Reading: Acts 27:9-26, 44
By Harry Foster
ONE of the many lessons to be learned from this chapter is the supremely important difference between a legalistic attitude and a standing in grace. Out of terrors which might have brought despair into the stoutest heart came the ringing cry of the man who knew the grace of God: Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God . If the law reigned neither Paul, nor the centurion, nor the master, nor the owner would have had any future at all. Things would have worked out as Luke feared they might when he recorded that all hope of salvation was then taken away. Since the grace of God reigns, however, that proved a false fear; they were able to be of good cheer and to go on in hope.
There are few matters of graver importance than the peril of legalism. Right through the Old Testament we are confronted with the oft-recurring tendency of the human heart to choose its own ground, which is legal, instead of accepting Gods ground of free grace. Legalism is a fault, not of the ungodly, but of those who have an earnest zeal for God. In the New Testament the same phenomenon reappears among the people of God. Like the Galatians they are ever prone to build again the edifice which at their conversion they destroyed. Having been found on the ground of free grace, they are so quickly moving away from it; having begun in faith, they seek to be made perfect by works.
This tendency did not end with the New Testament. The multitude of sects and heresies in modern Christendom appall us. It would take a lifetime to discover the particular fallacy of each one, but here is the simple test which will so often expose their untruth: at some point they make salvation to depend upon works and not upon grace. Legalism is very appealing to the pride of the natural man. For this reason, every departure from the truth has its rules and taboos, its regulations as to what must be done and what is prohibited, and this not so much with reference to moral laws as to provide a basis of enjoying divine favour.
But the principle of salvation by works of law goes even deeper than this. Even among truly evangelical Christians it is only too apt to creep in. If we track down the source of clashes, strained relationships, criticisms, schisms, and pride, we will generally find that it represents a failure in respect of the grace of God. In other words, legalism has asserted itself, even in the House of God. As it was with the Jews and the Judaizes, so it is with the Church of today; men are overtaken by a legalistic spirit in their very zeal for God.
Without attempting any precise definition of legalism, may I indicate a few of its characteristics? Legalists are always occupied with externalities. They attach the greatest importance to the niceties of orthodox practice and language as things in themselves. By them the simplest procedures of the New Testament are made into a ritual. The spirit of a thing is lost sight of in an exaggerated devotion to the thing, whereas to God nothing has value apart from the spiritual truth it is meant to express.
Moreover, the legalistic mind is obsessed with deciding what is right and what is wrong. That, after all, is what a law is for! Far be it from me to encourage any laxity in the matter of what is morally right or morally wrong. If, however, we make ourselves judges or arbiters; if we let our relationship with other believers be governed by our own interpretation of what is right; if, indeed, being right, we insist upon our rights, then we have been overtaken by legalism. There is no possibility of spiritual progress if it is made to depend on blamelessness, either in ourselves or in others.
There is an outstanding case of this in the parable of the two debtors. The one, you may remember, was pardoned a large debt which he owed to his master. But he immediately seized upon a fellow-servant who owed him a trifling sum and demanded prompt and full payment. He was punished as a wicked man. So far as the matter of the hundred pence was concerned, he was right, and the debtor was blameworthy. He had the law on his side. Yet his master condemned him. He was right; and yet he was grievously wrong. Having profited so much from grace he sinned gravely in refusing to show grace to his fellow. How many bitter words and cruel deeds among the Lords people are due to a legalistic insistence on what is Scriptural! A proneness to be always judging the rights and wrongs of everything can in time become a kind of obsession.
Then again legalism is always profuse in arguments. Reasoning is the business of the Law Courts. The emotions of the heart have little or no place there, but logic and ability to dispute are essential. The pharisaical mind can dispute every matter and prove its own point even from the Bible. It delights in controversy. It is so argumentative that it can hardly conceive of the possibility [6/7] that it might be wrong. It even dares to dispute with the Lord.
The legalist becomes conceited. He imagines that he knows just how and why God works, as though divine activity could be reduced to mere formulae. He will probe into every circumstance where the Lords blessing may seem to be lacking, attributing every difficulty to some supposed breach of the spiritual rules. It is true, of course, that spiritual principles do obtain in all Gods working, but we can never confine Him to our interpretation of His laws. Grace will always go beyond such limits, bringing glad surprise to those who live by it. The practiser of legalism, however, is never surprised, for he imagines that he knows the explanation and the cause of all that takes place. A great deal more might be said on this subject, but the main point which I wish to make is that legalism has a paralyzing effect on spiritual growth.
