Do you know that there is only one group of people that the Apostle Paul ever called FOOLISH? And it will probably shock you to find out who they were.

We are told here that these foolish people were the “Galatians.” But who were the Galatians? What were their characteristics and why did their belief system cause Paul to call them a bunch of fools?

The word, “foolish,” is not a compliment. And it isn’t even a gentle insult. It is just about as derogatory of a put down as you can imagine. It means to be without understanding or intelligence. In modern vernacular, I suppose that Paul was calling these people a bunch of idiots. Ouch!

Who were these bunch of idiots? Well believe it or not, they were the holiness people! They were the religious fanatics who thought that their brand of Christianity made them more special and privileged to receive the blessings of God than everybody else.

How was it that they had come to consider themselves so special? And how did they move from professing faith in Jesus to being in so much jeopardy of losing their faith that Paul was compelled to insult them and call them a bunch of idiots for ending up in the state in which they now found themselves?

Here is the disastrous error that they fell into. They started out in faith, but then they moved back into law. They began their relationship with God by relying on God’s grace to forgive them, but then they went back and adopted a list of rules and regulations that they relied on to keep them in good relationship with God.

Disaster! As soon as you adopt a rule book, you actually strengthen the power of sin in your life and move yourself AWAY FROM God. A list of rules can NEVER draw you closer to God.

The Old Testament Law was not designed to reveal God. It was designed to strengthen and reveal sin. The ministry of Moses didn’t draw people to God or reveal how much God loves people. Rather, it showed people how desperately they needed a Savior. It showed them the futility of attempting to justify themselves with God through their own actions.

Paul goes on in this chapter to reveal that the Law was our tutor to keep us from destroying ourselves until the Promise of the Savior (Jesus) was revealed. And He lets us know that once we have mastered the material (grace), we don’t need to stay under the tutor any longer.

Now he isn’t saying that a holy lifestyle is not beneficial. But what he IS saying is that TRUSTING that a holy lifestyle will bring you into greater favor with God will turn you into a complete idiot. It’s foolish!

If you have a list that you are living by that you are using as a barometer to measure your relationship with God, then you are a fool. An idiot! You have no understanding or intelligence. You can never make God more pleased with you because of the rules you are following.

Whenever you are trusting in your personal performance, you have left behind faith. And when you are no longer in faith, you are no longer in Christianity. You didn’t start with God there. And you can’t continue with God there.

You began your journey with Jesus by grace through faith. Any other position will turn you into a fool and kill you.