Double Standard

Jesus was not one for throwing around judgement or pointing out the faults in other people. Although, let’s be honest, if there is anyone who can rightfully declare judgement it is Jesus. The only perfect person who lived completely without sin is Jesus. Only Jesus stands in a place of rightfully being able to set the standards and point out the faults. Yet, over and over Jesus chooses to extend grace instead of condemnation.

That is not entirely true though. If we look through the gospels, there happens to be one particular fault to which Jesus regularly calls attention. There is one group of people who always seem to be on the receiving end of harsh rebuke and condemnation from Jesus: the Pharisees. And the particular fault Jesus names over and over again in his condemnation of the Pharisees is hypocrisy.

Let’s be certain about it, Jesus does not give a free pass to sins such as murder or adultery or theft. But doesn’t it also seem like Jesus is always reaching out in grace to murderers, adulterers, and thieves? On the other hand, Jesus is quick to throw down a “woe to you…” tweetstorm for those who are hypocrites. Why is that? Why does Jesus take sharp aim at hypocrisy in particular above all other sins and faults? I think our passage for today in Galatians 3 gives us some insight into this. I am going to work through these first 14 verses of Galatians 3 a section at a time, so you might want to keep it in front of you.

Five Questions

In the first 5 verses of Galatians 3 we see five questions. It’s almost comical, in verse 2 Paul says, “I would like to learn just one thing from you.” And then he hauls off and asks a whole bunch of questions. I would like to interrupt and say, excuse me Paul, if you only want to know one thing then you only get to ask one question. Something there doesn’t quite add up. It’s like the saying that there are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count, and those who cannot. So, which is it? Do you want to know one thing, or do you want to know five things? Perhaps the best answer is to look at the five questions and see how they all tie together into one theme.

Galatians 3:1–5 NIV

1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

who has bewitched you?

Who has bewitched you? This question suggests that the error of the Galatians Christians has spiritual roots. It supports what scripture says elsewhere about a spiritual struggle that is more than a battle among the rulers of this world.

did you receive the Spirit by works or by believing?

The next question plays further with this spiritual theme. Did you receive the Spirit by works or by believing? This, of course, ties the theme back with everything Paul has been arguing in the first two chapters of this letter. Remember that Paul is writing to a group of Greek Christians who have fallen for the lie that now they need to add all these Jewish cultural requirements on top of faith in Jesus in order to be Christian. Paul is reminding them, you received justification from your sins and salvation in Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit the moment you turned to Jesus in faith and believed. The grace of God was not withheld from you until you also showed compliance with Jewish laws.

are you so foolish?

The third question keeps going. Are you so foolish? It is as though Paul is giving a wake up call to how illogical and backwards the gospel becomes once you start tacking on other requirements besides faith in Jesus. And this is especially true for the Galatian Christians because they would have already converted to Jesus in faith and have been started down that road of Christian discipleship by the one true gospel message they heard from Paul.

have you experienced so much in vain?

The fourth question is interesting. Whereas all the other questions in these verses are an appeal to logic and reason, here Paul makes a reference to experience. Have you experienced so much in vain? Paul wants them to remember all that they have already come to know through the Holy Spirit without being persuaded and bent to add all these other requirements of the law on top of their faith. It is as though he is telling them, you should know better because you have already had a taste of living the gospel freedom that comes from salvation in Christ alone. You have already experienced this new life.

repeat: did you receive the Spirit by works or by believing?

And then the final question is a repeat, which is important because it tells us that Paul thinks this is really important. Did you receive the Spirit by works or by believing? He making a case and tying up an argument which backs his readers into a corner. It cannot be a both/and answer. The Galatian Christians, and we today who read this, are faced with an either/or choice. Does the Spirit of God reside in you because of what you do, or because of what you believe? Is it works or is it faith?

The answer cannot be both because that would create a double standard. As soon as there is a double standard, the path of discipleship turns to a path of hypocrisy. And as I pointed out at the beginning, Jesus is pretty harsh and pointed in his condemnation of hypocrites. It seems that Paul is giving us a closer glimpse here in this passage to what that hypocritical double standard life looks like as it continually tries to creep back into the community of God’s people.

The Standard of the Law

I am going to jump around a little bit in the passage now. Let’s move on to consider more closely what these works of the law that Paul is talking about look like. Pick it up at verse 10.

Galatians 3:10–13 NIV

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

the law is a curse

The apostle Paul is not mincing words or wasting any time getting right to the point. The law is a curse, he says. The pursuit of a good life in which we follow all the rules is not the thing that brings righteousness and eternal life.

I remember in my former church doing s funeral service for an elderly gentleman who passed away. he was the kind of godly person many of us would aspire to be. He had a kind and gentle word for everyone. He volunteered and helped out whoever needed help however he was able. His generosity was immediate to anyone who had need. He grew up on a farm in Northwest Iowa. When he moved to Denver, he got a job at the US Mint in Denver, which is a major producer of coins in the US. Over the years he worked his way up till eventually he became the second in command. But you would never know it because he lived by such modest means and conducted himself so humbly.

It was striking to me just how many people at the funeral home and before/after the funeral made comments about this saintly gentleman—with the best of intentions—that underscored the curse of the law. While the attempt might have been to provide words of comfort, the result was a curse. So many people made comment about how was such a good and honest man, and so we should all be assured that he is happy at the side of Jesus. He was such a good man, so I am positively certain that he is with Jesus. Those comments mean well, but it is all wrong. Oh, this gentleman is certainly in heaven at the side of Jesus. But it has nothing at all to do with how good a person he was. It has only to do with the faith he had in Jesus.

