Is Christianity a Legal System? # 3

The Great Distinguishing Mark Between A Legal System and a Spiritual Life Is By Direct Revelation of Jesus Christ

Read Galatians

We covered so much ground in more than an hour yesterday morning (this was given at a conference) that it is quite impossible to go over it all again. All we can do is just remind you of the great matter which is engaging us at this time. We have said that this matter is one which had been the most vital question in the history of Christianity. It is no other question than "What is true Christianity?" In other words, "What was it that invaded this world with the coming into it of Jesus Christ?" Around that question, an immense battle raged in the time of the apostles, and in the nature of that question, the battle still goes on!It took a peculiar form in the days of the apostles; then, it was a matter of Judaism or Christianity. But all along, and today, in principle it remains the same. The question is, "Is Christianity a legal system or spiritual movement from heaven?"

We saw that battle and that question was concentrated by the Apostle Paul into his brief letter to the Galatians. And the Letter to the Galatians is concentrated into one phrase, a phrase with which the apostle begins the letter, that is, "The Gospel which we preached." And we saw that phrase, "The Gospel," is not something just for unsaved people, but comprehends everything that is in the New Testament. That is the first basic thing to be taken account of. It is the comprehensive meaning of the Gospel. Not only Good News for the world and the unsaved, but the Good News of God concerning His Son for the people of God. So we spent some time on the nature of the Gospel.

And then we said that there was a second basic thing before we could consider the content of this letter. Because this letter is very largely based upon this particular thing - that is, Paul himself, and the basis of his apostleship. I would like to think that this letter is fresh in your minds. I would like to think that since yesterday, you have read it right through again, and I would like to suggest that every day this week you read this letter. That will help me a lot in what I have to say.

Now, if you are familiar with this letter, you will know what a large place the Apostle Paul himself takes in the letter. He speaks very much about himself, and about his apostleship. There is a sense in which it is the man behind the letter. And that means, the man behind the Gospel. There is such a large place occupied by the apostle himself personally, but that is for a purpose. And the purpose is certainly not that Paul is seeking to glorify himself. It is not to magnify Paul; but it is to MAGNIFY JESUS CHRIST. That is proved by the fact that in what is quite a short letter, the name "Christ" occurs forty-three times. We shall refer to that again.

Now the reason for the prominence of the apostle in this letter is the whole question of the great change which was made in his time. This immense historic and spiritual change in the ages was very largely turning upon this man, Paul. It was not his desire that it should be so. Certainly Paul would have wished it otherwise. He did not want to be the prominent figure in this controversy. But it was his opponents that were making him the central figure. They were opposing Paul's right to teach what he was teaching. They were setting Paul over against Moses, or Moses over against Paul. In effect, they were saying, God always referred to Moses as "My servant." So by the Scriptures, Moses was accredited servant of the Lord, and as the accredited servant of the Lord, Moses gave the whole Old Testament system. Moses gave the system of the law. And Moses wrote the  Scripture at God's dictation. God verbally told Moses what to write. So that the Old Testament was verbally inspired by God. It was through Moses that God gave the great system of worship which we have in the Book of Leviticus.

Now you see how it seemed that these opponents of Paul had a very strong case against him. They said, Paul denies all that. And Paul says, all that is finished with. For instance: They concentrate upon the question of circumcision. They say, now in the inspired Old Testament, circumcision is a very important thing appointed by God. The Bible, as they had it, said circumcision is something. This man Paul, deliberately says, circumcision is nothing. Therefore, Paul is contradicting the Scriptures; Paul does not believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures. They went further than that. Not only did they attack his teaching, but they attacked him. You know, that is always a bad weapon of a bad cause, wherever there is a people who attack persons. They turn from what the person teaches to the person himself; and they try to discredit the person. And that is what these enemies of Paul did. They said, Paul is not a true apostle,at most, he is inferior to the other apostles. He is a false teacher. He is unsound in his doctrine. And he is a dangerous man. So they sought to undercut the ministry of Paul.

You will see by this, how prominent the place was that Paul occupied in this great issue - the great historic and spiritual issue as to the true nature of Christianity. And because these powerful enemies focus their attention upon Paul himself, it all drew from Paul a personal testimony; and it is in that testimony that we have the very essence of true Christianity. It is in that testimony that we have the new wine which will burst the old bottles, and we have the new garment which Paul will not try to patch up. In this testimony, we have the thing which constitutes the new heavenly in which we live. By the way, we have to thank the enemies of Paul for a lot. We have to thank these enemies for the great light which emerged from his sufferings. We have to thank these enemies for the great emancipation of Christianity from a dead legal system! God turned the persecution of Paul into a wonderful advantage for this whole dispensation. It is very often like that. God gets out of the wine press, the pure wine. But that which goes into the wine press has to be crushed and broken; and then the pure wine of the Kingdom flows out. And that is how it was in this case.

Now it must be clearly understood, that the battle was not between Paul and the Jews, but it was between tradition and spirituality.  Paul only comes into it because he has seen the difference, and is speaking that which he has seen. So we come to understand Paul's personal answer.

Before we pass on, let me add this: it is very important in this great matter for us to settle this same issue:  was the Apostle Paul a peculiarly chosen vessel for this purpose? Does the Apostle Paul stand in a particular relationship to this whole dispensation? Ever since those days, Paul has been a subject of violent attack. The liberal and modernistic theologians have attacked Paul. And the thing which they have said is this, 'Paul is not a true interpreter of Christ.' Of all the men in the Bible, there is no more controversial personality than the Apostle Paul. Even those who will accept Jesus, with limitations, will not accept Paul at all. And we have to settle this question. What relation does this man Paul stand to the whole dispensation? Until we are clearly able to answer that question, we cannot understand his ministry. Because all of Paul's ministry focuses down upon this one issue. That is, the spiritual and the heavenly nature of the dispensation, which came in with Jesus Christ.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 4)