But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles?
Galatians 4:9

Before his conversion, Paul was one of the best legalists who ever lived. A loyal Jew, he tortured Christians who stepped outside the law, then he, the strict Pharisee, would have done it.

But in Galatians, he blasts the idea that God's love is conditioned by how many rules we obey. Legalism is like a cage: It can only condemn people and lock them behind bars. As Paul points out, no one has kept all of God's laws perfectly, and all who try ultimately fail (3:10-11).

Galatians has been called the "Magna Charta of Christian liberty." "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul declares (5:1). Galatians teaches that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more—or love us less. We don't have to "earn" God's love by slavishly following rules.

Martin Luther said Galatians was "my own little epistle. I have betrothed myself to it; it is my Katie von Bora [Luther's wife]." This slim book proclaims that God has given his love freely, with no strings attached. We should never get over the awesome implications of that truth, Galatians says. Evidently, Paul didn't.

Life Questions: The early Christians went in two directions. Some, like the people in Galatia, became obsessed with legalism. Others took their Christian freedom too far: They refused to follow anyone's rules. Which is the greater danger in your circle?

Notes by Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford

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