Do you see just how easy it is to attach the significance of our obedience to moral rules as a standard which negates the sacrifice of Jesus? Do you see how quickly we become people who struggle to see others as redeemed by God through Jesus, and instead we see others by artificial standards of how good or bad we think they behave? But whether it is the saintly humble man from my former church or the thief who hung on the cross next to Jesus, the result is the same. Those who come to faith in Jesus find grace and receive forgiveness and salvation. Anything other than that is a curse.

Jesus expands the meaning of the law in a way that makes everyone guilty (Matthew 5)

Jesus makes this clear in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Jesus gives examples of law after law in which he expands the meaning of the law in a way that makes everyone guilty. You have heard it said you shall not murder, but I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister is subject to judgement. You have heard it said do not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at another lustfully has already committed adultery in their heart. You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Calvinists call this Total Depravity (Canons of Dort: section 3, article 5)

result: the law of God can never be for us a path to righteousness

Jesus closes all the loopholes. There is no possible way for anyone to look at any of the standards of being a good person and somehow come out with a passing grade. In fact, there is no way to even come out with a D-. those of us here in this church who follow in the tradition of John Calvin know we have a term for this. It is the first item on the list in the T.U.L.I.P. acronym. Total depravity. We are not capable on our own of ever doing anything that can measure up to the standard of righteousness that God requires. The law of God can never be for us a path to righteousness. The law of God can only ever end up being for us a curse. Because, Paul says, the law is not based on what you believe, but only on what you do. The law does not measure what is in your heart, but only the actions which will never measure up.

curse of the law which leaves us condemned has been taken by Jesus, and in exchange Jesus gives to us his perfect righteousness instead

This is not the end of the story. We are reminded in Galatians 3 that the curse which rightfully ought to be stuck upon each one of us has been removed. Or to be more precise, it has been exchanged. The curse of the law which leaves us condemned has been taken by Jesus, and in exchange Jesus gives to us his perfect righteousness instead. Jesus has taken the punishment of the curse meant for us, and Jesus has given us a righteousness that is not our own, but is given to us. Understand that; we are not declared righteous before God because we are righteous. We are declared righteous before God because Jesus is righteous, and he has exchanged his righteousness for our curse.

That is the gospel.

The Standard of Faith

Let’s pick up the verses from this passage I skipped over. I’m backing up to verse 6.

Galatians 3:6–9 NIV

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Add to that the conclusion in verse 14.

Galatians 3:14 NIV

14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

That’s pretty tricky right there, Paul. He’s going after those Jewish Christians who want to impose the double standard of their Jewish culture on the Greeks, and Paul does this by rooting the gospel of faith all the way back to Abraham—the father of all the Jewish people. Checkmate. Game, set, and match. Faith in Jesus is the only standard of righteousness there is. Anything else at all ends up being a hypocritical double standard.

how does the standard of faith show up in our lives today?

So, let’s close by thinking through a practical application of the way in which the standard of faith shows up in our lives today. What difference does it make when I live as a person following the standard of faith instead of living as a person following the double standard of the law?

the standard of faith defuses and takes away hypocrisy

First of all—and most importantly—it defuses and takes away our hypocrisy. Here’s what I mean by that. When the standard of the law becomes a measurement we use alongside of or instead of the standard of faith, it is only natural that we look to point out and highlight the failures of others while at the same time ignoring the failures of our own. It seems natural that we tend to define the standard of the law in specifics that make us look a little bit better than everyone else.

Jesus calls out hypocrites like that with some descriptive stories. In Matthew 23 Jesus says,

Matthew 23:25–28 NIV

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

For those in our communities who stay away from the church and want nothing to do with the people of God, do you know what their number one reason is for not being a Christian? Because Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites, they say.

But look at this. When you and I focus on a standard of righteousness that comes from faith instead of a standard of righteousness that comes from the law, it defuses and takes away hypocrisy. I have said often that whenever there is an opportunity to show either grace or judgement to people in our community, I would prefer to choose grace every time. And I know that sometimes there are people out there who take advantage of our graciousness. But if there comes a day when I stand before Jesus and he accuses me of being too generous with grace, then I would certainly prefer to stand before Jesus guilty as charged. Because the thought of the opposite horrifies me. The thought of standing before Jesus one day and he accuses me of being too stingy with grace and withholding grace where it should have been given, that is a charge I would never want against me.

living by a standard of faith instead of a standard of the law means I am recklessly generous with the grace of God to others

...because God has been recklessly generous with his grace to me

Living by a standard of faith instead of a living by a standard of the law means I am recklessly generous with the grace of God. Because the standard of faith reminds me every single day that God has been recklessly generous with his grace to me. I am no more deserving of God’s grace than you are. And we in here are no more deserving of God’s grace than anyone else out there. The faith in Jesus that saves me so that I can be redeemed by God is the same faith in Jesus that saves you so that you can be redeemed by God. And the faith in Jesus that saves us so that we can be redeemed by God is the same faith in Jesus that saves others in our world so that they can be redeemed by God.

This is the message of the gospel to which Paul was inviting the Galatian Christians to return 2000 years ago. And we today are invited by Jesus to return once again to that same gospel message through the faith he given us in the grace he has so generously poured upon us.