A Study of Galatians
Fulton Sheen
Chapter 3
1. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Paul now turns his attention away from Peter’s failure to understand the full message of the Gospel and begins to address the error that the believers of Galatia were in the process of embracing. In Chapter Two, Peter’s inability to discern the reality of his new life in Christ was used to provide a basis for emphasizing the inability of the Law of Moses to provide justification for anyone before God. Meticulously keeping the Law of Moses, without an active faith in the promises of God to bring salvation, led only to nauseating God (Isaiah 1:11); Israel’s first king learned this truth too late: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22b). It is through the grace of God, through faith in the work of Christ (the OT saints looked forward; we look backward) that we are declared righteous before a holy God – something that cannot be supplemented by keeping the ordinances of the Law of Moses without destroying the Gospel message (Galatians 1:6-7).
The Greek word for foolish means simply, to not understand.1 However, as the word is used within this particular context, “it signifies senseless, an unworthy lack of understanding.”2 The significance of this is that the Galatians did not understand but they should have; it was a failure on their part that they did not comprehend this truth. This was exactly the same difficulty that Paul had had with Peter; he should have understood the freedom of the message of the Gospel, but, for some reason, he struggled with it.
The Greek word translated as bewitch is a negative word, and primarily means to slander but also, as in this case, “to mislead by an evil eye, and so to charm.”3 Our English word fascinate is quite closely related to this concept, and speaks of an almost hypnotic control. What Paul identifies within these Galatians is a virtually mindless following after the Judaizers. They did not question the Jewish-tainted departure from the Message that Paul had brought to them, they simply followed the error; they failed to examine the Scriptures in order to determine if what they were hearing was in accordance with God’s instructions (Acts 17:11). It seemed to make sense, and the promoters of this false message were so sincere and gracious, how could they possibly be wrong?
This is so similar to what we find among Evangelicals today. The movement is fraught with followers who do not know the Word of God, and who do not take the time to determine what the Bible might have to say about things to which they are supposed to be committed; they simply follow the charismatic leader of their preference. Billy Graham had a huge following for many years, and if you want to lose your audience very quickly, then just mention something negative about this giant in the eyes of Evangelicals. However, as early as 1944 Billy was cultivating a friendship with Catholic bishop, Fulton Sheen,4 and that was not necessarily wrong. When they first met, Billy expressed gratitude to him for “his ministry and his focus on Christ”5 (now that presents a problem; Sheen had a regular television broadcast, which, Billy openly admitted, he watched from time to time). Yet in his autobiography, Treasures in Clay, Sheen titles one chapter as “The Woman I Love” – a chapter that was devoted specifically to Mary, the object of the Eucharistic sacrifice that he made every Saturday.6 His regard for Christ was such that he declared: “[when] I go before the Judgment Seat of Christ, He will say to me in His Mercy: ‘I heard My Mother speak of you.’”7 Sheen’s primary focus was on Mary and he looked to her for his salvation, not to the finished work of Christ. The reality is that the Catholics do not have a finished work of Christ, for they sacrifice Him afresh in every Eucharistic celebration, and their crucifix exposes their failure to attribute “it is finished” to Christ’s work on the cross.
1. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Paul now turns his attention away from Peter’s failure to understand the full message of the Gospel and begins to address the error that the believers of Galatia were in the process of embracing. In Chapter Two, Peter’s inability to discern the reality of his new life in Christ was used to provide a basis for emphasizing the inability of the Law of Moses to provide justification for anyone before God. Meticulously keeping the Law of Moses, without an active faith in the promises of God to bring salvation, led only to nauseating God (Isaiah 1:11); Israel’s first king learned this truth too late: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22b). It is through the grace of God, through faith in the work of Christ (the OT saints looked forward; we look backward) that we are declared righteous before a holy God – something that cannot be supplemented by keeping the ordinances of the Law of Moses without destroying the Gospel message (Galatians 1:6-7).
The Greek word for foolish means simply, to not understand.1 However, as the word is used within this particular context, “it signifies senseless, an unworthy lack of understanding.”2 The significance of this is that the Galatians did not understand but they should have; it was a failure on their part that they did not comprehend this truth. This was exactly the same difficulty that Paul had had with Peter; he should have understood the freedom of the message of the Gospel, but, for some reason, he struggled with it.
The Greek word translated as bewitch is a negative word, and primarily means to slander but also, as in this case, “to mislead by an evil eye, and so to charm.”3 Our English word fascinate is quite closely related to this concept, and speaks of an almost hypnotic control. What Paul identifies within these Galatians is a virtually mindless following after the Judaizers. They did not question the Jewish-tainted departure from the Message that Paul had brought to them, they simply followed the error; they failed to examine the Scriptures in order to determine if what they were hearing was in accordance with God’s instructions (Acts 17:11). It seemed to make sense, and the promoters of this false message were so sincere and gracious, how could they possibly be wrong?
This is so similar to what we find among Evangelicals today. The movement is fraught with followers who do not know the Word of God, and who do not take the time to determine what the Bible might have to say about things to which they are supposed to be committed; they simply follow the charismatic leader of their preference. Billy Graham had a huge following for many years, and if you want to lose your audience very quickly, then just mention something negative about this giant in the eyes of Evangelicals. However, as early as 1944 Billy was cultivating a friendship with Catholic bishop, Fulton Sheen,4 and that was not necessarily wrong. When they first met, Billy expressed gratitude to him for “his ministry and his focus on Christ”5 (now that presents a problem; Sheen had a regular television broadcast, which, Billy openly admitted, he watched from time to time). Yet in his autobiography, Treasures in Clay, Sheen titles one chapter as “The Woman I Love” – a chapter that was devoted specifically to Mary, the object of the Eucharistic sacrifice that he made every Saturday.6 His regard for Christ was such that he declared: “[when] I go before the Judgment Seat of Christ, He will say to me in His Mercy: ‘I heard My Mother speak of you.’”7 Sheen’s primary focus was on Mary and he looked to her for his salvation, not to the finished work of Christ. The reality is that the Catholics do not have a finished work of Christ, for they sacrifice Him afresh in every Eucharistic celebration, and their crucifix exposes their failure to attribute “it is finished” to Christ’s work on the cross.
However, Billy’s attention had not only been drawn to the Catholics; from his earliest ministry times, Ecumenism has been his creed. Writing about a crusade that he held in Boston (c. 1950) he says, “... a number of Roman Catholic priests and Unitarian clergy, together with some of their parishioners, came to the meetings along with those from Evangelical churches. With my limited Evangelical background, this was a further expansion of my own ecumenical outlook. I now began to make friends among people from many different backgrounds and to develop a spiritual love for their clergy.”8 It was during this time that Billy “began to realize that there were Christians everywhere. They might be called modernists, Catholics, or whatever, but they were Christians.”9 To the Evangelicals who are so enamored with Billy Graham, Paul would say: “O foolish Evangelicals, who has bewitched you? Why have you failed to discern the call of Scripture to a life of holiness and doctrinal purity?” The error is the same: a failure to use the Scriptures as a guide, and a willingness to accept the teaching of others because they appear to be good people or they speak smooth words.
“Let no man deceive you with vain words ...” (Ephesians 5:6); this is a command that carries the present tense – it is to be a continual part of our Christian living; we can never afford to relax our guard. If there was ever a time when this command needs to be followed with great diligence, it is today. Evangelicalism is ripe with a proliferation of voices, and every one of them is calling for the ear of the unsuspecting. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). When the founders of New Evangelicalism planted their flag over 60 years ago, they set the stage for the violation of this warning from God; one of their determinations was to educate themselves to a level where they could adequately dialogue with the liberal theologians.10 They became fluent in the philosophies of the age and quickly lost sight of the Word of God. They failed to recognize God’s expressed truth that righteousness and unrighteousness have no basis for fellowship (2 Corinthians 6:14); they opened communion with darkness and very quickly became partakers with them (Ephesians 5:7 and the progression of Psalm 1:1). We cannot afford to be amazed at the blindness of the Galatians, or the inability of Evangelicals to recognize the error of Billy Graham; we must “beware” lest we are caught in the very same snare of fine words and rational arguments.
Who has bewitched you “that ye should not obey the truth?” The error was not that the Galatians had chosen to follow one man over another (as the Corinthians had done – 1 Corinthians 1:12) – they were failing to discern the truth! The word obey in Greek, peitho (pi'-tho), carries the central thought of being persuaded;11 therefore, within this context, we must understand that the obedience flows out of having been convinced of the veracity of a position. This is not blind obedience; this is obedience that comes from being fully persuaded of the trustworthiness of the message. It seems that the people of Galatia simply had not been thoroughly convinced of just how narrow the Gospel message was that Paul and Barnabas had brought to them. On the other hand, if they had been persuaded, then they had succumbed to someone with a more eloquent presentation (bewitched). Keep in mind that they had not left Paul for another preacher of the Gospel; they had left the Gospel that Paul preached, for another gospel that was a very different kind (Galatians 1:6-7) – something that was far more serious. The difference is significant, for the life is in the message not the messenger; in fact, they were forsaking the Truth for a fable.
The last part of the question that Paul puts to the Galatian believers, reminds them of the Message that had been delivered to them. The order of words within the KJV could lead one to the conclusion that it was a message of Jesus Christ being crucified among them – which might be construed to support the Catholic Eucharist that crucifies Jesus during each mass. It is helpful to take a literal translation of the Greek words that serves to establish the thrust of this passage: “to whom according to your understanding Jesus Christ was described clearly among you crucified.”12 The literal translation clarifies that it was the Message of Jesus Christ crucified that was declared among them. The KJV translates the Greek prographo (prog-raf'-o) as “evidently set forth,” which serves to emphasize that the Message of Jesus Christ crucified was openly proclaimed to them. Although prographo means to write before, within the language of that day it was used in a manner that meant proclaimed.13 What cannot be missed is Paul’s reminder to these people that they had heard, openly and completely, the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified.
