XIII. Stand Fast in Christian Liberty

Transcription

1 XIII. Stand Fast in Christian Liberty April 18/19, 2012 Galatians 5:1-12 Aim: To remain firm in our commitment to the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, and not be swayed by the false teaching of works righteousness. Galatians can be divided into three parts biography, theology, and ethics. In chapters 1 and 2 Paul recounted his spiritual autobiography to show that he was a genuine apostle of the one true gospel. In chapters 3 and 4 he explained the theology of that gospel in terms of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. However, the only kind of theology that interested Paul was practical theology, so his epistle ends with ethics. Beginning with chapter 5, the apostle takes the good news of the cross and the empty tomb and applies it to daily life. This passage begins the third section of the letter. After defending his apostleship (chapters 1-2) and his message of justification by faith (chapters 3-4), Paul now applies that doctrine to practical Christian living (chapters 5-6), emphasizing that right doctrine should result in right living. His subject is the sanctification that should result from justification. The life of genuine faith is more than belief in divine truth; it is also the bearing of divine truth. Especially in chapter 5 (vv. 5, 16-18, 25), the apostle emphasizes the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, without which genuine Christian living would be impossible. It is the Holy Spirit who makes the life of faith work. Where it not for the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, the life of faith would be no more spiritually productive or acceptable to God than the life of law. The freedom for which Christ sets us free is the freedom to live a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. The final two chapters of Galatians are a portrait of the Spirit-filled life, of the believer s implementing the life of faith under the control and in the energy of the Holy Spirit. The Spiritfilled life thereby becomes in itself a powerful testimony to the power of justification by faith. In 5:1-12, Paul concludes the argument of the book with this exhortation to stand firm in liberty. Paul begins with the negative, a warning first against false doctrine (vv. 1-6) and then against false teachers (vv. 7-12). A. Freedom from the Law (Gal. 5:1-6) 1. Freedom in Christ (5:1) Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. a) Liberty Liberty is a sustained theme in this letter (cp. 4:6-7, 22, 26; 5:1, 13). Notice how we come by this liberty. It is the result of Christ s work, not our own. It is Christ who has made us free. What then is this liberty? What freedoms are enjoyed by those who trust only in Christ? They are manifold: we are free from the curse of the law; we are free from the curse of Adam (cp. Rom 5:12-17); we are free from spiritual death (cp. Eph. 2:5-6; 1 Pe. 1:23-25); we are free from the fear of death (cp. Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Cor. 15:54); we are free from condemnation (cp. Rom. 8:1); we are free from the power of sin (cp. Rom. 6:17-18); we are free from the authority of Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

2 Satan (cp. Col. 1:13); we are free to inherit all that Christ has purchased for us eternally (cp. Gal. 4:5-7). The theme of the last two chapters is announced in the very first verse. In essence, Paul is saying, Christ has freed you to be free, so be free! Paul had just finished explaining that the Galatians were not children of Hagar, the slave woman, but sons and daughters of Sarah, born again free by the promise of God. Now what they needed to do was to live free in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. But what exactly does Paul mean here by freedom? There are at least three elements to this freedom. First, the freedom represents a discontinuity with what life was like in the Old Testament period. Paul has already used two metaphors to describe what life was like under the Old Covenant, even for true believers. It was like being under the supervision of a pedagogue (3:24), or like having guardians and managers (4:1) taking care of your estate until such time as you were old enough to inherit fully and to enjoy it. Life under the Old Covenant was restrictive and partial in comparison with life under the New Covenant. Second, this freedom is characterized by life in the Spirit (cp. 5:5). There is something about life under the New Covenant that is marked by the activity of the Holy Spirit in a way that was not the case under the Old Covenant. It is not that life under the New Covenant is lawless. Far from it. The very words walk by the Spirit in verse 16 are a command! We are obligated to do this. To love God, as John keeps telling us, is to obey Him (1 Jn. 5:3). But those who are in Christ are, in one sense, free from the law. They are free from its condemnation. The law shows us how unable we are to comply with its demands. And obedience here and there is not enough. The law is merciless. It expects total compliance at every point. It brings everything into a prison and calls it sin (3:22). Third, this freedom allows me to have the most intimate and open relationship with my Father in heaven. In Christ, God is my Father. I don t have to earn His love. My relationship does not depend on my obedience. When the Bible talks about freedom, it always means freedom in Jesus Christ. The freedom Jesus has to offer is emancipation from the old slaveholders of humanity: sin, death, and the devil. True freedom is not self-fulfillment. It is not merely political independence or social equality. It is not the kind of