways of God.

Legalism

However, the pope's religion is legalism. The pope's religion is a matter of doing certain things to have certain results. Legalism, that deadly disease, is that deception that Satan has inserted into human thinking that actually brings people away from God rather than leading people to God.

Take prayer. How often do you hear people say, "Well, I'll say a prayer for you?" That's a magical potion – a repetition. And this is what Roman Catholics do. They say prayers. They do not pray, because they're going through legalistic motions and activity in order to seek favor with God; to seek salvation; and, to seek godliness: just perform certain rituals. These rituals which people go through, are not based upon a mental attitude of faith in God. They're based upon faith in self-effort. These rituals have no relationship to the personal moral quality of the legalists. The legalist can be a member of the Mafia. And yet, if he goes through the motions of the rituals, he is acceptable to God. It is not based upon a godly and a holy life.

Legalism is actually viewing God like a giant slot machine, into which the coins of good works and religious devotion are inserted, with the hopes and the expectation of hitting the jackpot of divine acceptance. But God is not a slot machine. The apostle made it very clear to the Colossian Christians that legalism, as an approach to gaining God's favor (a holy God) is a satanic delusion, and it gains absolutely nothing.

We have directed your attention to this subject of legalism in a more expanded way, because it is a deadly thing. It is a dangerous thing. And it is so easy, even for Christians who are taught the Word of God, to slip into monkeyshine motions because they think that's what's going to make it for them with God. So, please open your Bibles once more to Philippians 3:1-2. In these verses, the apostle Paul calls upon the believers to rejoice in the Lord. And then he says, "I'm going to repeat something I told you before. I'm going to reiterate some instruction about legalism because it's so important. I don't apologize," Paul says, "for doing this, because," as Peter said," we do this to bestir your pure minds by way of remembrance. It is easy even for people who know the Word of God, to be at a critical point where they need to be applying it, to forget what they've been taught, and to become careless in some areas.

Paul is warning these people here, in the book of Philippians, against listening to the legalists, in seeking salvation, and seeking godliness by their human doing. He uses the word, in verse 2: "dogs." This is an insulting term. He describes legalists as dogs. Dogs, in the ancient world, were scavengers. They went around feeding on garbage, and they even fed on their own regurgitation. Legalists, spiritually today, feed on their own human viewpoint. Dogs were vicious creatures, and they did great injury to those that they attacked. And today, the legalist attacks with false doctrines.

The Colossians legalists were dogs, spiritually, of the worst kind, because they were opposing the church grace way of life: grace for salvation; and, grace for sanctification. And that is widely practiced in churches today. It is ritual. It is legalism. It is going through all the monkeyshine motions. And then you go home, and you've had an experience with God.

Legalism is the way of the sin nature, in which man grimly opposes God's grace, blessings, and a joyful life in Christ Jesus. Legalism is a deception that will not work. There has to be reality – that you can't just imagine that something is there that is not. So, these legalists are in the pulpits everywhere today in this nation, and it's important that they be spotted, and they be avoided by the family of God, the church. And that's why we're stressing this again.

It is easy for you to be tricked by the legalist, saying something that seems like: "Oh, yes, I just read this in this inspirational talk. I just read this in "Reader's Digest." I'll do this. And there you are. It's not God doing, but it is the trick that you're going to do.

Focus

In Philippians 3:2, Paul goes on and says, "Beware of the dogs." Then he says, "Beware of evil workers." This word "beware" is actually, in the Greek, the word "to see," or "to look out:" "blepo." And this word means "to see," in terms of a specific focus. He wants to be very specific. He doesn't just want to look over everything generally. He wants you to look at this religious speaker on television, and he wants you to spot him. And as a man the other day said to me: "You can sit and listen to these people on television, or you can sit in some public forum or listen to a religious speaker. And they don't have to speak a half-a-dozen sentences, and he's got them pegged. He knows where they're coming from, and that they're human viewpoint, and that they're not speaking for God, but they're very impressive.

So, concerning this word, Paul is saying to these Philippians Christians: "Look out," in terms of being very specific, zeroing in, and focusing on the individual. This is used, in the Greek tense, to be a constant guard. And it's the active voice. It means that you have to do it for yourself.

