Galatians 5.7
“You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you.”
The Christian faith is often described as a race. It is not a sprint; it is a marathon. This is because the call of God is to the long journey. Like any race or journey, sometimes the road is smooth, but more often than not there will be obstacles to overcome, mountains to climb, and chasms to cross. Along the way some people will help you and encourage you, others will seek to oppose you, while still others will seek to deceive you by enticing you to believe a lie.
The Galatians had been running the race — they were on the journey — when they ran into the distorted, deceptive message of the Judaizers. These false teachers were persuading the Galatians to embrace legalism, which was a serious obstacle to being faithful to the truth of Jesus. Paul is crystal clear in this letter to the Galatians that the law-based message of the Judaizers is not from God. It is false teaching, and it is a hindrance to following the true gospel. It is off-path and a hindrance to obeying the truth.
Scripture repeatedly warns believers to be on guard against false teaching. It is especially important to guard against those who use the name of Jesus or claim to be Christians but nevertheless teach wrong doctrine. Here is warning that Paul wrote to Timothy, the young pastor of the church in Ephesus:
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
If we are to run with endurance the race that is the Christian life, then we must have the discernment and wisdom to recognize false teaching, and we must have the discipline and courage to reject it. Since the time of Jesus and the apostles, false teaching has proliferated, especially false teaching “in the name of Jesus.” These distorted gospels take different forms in every generation, but there are patterns. One pattern of error that has repeated itself throughout history is “easy believism” on one end of the spectrum, and legalism on the other end of the spectrum.
Easy believism is a distortion of grace. Legalism is a distortion of the law.
The Judaizers erred on the legalism end of the spectrum. Their false teaching was that you must earn salvation through good worlds. There are other false teachers who err on the “easy believism” end of the spectrum. Their distorted message is that you don’t have to do anything except “believe,” and then God will take care of you. They don’t talk about sin or repentance or obedience, and they most certainly do not warn of the dangers of disobedience. Their message is that God wants you to be happy, healthy, and wealthy, and all you have to do is “believe and receive” and your life will be great. No work, no effort required in response to God’s saving grace.
I recently listened to an interview with a famous pastor who openly and proudly proclaims that he purposely avoids anything negative because he “doesn’t want people to feel bad.” One interviewer asked him, “What do you do with the passages in the Bible that challenge people to repent of sin and give stern warnings about the consequences of disobedience?” His response: “I don’t believe God has called me to preach those passages. People have enough negativity in their life. I want to give them positivity and hope.”
Wow! He acknowledges that he picks and chooses what bible verses to preach. This is a contemporary example of what Paul warned Timothy about: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
We must run the race the Lord has set before us, and in running that race, we must be careful that no one hinders us from following and obeying the truth. We must not allow ourselves to be persuaded by false doctrine, whether it is “easy believism” on one end of the spectrum or legalism on the other end. We need the discernment to recognize false teaching and the discipline to reject it.