liberty that leads to license, the freedom to do whatever we want or believe whatever we choose. True freedom means liberation from sin, death, and the devil. And by the grace of God, this is exactly the kind of liberation Christ has come to provide. First, Jesus sets us free from sin, and especially from its guilt. He did this by His crucifixion. He offered His life as the just price for our sins, so that we would never have to face the wrath of God for ourselves. Second, Christ has set us free from death. He did this by the resurrection. If we are in Christ, then death is not the end for us. We, too, will be raised again to eternal life. Third, Christ has set us free from the devil. Through His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus has broken Satan s stranglehold on humanity. Sin, death, and the devil the only way to be free from the tyrants of humanity is by trusting in Jesus Christ. The only way to be free from the guilt of sin is to hold on to the cross where He died for sins. The only way to be free from death is to believe in the empty tomb where He was raised to give eternal life. And the only way to be free from the devil is to trust in God s final victory through Jesus Christ. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

3 Another way to say all this is that Christ has freed us from the law, which is one of Paul s primary concerns throughout Galatians. He has freed me from the law s deadly curse against my sin. He has kept the law I could not keep, paid the penalty I could not pay, and won the victory I could not win. Now I am free to be who God wants me to be and to do what God wants me to do. There is nothing I have to do to win God s acceptance. Now that God has accepted me through Jesus Christ. I am free in Him. And this freedom is the key to gospel holiness. b) Stand Fast The opening words of chapter 5 could well serve as the focal point of the entire letter. Having demonstrated that those who seek salvation though Old Testament law-keeping entangle themselves in bondage, Paul exhorts us to stand uncompromisingly in the freedom that belongs to us in Christ. In light of what Paul has been saying throughout the letter, he implies here a disturbing question: Why, then, do some of you want to go back to being like Ishmael, who was a slave, an outcast, and separated from God? It made no sense at all. He reminds the Christians that Christ has delivered them from the bondage of slavery. In Him they entered into the freedom of the sons of God. If they will turn to the weak and elemental laws of Judaism, they will enslave themselves. Consequently they must stand firm in the freedom of the gospel (cp. John 8:36). Stand fast is the positive, and do not be subject again (lit., do not subject yourselves ) is the negative warning for believers to persevere in freedom. Like an animal loosed from pulling a plow, we should not seek to be hooked up again. Stand fast is a term borrowed from the battlefield. Our freedoms in Christ are constantly under attack. They are attacked by legalism and nomism. They are attacked by false doctrine, of whatever kind. They are attacked by sin and unbelief. They are attacked by Satan, the enemy of our souls. How then are we to stand fast against these onslaughts? We must use the weapons supplied to us by God. Some of them are mentioned in verses 5-6 of this chapter, namely faith, hope, and love. c) Yoke of Bondage What Paul meant by a yoke of slavery was the Old Testament law, considered as a means of justification. The Jews of Paul s day often referred to the law of Moses as a yoke, calling it the yoke of commandments, or even the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. The irony is that even though the Jews called the law a yoke, they did not recognize that they were enslaved by it. How could the Galatians take a firm stand for freedom when they, too, were doubled over by the yoke of the law? By yoke of bondage, Paul clearly means enslavement to the law. The metaphor of a yoke denotes both servitude and toil. The bearer is not only enslaved by this yoke, but also condemned to endless striving in his futile search for righteousness. Such a person knows nothing of the rest that is found in Christ. By contrast, the yoke of Christ is easy, and His burden is light (Mt. 11:30). The Galatians had once been in bondage to false religion (4:8). Their former creed was not, of course, the hollow shell which was Judaism, but their paganism had been no less a prison. Apart from the gospel of free grace in Christ, all religions enslave their followers to works of one kind or another. To embrace the Judaizers doctrine would be to return to the selfsame slavery from which they had been delivered by the Spirit through the gospel. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

4 How then may we avoid this yoke of bondage? Firstly, we must never lose sight of the person and work of Christ. He must be the central theme of all our preaching and teaching, and the example for all our practice. Secondly, and as a consequence, we must rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), interpreting all Scripture in a Christological manner. As long as our religion centers on Christ, both in its doctrine and practice, we shall remain free. Lose that perspective, however, and bondage will ensue. We become slaves if our Christianity becomes focused on mere doctrine, on religious duties, on ethics, on rules and regulations, on humanitarian concerns, on human authorities and personalities, on self-denial, on mysticism, on religious experiences, on church organization and structure, on ecumenism, or on anything else but Christ. 