In Galatians 4:1-3 Paul writes of the dangers of legalism. One of the tragedies of legalism is that it gives the appearance of spiritual maturity when in reality it leads the believer back into a second childhood. The motives may be right but the methods are wrong! The Judaizers had sold them a bill of goods in thinking that their following the law and circumcision would make them superior Christians.
One writer said, legalism practiced in Christianity is like, “Hearing your pilot announce that the navigator has lost their position and has been flying in circles for the last hour and half but the good news is that they are making very good time!”
John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, was only seven years old when his mother died. He became a sailor, and went out to sea at eleven years old. He became the captain of a slave ship, and had an active hand in the horrible inhumanity of the slave trade. But when he was twenty-three, on March 10, 1748, when his ship was in imminent danger of sinking off the coast of Newfoundland, he cried to God for mercy, and he found it. He never forgot how amazing it was that God had received him, as bad as he was. To keep God’s grace ever on his mind, he placed a plaque over the fireplace mantel with the words of Deuteronomy 15:15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you.” We must keep fresh in our mind what we once were, and what we are now in Jesus Christ, if we do we will do well.