Show Me A Verse to Prove It!

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN: And if you could find me a verse to prove your point in Galatians --any verse--

MICHAEL: Let's look at the Gospel of Matthew and see whether or not your request for a verse sounds more like Jesus or the religious legalists who needed a verse from the Torah (Law).

1. "But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful (according to a verse) to do upon the sabbath day." Matthew 12:2

2. "How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful (according to a verse) for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?" Matthew 12:4

3. "Or have ye not read in the law (according to a verse), how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" Matthew 12:5

4. "And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful (according to a verse) to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him." Matthew 12:10

5. "How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful (according to a verse) to do well on the sabbath days." Matthew 12:12

6. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful (according to a verse) for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Matthew 19:2-4

7. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful (according to a verse) to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? Matthew 22:17

8. Then one of them, which was a lawyer (wanting a verse), asked him a question, testing him, and saying… Matthew 22:35

9. Master, which is the great commandment in the law (verses)? Matthew 22:36

10. On these two commandments hang all the law (verses) and the prophets. Matthew 22:40

11. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law (according to a verse), judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matthew 23:23

12. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful (according to a verse) for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. Matthew 27:6

Why do you suppose Matthew's gospel plays this theme over and over like a Pentecostal praise chorus? It seems to me that both Matthew, and Paul in Galatians, are making the point that religionists are bound by their written theological creeds, rendering them incapable of following the Spirit of mercy, compassion and truth which 'blows where it will', not where the verses say it ought to blow.