We might tend to be critical of these people. They had the Apostle Paul preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, and yet they were in the process of setting it aside for something that was not the truth. Part of the delusion, or deception, was that the Galatians wouldn’t have admitted that they were setting Paul’s Gospel aside. We have the completed canon of Scripture in our hands today and yet, as we scan the landscape of Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, what quickly becomes evident is the lack of adherence to the truth and the enthusiastic acceptance of compromise and error. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ...” (Jeremiah 17:9). “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). How easily we can replace the truth of the Scriptures with a tradition or a tainted teaching that we might find more comfortable. Unless we read the pages of Scripture with a purpose to learn and grow in our walk with the Lord, we will be like the Galatians – oh, we may not succumb to holding to the Mosaic ordinances, but rest assured, we will fall for something else that is not the true Gospel message. We have just seen two warnings to “take heed” – unless we do take heed by exercising continual discernment, we will become fair game for any huckster selling a gospel with a positive message and a smooth slogan.
2. This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul has another question. He is using questions in an effort to stimulate their thinking – something that he seems convinced they did not do when they fell for the message of the Judaizers. As Paul tries to get them to understand that they have fallen for error, he presents truth in a question form.
The essence of his question is this: did you receive the Spirit of God by keeping the Law (of Moses), or through faith? The answer is obvious, and this will form a foundation for Paul’s arguments that will follow. Paul is asking that they consider their own experience, and evaluate where they are going in light of how they came to their present position.
We must remind ourselves at this point, of Paul’s clear declaration of what these people were in the process of doing. He has already stated: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed [to transpose; exchange] from him that called you [it is God who calls us – Romans 9:24] into the grace of Christ unto another [different] gospel: which is not another [of the same kind]; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert [transform into something opposite] the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7).14 Paul declares that they are not being obedient to the truth (Galatians 3:1). This is not a small error or a momentary lapse in judgment; this is turning away from the truth, turning unto error, and doing it with eyes wide open. They may not have understood the full implications of what they were doing, but they were not being forced to accept this teaching – they were embracing it willingly. This verse reminds us that these people, who were replacing the true Gospel with a false one, who were turning from the truth to error, had received the Spirit of God! They had not prayed a prayer during an emotional high; rather, they understood the Message that they were taught, and they had received the Spirit of God – they were truly born-again!
We looked earlier at Hebrews 3:12 – “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” The unbelief spoken of here is faithlessness: apistia – literally, no faith.15 The Galatians were replacing their faith in Christ with a dependency upon abiding by the works of the Law of Moses; in essence, they were becoming faithless. They thought to increase their spirituality by requiring Jewish works along with their faith – the subtlety of this error is that the result would actually be the opposite of what they anticipated. They were permitting faithlessness to enter their hearts – the very warning that we read of in Hebrews. We are warned against removing ourselves from God or falling away from Him; the Galatians were removing themselves from the Gospel of God to something that was not of God (Galatians 1:6-7). The parallels between the warning in Hebrews and the actions of the Galatians are strong. What is so clear is that the Galatians had been born again; they had received of the Spirit of God, yet they were now in a position of becoming faithless and following error rather than God. If we review the parable of the soils (Luke 8:13-14), we will be reminded that even when the Word of God springs to life within the individual (they believe), it does not ensure a harvest of spiritual fruit. We must guard against faithlessness crowding out our faith in Christ. The protection of the Lord against all external attacks is very adequate (John 10:29), but what we must guard against is a heart of unbelief.
“Let no man deceive you with vain words ...” (Ephesians 5:6); this is a command that carries the present tense – it is to be a continual part of our Christian living; we can never afford to relax our guard. If there was ever a time when this command needs to be followed with great diligence, it is today. Evangelicalism is ripe with a proliferation of voices, and every one of them is calling for the ear of the unsuspecting. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). When the founders of New Evangelicalism planted their flag over 60 years ago, they set the stage for the violation of this warning from God; one of their determinations was to educate themselves to a level where they could adequately dialogue with the liberal theologians.10 They became fluent in the philosophies of the age and quickly lost sight of the Word of God. They failed to recognize God’s expressed truth that righteousness and unrighteousness have no basis for fellowship (2 Corinthians 6:14); they opened communion with darkness and very quickly became partakers with them (Ephesians 5:7 and the progression of Psalm 1:1). We cannot afford to be amazed at the blindness of the Galatians, or the inability of Evangelicals to recognize the error of Billy Graham; we must “beware” lest we are caught in the very same snare of fine words and rational arguments.
Who has bewitched you “that ye should not obey the truth?” The error was not that the Galatians had chosen to follow one man over another (as the Corinthians had done – 1 Corinthians 1:12) – they were failing to discern the truth! The word obey in Greek, peitho (pi'-tho), carries the central thought of being persuaded;11 therefore, within this context, we must understand that the obedience flows out of having been convinced of the veracity of a position. This is not blind obedience; this is obedience that comes from being fully persuaded of the trustworthiness of the message. It seems that the people of Galatia simply had not been thoroughly convinced of just how narrow the Gospel message was that Paul and Barnabas had brought to them. On the other hand, if they had been persuaded, then they had succumbed to someone with a more eloquent presentation (bewitched). Keep in mind that they had not left Paul for another preacher of the Gospel; they had left the Gospel that Paul preached, for another gospel that was a very different kind (Galatians 1:6-7) – something that was far more serious. The difference is significant, for the life is in the message not the messenger; in fact, they were forsaking the Truth for a fable.
The last part of the question that Paul puts to the Galatian believers, reminds them of the Message that had been delivered to them. The order of words within the KJV could lead one to the conclusion that it was a message of Jesus Christ being crucified among them – which might be construed to support the Catholic Eucharist that crucifies Jesus during each mass. It is helpful to take a literal translation of the Greek words that serves to establish the thrust of this passage: “to whom according to your understanding Jesus Christ was described clearly among you crucified.”12 The literal translation clarifies that it was the Message of Jesus Christ crucified that was declared among them. The KJV translates the Greek prographo (prog-raf'-o) as “evidently set forth,” which serves to emphasize that the Message of Jesus Christ crucified was openly proclaimed to them. Although prographo means to write before, within the language of that day it was used in a manner that meant proclaimed.13 What cannot be missed is Paul’s reminder to these people that they had heard, openly and completely, the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified.
We might tend to be critical of these people. They had the Apostle Paul preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, and yet they were in the process of setting it aside for something that was not the truth. Part of the delusion, or deception, was that the Galatians wouldn’t have admitted that they were setting Paul’s Gospel aside. We have the completed canon of Scripture in our hands today and yet, as we scan the landscape of Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, what quickly becomes evident is the lack of adherence to the truth and the enthusiastic acceptance of compromise and error. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ...” (Jeremiah 17:9). “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). How easily we can replace the truth of the Scriptures with a tradition or a tainted teaching that we might find more comfortable. Unless we read the pages of Scripture with a purpose to learn and grow in our walk with the Lord, we will be like the Galatians – oh, we may not succumb to holding to the Mosaic ordinances, but rest assured, we will fall for something else that is not the true Gospel message. We have just seen two warnings to “take heed” – unless we do take heed by exercising continual discernment, we will become fair game for any huckster selling a gospel with a positive message and a smooth slogan.
2. This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul has another question. He is using questions in an effort to stimulate their thinking – something that he seems convinced they did not do when they fell for the message of the Judaizers. As Paul tries to get them to understand that they have fallen for error, he presents truth in a question form.
The essence of his question is this: did you receive the Spirit of God by keeping the Law (of Moses), or through faith? The answer is obvious, and this will form a foundation for Paul’s arguments that will follow. Paul is asking that they consider their own experience, and evaluate where they are going in light of how they came to their present position.
We must remind ourselves at this point, of Paul’s clear declaration of what these people were in the process of doing. He has already stated: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed [to transpose; exchange] from him that called you [it is God who calls us – Romans 9:24] into the grace of Christ unto another [different] gospel: which is not another [of the same kind]; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert [transform into something opposite] the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7).14 Paul declares that they are not being obedient to the truth (Galatians 3:1). This is not a small error or a momentary lapse in judgment; this is turning away from the truth, turning unto error, and doing it with eyes wide open. They may not have understood the full implications of what they were doing, but they were not being forced to accept this teaching – they were embracing it willingly. This verse reminds us that these people, who were replacing the true Gospel with a false one, who were turning from the truth to error, had received the Spirit of God! They had not prayed a prayer during an emotional high; rather, they understood the Message that they were taught, and they had received the Spirit of God – they were truly born-again!
We looked earlier at Hebrews 3:12 – “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” The unbelief spoken of here is faithlessness: apistia – literally, no faith.15 The Galatians were replacing their faith in Christ with a dependency upon abiding by the works of the Law of Moses; in essence, they were becoming faithless. They thought to increase their spirituality by requiring Jewish works along with their faith – the subtlety of this error is that the result would actually be the opposite of what they anticipated. They were permitting faithlessness to enter their hearts – the very warning that we read of in Hebrews. We are warned against removing ourselves from God or falling away from Him; the Galatians were removing themselves from the Gospel of God to something that was not of God (Galatians 1:6-7). The parallels between the warning in Hebrews and the actions of the Galatians are strong. What is so clear is that the Galatians had been born again; they had received of the Spirit of God, yet they were now in a position of becoming faithless and following error rather than God. If we review the parable of the soils (Luke 8:13-14), we will be reminded that even when the Word of God springs to life within the individual (they believe), it does not ensure a harvest of spiritual fruit. We must guard against faithlessness crowding out our faith in Christ. The protection of the Lord against all external attacks is very adequate (John 10:29), but what we must guard against is a heart of unbelief.