In World War II, in training in the Marine Corps, periodically, we would be taken to the auditorium, and we would be shown a movie (out of a series of movies, which you can still get today. It was called "Know Your Enemy." And these movies, in an orderly fashion, started on Japan and Germany, and they covered what their background had been, and how they had progressed historically, to where they were now at that point in time: totalitarian powers; and where they were now threatening to dominate the whole world. And it made sense, if you were going to be training men to go into harm's way, and maybe lose their lives, they should, at least, know their enemy, because to know the enemy is to be able to meet him more properly, and to be able to defeat him. And if you don't know your enemy, you're going to go down so easily. And that's what is meant by this simple word "watch:" focus; and, know your enemy.

So, when a legalist comes up, even before he opens his mouth, you smell him. He's got the odor of a dog. You catch on immediately. And in the grammar of this word, it is a command." Anytime the Word of God tells you to do something with your ears better prop up, like my dog Gretchen's ears do when she goes on guard. Something important has been said. God doesn't just say, "Blepo." He is saying, "Look at it, and focus closely on these who are advising you in your life, and who are your spiritual guides." God says, "I'm telling you to do this, and I'm commanding you to be on guard." So, you don't just say, "Yes. OK, Lord. I know." That will cost you dearly. If He says, "Look out," then immediately, where's the focus? Well the focus here is on evil workers. Again, English is nice, but the Greek makes it clear.

First of all, the word for "evil" looks like this: It is the Greek word "kakos." This word in the Greek means "inherently evil." You're a bummer by nature. You're inside an evil individual. The opposite of that ("good") is the Greek word "kalos." And that word means "inherently – inside," you're a good person." So, you're a person that's either evil (dominated by the sin nature) – it's not just that you do evil things, but you're just rotten to the core. That's what we mean. You're rotten to the core. And the other is a good person, because the Holy Spirit is good to the core.

So, here Paul says, "These legalists are morally, ethically rotten to the core." Now, why in the world are you listening to your evil relatives? Why are you listening to the evil hot-shot evangelists on television, and sending your money to support them? Why are you listening to all the sweet-talking preachers who are leading you down a blind alley? Very often, these preachers themselves are not informed.

I had to perform a funeral this past week, and I was helped by an Assembly of God preacher – a very nice man. And we chatted, and I got a little picture of him before the service began, and he read the Scripture, and he led in prayer and I did the speaking. And I focused on Christ, and on salvation, and on what has happened to this individual. I noted that this person is very much alive in his soul, and that his destiny has been determined by a choice which he made before death, a destiny determined by what he did with Jesus Christ, or what he did by rejecting Him.

I listed a few of the misconceptions that people have, not the least of which is: "If I just act good enough, God will accept me" – legalism. And I laid out for that group, because I knew if they were Assembly of God, which was the background in this case, that these people who were sitting out in that auditorium were going to be people who had been taught that their salvation was not sure, and that they could lose it. That's Assembly of God, charismatic doctrine, which means that you had to do something to be saved, and you have to do something to keep being saved. That's Roman Catholicism to the core.

So, how many of these people are actually going to heaven? And on an occasion like that, I think it's important to remind people, as I tell them: "We're going to run a service like this for you someday. Then how will it be for you?" In this case, it was a military funeral. So, we went out to the military cemetery. And I reminded them that, when we get there, these rows upon rows of tombstones represent people who are very much alive. And if they could speak to that person buried there, they could say, "How are things with you today?" And they would say, "Great. I'm in Christ, and I'm in Abraham's bosom," or they would say, "Terrible – I'm in this place of torment, and I'm suffering." But they are not gone. They are there.

The Bible says, "There's a 'whosoever' in John 3:16 of accepting Christ, and a 'whosoever' in the book of Revelation, of rejecting Him, and ending up in the lake of fire. And there is a choice to be made." And that was just the general jest. Then I told them: "Christ is the Firstfruits. He has been resurrected. And like the farmer, who brought a part of his grain before he harvested the field, in the Old Testament, it testified that there was much more to come. This was just the first. And what was going to come was going to be just like this sample. So, Jesus Christ was the first human being whose body went into heaven alive, and who is just the first of many more who will come – all of us. And when our bodies go there, they'll be as perfect and sinless as His is. Then I said: "The deceased has made his choice. How goes it with you?"

