The Christian Church must remain Evangelical

Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

Galatians 2:16-21  +  John 8:31-36

You probably know that Lutherans didn’t refer to themselves as “Lutherans” at the time of the Reformation. It was actually a derogatory term that was attached to them by the Roman Church, followers of this recalcitrant monk named “Luther.” No, the early “Lutherans” called themselves “Evangelicals.” (Our own church’s legal name is Emmanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church.) Now, today the term “Evangelical” has become sort of an umbrella term covering a large group of Protestants, mostly a mixture of Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals. But originally it was the churches who aligned theologically with Martin Luther who used that name. “Evangelical” comes from the Greek word “Evangel” which means “Gospel,” “the good message.” They used that term because they recognized that the Christian religion is founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of God’s promise to forgive, to save, to justify sinners by faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. They used that term, because they had come to recognize that the Roman Church, under the Bishop of Rome, had moved away from that “Gospel” foundation and back onto a different one, a very old one, the foundation of the “Law” as the path to God.

If following the path of the Gospel is called “Evangelicalism,” then following the path of the Law is rightly called “Legalism,” the teaching that, if you do the right things, if you offer to God the right things, then He will accept you, whereas the path of Gospel teaches that God will accept you, not if you do the right things, but if you believe in the right Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done all the right things in your place. And you may ask, “How could the Christian Church ever slide off the Gospel foundation onto a Law foundation? How could it possibly revert from Evangelicalism to Legalism?” But the truth is, it’s very easy to do. In fact, the Christian Church came very close to doing that very thing in the earliest days of its existence, twice!, even under the watchful eye of the original apostles. It’s the very thing St. Paul was addressing in today’s Epistle from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

What was going on among the churches of Galatia that prompted St. Paul to write this letter? Well, Paul had recently founded those churches on his first missionary journey. He had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, and they had believed. But after he left, certain Christian Jews came up from Jerusalem and were trying to convince the Galatians that faith alone in Christ wasn’t quite enough to be accepted by God. No, they also had to be circumcised, according to the Law of Moses, if they wanted to be saved. That’s “Legalism” replacing “Evangelicalism.” And it’s bad enough when people use obedience to the Ten Commandments as a path to God, which already doesn’t work. But it’s even worse when people want to impose extra laws on people, like being circumcised or observing dietary restrictions or other traditions. But that’s what Legalism always does. It loves to add more and more laws, more and more things you can do to ensure your salvation. It’s what the Pharisees had done among the Jews. And now, in Galatia, it’s what certain Jews from Jerusalem were trying to do with the Christians. And Paul has heard, to His horror, that they’re falling for it!

So he writes this whole letter to them to call them back to the truth of the Gospel. The words you heard in today’s Epistle actually refer back to another occasion when Evangelicalism was at risk of being replaced by Legalism in the Christian Church. And the apostle Peter was front and center in that controversy.

Earlier in chapter 2, Paul tells how he had been in the city of Antioch, a major city in Syria, to the north of the land of Israel. There were both Jews and Gentiles in that Christian congregation who had heard and believed the Gospel, that salvation is not to be found on the path of the Law but on the path of the Gospel, believing in the Lord Jesus for salvation. So they had set aside the Old Testament regulations about circumcision and about following a Kosher diet. Jews and Gentiles were happily practicing fellowship with one another in the Christian Church on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ, and Peter and Paul, who were Jews, were there at the time, and were eating together with the Gentiles without any issue.

But then certain men came from James in Jerusalem, men who still believed that there was a distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and that the Old Testament Law still needed to be followed. When they came, Peter gave into the pressure of their influence and pulled away from the Gentiles, giving them the impression that believing in Jesus wasn’t actually enough, but that they had to follow Old Testament ceremonial laws in order to really be accepted by God. And then Peter’s example began to lead still others astray. Legalism was starting to rear its ugly head.

So, Paul says, “I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.” And then he goes on to tell the Galatians what he said to Peter. Let’s walk through it together.

Since we [who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners] have come to know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law; for by works of the law no flesh will be justified.

The Jews (even before Jesus was born) generally led lives that conformed outwardly to God’s commandments more than the lives of Gentiles did. They generally upheld marriage and sexual morality, they worshiped the true God, etc. The Jews might have claimed that they had earned God’s acceptance more than the Gentiles had, and the Pharisees did make that very claim at the time of Jesus. But Paul reminds Peter that, although they were Jews by birth, they knew better than to seek God’s acceptance through their obedience to the Law. Instead, they sought God’s acceptance by believing in Christ, which is not a work of the Law. Seeking to be acceptable to God by the Law is trying to put something into God’s hand. Faith, according to the Gospel, is coming to God to have Him put something in your hand—the righteousness of Jesus and the atoning price He paid for our sins by His death on the cross. Paul reminds Peter that they sought to be justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the Law, because no one who relies on the Law will be justified.