If we look back to the First Covenant made by God with Israel at Mt. Sinai, it is clear that the Spirit of God rested between the cherubim, above the Ark of the Covenant, within the Holy of Holies (Exodus 25:20-22; Leviticus 16:2). The presence of God was there in the midst of the children of Israel, but it did not abide within anyone in particular. The exercise of their faith required them to keep the ordinances of the Lord, which included presenting the acceptable sacrifices to the priests who, in turn, would bring them before the Lord. Their access to the Lord was always through the priesthood, and always within the prescribed format that served to emphasize the gulf that existed between the God of all holiness and sinful mankind. The bridge between God and the children of Israel existed, just like it does today, and it was also narrow and required a mediator. Through faith in what God had provided, temporary cleansing from sin could be received (the sacrifices needed to be repeated – Hebrews 10:1).
Within the New Covenant, we come to God by faith in the finished work of Christ; the way is narrow and demands a Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). He is both our High Priest and our perfect Sacrifice. “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest [i.e., after the order of Melchisedec], who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ...” (Hebrews 8:1). “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:11-12). As we come to Christ by faith through repentance, the promise that we have is that the Spirit of God will abide within us (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13 – marked [sealed] by the Spirit). This is a significant difference to the First Covenant where the Spirit remained between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples saw the evidence of the Spirit of God descending upon them individually in the form of “cloven tongues like as of fire” (Acts 2:3). This was new! The gift of speaking in unlearned languages became the sign to these early disciples of the presence of the Spirit of God as they proclaimed the Gospel to foreigners. This was used to convince Peter that God had poured out His Spirit upon Cornelius (a Gentile) and those who heard and understood his Message to them (Acts 10:44-48).
Paul’s question to the Galatians – did you receive the Spirit through the works of the Law – would have received a resounding, NO! Within the Mosaic system, the Spirit of the Lord did not come to abide within each individual who exercised faith in God’s provision; this was a fresh experience characteristic of the New (Fresh) Covenant established by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it came by faith in Christ’s completed work as our Sacrifice and High Priest. This was all accomplished outside of the Law of Moses but in fulfillment of it – it did not come into being silently. Moses spoke of this day (Deuteronomy 18:18), and Jeremiah, the Prophet, foretold the day of just such a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33). The difficulty that the Galatians had was that they were not sufficiently grounded in the Word of God to withstand the siren song of those who came preaching a Christianized form of Judaism. Even though Paul preached a Message that provided them with all that they needed for this life and the life hereafter, they sought to incorporate works into it, thereby forsaking the Gospel, which they had originally accepted from Paul.
This is the pattern into which many have fallen in the years since. The Roman Catholics plunged into it in a huge way, and have destroyed all but a few remnants of the Message that God has given to us in His Word. Their doctrine of salvation has been reduced to a list of things that must be done within the rigid framework of their organization. The message of the Emergent Church tosses every vestige of order aside in order to focus on the experiences that make you spiritual (within their frame of reference – a different form of works), and exhibit no concern for doctrine; after all, doctrine is cold and divides, while experiences are warm, exhilarating, and we can learn from each other through them. Hence, they speak of emptying the mind and listening to the voice of god (small “g”). God never speaks of emptying the mind; rather, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus spoke once of emptiness: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (Matthew 12:43-45). By tossing aside any need for the teachings of Scripture (other than enough isolated texts to salve the conscience that their practices are spiritually acceptable), Emergent Church followers place themselves in the same precarious position as the Galatian Judaizers; they have replaced the Message of God with one that is not from Him. They might well empty their minds and hear voices, but they are really communing with demons, even while they think that they are hearing from God (Matthew 7:21-23).
3. Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Foolish comes from the same Greek word as used in verse one and means “not applying ... the mind,” “an unworthy lack of understanding.”16 What is evident is that the Galatian believers’ conduct demonstrated a definite lack of understanding the message of the Gospel clearly, yet it is equally evident from Paul’s word used here that they should have known better. It is not that these people did not understand the Message of truth that had been delivered to them, but when the twisted message of the Judaizers came along, they were unable to discern the error of this new message in light of the truth that they had already received. Rather than weigh the new information against the truth, they bought the bill of goods without giving it another thought – perhaps because they heard it from “Christian” Jews (convinced by hearing some of the right words), or possibly because these people came from the Jerusalem area and knew Peter (conned by the use of a trusted name).
Evangelicals today are guilty of the very same error. Today’s latest spiritual fad declares that they are to become very quiet, empty their minds, and listen to the voice of God speak to them. The prospect of hearing the voice of God, the enthusiasm of friends who have heard a voice speak to them, or simply the need to belong, propels the unsuspecting Evangelicals into the fold of the Emergent Church/Spiritual Formation heresy. There no longer is a sufficiently deep understanding of the Scriptures with which to protect the average Evangelical from becoming fair game of the latest fad to hit the masses. The overall, Biblical-dumbing-down of Evangelicals plays into the hands of the devil, and makes them prey to any heretic who comes along. There is no consideration of the Word of God in such matters because the Scriptures have been set aside in favor of well-honed theologies that fail to accurately represent God’s Word. The inordinate focus on unity, which has gripped the Evangelical churches for more than 60 years, is beginning to pay dividends; the modus operandi has been to downplay doctrine in favor of fellowship – and if there is one thing that the Emergent Church is good at, it is neglecting doctrine. After all, doctrine divides – even the Scriptures will attest to that: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). The great Evangelical failure today is that very, very few test anything that they hear or read against the standard of the Word of God; the error into which the Galatians fell was to accept what they heard without consulting God’s Standard. “The word of the Lord endureth for ever” (1 Peter 1:25); we must not neglect that eternal Word – our spiritual life depends on it.
Paul now poses a very significant question to the Galatians: “having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” We have just come through a passage where Paul makes it crystal-clear that “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). The Jews of Jerusalem understood this, and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith for cleansing and justification – they were born again by the Spirit of God; however, their failure came when they also sought to hold onto the traditions of their Jewish faith and make them essential for salvation. The Galatians, on the other hand, came to faith through the ministry of Paul and Barnabas; they came into spiritual life by the Spirit of God (Galatians 3:2), and now, through the influence of these Judaizers, they were in the process of replacing their justifying faith with a dead faith-works hybrid (Galatians 1:6-7). Having begun in the Spirit did they now expect to come to perfection through the works of the flesh? “For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:6-7).17 These are strong words, and we need to take heed. We have already seen that the Galatians were replacing the true Gospel with one that was false (Galatians 1:6-7), and it is evident that this false gospel of works is death, and enmity against God. These were people who were born-again by the Spirit of God and who had begun to live the life of a new creation in Christ, but through deception they were being convinced to turn their backs on the God of life in favor of a life of works that could only bring apostasy and spiritual death.
These people began with the Spirit of the God of creation abiding within them, and they were now preparing to substitute personal effort to bring them to perfection – literally: successfully completing what the Holy Spirit had begun.18 Here we have another indication that some of the “Christian” Jews of Jerusalem considered their lives to be sinless: they were very spiritual Pharisees as Jews (Acts 15:5), and now they had added justification by faith to complete their image of spiritual perfection. Satan deceived the Pharisees into viewing themselves as being superior to everyone else, and that deception was retained by these Judaizers so that they had now arrived: righteous Pharisees (keeping the Law of Moses) now professing faith in Christ! However, Satan had not only deceived the Judaizers, but he was using them to spread his deception to those who were unwary (Romans 16:18), not alert and vigilant (1 Peter 5:8), and who failed to “try the spirits” by the Word of God (1 John 4:1).
Paul has just very thoroughly established that through the works of the law no flesh can be justified, and has made it equally evident that the Judaizers, themselves, recognized this truth. The question posed here only serves to underscore the failure of the Galatians to realize what it was that they were doing. Having begun in the Spirit, Who is the justifier of all who exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, did they now hope to come to ultimate fulfillment through works, by which no man can be justified? This is the bottom line of their transposition of gospels: they are replacing the Gospel of life through the Spirit of God with a gospel of works by which no one can be justified before God. They professed an understanding of faith in the Lord, yet failed to relinquish their Jewish traditions as being fulfilled in Christ.
Within the New Covenant, we come to God by faith in the finished work of Christ; the way is narrow and demands a Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). He is both our High Priest and our perfect Sacrifice. “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest [i.e., after the order of Melchisedec], who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ...” (Hebrews 8:1). “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:11-12). As we come to Christ by faith through repentance, the promise that we have is that the Spirit of God will abide within us (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13 – marked [sealed] by the Spirit). This is a significant difference to the First Covenant where the Spirit remained between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples saw the evidence of the Spirit of God descending upon them individually in the form of “cloven tongues like as of fire” (Acts 2:3). This was new! The gift of speaking in unlearned languages became the sign to these early disciples of the presence of the Spirit of God as they proclaimed the Gospel to foreigners. This was used to convince Peter that God had poured out His Spirit upon Cornelius (a Gentile) and those who heard and understood his Message to them (Acts 10:44-48).