Well, this preacher hopped in the car with Mrs. Danish and me, to ride to the cemetery. And in the course of our conversation, he said, "You know, if I could listen to you awhile, I could really learn something about the Bible." What did I say? This is just a funeral sermon, and this was just the $5.50 sermon. If you want to have a $10, high-class one, you have to tell me that." Then we do it that way. This was just this is just the ordinary $5.50 sermon. And what is this: "I could learn something from you about the Bible?" He gets up in front of a large auditorium. He's up there this morning – telling them what? Most of it legalism: "Behave yourself. Do this. Do that. And God will be nice to you." But there is nothing from within the soul, and nothing within the heart, from the nature that God has put in there.

So, these evil people are inherently evil, and everything that comes from them is going to be deceptive. Now, sometimes they are very cultured in their evilness. Please don't forget that. They can be very smooth; very nice; very personable; and, very friendly. They usually are in the religious world. But they're going to lead you astray, because they're taking you down the human viewpoint trail of self-effort. And what is it that is inherently evil here?

Paul says, "It is these workers – the "ergates." This is use of religious leaders. The Bible uses this, describing religious leaders, and these religious leaders are inherently rotten guys. They are the Judaizers, and they are not lazy. They're energetic for their cause. The cults are devoted to propagating their error. Sooner or later, you'll probably have one of them knock on your door, giving you their literature, in order to promote their cult – to promote their error. The Judaizers were very active. And these evil workers will readily put themselves out with great energy, to no end, to pervert the grace of God among the children of God.

In Matthew 23:15, the Lord Jesus observed this in the hypocrites of the Pharisees. Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees – hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." And that's what they were doing. These legalists were following the apostle Paul, telling people: "Don't listen to Him. This grace stuff will get you in trouble. You have to follow the Law of Moses. You have to do the rituals." Jesus says, "You scribes and Pharisees." He didn't accuse them of not being sincere. Boy, were they sincere. They were sincerely wrong, but they were sincere – and they were hypocrites. They were pretending that, by their routines and rituals, they could reach God.

However, notice what it said: "They reached out across the sea and land." How many of us are running around, from place to place in this world? They were reaching out to make one proselyte (that is, a convert to Judaism) to follow their legalistic ritualism. And then Jesus says, "And when you have done that to this poor fellow, you make him twice the son of hell that you are." That's a very strong condemnation of this whole system of self-effort – legalism. The apostle Paul himself, before he was saved, was outstanding as a legalist, in keeping the ritualistic laws of Moses. But the apostle Paul was rotten to the core, and deadly to the Christian believers.

Right after Philippians 3:3, in verse 4-6, Paul reminisces for just a moment on what kind of a person he was as a genuine, sincere, religious man. He said, in verse 4: "Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh (that is, in my heritage; my descendants; and, my background), if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh in my family line, I the more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As to the Mosaic Law, a Pharisee. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless." When it came to the rules and regulations of Moses, Paul said, "I was blameless." He wasn't sinless, but he did all the routines. And suddenly, he met Jesus Christ on that road to Damascus. And his eyes are opened, and he realizes who he really is, and how absolutely, devastatingly evil he was – as nice as he was, and as religious as he was. But what was he? He was a legalist. He was not a child of God. So, the legalists often appear very dedicated, and very sweet, but are, in God's eyes, evil persons.

So, Paul, in pleading with these Philippians Christians, a splendid group of believers, one of his favorite, said: "Don't get tripped up by these false teachers who are trying to get you to think that you do deal with God by saying a prayer, or spinning a prayer wheel, or going through some monkeyshine routine, or lighting a votive candles, or burning some incense."

The False Circumcision

So, Paul, in Philippians 3:2 says, "Beware of the dogs," referring to these legalistic teachers. "Beware of the evil workers." These are inherently corrupt people. Then he says one thing more: "Beware again. Watch out. Be on your guard for the false circumcision."

