Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19950129.htm
GALATIANS: IDENTIFYING AND OVERCOMING LEGALISM Part VII: Handling Legalism's Incorrect Mix of Mosaic Law With Christianity (Galatians 5:2-12)

1. Introduction
1. Scripture tells us that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4) This means that the Old Testament writings were fo r our benefit in directing our faith to hope more in the Lord.
2. Problem: What does the believer do with those portions of the Old Testament that lay out the directives for the Mosaic Law? The believer is not under law (Rom. 7:6); on the other hand what is written in the Law is for our learning ! How does the believer use the input from the Law without being legalistic?
3. Paul gives us direction in Galatians 5:2-12 as he reveals the incorrect mix of Law and Christianity.
2. Handling Legalism's Incorrect Mix of Mosaic Law With Christianity, Galatians 5:2-12.
1. Once a person tries to subject himself to the jurisdiction of any part of the Mosaic Law, he is a debtor to fulfill the entire Mosaic Law, Gal. 5:2-3 with Galatians 3:10. This is because Deuteronomy 27:26 of Moses' Law dictates that failure to keep any of the Law makes one a violator of the whole law.
2. Once one puts himself under any jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law and thus becomes subject to the entire law, he falls away from the lofty position of living by grace in Christ, Gal. 5:2, 4-6.
3. Thus, whatever we read in the Mosaic Law sections of the Old Testament, we must subject to the liberating directives of the New Testament Church era writings before applying. Otherwise, we run the risk of putting ourselves under the jurisdiction of the Law rather than benefiting from the comfort and patience of the lessons of the Old Testament!
4. Following this instruction, coupling admonitions to the believers with a scathing denunciation of the Judaizers who taught legalism, Paul urged the Galatians to return to living by grace, Ga. 5:7-12!

Lesson: We become legalistic when we apply the teachings of the Mosaic Law at face value rather than screening their directives through the New Testament dispensations guidelines.

Two Examples: (1) Some believe in "tithing" one-tenth of their income to the Lord as it is taught in various Old Testament passages. However, though tithing is practiced by pre-law Abraham in Genesis 14:20, it was commanded only un der the Mosaic Law, Lev. 27:30-33, Ryrie St. B., KJV ftn. In the Church, we are to give as God has prospered us following the meeting of bona fide needs, 2 Cor. 9:6-10. Therefore, when we read in Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the sto rehouse . . . and prove me now, . . . saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven . . ," this passage does not mean to us that when we give 10% of our gross income to the Church that we will blossom financially! By application, we use 2 Cor. 9:6 to show that if we know we should have given more than we have as God has blessed us with sufficient profit to do so, that God will hold back on blessing as we have not "sown as bountifully" as we ought, regardless if we gave 1% or 10% or 70% of the gross!! (2) Some believe that failure to keep the "Sabbath day holy" means not holding down a secular job on Sunday! However, the Sabbath day was SATURDAY -- not SUNDAY -- so this Exodus 20 rule has no application to missing church on Sunday. Rather, Colossians 2:16-17 expressly forbids the believer from being judged for not keeping Sabbaths as they are a fleeting shadow of Christ who was to come. Rather, Hebrews 10:25 commands us not to "abandon " the meeting of ourselves together. Since Christians meet together on Sundays, it is best to limit our exposure to secular work on Sundays that keeps us from abandoning such worship on a regular basis. Our goal is to work as the exception to when we meet together as a body!