Paul’s question to the Galatians – did you receive the Spirit through the works of the Law – would have received a resounding, NO! Within the Mosaic system, the Spirit of the Lord did not come to abide within each individual who exercised faith in God’s provision; this was a fresh experience characteristic of the New (Fresh) Covenant established by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it came by faith in Christ’s completed work as our Sacrifice and High Priest. This was all accomplished outside of the Law of Moses but in fulfillment of it – it did not come into being silently. Moses spoke of this day (Deuteronomy 18:18), and Jeremiah, the Prophet, foretold the day of just such a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33). The difficulty that the Galatians had was that they were not sufficiently grounded in the Word of God to withstand the siren song of those who came preaching a Christianized form of Judaism. Even though Paul preached a Message that provided them with all that they needed for this life and the life hereafter, they sought to incorporate works into it, thereby forsaking the Gospel, which they had originally accepted from Paul.
This is the pattern into which many have fallen in the years since. The Roman Catholics plunged into it in a huge way, and have destroyed all but a few remnants of the Message that God has given to us in His Word. Their doctrine of salvation has been reduced to a list of things that must be done within the rigid framework of their organization. The message of the Emergent Church tosses every vestige of order aside in order to focus on the experiences that make you spiritual (within their frame of reference – a different form of works), and exhibit no concern for doctrine; after all, doctrine is cold and divides, while experiences are warm, exhilarating, and we can learn from each other through them. Hence, they speak of emptying the mind and listening to the voice of god (small “g”). God never speaks of emptying the mind; rather, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus spoke once of emptiness: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (Matthew 12:43-45). By tossing aside any need for the teachings of Scripture (other than enough isolated texts to salve the conscience that their practices are spiritually acceptable), Emergent Church followers place themselves in the same precarious position as the Galatian Judaizers; they have replaced the Message of God with one that is not from Him. They might well empty their minds and hear voices, but they are really communing with demons, even while they think that they are hearing from God (Matthew 7:21-23).
3. Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Foolish comes from the same Greek word as used in verse one and means “not applying ... the mind,” “an unworthy lack of understanding.”16 What is evident is that the Galatian believers’ conduct demonstrated a definite lack of understanding the message of the Gospel clearly, yet it is equally evident from Paul’s word used here that they should have known better. It is not that these people did not understand the Message of truth that had been delivered to them, but when the twisted message of the Judaizers came along, they were unable to discern the error of this new message in light of the truth that they had already received. Rather than weigh the new information against the truth, they bought the bill of goods without giving it another thought – perhaps because they heard it from “Christian” Jews (convinced by hearing some of the right words), or possibly because these people came from the Jerusalem area and knew Peter (conned by the use of a trusted name).
Evangelicals today are guilty of the very same error. Today’s latest spiritual fad declares that they are to become very quiet, empty their minds, and listen to the voice of God speak to them. The prospect of hearing the voice of God, the enthusiasm of friends who have heard a voice speak to them, or simply the need to belong, propels the unsuspecting Evangelicals into the fold of the Emergent Church/Spiritual Formation heresy. There no longer is a sufficiently deep understanding of the Scriptures with which to protect the average Evangelical from becoming fair game of the latest fad to hit the masses. The overall, Biblical-dumbing-down of Evangelicals plays into the hands of the devil, and makes them prey to any heretic who comes along. There is no consideration of the Word of God in such matters because the Scriptures have been set aside in favor of well-honed theologies that fail to accurately represent God’s Word. The inordinate focus on unity, which has gripped the Evangelical churches for more than 60 years, is beginning to pay dividends; the modus operandi has been to downplay doctrine in favor of fellowship – and if there is one thing that the Emergent Church is good at, it is neglecting doctrine. After all, doctrine divides – even the Scriptures will attest to that: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). The great Evangelical failure today is that very, very few test anything that they hear or read against the standard of the Word of God; the error into which the Galatians fell was to accept what they heard without consulting God’s Standard. “The word of the Lord endureth for ever” (1 Peter 1:25); we must not neglect that eternal Word – our spiritual life depends on it.
Paul now poses a very significant question to the Galatians: “having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” We have just come through a passage where Paul makes it crystal-clear that “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). The Jews of Jerusalem understood this, and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith for cleansing and justification – they were born again by the Spirit of God; however, their failure came when they also sought to hold onto the traditions of their Jewish faith and make them essential for salvation. The Galatians, on the other hand, came to faith through the ministry of Paul and Barnabas; they came into spiritual life by the Spirit of God (Galatians 3:2), and now, through the influence of these Judaizers, they were in the process of replacing their justifying faith with a dead faith-works hybrid (Galatians 1:6-7). Having begun in the Spirit did they now expect to come to perfection through the works of the flesh? “For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:6-7).17 These are strong words, and we need to take heed. We have already seen that the Galatians were replacing the true Gospel with one that was false (Galatians 1:6-7), and it is evident that this false gospel of works is death, and enmity against God. These were people who were born-again by the Spirit of God and who had begun to live the life of a new creation in Christ, but through deception they were being convinced to turn their backs on the God of life in favor of a life of works that could only bring apostasy and spiritual death.
These people began with the Spirit of the God of creation abiding within them, and they were now preparing to substitute personal effort to bring them to perfection – literally: successfully completing what the Holy Spirit had begun.18 Here we have another indication that some of the “Christian” Jews of Jerusalem considered their lives to be sinless: they were very spiritual Pharisees as Jews (Acts 15:5), and now they had added justification by faith to complete their image of spiritual perfection. Satan deceived the Pharisees into viewing themselves as being superior to everyone else, and that deception was retained by these Judaizers so that they had now arrived: righteous Pharisees (keeping the Law of Moses) now professing faith in Christ! However, Satan had not only deceived the Judaizers, but he was using them to spread his deception to those who were unwary (Romans 16:18), not alert and vigilant (1 Peter 5:8), and who failed to “try the spirits” by the Word of God (1 John 4:1).
Paul has just very thoroughly established that through the works of the law no flesh can be justified, and has made it equally evident that the Judaizers, themselves, recognized this truth. The question posed here only serves to underscore the failure of the Galatians to realize what it was that they were doing. Having begun in the Spirit, Who is the justifier of all who exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, did they now hope to come to ultimate fulfillment through works, by which no man can be justified? This is the bottom line of their transposition of gospels: they are replacing the Gospel of life through the Spirit of God with a gospel of works by which no one can be justified before God. They professed an understanding of faith in the Lord, yet failed to relinquish their Jewish traditions as being fulfilled in Christ.
Harold Lindsell
We might express our outrage at the blindness of these Galatian Christians, but we must guard our words carefully in this regard. When the New Evangelicals announced their platform and set out to influence Evangelicals, they embarked on exactly the same pathway – except that they were not deceived into it. Through careful determination, they set out to demonstrate, by their works, a new way for Evangelicals – a way that departed from the Scriptures on many fronts. They replaced faith in Christ and His Word with works, and it did not take many years for their departure from the truth to become evident to those who were discerning. Although a participant in the movement, Harold Lindsell recognized that with the denial of the inerrancy of Scripture, the discarding of other foundational doctrines would very quickly follow.19 Although he expressed his concerns in print, to the outrage of hard-line New Evangelicals, there is no indication that he ever stepped out of the movement. However, there were other men like Charles Woodbridge, who began in the organization but left it when he saw the direction in which it was going, and he went to great lengths to warn others of the dangers. What we must recognize is that the path that the New Evangelicals took was similar to that undertaken by the Galatians – both set aside the reality of justification by faith alone in Christ to embark on a journey of self-justification through works (although, because of their blindness, neither group would recognize it as such, or admit that this is what they had done). As incredible as it may seem, the devil’s question has not changed: “Yeah, hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1), and equally astonishing is the fact that foolish men (those who should know better) will still fall for that age-old question.
4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
We are provided here with a glimpse into the lives of the Galatians; what is evident is that they had endured suffering because of their faith in Christ. You will recall that when Paul and Barnabas first went throughout this region, persecution from unbelieving Jews was a notable factor (Acts 13:50; 14:2). Sometime later as Paul and Silas followed the same route through Lystra and Iconium, and Paul desired to bring Timothy along with them, he felt compelled to have him circumcised because of the attitude of the Jews in that region (Acts 16:1-3). Inasmuch as Timothy’s father was a Greek, he undoubtedly felt that it would be a barrier to ministry among the Jews; however, the question that surfaces (to which there is no answer) is this: did Paul’s capitulation to a Jewish tradition create additional trouble for the Gentile Christians in this area? This could have become an object lesson used by the Jewish Christians to pressure the Gentile Christians into keeping the traditions of Moses. Their argument would have been along these lines: if Paul deemed it necessary to circumcise Timothy before he could join him in ministry, then surely, if you want to be a good Christian, then you must follow the Jewish traditions. Paul may well have determined that since a portion of their work was to the Jewish people, circumcision would only improve Timothy’s ministry among these hypersensitive people, yet this may well have been used against the Message that he brought.
However, despite this and how the Jews would undoubtedly have used Paul’s actions in this case, the Message that Paul proclaimed did not include any hint of keeping the Mosaic traditions (something that he made very clear in his letters to the Ephesians and Colossians). As a matter of fact, after his tour through Jerusalem, it would have been very amazing if he would not have emphasized the completion of the Jewish traditions in Christ. What is evident is that the Galatians knew the truth about being free in Christ alone; after all, they had “begun in the Spirit.” It would have been while they were living in accordance with the Gospel message of justification through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that they experienced suffering and persecution – perhaps from the zealous Jews in their area, as they seemed to be the primary source of aggravation for Paul in his ministry. If we consider that their persecution was probably from the Jews, it would have been for believing that Jesus was the Messiah and for not keeping their traditions. They could have already been under pressure to embrace the Jewish ways, so that when Jews, professing to be Christians, came from Jerusalem with the message that it was necessary to keep the traditions of Moses, it would have proven to be an irresistible means of allaying the persecution that they were under. Humanly speaking, we always try to alleviate the difficulties that we face, and it would have been no different for the Galatians. However, we are told: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). Suffering because of our allegiance to Christ is to be expected – something that Paul had not been remiss to include in his Message to these people (Acts 14:22).