Now, here is a great example in the English Bible, where there is no way you're going to understand that sentence: "Beware the false circumcision." That just blows right past you because unless you see it in the Greek, you don't catch onto what Paul is doing. "False circumcision" is this word "katatome." And this word is actually made up of two parts. The first part, "kata," means "down." And "tome" comes from the verb "temno," which means "to cut." So, the picture here is "to cut down," or "to cut off." This word connotes mutilation of a part of the body. You wouldn't believe that the apostle Paul could be so heavy-handed. You wouldn't believe that the apostle Paul could be so disgusted with legalists, that he would use the severe language that he uses here. But he did, because what it does to Christians is so devastating, both in time and eternity, that he has no patience with the legalists.

So, he's referring to these Jewish religious leaders who are taking the legitimate Mosaic Law act of sexual circumcision of the male Jew (the removal of the skin from the male sex organ). This is a legitimate religious act under the Mosaic Law, but it was there called "peritome." "Peri" means "around." "Tome," here again, is "to cut." So, "peritome" means to "cut around," which is what is done to an infant male child – the cutting around the sex organ to remove the skin at the top.

Paul Hated Legalists

Paul is here being sarcastic. He is using a play on words in Grammar that is called a para of "paronomasia." A paronomasia is words that sound the same, but they have different meanings. If I were to use the phrase "the ham what am," where "ham" and "am" rhyme, but there are different words, with different meanings.

Sarcasm

So, here's what he's saying. He says, "Do you want to get into the 'katatome,' and 'peritome?'" So, Paul is using "katatome," the false circumcision, which is just an act of mutilation, and has nothing to do with "peritome." And what he is implying is: "If you think that cutting off a piece of skin from this part of the body, as a religious act, is going to achieve some merit for you with God, then just remove the whole organ" – mutilate ("peritome"). This is very severe in the Greek: "Just do a good job. Boy, you'll surely get to heaven if you do that." Now, this is sarcasm without mercy. The apostle Paul hated legalists.

So, he says in verse 2: "Beware of the 'peritome' – the mutilation." In verse 3, he speaks of the true circumcision – the "katatome:" "Beware of the false circumcision, which is nothing but a mutilation. Be aware of the fact that the circumcision of the Christian is a spiritual relationship of removing the power of the sin nature."

So, Paul discredits these Judaizers – their imposition of circumcision on the gentile Christians. That's an act of legalism. And that's what's behind this. Please remember that the first argument in the New Testament church was about this issue of the Mosaic Law, and specifically, about the issue of circumcision.

Notice Acts 15:1: "And some men came down from Judea, and began teaching the brethren (Jewish men – Jewish teachers). They said, 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." Now, that, folks, is legalism. "Do you want your male child to be saved? Then you circumcise him. If you do not," the Jewish false teacher says, "you will not be saved." Acts 15:5 "But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees, who had believed, stood up, saying." Now, notice this. These are Pharisees who have accepted Christ as Savior. They're born again people: "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses." Now, they have kicked the ante up more: "Not only must you have the rituals of circumcision," for example, "but you have to tell them to observe the Law of Moses." And don't just think: "Well, that's what they did then."

This is done all the time today. There are Christian groups and churches everywhere that are operating on the Law of Moses. That is their frame of reference. That is what they're imposing upon the people of God. These people were completely out of the will of God, and they are teaching them to do something that had nothing to do with Christians – to do something to be saved?

Well, the church got together with the apostles, and they had a meeting. And they concluded, "No, this is not right. Christians are not to be legalists. Christians do not operate under the Law of Moses. None of those words that describe the rituals and the demands of the Mosaic Law have anything to do with Christianity. Now, if you want to do that thing, go help yourself." But here it is clear that they said, "This is not true. You do not have to be circumcised to be saved (physical circumcision). You do not have to go through the rituals of the Mosaic Law in order to be saved, or to be holy."

So, later on in that chapter, you can read the letter they wrote. And they said, "We're not going to trouble you, but we do ask you to respect the Jews." And in verse 20, he said, "There are certain things that are very offensive to the Jewish people, even the Jewish Christians. First, you abstain from contamination by idols. Do not worship idols. That's very offensive to Jews. Secondly, fornication (sex outside of marriage) is very offensive to the Jews' moral code. Do not do that. And do not eat anything that has been strangled, and thus the blood has not been drained. Do not eat a piece of meat where the animal has been strangled, and the blood is still there – where it has not had its throat cut (jugular vein cut), and the blood drained from it. That is against the Law of Moses, and extremely offensive to the Jews. These three things, a Jew, even as a Christian, will recoil from you, as a brother in Christ, if you do this."

