‘List-Men’ is another term for legalizers… so-called because they come armed with lists of things for us to do (and not to do) so that we may gain acceptance from the Father in Heaven.
Their gospel (which is no Gospel at all) teaches Christ plus something else. They always add to the Finished Work teaching that, for salvation, we need more than Christ alone.
They accuse true Gospel Believers of being Antinomian, … (an odd term by which they charge that our preaching and believing is against the law). Regardless of their charges, Grace Believers strenuously oppose any law being put in the place of the Gospel. Only the doing, dying and rising again of the Lord Jesus gives us eternal life. Our salvation is found entirely and utterly in His obedience on our behalf.
However, we take encouragement from Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, the great expository preacher of the last century, who said, “The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge (Antinomianism) being brought against it.
(Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans 6).
The List -Men came in all shapes and sizes. When I was growing up, the List-Men had us persuaded that men could only wear dark clothes. They ruled that no one was allowed to go to the cinema. Their favourite line was “what would Jesus say if He came back and found you standing in the line to purchase a ticket for the movies.” Many and varied were their demands…which must be adhered to if ever there was to be a hope of being saved.
This was the kind of thing that was happening to the Galatians. The List-Men of their generation taught that the Gospel wasn’t enough. They insisted that circumcision needed to be added. As a result, the Galatians had left the Gospel and were following hard after these wretched List-Men. They were in an anti-Gospel spiral.
Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit, felt so strongly about this that he wrote in Galatians 1:6-7, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:”
Then in verse 8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Paul was talking about two different gospels, not two different interpretations of the same gospel.
There are two gospels. One is false the other true.
In one, man stands before God on the basis of human merit.
In the other, he stands before God on the merits of Jesus Christ alone.
In one, man stands before God in the righteousness of what he has accomplished.
In the other, man stands before God recognizing that there is nothing he can do to satisfy God’s just demands. He knows he cannot do anything to satisfy God but that Christ has met all needed requirements on his behalf.
One teaches "Do."
The other teaches "Done"
If you are a List-Man you should consider these words of Jesus, “It is Finished” John 19:30). By this, Christ meant all of the types, symbols, emblems, and the institutions of the Old Testament—the priesthood, the temple, the altar, the sacrifice, all of it—was finished. No rules and regulations are now needed for salvation, just Christ alone!
Furthermore, Christ’s finished work was confirmed by the torn veil in the Temple (Matthew 27:51). The torn veil cries out, "It is Finished." That 60 feet long, embroidered curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. What an act of God to demonstrate that the Old economy was gone.
So away with your lists. Who do you think you are to presume to add to The Finished Work of the young Prince of Glory?
"A curse upon you if you do" (Galatians 1:8).
And that’s the Gospel Truth!