2. Faith in Works (5:2-4) Paul now turns to the subject of circumcision. The Judaizers insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1). The basic doctrinal error of the Judaizers was works righteousness, the same error that is the heart of every other man-made religious system. Rather than looking on circumcision as God had given it as a symbol of His covenant of promise (Gen. 17:9-10) most Jews looked on it as having spiritual value in itself. To them it was not a reminder of God s gracious and sovereign blessing but a means of humanly guaranteeing His favor. The Jews were circumcised already, of course, and there was nothing wrong with this. The problem was Gentiles using circumcision as a means of justification. If circumcision became mandatory for all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, then salvation would be based on a work rather than God s free grace. Either people are justified before God partly by what they do for themselves or they are justified exclusively by what Jesus Christ has done for them. When the Galatians were thinking about getting circumcised, they were really thinking about getting justified. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant of promise made to Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14), not part of the Sinaitical covenant. However, in Jewish thinking, circumcision had become inextricably linked with the Mosaic covenant. The Judaizers message was, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved (Acts 15:1). Notice how they advocated circumcision according to Moses custom, not Abraham s. In their thinking, Sinai had come to include the covenant with Abraham. The covenant of promise, together with its sign, had been hijacked by the law of Moses! Not so, declares Paul. Circumcision was given to Abraham only until the promise was fulfilled. It was the tangible cord, spanning the centuries, that bound Abraham and the promise to Abraham s seed, Jesus Christ. It kept alive the memory of the promise and guaranteed that it would be fulfilled. But once Christ had come, the cord came to an end. Circumcision had served its historic purpose and was needed no more. The spiritual descendants of Abraham bear an altogether different sign, the mark of faith. Paul s objection was not to circumcision itself. Like all Jewish boys, he himself had been circumcised as an infant (Phil. 3:5). He did not object to a Christian s being circumcised if, as in the case of Timothy (Acts 16:1-3), the act would open doors for ministry. Paul s warning about circumcision pertained only to the false idea that in itself it carried spiritual benefit or merit. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

5 What is your mode of justification? Getting circumcised is one alternative to faith in Christ, but there are many others. Some people base their standing before God on the work they do in the church, or on the quality or frequency of their personal devotions. Others depend on the decision they made for Christ when they walked down the aisle or raised their hand at an evangelistic rally, as if they were saved by that gesture. Still others seek to justify themselves by the fact that they are baptized and confirmed members of a Christian church. If we try to be justified before God by anything we do, no matter how small it is, we are not free. This is why justification must come by faith alone. Otherwise, I am enslaved by my own works. Anyone who goes back under the yoke of the law, whether by getting circumcised or by performing some other work, faces three fatal consequences. a) No Profit from Christ (5:2) Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. The first fatal consequence is that Jesus Christ can no longer do us any good. We no longer have anything to gain from His benefits (cp. 2:21). Trying to get right with God by getting circumcised or by doing anything else makes Christ utterly useless. Why is this? Because we do not need Him anymore! If we accept circumcision, we are saying that we can keep the law for ourselves. But in that case, what do we need the Savior for? He becomes completely unnecessary. We cannot have it both ways. Justification is either by law or by grace, either by works or by faith. The Judaizers certainly taught that a Gentile would profit from circumcision, for he would inherit salvation! Paul has a different opinion. He undergirds his apostolic authority by invoking his name. He may also have been emphasizing his own Jewishness, indicating that he, Paul, a former Pharisee and Hebrew of Hebrews (Phil. 3:5) was obviously not speaking against trust in circumcision because of any personal or racial bias against Jews. Both as an apostle and as a circumcised and redeemed Jew, Paul solemnly warns them that if they receive circumcision in order to contribute to their standing before God, Christ will be of no profit to them. To trust in Jesus Christ for salvation is to acknowledge that one cannot save himself. To trust in circumcision or any other personal effort as a means of grace is to supplement His divine work with human work; and a supplemented Christ is a supplanted Christ. To trust in human effort is to trust in law, which is totally incompatible with grace. b) Debtor to Law (5:3) And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. A second fatal consequence of basing salvation on our own work is that we become debtors to God s law. Another way to say this is that if we try to justify ourselves, we may be in for more than we bargained for! Not only are we unable to profit from Christ, but God s law holds us in its debt. The problem, of course, is that no one (except Jesus Christ) can keep God s whole law. So if getting circumcised demands perfect obedience, then anyone who gets circumcised is doomed (cp. 3:10). The yoke of the law is unbearable. Since it cannot be kept, it holds sinners in its infinite debt. A second consequence of trusting in circumcision is that the person who does so obligates himself to keep the whole law. To live by part of the law as a means of attaining righteousness demands living under all of it (cp. James 2:10). Marturomai ( testify ) often carried the idea of Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