But, he goes on, if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were also found to be sinners, then Christ would be a minister of sin! That cannot be!

In other words, we’re seeking to be justified in Christ, by faith, according to the Gospel. But if God, instead of counting us righteous, were still to count us as sinners (for not keeping the Law well enough, for associating with the uncircumcised and eating pork with them, for example), then Christ would not be a minister of grace and life and salvation, as we thought. No, then He would be a minister of sin and death! And that simply cannot be!

For if I rebuild those things which I destroyed, I show myself to be a transgressor.

That is, when I became a Christian, I “destroyed,” I rejected the path of the Law as a path to God. If I now rebuild that path, if I revert to legalism, if I try to reconstruct the Law as a way to salvation—as you have done, Peter, by treating the Gentiles as unworthy because they don’t follow the laws of circumcision and dietary restrictions—then that is not Christ’s doing. No, if I do that, if I resort to legalism, I make myself a transgressor, because all who walk the path of the Law are transgressors, according to the Law itself.

For through the law I died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith—faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

The Law required the sinner’s death. So I gave it what it required—not by actually dying myself, but I have been crucified with Christ. When I came to faith in Christ crucified, God accepted His death in place of my death. God considers me, Paul the sinner, according to the Law, to have died. I, Paul the sinner, no longer live. If I did, I would be required to keep the Law in order to reach God. But I died to the Law and am now on a different path, the path of faith in Christ, the path of the Gospel, where Christ lives in me, Paul the believer, where Christ’s obedience is what counts before God, where I am justified before God, not based on what I’ve done, but based on what Christ has done, in whom I believe.

And so now I live, not to earn God’s favor, not to offer Him the gift of my obedience, but in gratitude to Him for His gift to me, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. So I do make it my goal to live for God, yes, to keep His commandments, but never in a legalistic way, never pretending that my obedience is what makes me acceptable to God, never adding additional laws as a way to be extra special in God’s sight. I live every moment of the rest of my earthly life in gratitude, and in faith.

And then the grand conclusion to his argument: I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness were gained through the law, then Christ died in vain.

In other words, if I can get to God by trying hard, by following this or that law, by doing a series of “right things,” then Jesus didn’t have to die. I could have saved myself. But, no, I uphold the grace of God. That is, I claim that Christ did have to die for me, that God’s grace is the only way for sinners to be saved, that the Gospel has freed us from legalism in all its forms, and we dare never return to it. The Christian Church must remain Evangelical!

Now, if St. Peter began to fall into legalism, if the congregations founded by the Apostle Paul in Galatia began to fall into legalism, is it really any wonder that the Roman Church eventually did, after so many centuries? If you buy this indulgence, you can earn God’s favor and forgiveness. If you observe this fast on this particular day, if you refrain from eating meat on certain days, if you go to Mass, if you pay for a Mass, if you pray to the saints and ask for their help, if the priest performs just the right gestures during the Mass, if they put the right number of candles on the altar, if you submit to the pope as the Vicar of Christ, if you enter a monastery or “get thee to a nunnery,” if you take vows of celibacy or of poverty or of obedience, if you pay your tithe, if your perform the required works of penance, then you may finally be worthy of the absolution, then you will be more acceptable to God, then you can hope to be justified.

It was this legalism that had infiltrated the Roman Church that sparked the Reformation among Luther and the other Evangelicals. What the Reformers did was no different from what the apostle Paul did in today’s Epistle, except that the Reformers couldn’t stand on their own apostolic authority, like Paul could. They had to rely solely on the Word of God left behind for them, and for all of us, too, in the writings of the apostles and prophets.

And isn’t that what Jesus told us to rely on in today’s Gospel? If you remain in My Word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Free from the slavery to sin. Free from the condemnation of the Law. Free from death. Free from hell. Free from the devil’s power. Free from legalism, in all its forms. Because God has loved us and has given His Son into death for our sins, because we had no hope of saving ourselves by doing things required by His law, or by man’s law, or by any law of any kind. Jesus alone is our hope. Jesus alone is our confidence. Jesus alone is our salvation. Jesus alone is our righteousness. And the Word of Jesus—that is something you can stake your very life on, your very soul. Because while popes and councils may err, while heaven and earth may pass away, Jesus’ Word will never pass away. “The Word of God will endure forever.” That was the motto of the Lutheran Reformation, because that was what the Lutheran Reformers staked their lives on, the ever-enduring Word of God. Let us stake our lives on it, too, and let us always, always strive to be and to remain a truly Evangelical Church. Amen.