Well, verse 21 says that from ancient times, there were Jews everywhere, and those who become Christians still remember their background of what God said: "This is the way you should live. These are certain things you should not do." So, that's all they said: "Do not offend other Christians by your freedom.

In Romans 2:28-29, the apostle Paul said, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly." Circumcision does not make you a Jew: "Neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. It doesn't make you a Jew. And circumcision does not gain you access to God, when it's just in the flesh. But he is a Jew (who is a special person with God), who is one inwardly." It's not what you do outside. It's a condition of your mind and your heart. And circumcision is that which is of the heart – by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God."

So, the apostle Paul, here in Philippians 3:2 compares false circumcision as an act of mutilation that has nothing to do with the inward spiritual life of the believer with true circumcision, which is reflecting a spiritual principle: the removal of the power of the sin nature, that the Bible refers to as "the flesh."

Infant Baptism

The apostle Paul, as you can see, used very strong language. He said, "All you folks have done with your salvation by circumcision is mutilate the body. You have not done a religious act that is symbolic of removing the flesh control, as water baptism is symbolic of having removed the control of the flesh, by accepting Christ as Savior, which is a spiritual circumcision."

So, Paul discredits these Judaizers, with the imposition of circumcision on gentile Christians, as a pure act of legalism. And he refers to this contemptuously as mere physical mutilation. And cutting off the flesh does not affect the sin nature within.

In Galatians 6:15, Paul says, "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision: but a new creation." How do you become a new creation? By faith in Christ – we, who have exchanged our sin for His absolute righteousness. That's the new creation, and that's what counts – not these symbols and these rituals.

So, the gentile Christians, who accept this legalism, are simply mutilating their souls. And it will never help them to reach God. The legalists mutilate the grace of God. They rob Christians of the role of grace in their lives. That's why Paul came down so hard on legalism. It is a devastating thing. Externalism is all that the Old Testament was. And it separates the Christian from the spiritual realities that are within. He loses any opportunity for salvation. He loses every opportunity for godly living.

The True Circumcision

Yes, there is a circumcision that we ought to mention – that which is the real one. In Philippians 3:3, on the nature of genuine circumcision, Paul says. "For we (we Christians) are the true circumcision." This is the explanation of his previous strong condemnation of the legalists, and their physical circumcision. "We" is referring to Paul and the other gentile Christians. And, in the Greek Bible, when you wanted to stress something, you put those words at the front of the sentence. They had a different word order than we do. And guess which words are right there at the front of the sentence? That's right: "For we are." You couldn't make it more exact that we Christians are the winners. We Christians have the real thing. We Christians have the real spiritual realities – the genuine spiritual realities. These people of the Old Testament legalism do not.

"We are." This is constantly true of Christians. It's a status that we have: "We are the true circumcision." And here, he uses this true word for "circumcision:" the "peritome" – not this terrible word that describes "mutilation." Here, we have the real thing. We are truly cutting around. This is in contrast to the false circumcision.

The Abrahamic Covenant

A Land (the Bar Mitzvah)

The Davidic Kingdom

A Blessing

So, this is what circumcision was all about. Do you want to come into these national blessing? "You betcha, I do." Then circumcision was the key. The rite of circumcision applied to the male children who were descended Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was applied to the slaves, to the home-born, and those who were purchased from foreigners (Genesis 17:12-13). It applied to any gentile who wanted to enter Judaism.

Proselytes

Now, the seriousness of the ritual circumcision is shown in an experience that Moses and his wife Zipporah had. Moses has been called by God to lead the people out from slavery in Egypt. He's getting ready for this confrontation with the Pharaoh. The guy is 80 years old now. He's in good form, good health, and he has good eyes. Everything is working. And God said, "Now, this is what you were born for. Now, it's time for the last 40 years of your life, and it will begin with leading this people out of slavery to Egypt. But there was a problem in the home of Moses, a problem, of all things, related to circumcision. And Moses suddenly starts dying. We'll tell you about that tonight.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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