6 strong protestation, and that seems to be Paul s meaning here. His apostolic testimony is that Christ will not profit them because they are placing themselves under the Old Covenant, as minor heirs, under bondage. They will be under all the demands of the Old Covenant. This was a burden, Peter told the Council of Jerusalem, that neither our fathers nor we were able to bear (Acts 15:10). c) Fallen from Grace (5:4) You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. The third fatal consequence of working for our salvation is that we are cut off from the grace of Jesus Christ. Literally, those who try to be justified by works are cut off from Christ. Here again Paul shows that his concern is not simply the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the church (as the New Perspective on Paul and the law maintains), but the sinner s relationship with God. His choice of words is significant. Circumcision involved cutting off the male foreskin. In the old covenant, this was a way of saying that a Jew was separated from the world. But it was also a way of saying that if he ever rejected God, he himself would be cut off from God s people. Here Paul was telling the Galatians just the opposite. They belonged to the new covenant, not to the old, and if they god circumcised now, they would be cutting themselves off from Christ! Rather than separating themselves from sin, they would be severing their relationship with the Savior. The underlying principle is that if we try to justify ourselves before God on the basis of our own works, Jesus becomes a stranger to us; we lose access to His grace. To submit to the law (by being circumcised) implied an attempt to find justification through the law, instead of through faith in Christ. Paul has to drive home the truth that those who seek righteousness (or even additional righteousness) through law-keeping cannot have righteousness through Christ. To embrace law-righteousness is to become a stranger to Christ. The net effect will be to sever themselves from Christ. Severed or become estranged is from katargeō, which, when followed by the preposition means to be separated or loosed from. Paul says that if they receive circumcision as necessary for acceptance with God, they are seeking to be justified by law-keeping. Therefore they will be severed from Christ, which is the same as saying Christ will be of no benefit to them. In other words, they will have fallen from grace. Fallen is from ekpiptō, which means to lose one s grasp on something. Paul uses the term grace as the principle of salvation. He does not mean a truly converted person would lose his salvation. Paul is asserting the spiritual truth that one cannot mingle grace and works. One who persists in adding works for his acceptance with God demonstrates that he has not been converted. Simply stated, a person cannot live by both law and grace. To attempt to be justified by law is to reject the way of grace. Paul is not dealing with the security of the believer but with the contrasting ways of grace and law, works and faith, as means of salvation. He is not teaching that a person who has once been justified can lose his righteous standing before God and become lost again by being circumcised or otherwise legalistic. The Bible knows nothing of becoming unjustified. Paul was not making a comment about eternal security. No one who is truly united to Christ can ever lose his or her salvation, as the bible clearly teaches elsewhere (John 10:28; Rom. 8:28-30). What Paul means here is that it is possible for someone to leave the community of God s grace. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

7 Anyone who rejects the only salvation that Christ has to offer has no business belonging to the church any longer. Those who go back under the yoke of the law presumably because they never fully trusted Christ alone for their salvation are outside the realm of grace. Applied to one who was really an unbeliever, the principle of falling from grace has to do with being exposed to the gracious truth of the gospel and then turning one s back on Christ. Such a person is an apostate. They came to the very doorway of grace and then fell away, back into their works religion. Applied to a believer, the principle of falling from grace has to do with a person who genuinely trusts in Christ for salvation but then outwardly reverts to a life of legalism, of living under external rituals, ceremonies, and traditions that he carries out in his own strength, instead of living with a spirit of obedience to Christ. Contrary to justifying grace, sanctifying grace is interruptible. Living by the flesh interferes with living by the Spirit, and living by the flesh may even involve doing the right things for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way. No matter how worthy and God-ordained a person s outward activities may be, to perform them by the flesh is to live by the way of law and to forsake the way of grace. 