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:16-18). The thrust of Paul’s question to the Galatians is this: has your suffering for Christ been for no purpose? The Christian life is a call to suffering (2 Timothy 3:12); this is not presented to us as something that is avoidable. Jesus made it clear that we are to count the cost of following Him (and suffering persecution is part of that cost), when He identified what is required of His disciples (Luke 14:25-33).
As we consider Paul’s question, we must keep in mind what was happening to the Galatian believers: they were in the process of replacing the Gospel of Truth with a gospel of error, the message of faith in Christ with a message of works according to the Jewish traditions (Galatians 1:6-7; 3:1-2). For their sufferings to have been without purpose would mean that the reason for their sufferings would have been lost. The reason is really quite simple: they had placed their faith in Christ for the salvation of their souls – an action that brought the wrath of the Jews upon them. For the sufferings that they had endured to become of no purpose, means that they would have forsaken the reason for their sufferings, namely, faith in Christ alone. “For it had been better for them not to have known [to know thoroughly] the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from [to turn one’s self away from] the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Peter 2:21).20 We have already seen that Christ died one time only: “For in that he died, he died unto sin once ...” (Romans 6:10), and that we are “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), which also makes this a one-time action. Therefore, if someone comes to Christ by faith and then turns himself away from Him to walk a different pathway (as Peter describes), there is now no sacrifice available for his sins because he has spurned the only Way available (Hebrews 6:4-6). “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from [to withdraw one's self from, to fall away21 to apostatize from22] the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). This would be the only reason that the sufferings of the Galatians could be without purpose; Paul recognized the elements of apostasy within what they were in the process of doing.
As we noted in Galatians 1:6-7, at the time that Paul was writing this letter, the Galatians were in the process of replacing the Gospel of Truth with a false gospel. Therefore, we have the latter part of our text, “if it be yet in vain.” Paul’s hope is that, after reading his words of exhortation, they will reject the error that they are courting and return to the true Gospel of faith in Christ alone. If they repent and take action to embrace the truth once again, then their sufferings will not have been without purpose, for they will remain as partakers of the present sufferings with the promise of glories in Christ to come. We must take heed lest the deceitfulness of the enemy should find root in our hearts and lead us to giving heed to “seducing spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1), and find ourselves among those who fall away from the faith.
5. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul has another question for these people. Questions require thought and consideration before an adequate response can be given; Paul is trying to get these people to think about what they are doing. Evangelicals today have been conditioned to not think, but to leave all spiritual contemplation to those who are highly educated and who propagate teachings that are in line with denominational traditions and favored theologies. The Spiritual Formation/Emergent Church movement has capitalized on the cognitive inabilities of the average Evangelical, and it promotes the increasingly popular practice of emptying the mind in order to permit spirit voices to be heard – all under the guise of increased spirituality and communion with God. The unsuspecting (the simple of Romans 16:18) are prime candidates for this deception, for they fail to realize that they have not placed their faith in the Lord but rather in what they have been told – the two not necessarily being the same thing.
Ministereth comes from a Greek word that means to supply fully or abundantly.23 The pronoun He can only refer to God, for He is the supplier of the Spirit. Jesus said: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things ...” (John 14:26). The Galatians were not deprived of the fullness of the Spirit of God that they should seek fulfillment of their faith through the works of the Jews. God’s provision of the Spirit is not only abundant, but is continuous (both ministereth and worketh are in the present tense).24 Miracles is from the Greek word dunamis (from which comes our word dynamite), and speaks of powerful acts of a supernatural nature.25 Both the provision of the Spirit of God and the mighty acts of God were not only historical occurrences, which the Galatians could look back on with feelings of nostalgia, but they were present activities demonstrating the working of God in their midst. However, God will not abide man’s rebellion forever (Genesis 6:3); “For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel [messenger] of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them” (Isaiah 63:8-10, cp. Ezekiel 18:24).26
This reality is made plain in John 3:16 where the word believeth is a present tense verb; this is not an action that only takes place once; rather, we must be exercising a presently active belief in order for the reality of this text to become ours. If Evangelicals today would only understand this simple concept, they would recognize the spiritual death that they court as they live like the world. If we once get our minds around the necessity of belief being a present action, then this warning takes on new meaning: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). Continual believing that results in consistent actions is faith; unbelief is faithlessness – may God help us to heed this warning!
Paul’s question for the Galatians is very simple: are these mighty works, and the presence of God’s Spirit actively in you by the works of the Law, or by faith? Did God begin to work among you mightily when you began to keep the ordinances of Moses, or when you exercised faith in the finished work of Christ? The question is a simple one. The understood response, based upon all that Paul has clarified up to this point, is devastating to those who are promoting faith plus Judaism. The Spirit of God came through an active faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God demonstrated this so clearly to those of Jerusalem, yet there were many from that area who seemed not to understand it. On Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus spoke in languages that they had not learned – a sign of the presence of the Spirit of God to those who heard (Acts 2:4). When Peter declared God’s truth to Cornelius and his household, these Gentiles spoke in other languages – again a sign to those who heard (this time it was a sign for Peter and his company) that the Spirit of God was present (Acts 10:44-46). Despite the indisputable evidence that the very presence of God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, comes through faith, we find believers out of the sect of the Pharisees wanting to Judaize their Christian faith (Acts 15:5), and their failure in this regard caused problems way over in Galatia. Paul’s goal is to get these Galatian believers, who were beginning to move in the direction of the error of the “Christian” Pharisees of Jerusalem, to recognize that the reality and vitality of the Spirit of God comes only by faith in the Lord Jesus.
6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Paul now appeals to the example of the father of the Jewish nation, Abraham, to support the point that he is trying to make with the Galatians. Even as they would have had to concur that the Spirit of God operated in them through faith and not by keeping the Law, Paul now reminds them that it was exactly the same for Abraham. “And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he [the Lord] counted [or reckoned] it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).27 The word that Paul uses, accounted, is the same as the Hebrew word translated as counted in this text. Abraham demonstrated an active faith in the Lord and God reckoned (counted) his active faith as righteousness.
Once again, we are reminded that our lot and responsibility is to walk in obedience to what God has commanded. Abel demonstrated obedience to what the Lord desired, and his offering was accepted by the Lord; on the other hand, Cain knew God’s requirements just as surely as Abel, did his own thing that resulted in the Lord rejecting his offering (Genesis 4:3-5). Abraham walked in obedience to the Lord’s desires for him, and the Lord counted him righteous (it was Abraham’s active faith, not his works, that brought the Lord’s approval; he was called and he obeyed – Hebrews 11:8). We, too, must exercise an active faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, determine to walk in a manner worthy of God’s calling on our lives (Ephesians 4:1), and to abide in the Vine (John 15:5). Through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, the righteousness of the Law of God (beginning with the Ten Commandments now written upon our hearts) will be lived out through us (Romans 8:4; Hebrews 8:10). It is nothing of us; it is God’s gift through His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), yet we are called to guard against permitting an evil heart of unbelief to turn us away from God (Hebrews 3:12-13).
7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
The thought here is simply that because Abraham was declared righteous through his faith (something that the Galatians would have been able to find within their Hebrew Scriptures), they should have understood that those who are exercising an active faith in God are the children of Abraham. This might seem to be a very simple fact to us, but for the Jews who were being told that there was no difference before God between them and the Gentiles, this would have been a very difficult concept to accept. As a matter of fact, this would run contrary to all that they had held dear for many, many years, particularly the Pharisees among them who were the most zealous in defense of the superiority of the Jews. The Jews, for years, had tracked their genealogies; it was their bloodline of Jewish heritage that was their pride. Now Paul is saying: “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies ...” (1 Timothy 1:4), and “avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain” (Titus 3:9). Their Jewish legacy is placed alongside of foolish questions and contentions, and now those who exercised the faith of Abraham are being called the children of Abraham regardless of their ancestry (Romans 4:11-16). “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:8) – this is Paul’s expression of how freely he relinquished his Jewish inheritance in light of the Gospel of Christ. Paul had faced this very matter in his own life, and despite his strong Pharisaical tradition, he had learned to place the truth of Christ over all things. This is something that Paul says that these Galatians need to understand, for clearly, if they could comprehend this elemental truth, then they would have less difficulty with the Judaizers who were seeking to draw them away from God’s truth.
8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Paul is not finished yet. He now shows them specifically from their own Hebrew Scriptures (which we call the Old Testament) the promise of salvation for the Gentiles. He quotes from Genesis 12:3 – “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” The Hebrew word translated as families in Genesis 12:3 means races, thereby presenting a much broader application of Abraham’s blessing than families might suggest.28 By using ta ethnos (nations, Gentiles, non-Jews or foreigners), Paul has quoted the OT accurately, provided the greater context for the blessing, and, by placing it within this passage, he also makes the point that the blessing promised to all peoples through Abraham is justification by faith in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. He shows that the promise made to Abraham by God was prophetic (a declaration of a future fact before there is any evidence of its reality), and identifies justification by faith, as it was proclaimed to Abraham, as being the Gospel – a declaration of glad tidings.
Keep in mind that this was written to the Galatians who were in the process of turning away from the Message that Paul had delivered to them, to a message that made works an essential part of their salvation. The Gospel (the Good News), as it was declared to Abraham, did not include works, but it did include obedience. We must not miss that there is a difference between these. Abraham had faith in God (he believed Him) and he obeyed His command to leave his family and country; Abraham believed God (he had faith in God) and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham’s faith was demonstrated by his obedience, but it was by his faith that God reckoned him righteous (Genesis 15:6). Abraham’s obedience (his works) attested to the fact that his faith in God was real, but did not contribute to his righteousness before God.