Sirs, be of good cheer! Only a heart full of the grace of Christ could have enabled the apostle to speak such words to such hearers at such a time. Had Pauls attitude been at all legalistic he would have spoken very differently. Quite clearly the three leaders were entirely to blame for the sad predicament of the whole ships company. The centurion had refused Pauls warning and allowed the owner and the master to overrule him. Paul was proved right; they were altogether in the wrong. The legalist would have argued that Paul deserved to be saved, and the others deserved to be lost. Paul was no legalist, no stickler for praise and blame. He made great claims upon the grace of God, and the Lord gave him all that sailed with him.
It was fortunate that Paul was no legalist, for perhaps he deserved as badly as any of them. What was he doing on that ship? Why had he persisted in going up to Jerusalem when warned not to do so? And being there, why had he become involved in Judaistic practices in a vain attempt to appease mens prejudices? The centurion had foolishly taken his own course instead of listening to God-given warnings. A careful reading of Acts 21 makes it difficult to resist the possibility that the apostle himself had committed this very same error. His protest: Ye should have hearkened unto me and not have gained this harm and loss could even have been an echo of the Lords reproof to his own heart. What then? Did failure, even disobedience, alienate him from Gods love? The legalist would answer: Yes. The Bible, however, says: No, and records that in spite of everything the gracious Lord stood by him, and said: Be of good cheer, Paul (Acts 23:11).
Legally the centurion and his fellows had forfeited all rights to Pauls love, even as the apostle might have been thought to have forfeited claims upon the love of God. Only grace can maintain love. Nothing so paralyses our sense of Gods love, and nothing so hinders our exercise of love to others as a legalistic approach to the rights and wrongs of things. Away in Corinth and in Rome there were Christians quarrelling and standing aloof from one another over unimportant matters of judgment, allowing barriers to be set up by foolish trivialities. Why? Because instead of receiving others as Christ had received them in grace they were sitting in judgment. There is always division and a breakdown of brotherly love when legalism has its way.
The Lord may have so dealt with us that we cannot do certain things which other servants of God practise. Let us indeed not compromise by sacrificing our understanding of Gods will, but at the same time we must not despise those others, nor have a separateness of spirit towards them. Spiritual progress is always attended by this temptation to judge others. Those who approximate most closely to Gods will are most conscious of and sensitive about shortcomings. But they will hinder their own progress more than that of others if they succumb to the temptation to set up a judgment seat here and now.
Faith can only triumph where grace reigns. Surely if the law governed there would have been no future for those who had rejected divine warnings and steered their own course. In that case there would have been no basis for faith. Paul would have been obliged to confirm the despairing verdict of the rest, telling them that it was useless to trust or pray since they must suffer the consequences of their folly. Happily, this was not the case. Instead, having impressed upon them how wrong and foolish they had been, he exhorted them to be of good cheer; he had obtained a promise from the Lord and was bold to believe that it would be fully implemented by the God of all grace.
Faith is impossible without grace. If Gods blessing follows logically upon our observance of rules of procedure, any failure on our part will suspend all further expectation from Him. The Devil will invariably point out our faults and failures, sometimes bringing back to remembrance mistakes of years ago, in order to challenge and wither our faith. It is important for us to recognize our faults and learn from our mistakes, but we must never let them be the ruling factor. Grace reigns! Doubtless Paul profited from his mistakes. It is clear that the centurion learned his lesson. But that was not all. They might still have been dejected and hopeless men, but for the Lords appearance in grace, calling them to rejoice and have faith.
So far, I have only spoken of the human side, but there is a divine aspect to this matter. Pauls arrival in Rome was not meant for his own blessing; it represented a goal of Gods purpose. He had been chosen as an instrument for the fulfilment of Gods will; but legalism would have judged that fulfilment impossible. The God of grace, however, twice appeared to His servant, encouraging him with the assurance that though the way might be strange, the end was sure: Thou must stand before Caesar. What was true of this one event in the apostles life is also true for us all. The grace of God provides for the realization of Gods full intention for His people, in spite of their unworthiness. For this reason, it is most important for them to abide in grace. Satan knows that legalism will always arrest spiritual progress. If then, he finds a zeal for God among them, he will do his utmost to nullify it by introducing a reversion to works of law. If he succeeds in this, there is no good cheer. And there is no going on unto the fullness of Christ.
A glorious goal is set before the people of God. Legally they have neither the right nor the ability to attain it; but grace beckons them on, crying triumphantly above the noise of the storm: Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God that it shall be . The full purpose of God will find its realization in a people who maintain their lives in the realm where grace reigns.