Thursday, August 13 –
It’s Thursday,
and we continue our reading in Galatians 4:8 – 5:12. It is a section that needs to be read
together. When you have finished, please
come back, and we’ll walk through it together.
The
good news of the Gospel is that we are not merely forgiven; we are made heirs
in God’s family. Jesus Christ saved us –
redeemed us – through his perfect life “under the law” (4:4-5). A new relationship is created where God, who
created everything and is sovereign over all creation, brings us into His
family. God is not distant, but
intimately close to all who believe – Abba, Papa, Daddy – adopting us in
Christ for His glory, by His Grace, and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit –
“So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through
God” (4:7).
The difference between who the
Galatian Christians were before Christ and who they are after Christ could not
be more different. Before Christ, they
were slaves to Sin and Idolatry of false gods (4:8), but after coming to Christ,
they have come to know the true God (4:9).
Paul asks – why would you want to go back and become enslaved all over
again, have I, in the end, failed you –
“ But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of
the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and
months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in
vain” (4:9-11).
Paul’s
concern is genuine. They are beginning
to fall back under the law, doing things that the false teachers have told them
God requires them to do. Of course, it
is a false gospel of works, and Paul is direct with them, appealing to them as
a brother in Christ –
“Brothers, I implore you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.
You did me no wrong” (4:12).
What is it that Paul had become? Free
from the law, serving Christ by grace through faith. What follows in 4:13-20, is Paul’s appeal to
them to reconsider their choices. First,
he appeals to them from history – how they first met him and took care of him
when he was sick. The illness is
unknown, except that it involved his eyes (4:15). Many believe Paul contracted Malaria, and the
sickness affected his vision. The
Galatians welcomed him and treated him with respect and hospitality
(4:14). Now things had begun to
change. Paul went from being blessed by
them to being concerned for their spiritual well-being –
“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth”? (4:16).
What happened? “They” arrived –
“They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out,
that you may make much of them” (4:17).
Judaizers, false teachers who told the Galatians they could not be Christians
if they did not submit to the law. Paul
knew it was not even close to the truth of the Gospel, and he is trying to get
them to remember what is the truth concerning the Gospel.
Is Paul
angry? He says two things that show us
his care is pastoral, wanting them to see what they are doing before it’s too
late – “my little children” (4:19), and, “I am perplexed about you”
(4:20). He has written boldly to them.
Remember, this is Paul’s first letter and, in all likelihood, the first
New Testament letter. The early church
was young and doctrinal truths were not yet universal to this early
church. Paul takes them back to the Old
Testament story of Hagar and Sarah and the debacle created by Abraham’s
decision to sleep with Hagar – even though Sarah permitted it. He opens with a question –
“ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the
law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman
and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to
the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise” (4:21-23).
In 4:24
– 31 reminds them that the child born of Hagar was not the promised one of God,
but one that persecuted the child of promise – Isaac – when later he was born
(4:29). He tells the Galatians that they
are like the child of promise – the heir (4:28). Isaac was born supernaturally. Yes, Sarah got pregnant and birthed him, but
Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and Sarah was eighty-nine years old! Why did God wait so long? So that Abraham, Isaac, and all that followed
in Israel right up to Paul’s day knew that they were children of promise and
not slaves – “But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave woman and
her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the
free woman.’ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the
free woman” (4:30-31).
Paul
now explains that the experience of a Christian who knows God has redeemed them
through His Son is freedom – “For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand
firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1). The goal of living for Christ is not
duty, but love. To choose otherwise is
to miss the grace of God. The choice is
the Galatians to make, but you cannot have it both ways – it is either grace or
law, not both – “Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision,
Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who
accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are
severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen
away from grace” (5:2-4). Instead of the freedom of grace, those who go
back to Judaism will have no benefit from Christ’s work (5:2), have to keep the
whole law (5:3), and will be turning their backs on God’s grace (5:4).
Good
works sound so appealing; after all, I am trying to become righteous. But it is destined for failure. Living by grace through faith means we
realize our righteousness is not from ourselves. Martin Luther said of God’s righteousness,
that we need, that it is “extra nous,” outside of our selves. It is “Alien righteousness.” Not alien as from outer space, but not within
our ability to do, to have or to obtain.
It had to come from outside of ourselves – a.k.a., Jesus. Living by grace through faith humbles us and
also plants into us thankful worship and trust because God’s Spirit is working
within us - “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for
the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (5:5-6).
Paul is
convinced they will see the light (5:7-12). He draws upon two metaphors. First,
it is of a runner in a race - “You were running the race well, but got
tripped up, fell because you did not obey the truth” (my paraphrase of
5:7). Second, of yeast in baking – “A
little leaven leavens the whole lump” (5:9).
Allowing the false gospels in and inserting law into their message,
when they know it doesn’t line up with the truth of the Gospel, is equivalent
to putting leaven in a bread dough...you can’t stop it from spreading. Yet, he is confident that they will see what
is happening. As for the false gospel
teachers – “I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves”! (5:12).
It is not, “let’s learn how to love them and be kind.” No, it is extreme and surprising language –
but makes the point very clear. It is
worth our pondering. Do we understand
the freedom we have in Christ? This
freedom is that we are adopted as sons and daughters of God, not because of
anything we have done, but solely because of God’s grace made possible to us
because of Christ’s death on the cross (4:11).
Freedom in Christ means we live by grace through faith. It is not the freedom to indulge in a selfish
life based on choices made when we were in slave to sin (we’ll see this
tomorrow). It is the freedom to discover
all that God has for us as his children.
This was the message of grace Paul was being persecuted for
proclaiming.
Dr.
John R Stott closes this out so beautifully in summary form: Paul was preaching Christ crucified, and
because of that creating a scandal... Ours
is an age of tolerance. Men love to have the best of both worlds and hate to be
forced to choose. It is commonly said that it does not matter what people believe
so long as they are sincere, and that it is unwise to clarify issues too
plainly or to focus them too sharply. But
the religion of the New Testament is vastly different from this mental outlook.
Christianity will not allow us to sit on the fence or live in a haze; it urges
us to be definite and decisive, and in particular to choose between Christ and
circumcision. ‘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. Every man must choose. The one impossibility is what the Galatians
were attempting, namely to add circumcision to Christ and have both. No.
‘Circumcision’ and ‘Christ’ are mutually exclusive.[1]
Works
flatter us into thinking we’re doing good things to get God’s approval. Grace humbles us into realizing Jesus died on
the cross, and we can add nothing to this.
Peace
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