4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
We are provided here with a glimpse into the lives of the Galatians; what is evident is that they had endured suffering because of their faith in Christ. You will recall that when Paul and Barnabas first went throughout this region, persecution from unbelieving Jews was a notable factor (Acts 13:50; 14:2). Sometime later as Paul and Silas followed the same route through Lystra and Iconium, and Paul desired to bring Timothy along with them, he felt compelled to have him circumcised because of the attitude of the Jews in that region (Acts 16:1-3). Inasmuch as Timothy’s father was a Greek, he undoubtedly felt that it would be a barrier to ministry among the Jews; however, the question that surfaces (to which there is no answer) is this: did Paul’s capitulation to a Jewish tradition create additional trouble for the Gentile Christians in this area? This could have become an object lesson used by the Jewish Christians to pressure the Gentile Christians into keeping the traditions of Moses. Their argument would have been along these lines: if Paul deemed it necessary to circumcise Timothy before he could join him in ministry, then surely, if you want to be a good Christian, then you must follow the Jewish traditions. Paul may well have determined that since a portion of their work was to the Jewish people, circumcision would only improve Timothy’s ministry among these hypersensitive people, yet this may well have been used against the Message that he brought.
However, despite this and how the Jews would undoubtedly have used Paul’s actions in this case, the Message that Paul proclaimed did not include any hint of keeping the Mosaic traditions (something that he made very clear in his letters to the Ephesians and Colossians). As a matter of fact, after his tour through Jerusalem, it would have been very amazing if he would not have emphasized the completion of the Jewish traditions in Christ. What is evident is that the Galatians knew the truth about being free in Christ alone; after all, they had “begun in the Spirit.” It would have been while they were living in accordance with the Gospel message of justification through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that they experienced suffering and persecution – perhaps from the zealous Jews in their area, as they seemed to be the primary source of aggravation for Paul in his ministry. If we consider that their persecution was probably from the Jews, it would have been for believing that Jesus was the Messiah and for not keeping their traditions. They could have already been under pressure to embrace the Jewish ways, so that when Jews, professing to be Christians, came from Jerusalem with the message that it was necessary to keep the traditions of Moses, it would have proven to be an irresistible means of allaying the persecution that they were under. Humanly speaking, we always try to alleviate the difficulties that we face, and it would have been no different for the Galatians. However, we are told: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). Suffering because of our allegiance to Christ is to be expected – something that Paul had not been remiss to include in his Message to these people (Acts 14:22).
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:16-18). The thrust of Paul’s question to the Galatians is this: has your suffering for Christ been for no purpose? The Christian life is a call to suffering (2 Timothy 3:12); this is not presented to us as something that is avoidable. Jesus made it clear that we are to count the cost of following Him (and suffering persecution is part of that cost), when He identified what is required of His disciples (Luke 14:25-33).
As we consider Paul’s question, we must keep in mind what was happening to the Galatian believers: they were in the process of replacing the Gospel of Truth with a gospel of error, the message of faith in Christ with a message of works according to the Jewish traditions (Galatians 1:6-7; 3:1-2). For their sufferings to have been without purpose would mean that the reason for their sufferings would have been lost. The reason is really quite simple: they had placed their faith in Christ for the salvation of their souls – an action that brought the wrath of the Jews upon them. For the sufferings that they had endured to become of no purpose, means that they would have forsaken the reason for their sufferings, namely, faith in Christ alone. “For it had been better for them not to have known [to know thoroughly] the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from [to turn one’s self away from] the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Peter 2:21).20 We have already seen that Christ died one time only: “For in that he died, he died unto sin once ...” (Romans 6:10), and that we are “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), which also makes this a one-time action. Therefore, if someone comes to Christ by faith and then turns himself away from Him to walk a different pathway (as Peter describes), there is now no sacrifice available for his sins because he has spurned the only Way available (Hebrews 6:4-6). “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from [to withdraw one's self from, to fall away21 to apostatize from22] the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). This would be the only reason that the sufferings of the Galatians could be without purpose; Paul recognized the elements of apostasy within what they were in the process of doing.
As we noted in Galatians 1:6-7, at the time that Paul was writing this letter, the Galatians were in the process of replacing the Gospel of Truth with a false gospel. Therefore, we have the latter part of our text, “if it be yet in vain.” Paul’s hope is that, after reading his words of exhortation, they will reject the error that they are courting and return to the true Gospel of faith in Christ alone. If they repent and take action to embrace the truth once again, then their sufferings will not have been without purpose, for they will remain as partakers of the present sufferings with the promise of glories in Christ to come. We must take heed lest the deceitfulness of the enemy should find root in our hearts and lead us to giving heed to “seducing spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1), and find ourselves among those who fall away from the faith.
5. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul has another question for these people. Questions require thought and consideration before an adequate response can be given; Paul is trying to get these people to think about what they are doing. Evangelicals today have been conditioned to not think, but to leave all spiritual contemplation to those who are highly educated and who propagate teachings that are in line with denominational traditions and favored theologies. The Spiritual Formation/Emergent Church movement has capitalized on the cognitive inabilities of the average Evangelical, and it promotes the increasingly popular practice of emptying the mind in order to permit spirit voices to be heard – all under the guise of increased spirituality and communion with God. The unsuspecting (the simple of Romans 16:18) are prime candidates for this deception, for they fail to realize that they have not placed their faith in the Lord but rather in what they have been told – the two not necessarily being the same thing.
Ministereth comes from a Greek word that means to supply fully or abundantly.23 The pronoun He can only refer to God, for He is the supplier of the Spirit. Jesus said: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things ...” (John 14:26). The Galatians were not deprived of the fullness of the Spirit of God that they should seek fulfillment of their faith through the works of the Jews. God’s provision of the Spirit is not only abundant, but is continuous (both ministereth and worketh are in the present tense).24 Miracles is from the Greek word dunamis (from which comes our word dynamite), and speaks of powerful acts of a supernatural nature.25 Both the provision of the Spirit of God and the mighty acts of God were not only historical occurrences, which the Galatians could look back on with feelings of nostalgia, but they were present activities demonstrating the working of God in their midst. However, God will not abide man’s rebellion forever (Genesis 6:3); “For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel [messenger] of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them” (Isaiah 63:8-10, cp. Ezekiel 18:24).26
This reality is made plain in John 3:16 where the word believeth is a present tense verb; this is not an action that only takes place once; rather, we must be exercising a presently active belief in order for the reality of this text to become ours. If Evangelicals today would only understand this simple concept, they would recognize the spiritual death that they court as they live like the world. If we once get our minds around the necessity of belief being a present action, then this warning takes on new meaning: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). Continual believing that results in consistent actions is faith; unbelief is faithlessness – may God help us to heed this warning!
Paul’s question for the Galatians is very simple: are these mighty works, and the presence of God’s Spirit actively in you by the works of the Law, or by faith? Did God begin to work among you mightily when you began to keep the ordinances of Moses, or when you exercised faith in the finished work of Christ? The question is a simple one. The understood response, based upon all that Paul has clarified up to this point, is devastating to those who are promoting faith plus Judaism. The Spirit of God came through an active faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God demonstrated this so clearly to those of Jerusalem, yet there were many from that area who seemed not to understand it. On Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus spoke in languages that they had not learned – a sign of the presence of the Spirit of God to those who heard (Acts 2:4). When Peter declared God’s truth to Cornelius and his household, these Gentiles spoke in other languages – again a sign to those who heard (this time it was a sign for Peter and his company) that the Spirit of God was present (Acts 10:44-46). Despite the indisputable evidence that the very presence of God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, comes through faith, we find believers out of the sect of the Pharisees wanting to Judaize their Christian faith (Acts 15:5), and their failure in this regard caused problems way over in Galatia. Paul’s goal is to get these Galatian believers, who were beginning to move in the direction of the error of the “Christian” Pharisees of Jerusalem, to recognize that the reality and vitality of the Spirit of God comes only by faith in the Lord Jesus.
6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Paul now appeals to the example of the father of the Jewish nation, Abraham, to support the point that he is trying to make with the Galatians. Even as they would have had to concur that the Spirit of God operated in them through faith and not by keeping the Law, Paul now reminds them that it was exactly the same for Abraham. “And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he [the Lord] counted [or reckoned] it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).27 The word that Paul uses, accounted, is the same as the Hebrew word translated as counted in this text. Abraham demonstrated an active faith in the Lord and God reckoned (counted) his active faith as righteousness.
Once again, we are reminded that our lot and responsibility is to walk in obedience to what God has commanded. Abel demonstrated obedience to what the Lord desired, and his offering was accepted by the Lord; on the other hand, Cain knew God’s requirements just as surely as Abel, did his own thing that resulted in the Lord rejecting his offering (Genesis 4:3-5). Abraham walked in obedience to the Lord’s desires for him, and the Lord counted him righteous (it was Abraham’s active faith, not his works, that brought the Lord’s approval; he was called and he obeyed – Hebrews 11:8). We, too, must exercise an active faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, determine to walk in a manner worthy of God’s calling on our lives (Ephesians 4:1), and to abide in the Vine (John 15:5). Through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, the righteousness of the Law of God (beginning with the Ten Commandments now written upon our hearts) will be lived out through us (Romans 8:4; Hebrews 8:10). It is nothing of us; it is God’s gift through His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), yet we are called to guard against permitting an evil heart of unbelief to turn us away from God (Hebrews 3:12-13).