3. Faith that Works (5:5-6) Paul offers two grounds to prove that to seek acceptance with God through circumcision is to fall from grace. a) The Christian s Hope (5:5) For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. First he asserts that the focus of faith is righteousness. He contrasts himself and all true Christians with the Judaizers and the Galatians who are succumbing to the temptation to follow the Judaizers. Paul here mentions three characteristics of the godly life, the life that continues to live by the grace through which salvation was received. First of all, it is a life lived through the Spirit rather than the flesh. Second, it is a life lived by faith rather than works. And third, it is a life lived in patient waiting and hope rather than in the anxious uncertainty of bondage to the law. Paul lays out the great hope of life; namely, the hope of righteousness. What is this hope of righteousness? It is the hope of our standing before God. It is the hope that on the day of our death and the final Day of Judgment we will be accepted into God s presence. Believers look forward with confidence to that which is secured by such righteousness, namely the glorious inheritance of the children of God. By the term hope Paul expresses confidence; the confidence that comes from or is based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. The confidence of the Judaizer, his hope of righteousness, was based upon performance. It was based on adding imperfect and worthless works of law in a vain attempt to compete the perfect and priceless work of Christ, which they assumed to be incomplete and imperfect. It was faith plus works; it was faith plus circumcision and the Jewish ceremonies. Paul, however, contrasts himself and all true believers ( we ) with that system. By we he means every true Christian as opposed to those heretics in Galatia and elsewhere who were advocating a works-based salvation. He says that the hope of all true believers arises from faith and faith alone. This confidence is Spirit-bred. His confidence is based on the faith that has been worked by the Holy Spirit in his heart in the work of regeneration. From this point on, life in the Spirit becomes one of the main themes of Paul s letter. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

8 Paul emphasizes the role of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit that the believer enjoys such confident expectations. The whole basis of our assurance is the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness is gained by faith in Christ alone. b) The Christian s Work (5:6) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Paul offers the second part of his proof in verse 6. Paul reiterates that faith alone brings us into union with Christ Jesus. What about circumcision? It is irrelevant, for circumcision does not effect this union. It matters not whether one is Jewish or Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised. Circumcision possesses no spiritual value. How could Paul say circumcision doesn t matter? It is in Christ that circumcision becomes irrelevant. Both the circumcised (Jews) and the uncircumcised (Gentiles) are one in Christ. Once we are in Christ, we have everything we need. Nothing can improve our standing before God. Circumcision matters only when it is being used as a way to get right with God. The last thing Paul says about justifying faith is that it actually works. When the Bible speaks of justification, it always says that we are justified by faith, which is another way of saying that justification comes by faith alone. The faith that alone justifies is never alone, however. True faith is always a working faith, a faith that works. It is an expressive faith, a faith that expresses itself in love to God and to others. Although works contribute nothing to our acceptance with God, they play an important role. They are the evidence of a living faith; faith works through love. The Roman Catholic Church misconstrues this statement by teaching that it is a faith formed by love. Now there is a great difference here between faith working through love and faith formed by love. The latter statement claims that faith is a mental assent that must be perfected by true love of God and neighbor. When faith is so perfected it receives the promised salvation. Paul is not describing the perfecting of faith, but the way true faith manifests itself. Paul expects faith to secure not only righteousness but also fruitfulness. He parallels James 2:17 true faith manifests itself in loving obedience, in a life of love to God and to our neighbor, which obeys the law of God (cp. John 14:15). Our obedience does not commend us to God, but is the evidence that our faith is genuine. And hence the apostle has proven that faith and works are incompatible for acceptance with God. But in doing so he teaches the correct role of works in the Christian s life. c) The Christian s Marks (5:5-6) In verse 5 and 6, Paul unites three ideas that belong inseparably together: faith, hope, and love. A Christian has faith in Jesus Christ, loves Him and all who belong to Him, and hopes for the world to come. In particular, faith manifests itself in love. It may well be that part of the problem the apostle has perceived in the agitators in Galatia is a form of racism they had no love for Gentiles. Paul has given the marks of the one who has been converted. First, the basis of your hope is resting in Christ, and Christ alone, for justification. You bring nothing to the table, no works, no effort, and no knowledge. Second, Paul gives you a way to examine your faith. Is your faith a lively faith? In other words, do you have a care and zeal to live and walk by the law of God? We all struggle; there is a remnant of sin within us and we do not always obey. But do you have Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

