Righteous By Faith

(Galatians 3:11-12)

In the time before the coming of Christ, the Israelites were God’s chosen people. He gave them the law to follow for the purpose of understanding His will and to rein in the tendencies of man towards sin and sinfulness.

But man failed. Man could not keep the law, and so their righteousness rested upon an ongoing process of blood sacrifices for the purpose of the forgiveness of sin. These offerings were carried out frequently, and with an annual sacrifice for all the people to atone for sin and to seek God’s forgiveness. But none of these offerings could make people righteous.

This scripture today shows us that no law can make a person righteous for righteousness is attainable only by faith.

Basis of the Law

We are shown here that the basis of the law is not a foundation of faith, but a foundation of works. To live under the law a person has to DO all of the things that the law requires. The scripture here says:

11 Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for “He who through faith is righteous shall live”; 12 but the law does not rest on faith, for “He who does them shall live by them.” (Galatians 3:11-12)

In verse 12 of this section, it is evident that those who desire to live under the law MUST do what the law requires.

If you live under the laws of Moses, there is no choice. You must live under and follow ALL of the laws. You cannot pick and choose which ones apply, but every law that is written in the books of Moses are to be followed…to the letter.

That is the point of this verse. And it is not just written here, it is written in the law and was one of the final laws and instructions of Moses, invoked as a curse for any who thought they could live either apart from the law, or choose those that applied and forget the rest. Moses said:

“‘Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ (Deuteronomy 27:26)

Anyone who is a follower of the law must DO the law. They must keep all of the law and DO all aspects of the law.

And we are shown that they have to keep all aspects as James showed us in his letter.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. (James 2:10)

And here is the problem for many Christians today. They are instructed by the churches that they have to keep the law. They are told they must keep the Ten Commandments and they must tithe, but they are not instructed in many of the other laws. There are in excess of six hundred and fifty laws that were given by Moses, but the people in the churches are instructed only about a scant few of those laws.

If the ministers of the churches intend to keep their congregations under the laws of Moses, then they are doing a poor job of it because they are picking and choosing which laws apply and which ones don’t apply.

The Israelites did not pick and choose, but the laws were read out to the people every Sabbath in the synagogues, and there was a requirement for the WHOLE of the law to be read to the people during the feast of Booths once every seven years during the year of release.

I’m pretty sure this does not happen in the churches today, because they do not recognise the year of release, they do not keep the feast of booths, and they do not even meet on the Sabbath, which is a Saturday, not a Sunday. So just in this matter we see three laws that have been ignored, and one of those happens to be one of the Ten Commandments!

What a mess the church finds itself in if it is trying to keep the law and seek righteousness under the law.

Fortunately, in Christ, there is a much better way that is separate from the law.

Righteousness by Faith

In verse 11 of the scripture under study today, we see that it is by faith that we shall receive righteousness.

11 Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for “He who through faith is righteous shall live”

No one can be justified, that is to be made righteous, by following the works of the law. Righteousness can only be attained through faith.

And it is not based on anything we do but rather, righteousness is received as a free gift from God when we believe what He has done through and in Jesus Christ. When we believe that Christ died and was resurrected by God the Father, and that we can receive his free gift of righteousness by dying and being resurrected with Christ through baptism, then we receive the free gift of righteousness.

The free gift of righteousness by faith has nothing to do with the law. When we come to God by faith in Jesus Christ, we are set free from the law and our sins are removed. The law has been taken away from those who live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Many churches teach that in Christ we are freed from sin and we are freed from law, but it is evident that when they also teach people they must keep the law and that they are sinners, then they do not believe what they are teaching.

How can a person be set free from law and then instructed that they must keep the Ten Commandments and the law? And how is it that only some of the laws are required by the churches, when the Old Covenant says that those who are under law must follow ALL of the law?