7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
The thought here is simply that because Abraham was declared righteous through his faith (something that the Galatians would have been able to find within their Hebrew Scriptures), they should have understood that those who are exercising an active faith in God are the children of Abraham. This might seem to be a very simple fact to us, but for the Jews who were being told that there was no difference before God between them and the Gentiles, this would have been a very difficult concept to accept. As a matter of fact, this would run contrary to all that they had held dear for many, many years, particularly the Pharisees among them who were the most zealous in defense of the superiority of the Jews. The Jews, for years, had tracked their genealogies; it was their bloodline of Jewish heritage that was their pride. Now Paul is saying: “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies ...” (1 Timothy 1:4), and “avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain” (Titus 3:9). Their Jewish legacy is placed alongside of foolish questions and contentions, and now those who exercised the faith of Abraham are being called the children of Abraham regardless of their ancestry (Romans 4:11-16). “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:8) – this is Paul’s expression of how freely he relinquished his Jewish inheritance in light of the Gospel of Christ. Paul had faced this very matter in his own life, and despite his strong Pharisaical tradition, he had learned to place the truth of Christ over all things. This is something that Paul says that these Galatians need to understand, for clearly, if they could comprehend this elemental truth, then they would have less difficulty with the Judaizers who were seeking to draw them away from God’s truth.
8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Paul is not finished yet. He now shows them specifically from their own Hebrew Scriptures (which we call the Old Testament) the promise of salvation for the Gentiles. He quotes from Genesis 12:3 – “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” The Hebrew word translated as families in Genesis 12:3 means races, thereby presenting a much broader application of Abraham’s blessing than families might suggest.28 By using ta ethnos (nations, Gentiles, non-Jews or foreigners), Paul has quoted the OT accurately, provided the greater context for the blessing, and, by placing it within this passage, he also makes the point that the blessing promised to all peoples through Abraham is justification by faith in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. He shows that the promise made to Abraham by God was prophetic (a declaration of a future fact before there is any evidence of its reality), and identifies justification by faith, as it was proclaimed to Abraham, as being the Gospel – a declaration of glad tidings.
Keep in mind that this was written to the Galatians who were in the process of turning away from the Message that Paul had delivered to them, to a message that made works an essential part of their salvation. The Gospel (the Good News), as it was declared to Abraham, did not include works, but it did include obedience. We must not miss that there is a difference between these. Abraham had faith in God (he believed Him) and he obeyed His command to leave his family and country; Abraham believed God (he had faith in God) and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham’s faith was demonstrated by his obedience, but it was by his faith that God reckoned him righteous (Genesis 15:6). Abraham’s obedience (his works) attested to the fact that his faith in God was real, but did not contribute to his righteousness before God.
Jesus came, in fulfillment of the prophecy made to Abraham, and brought an end to the Law of Moses, which simply foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus would make for the sins of the world (Colossians 2:17). Therefore, when the Judaizers sought to perpetuate the Mosaic traditions, they were not acting in obedience to the Lord, but, rather, were seeking to carry on a practice that had been ended by Jesus. The New Covenant, spoken of by Jesus with His disciples at their last supper before His crucifixion, was a fresh approach whereby God writes His commandments (the same original Ten) upon the hearts of those who come to Him by faith (Jeremiah 31:31-33). Through the abiding presence of the Spirit of God, and through our steadfast faith in the Lord (John 15:5), the righteousness of the Law of God will be lived out through us (Romans 8:4). Our righteous works must be in obedience to what God has asked of us through His Word, not religious traditions that we have received from our ancestors. However, we must understand that our works have no bearing on our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), but, rather, are an expression of the faith that we have in God. So why does James, after recalling Abraham’s justification by faith, declare: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24)? What James makes a case for is this: faith without obedience is dead and, therefore, no faith at all. He is not advocating for ritualistic or liturgical works that have no bearing on God’s desire for us; rather, he is making the point that if we say that we have faith in God, but do not express that faith in obedient works, then our faith is alone and dead (James 2:26). The hinge upon which James’ argument swings is this: “a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18). He is not saying that faith and works are the same thing or even equals, but that the works must flow out of an active faith. Herein was the error of the Judaizers who caused no end of grief for the Galatians – they had laid faith and works side-by-side, and that must never be; works that will be pleasing to God must always flow out of faith (faith is the source).
Evangelicalism (and even much of Fundamentalism) today has become an empty religion of works. True faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has been melded, molded, and mutilated in order to make it conform to the various theologies and traditions that are common today. As upright as some traditions might appear, there are few that have not reshaped Biblical faith in God into a pretzel that fits neatly within their particular theology. However, to complicate the modern picture further, most Evangelicals today would not even hold tenaciously to their reshaped concept of faith, but would set it aside on a whim to embrace their “brother.” The spiritual landscape is rapidly being leveled by the bulldozer of Ecumenism; unity has become the mantra of Evangelical thinking, and anything and everything that would impinge on this all-pervasive unity is considered to be divisive and dispensable. No longer is it common practice to use the Word of God as our Standard in all things pertaining to life and practice; it is now considered normal to begin with the already diluted theologies and work from there to build bridges to other faiths. The faith of Abraham has been virtually lost today, and certainly finds no place in the minds of those who are bent on Ecumenical unity.
9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
So then, or therefore, draws this back to the previous verse that quotes the promise that the Lord gave to Abraham. It is because of this promise that those who come to God by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ are blessed in Abraham. This is the fulfillment of the international blessing that God promised would come through Abraham. We might look at this and respond quite nonchalantly, but to those who were falling from faith in the Gospel into the faith-works lie of the Judaizers, this would be eye opening. Through faith in the Lord Jesus, anyone can become the recipient of the blessing that God promised would come through Abraham’s descendants (Romans 4:13-17). There was no room for works within this promise; it comes only through faith in exactly the same way that Abraham was reckoned as being righteous: faith, and subsequent obedience.
10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Paul has just come through an exposition of the reality of faith in Christ being the fulfillment of the promise that was made by the Lord to Abraham of old. It has been a positive declaration of the truth of drawing the faith of Abraham together with the Spirit of God working within the individual. We have learned of the inability of the Law of Moses to deposit the Spirit within the heart of those who exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – this is only possible through faith, not through the works of the Law.
The focus shifts just a little now, to look more specifically at the inabilities and purpose of the Law. Once again, the message is very straightforward: those who are occupied with trying to produce the works of the Law are under a curse (there is no definite article in the Greek).29 The Galatians were being convinced that it was necessary to keep the Laws of Moses; they were being persuaded to place themselves under a curse, and they were doing it willingly. We have already learned that the Law does not provide justification before God, it does not provide the Spirit of God, and it does not make anyone a child of Abraham. Now we learn what the Law does: it places the worker of its demands under a curse.
Evangelicalism (and even much of Fundamentalism) today has become an empty religion of works. True faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has been melded, molded, and mutilated in order to make it conform to the various theologies and traditions that are common today. As upright as some traditions might appear, there are few that have not reshaped Biblical faith in God into a pretzel that fits neatly within their particular theology. However, to complicate the modern picture further, most Evangelicals today would not even hold tenaciously to their reshaped concept of faith, but would set it aside on a whim to embrace their “brother.” The spiritual landscape is rapidly being leveled by the bulldozer of Ecumenism; unity has become the mantra of Evangelical thinking, and anything and everything that would impinge on this all-pervasive unity is considered to be divisive and dispensable. No longer is it common practice to use the Word of God as our Standard in all things pertaining to life and practice; it is now considered normal to begin with the already diluted theologies and work from there to build bridges to other faiths. The faith of Abraham has been virtually lost today, and certainly finds no place in the minds of those who are bent on Ecumenical unity.
9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
So then, or therefore, draws this back to the previous verse that quotes the promise that the Lord gave to Abraham. It is because of this promise that those who come to God by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ are blessed in Abraham. This is the fulfillment of the international blessing that God promised would come through Abraham. We might look at this and respond quite nonchalantly, but to those who were falling from faith in the Gospel into the faith-works lie of the Judaizers, this would be eye opening. Through faith in the Lord Jesus, anyone can become the recipient of the blessing that God promised would come through Abraham’s descendants (Romans 4:13-17). There was no room for works within this promise; it comes only through faith in exactly the same way that Abraham was reckoned as being righteous: faith, and subsequent obedience.
10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Paul has just come through an exposition of the reality of faith in Christ being the fulfillment of the promise that was made by the Lord to Abraham of old. It has been a positive declaration of the truth of drawing the faith of Abraham together with the Spirit of God working within the individual. We have learned of the inability of the Law of Moses to deposit the Spirit within the heart of those who exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – this is only possible through faith, not through the works of the Law.
The focus shifts just a little now, to look more specifically at the inabilities and purpose of the Law. Once again, the message is very straightforward: those who are occupied with trying to produce the works of the Law are under a curse (there is no definite article in the Greek).29 The Galatians were being convinced that it was necessary to keep the Laws of Moses; they were being persuaded to place themselves under a curse, and they were doing it willingly. We have already learned that the Law does not provide justification before God, it does not provide the Spirit of God, and it does not make anyone a child of Abraham. Now we learn what the Law does: it places the worker of its demands under a curse.