9 a desire to obey God s law? If you lack this desire, then the faith that you profess is not true faith. It is a deceived faith. B. Hinderers to Obedience (Gal. 5:7-12) Paul now turns his guns upon the false teachers themselves. After exposing the dangers of the false doctrines that threatened the Galatians, Paul exposes the wicked character of the men who espoused the doctrines. While still chiding the Galatians for their gullibility, he reserves his condemnation for those who were leading them astray. Paul, like Christ, was longsuffering with those who were caught in sin, as his letters to the immature, factious, and immoral believers at Corinth attest. But also like the Lord, the apostle s most scathing denunciations were reserved for those who pervert God s truth and lead others into falsehood. In verses 7-12 Paul offers four arguments condemning the attempt to mix works with faith. 1. False Doctrine Does Not Come from God (5:7-8) You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. First, he condemns the way of human effort because it is not of divine authority. Using one of his favorite metaphors, the apostle likens the Christian life to a race. He points out that they had started out in the right direction and were running well. Having started well, in a Christ-centered manner, they had allowed themselves to be distracted. As the Galatians were jockeying for position, someone cut them off. They got knocked off course and fell out of the running. The term Paul uses for hindered or cutting in (enekopsen) was often used at the ancient Greek games. Races were not held on oval tracks in those days, but to the post and back. There were rules against tripping, of course, but sometimes it was possible to get away with a fair amount of interference, especially near a post, where runners had to change directions. One unsporting strategy for winning was to impede the progress of opponents by cutting in on them. Satan is constantly creating diversions to turn the believer aside from the race of faith. What are some of those distractions? The modern emphasis on experiences and spiritual gifts ; the seductive appeal of the health, wealth, and happiness gospel; the distraction of intellectualism, when men love doctrine for its own sake, rather than because it exalts Christ; a desire for the praise of men rather than the praise of God; the fear of men in place of the fear of God these are all hindrances that deflect us from our true goal, which is Christ. Notice that the truth is to be obeyed. Running a good race in the Christian life means something more than just knowing the truth; it means actually practicing it. As far as our standing before God is concerned, all we need to do is believe in Jesus Christ. We are justified by faith alone. However, once we have been justified, we need to be sanctified. When it comes to living for Christ, we must obey the gospel truth. What we believe and how we behave cannot be separated. Christianity is not simply something we know; it is something we do. It is not merely a belief system or a moral code; it is a theology that comes to life. The question Who hindered you? was rhetorical. The question was not about the identity of the false teachers but about their having been able so easily and quickly to deceive and mislead the Galatian believers. How could you have allowed those men to overturn what I carefully taught and you eagerly accepted as God s Word? he was asking. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

10 When Paul asked who had cut in on the Galatians, he already knew the answer. The teachers who were guilty of such poor sportsmanship were the Judaizers who wanted to add the law of Moses to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where did this legalism come from? One thing is for sure: Paul knew where it did not come from. However persuasive the Judaizers may have been their words did not come from God. Why had they turned aside? He answers this question negatively. By this persuasion, Paul clearly refers to the Judaizers idea that to follow Christ one must submit to the law of Moses. If they have been persuaded to trust in works along with their faith, it was not God who thus persuaded them. This doctrine, avers the apostle, does not come from God. Any belief or persuasion which does not testify to the grace of Christ is not from God. The term call refers to the effectual call of God in the gospel. The persuasion of that call is to rest in Christ alone. Therefore, the teaching to add works to faith was not of God. 2. False Doctrine Is Incompatible with the Truth (5:9) A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Second, he reminds them that you cannot mix grace and works. Paul says in Romans 11:6 that to add anything to grace is wrong. Paul quoted a well-known proverb to show that legalism is always lethal. In Scripture the figure of leaven is generally used simply to indicate permeating power, whether of something good or evil. Just as a single cell of cancer can metastasize until it spreads throughout the physical body, a single false doctrine can multiply itself and spread throughout a body of believers. Just as a little bit of yeast will leaven a loaf of bread, a little leaven of works is enough to destroy the soul. Like leaven in bread, a small amount of false teaching can have a disproportionate effect. A pinch of law thoroughly contaminates the whole gospel. When Paul mentioned yeast to the Galatians, he was thinking specifically of the teaching of the Judaizers. Their yeast was to add works to faith as the basis for justification. Like yeast in a loaf of sourdough bread, heresy has a way of spreading until it works its way through the whole church. Each fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith is related to all the others. To get even one of them wrong is to threaten the whole system of doctrine. From this we learn the necessity of resisting any and every error that strikes at the fundamentals of the gospel. Circumcision may not seem like a big deal, but if the Galatians allowed themselves to be circumcised, they would end up denying two central doctrines of the Christian faith: the doctrine of the atonement and the doctrine of justification. They would be saying that Christ s death on the cross was not enough, that they needed something more to atone for their sins,. In this way they would deny the sufficiency of Christ s atonement. And they would be saying that they could not be justified by faith alone, but only by faith plus works, and thus they would deny the biblical doctrine of justification. 