We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified.

If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a law-breaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Gal 2.15-end

Problems in Street

Do you get the impression that as Street grows, as more homes are built, as the population increases, so the general standard of behaviour gets worse? Respect for the law seems to be weakening.

For some reason I find myself on the committee of Street Library. We meet only twice a year, so it's no big deal. The last two or three meetings have had to discuss the behaviour of young people inside the library and out in the garden. 2 a.m. is a bad time, apparently, when Envy closes and the effects of alcohol are increased by coming out into the colder air. But vandalism and bad behaviour generally decreased over the six months when a surveillance camera was installed by Crispin Hall pointing towards the library, and I believe a permanent camera is now in place in that area.

It seems that the only way to get reasonable behaviour is to enforce the law more severely, and perhaps add new laws, like the alcohol-free zone.

In England

What's true of Street is true of England as a whole. As the population has shot up, more and more laws have been needed, possibly because as we move from villages to cities we don't really know our neighbours any more. The present government has put laws on the statute book at a faster rate than any previous government. "Over the course of the last decade, each year has seen an average of 2,685 new laws - the equivalent of almost seven and a half a day or one every three-and-a-quarter hours." - Guardian, 4th June 2007

In the European Union

It's true not only of England, but of the EU. To quote a Cambridge Professor of Law, "There were over 2,100 European regulations in 2006. A random selection shows the huge range of subjects they cover: cross-border insolvency, importing of bed linen, import values of certain fruit and vegetables, the buying-in of butter, evaluation of statistics on labour costs, access of poultry to open-air runs, all became law here without our legislators having to lift a finger."

And laws are getting longer. "Five acts passed in 2006 totalled more than 100 pages, three more than 200, one more than 300, one more than 500 and one more than 700 [pages]."

But the sad truth is that all these laws don't seem to be making life better. There's an old saying, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." But how can anyone hope to know the contents of all these bulging statute books? It just makes us all live with a vague feeling of uncertainty and probably guilt. Gordon Brown has recently placed the onus on us, the taxpayers, to get our taxes right. The Inland Revenue doesn't have to take any responsibility for making the wrong demand. We are made to bear the guilt.

Are laws the answer?

Someone wisely said, a long time ago, "a man is not justified by observing the law." And the same man said: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous .... by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." Romans 3.20.

When you think of this country and its problems of behaviour, you realise that piling one law on another isn't going to bring the New Jerusalem. What we need is changed attitudes, changed hearts and minds.

Our wise man from long ago reached the same conclusion. He was, as you may have guessed, St Paul. And he was closely following his master, Jesus.

When Jesus sat down on a hillside to lay down the new law of the Kingdom of God, it didn't sound very much like law as our masters in Westminster and Whitehall know it. It didn't even sound much like the law of his own nation, Israel, the law that we have in the Old Testament.

The new law sounded more like this:

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.

Faith and love

Changed hearts and minds. Jesus, as the first three Gospels report him, said something like: If your heart is loving, you don't need all those laws. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself - on these two commands hang all the law - and the message of the prophets as well.

The writer of the fourth Gospel, and St Paul, agree that love is the most important thing of all. But they also stress trust.

In John 6, people ask Jesus: What must we do to do the works God requires? And Jesus tells them: "The work of God is this: to believe on the one he has sent."

Desperate

And St Paul wrote the letter we're looking at today, to the Galatians, in a desperate attempt to call them back from living by law to living by faith. Desperate? It certainly sounds that way. Three snippets from the letter:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

That last one referred to people who wanted to bind the Galatian believers to the Law by having them circumcised. In one translation Paul is made to say "I wish the knife would slip!" That's how strongly he felt about law versus faith. That's how important it is.

What changes people's behaviour?

All right. Law is not the way. But doesn't that lead to slackness? If we give up trying please God by keeping rules and regulations, and just allow him to love and forgive us, won't it bring anarchy? No law, no right conduct.

I'll tell you St Paul's answer in Galatians in a moment. For now, just think of a teenage boy with all the spots and problems that hormones can bring. His parents have begged him, shouted at him, laid down the law with him, and it hasn't made a bit of difference. Then suddenly they notice that he's changed. He's borrowed his mother's deodorant and his father's aftershave. He's made himself look - and smell - almost human. Why? Only one possible reason. Love. If you asked him, and he decided to do more than grunt at you, he might say:

Since I met her, I'm a new person. It's not the old me. She's given me a new reason for living, for getting up in the morning. My parents shouting at me only made things worse. But now I love her, I want to do everything right - for her.

Now the way St Paul put it:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So, no, it doesn't lead to slackness when you abandon law for love and trust. It doesn't lead to anarchy. Being crucified isn't a soft option, and St Paul says "I have been crucified with Christ." That's what it felt like for him when he saw the blinding light on his journey to Damascus and heard the voice of Jesus. Everything he had stood for and worked for had to go. He had to 'let himself go' in the strict sense, and trust himself to Jesus. And that brought new life:

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

It is so easy to be like the Galatians and slip back into the safe, deadening way of law. Not so risky. Not so challenging. And not so likely to lead to heaven. Did you see the photos of the landlord of a Gurney Slade pub who took out his false teeth and did a bungee jump for charity? The piece in the Mendip Messenger is headed: Tim's leap of faith.

That's what St Paul called the Galatians to. That's what Jesus is calling us to. If we jump, he'll catch us and hold us safely, and we shall go on to live a life of love - for him.