If you are a Christian and believe that Christ died to set you free from the law, then you ARE free from the law. You are not under law but under the grace of God, and in His grace there is no law. This is not to say there is anarchy in God’s grace, but rather that the law has been removed. We live to please God and are being changed into the image of Jesus Christ, and if we are in His image we will do by nature what the law requires. We do not DO the law because we are under the law, but we do the acts of righteousness that are aligned with the law because they are the right things to do.

In fact, those Christians who choose to follow and be under the law are doing themselves a great disservice. They are in truth negating the grace of God, as Paul explains in Galatians 5.

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. (Galatians 5:1-5)

Look at verse 4. If you seek to be justified, or made righteous, by works of the law, then you are severed from Jesus Christ, and you have fallen away from the grace of God.

This is how serious this matter is and why the churches and their congregations need to stop and take stock of what they are doing.

When they choose to follow and be under the law, they are separating themselves from Christ. Why? Because they are no longer following Christ who set us free from the law and sin, but instead they are following Moses. And if they choose to follow Moses they must do it completely and totally and follow all the 650-plus laws, leaving none out, because if they leave any out or choose to not follow any of the laws of Moses, then they are guilty of breaking the whole law and will suffer the curses of that law.

Circumcision, as mentioned in the verse above, was the sign or seal of the law. It too was part of the law. But in the same way that circumcision bound the adherents of the law to the whole law, so too do many of the other laws.

Tithing is an interesting example of one of the laws that binds people to the whole law. Under the laws of tithing, the tithe was given to the Levites by God as a perpetual due. The Levites were the tribe of priests and it was only the Levites who could enter the temple to do the temple service. No one from any of the other tribes of Israel could be a priest and serve in the temple.

And because the Levites were chosen by God to do this work, they had no inheritance in the lands of Israel when it was divided among the tribes. That is why the tithe was given to the priesthood and the Levites as a perpetual due, so that they would have something to live on as they had no lands to grow produce or raise flocks and herds.

So the tithe belongs to the Levites forever. It is a perpetual due, which means no-one else has the right to take tithes other than the direct descendants of the tribe of Levi.

So anyone who pays a tithe is accepting that it is a payment to the tribe of Levi and by extension to the priesthood of the Levites who administered the law of Moses. Tithing has nothing to do with Christianity because Christ was not a Levite or a priest of Levi. Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah, not Levi and so Christ was not even permitted under the laws of Moses to accept tithes. And those who pay tithes in the church today are doing so under the law, accepting the authority of the Levite priesthood and thus by their actions accepting they are under the law that Jesus came to set them free from.

Now while the church congregations may be paying tithes under the law in good faith, those in the churches who are receiving these tithes have a lot to answer for in many ways. First, they take too much because the actual tithe that went to the temple was only 1%, not 10%. Second, the only things that were to be tithed were the produce of flocks, herds and the fruits of the ground. Not money. At no time were the Israelites told to tithe money. The things they tithed were the things only God could supply: increase in flocks and herds and the things grown in the ground. But money is the invention of man, and is not of God. Third, anyone in the churches who takes a tithe under the law, is breaking God’s law because the ONLY people to whom a tithe was due under the law were the descendants of the tribe of Levi. Any minister, pastor, preacher, priest or teacher in the church today who is not descended from Levi, has no right to take tithes. They are breaking God’s laws given to Moses.

And tithing will not make you righteous in the eyes of God. It is only by faith that you can be righteous, and faith is the foundation upon which the true Christian covenant is built.

Faith is the key to all of the promises of God.

So do not seek to be righteous by following the laws. You may find that you are actually severing yourself from Christ and falling away from Grace if you do.

Faith in Jesus Christ is a much better way. In fact faith in Jesus Christ is the ONLY way, and it requires us to seek to learn the full truth and so follow Jesus according to ways He set down and taught His apostles and prophets, which they detailed for us in the New Testament.

Study it. Learn it. Absorb the truth and so find the way to be righteous by faith.

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