3. False Teachers Will Be Judged (5:10, 12) The third proof Paul offers is the divine judgment on the false teachers. a) Confidence in the Galatians (5:10a) I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

11 Paul distinguishes here between the deceived and the deceivers. Paul has been very hard on the Galatians. Now he expresses his confidence. Although he has severely warned them, he alleviates some of the pressure that he has brought to bear upon them. In reality he thinks better of them, because he understands the effectual power of sovereign grace. His confidence is in the Lord. The apostle s confidence was not so much in the Galatians themselves, but in their Lord, who would bring them back to the one true gospel of grace. How can Paul possibly express confidence in the Galatians? The apostle was sure that his readers were genuine believers. As such, they could not, in the end, depart from the truth. Their preservation would not, of course, be due to themselves, but rather to the keeping power of God. Nevertheless, it was reasonable for Paul to express confidence that they would return to the true gospel. His confidence lay in their union with Christ, and thus in God, who bestowed this standing upon them in election, calling, and regeneration. Speaking from this viewpoint, therefore, he makes clear that his confidence in them was in the Lord, not in themselves. Paul s loving spirit expressed in this passage is based upon the great doctrine of the perseverance (or preservation) of the saints. It is not a sentimental glossing-over of their errors, nor does it arise from a tolerance of false teaching, as must be plain from the epistle as a whole. In spite of all that had happened, Paul could regard the Galatians with affection and equanimity because he believed in the power of God and the election of grace (Rom. 11:5). b) Condemnation of the Judaizers (5:10b, 12) but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! Notice as well that Paul distinguishes between the leader and the led. If they continue in this wrong direction, they will be damned. But the judgment of the leader is more severe. The false teachers will incur heavy judgment from the hand of God. The word penalty (krima) is really the word judgment, meaning divine judgment. The word for unsettle (anastatountes) is used elsewhere to describe political subversives, the kind of troublemakers who foment rebellion by causing urban uprisings (Acts 17:6; 21:38). Because they are disturbing the people of God their judgment will be severe. The destiny of believers is secure; they will both persevere and be preserved. But that is not the destiny of ungodly teachers who lead the Lord s people astray. Because the Judaizers stood against God and His truth, they would carry the full weight of their own judgment. The Judaizers had led the Galatian believers astray from the truth, and they would be judged by God. That judgment would be so severe that death by drowning would be preferable, were such an option available (Mt. 18:6). It matters not who they are. If they injure God s children by false teaching they will be severely judged. Paul expresses their judgment in verse 12. Apokoptō mutilate literally means to cut off, especially a member of the body. The word was often used of castration, and that is clearly Paul s meaning here. He is probably referring to the cult of Cybele, a popular pagan nature goddess in Asia Minor during Paul s day. Many devout male worshipers in the cult castrated themselves, and all its priests were self-made eunuchs. His point was, If the Judaizers are so insistent on circumcision as a means of pleasing God, why don t they go all the way and castrate themselves as the supreme act of religious devotion? Let those who insist on circumcision castrate themselves. If they regard circumcision as necessary Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

12 for one s acceptance with god, why stop there? Why not go all the way? Why not emasculate yourself? According to Judaism, this would make them unacceptable to God, for a eunuch had no place among God s people (Dt. 23:1). Castration was a pagan rite, not a covenant rite. They want to cut your foreskin; let them castrate themselves. They have no place among God s people. The apostle was not actually threatening the Judaizers with violence. Although he mentions physical mutilation, he was speaking spiritually, of course. Here it helps to know that some pagan religions required ritual castration. The priests of Cybele, for example, who lived in Northern Galatia, were made eunuchs at an annual festival. So perhaps Paul was saying something like this: Look, if you insist on getting circumcised, you are trying to be saved by a ritual. But that is just another form of paganism, so you might as well go the whole way and become one of their priests! There is another possible interpretation, however, which comes from the Old Testament. According to biblical law, eunuchs were not allowed to enter the temple (Dt. 23:1). When Paul told those troublemaking Judaizers to emasculate themselves, therefore, he was saying that they should be cut off from the church. 4. False Teachers Persecute True Believers (5:11) The fourth thing Paul argues is that those who add works to grace will always persecute the church. a) Persecution of Paul (5:11a) And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? False religion has always been and will continue to be the most aggressive and dominant persecutor of the church (cp. Jn. 16:1-3; Rev. 17:5-6). Satan fights God, and satanic religion fights the true faith. Among their other deceptions and lies, the Judaizers apparently claimed that Paul preached circumcision just as they did. The Judaizers argued that Paul had a double message they said that he preached circumcision to the Jews and no circumcision to Gentiles. Paul says, That is absurd! Why do the Jews throughout the world persecute me? Why have I been stoned and imprisoned if I am preaching a message of faith plus circumcision? Paul was persecuted for preaching salvation in Christ alone. Paul was not opposed to circumcision in and of itself. He didn t place any value on circumcision at all. What he was opposed to was thinking of circumcision as a means of justification, as a way of gaining God s approval. The one thing Paul most certainly did not do was preach circumcision. In 1 Corinthians 7:17-20, Paul outlines his position on circumcision very clearly. When the issue of one s acceptance before God is not at stake, Paul is indifferent to it. He regards it as more or less a badge of cultural identity. In Galatia, where the issue of justification is very much to the fore, he desires that his opposition to the necessity of circumcision be known. Indeed he is being persecuted for it. This persecution would be incongruous if, as the folk in Galatia are being told, Paul is not really opposed to circumcision in any sense. b) Offense of the Cross (5:11b) Then the offense of the cross has ceased. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

13 If Paul did not preach circumcision, then what did he preach? He preached the cross where Christ was crucified for sinners. To preach circumcision is to preach salvation by human merit. Circumcision says that I can be saved by some ritual I undergo or some work that I do. To preach circumcision is to say that my contribution is essential to my salvation. Over against preaching circumcision stands the preaching of the cross. This is what Paul had preached to the Galatians form the beginning (cp. 3:1). To preach the cross is to preach salvation in Christ alone. It is to preach that only His sacrificial death is sufficient to atone for sin. One can preach either circumcision or the cross, but not both. Circumcision stands for a religion of human achievement, of what man can do by his own good works; Christ stands for a religion of divine achievement, of what God has done through the finished work of Christ. Circumcision means law, works, and bondage; Christ means grace, faith, and freedom. Circumcision and Christ are mutually exclusive. The problem with preaching the cross is that it has a way of offending people. To preach Christ crucified is to invite ridicule, opposition, hardship, persecution, and even death. Paul called this phenomenon the offense of the cross. It was something he experienced almost every time he went out to preach the gospel. People were scandalized by what he said about the crucifixion. When Paul called the cross an offense, he was using the Greek word for scandal, which literally means a stumbling block (cp. 1 Cor. 1:23-24). The persecution of Paul proves that he is preaching grace. The concept of the offense of the cross is an important one in Paul s thinking. In Romans 9:33 he cites a combination of Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. While others stumble over the cross, believers rejoice in it (see 6:14; 1 Cor. 1:23-24). The offense of the cross is part and parcel of the genuine gospel. The cross is a stumbling block, an offense to those who want to contribute to their own salvation (cp. 1 Cor. 1:17-25). The cross was a stumbling block to the Jews partly because they could not accept the idea of a suffering, much less crucified, Messiah. But it was even more an offense to them because it robbed them of their most distinctive outward signs of Jewishness, the Mosaic law and circumcision. The Jews were scandalized by the cross because it nullified not only the Mosaic law but also their highly revered rabbinic traditions. The cross offended the Romans. To them, it was an abomination, the most gruesome means of execution imaginable. The cross scandalized the Jews as well. To them it was accursed (3:13; Dt. 21:23). To this day, the cross remains a stumbling block to every moral individual. It is offensive because it is so unflattering. The cross offends people because they do not want to admit that they need someone else to save them. What makes Christianity so offensive is the cross. Most people would rather think that they can do something to save themselves than to admit that they need Christ to save them. The cross still offends fallen men for the same basic reason. Whether Jew or Gentile, all men are prone to trust in what they can do for themselves and are offended when told they can do nothing at all to make themselves right before God. To preach the cross invites persecution because it is the supreme offense to works righteousness. For next time: Read Galatians 5: Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12