We might say, “How can this be?” Surely, no one would be foolish enough to move from faith in Christ alone to a combination of faith in Christ and works of the Law, which is really not faith at all. Paul describes this as “another gospel,” one of a different essence and a perversion of the the “Gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). How could anyone make such a foolish error? Today we hear much from the televangelist crowd about sowing “the seed” of faith – meaning, send us your money and the Lord will surely bless you. Trinity Broadcasting Network loves to use this concept during their fund raising drives; send them a $1,000 as a seed of faith and then watch the Lord bless you abundantly. On a website called “heart2heartbeat” you can print out a page that has a picture of a white handkerchief on it, a “prayer handkerchief” that has been “anointed and prayed over” and can be used for your own special miracle.30 Like many other Pentecostal televangelists, Kerney Thomas also makes use of a “prayer handkerchief” in order to hook those who are looking for help. His handkerchiefs are red, and he will send one out to anyone requesting one; then, within 24 hours of receiving it, they are to send it back to him with their name and address written on it; this becomes a “point of contact” to enhance the effectiveness of his prayers.31 All of these, Trinity, “heart2heartbeat,” and Thomas, are promoting a faith-works message: if you do “this” (and “this” will vary from charlatan to charlatan), then the Lord will bless you (which generally means to give you what you want). The lie is similar to that being fed to the Galatians – do these things, add these works to your faith in Christ and your spiritual life will be perfected. The lie is also identical to that given to Eve so long ago: “... For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). “Do this, and great things will happen” is the promise of Satan, and his charlatans have no difficulty in finding new prey, even today.
The quote that Paul makes comes from Deuteronomy 27:26 – “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.” This is the last in a series of twelve curses pronounced upon those in Israel who would transgress in eleven specific areas, and this summary curse covers anything that anyone would do that was not in line with the Law of Moses. These were to be proclaimed as the children of Israel entered into the Promised Land, as a reminder of their responsibility to God. Representatives from the descendants of Rachel and Leah were to stand on Mt. Gerizim (left in picture) to bless the people, and representatives from the remaining tribes were to be on Mt. Ebal (on the right). As the people of Israel would pass between the two mountains, those on Mt. Ebal would shout the curses recorded in Deuteronomy 27:15-26, and the people would respond, “Amen.” There was a commitment on the part of the people to abide by the Law of Moses, which meant keeping the sacrificial system and the myriad of statutes and ordinances. Two things come together to make a significant point for the Galatians: first of all, they already understood that no one is justified by the works of the Law (Galatians 2:16); secondly, since no one can keep all of the requirements of the Law, an offense in one point is sufficient to ensure that they are cursed (James 2:10 and Deuteronomy 27:26).
Incredibly, the Galatians were being convinced to set aside faith alone in Christ for a works additive that would see them become cursed. Reminder: Paul identified that what they were falling for was another gospel – a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-7) that would see them living in disobedience to the truth (Galatians 3:1).
11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
We have here a reiteration of the culminating argument of chapter two: “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). Paul adds the clarifying words here: in the sight of God, or, literally, “before God.”32 What these Galatians were becoming convinced of, albeit falsely, was that their justification would somehow be made more complete if they kept the Mosaic traditions. Within the eyes of the Judaizers, there was some degree of justification, or grace, that was accorded them through keeping the Law of Moses, otherwise, why would they have shouldered the yoke? However, Paul is very carefully, and painstakingly, peeling the veneer away from the Galatians’ new, false gospel to reveal just how badly they were departing from God’s truth.
As individuals send money to charlatans offering prayer handkerchiefs that have been prayed over and anointed for the professed purpose of bringing miracles into the lives of the recipients, they are deceived into believing that the purchased item will provide them with sufficient justification before God to warrant a miracle. God declares that there is no justification before Him through such, neither for the charlatan nor the duped. His Message has not changed; we must come to Him through faith in the redemption that was accomplished by Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. There is nothing that we can do to improve our image before a holy God (Isaiah 64:6); it is all of faith in Christ, our Redeemer. However, Satan will continue to push his lies with power and great finesse (Romans 16:18); we are called to “try the spirits [to test or examine – present tense!] whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1).33 This process of testing the spirit of a man in order to determine his allegiance, is to be a continual part of our daily living; we can never let our guard down and relax. A local woman, after changing churches several times, exclaimed how good it was to be able to relax now and enjoy the teaching without having to continually evaluate what was being taught. When we adopt that attitude, we have just entered the realm of the “simple” of Romans 16:18 – those who are unwary, those who fear no evil from others but make themselves vulnerable to the subtleties of Satan’s ploys.
The Galatians had been convinced that they needed to mix the Old and the New Covenants together; they needed faith in Christ, but they also needed to practice the ordinances of the Law of Moses. Habakkuk 2:4 declares: “the just shall live by his faith,” and Paul quotes that passage here. Here is an Old Covenant prophet (Habakkuk) who openly declared that the just are to live by faith, not by works (the Lord made this abundantly clear through Isaiah as well – Isaiah 1:11-20). What we need to understand (this is something that these Galatians failed to comprehend) is that justification before God has always been by faith in what God has provided through His grace and mercy. When Adam and Eve sinned, God, in His mercy, clothed them with coverings that He made (Genesis 3:21); the coverings that Adam and Eve had improvised were wholly inadequate (Genesis 3:7). Even though Moses had carefully delineated God’s desire regarding the sacrificial system, it still did not provide man with one iota of justification before God unless it was accompanied by faith. Hebrews 11 clarifies that it was faith in God that made the saints of old righteous before Him; He required faith before the Mosaic Law, during its application, and it is this same faith that is effectual under the New Covenant that was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ. However, do not forget that saving faith has always been accompanied by works: Abel, through faith, offered an acceptable sacrifice to God (Hebrews 11:4), by faith Abraham went out (Hebrews 11:8), by faith Moses chose to identify himself with his own people (Hebrews 11:24), and we, by faith in Jesus, the Author of faith, must run with patience the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2). Works of obedience are always a necessary product of the faith (James 2:17), but they will never combine with faith to our justification (Ephesians 2:8-9). It was this truth that the Judaizers failed to apprehend, and the Galatians were being duped into losing sight of this fundamental truth. Evangelicals today shout their ignorance of this truth by loudly proclaiming that we are not under law but under grace. Salvation (or justification) never came by the Law (Galatians 2:16), but always by faith in the merciful grace of God.
12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Paul now includes a quote from Leviticus 18:5 – “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.” Preceding this is a warning to Israel that they were not to do as the Egyptians had done (what they were familiar with from their past), nor were they to do as the Canaanites (in the land to which they were going, Leviticus 18:3). In the ordinances and laws that God had given to Israel, there was life – if they would do them. Is this a contradiction to what has just been so clearly explained concerning faith?
Within its context, this quotation from Leviticus 18 follows the warning of the Lord to Israel to walk in His ways. They were not to follow the ways of the Egyptians (who had been decimated by the hand of the Lord when He brought Israel out), nor the ways of the Canaanite peoples who were going to be judged by the Lord and annihilated. What follows the quoted passage is a detailed explanation of the sexual sins that the Israelites (and any stranger who was with them) were to avoid (this includes incest, homosexuality and bestiality), lest they should face the same judgment as the Canaanites who practiced such perversions (Leviticus 18:26-28). The observation has often been made that a nation that follows the principles of God’s Word in their governance, will experience a peace and prosperity that will not be there for the nation that contravenes God’s principles. In other words, there can be a blessing for living according to God’s standards, even if it is not a product of a living faith. This verse would seem to support this.
However, there is more to it than that. Paul’s opening comment, “the law is not of faith,” provides an essential thought regarding the Law. In order to find life through the Law, it was required that it be kept perfectly and completely in every respect; “for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). To be a lawbreaker did not require you to break all Ten Commandments or all of the Law of Moses; breaking one Law was sufficient. Paul has already very clearly made the point that no one is justified before God through the works of the Law. “The law entered, that the offence might abound” (Romans 5:20); in other words, God established His Law so that there would be no question as to the sinful nature of man. What we must not forget is that God’s Law did not begin with Moses at Mt. Sinai; it was present even with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Cain and Abel knew that the Law of God required an animal sacrifice in order to express their faith in what God would one day do to redeem lost mankind (Genesis 4:3-5). Abel came to the Lord in faith; Cain’s failure was that he sought the Lord’s favor through his own works. We read of Abraham keeping God’s “charge,” “commandments,” “statutes” and “laws” (Genesis 26:5), and Abraham “believed in the Lord; and [the Lord] counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). God made His requirements known to Abraham, but his righteousness came through his faith in the Lord. Faith has always been the key that unlocks the favor of God; Cain learned firsthand that God’s approval could not be obtained through works, and recognized the favor of God upon his brother, Abel.
The rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). Notice that the question is “what can I do?” Before Jesus responded to his question, He sought to lead this man to recognize Who He was – God. The young man addressed Jesus as “good,” and Jesus provided him with clarification that there was only one who is good, and that is God – and then immediately went on to answer the man’s question. The implication is that He accepted the descriptive “good,” even as it applies only to God. Although this man sought to justify himself before the Lord by claiming to have kept all of the commandments that Jesus identified, he still recognized a lack within. Jesus then cut through the man’s aura of self-righteousness by telling him to dispose of everything that he owned and to follow Him – a call to abandon self-righteous works and physical security, and to exercise faith. On hearing this, the man went away sorrowful. Jesus called him to get sell his possessions (his security), give the proceeds to the poor, acquire treasure in heaven and put his faith in the Lord (follow Him); the call was to replace his own works that were not satisfying, with faith in the Lord. The one thing that this man could do, in order to demonstrate his faith in God, was the one thing that he was unwilling to do; his faith rested in his possessions, his position and his perceived self-righteousness, and he was unwilling to give these up for eternal life. He exhibited the righteousness of the Pharisees (Luke 18:11) and failed to recognize Who Jesus was, even though he had called Him “good.”
As mentioned before, individual spiritual life under the Mosaic Covenant came only through faith. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, refers to the lives of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel, and goes on to say: “... these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:39). These all lived under the Mosaic Law, yet their recognition by God was due to their faith in His promise of a Redeemer to come. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4); to everyone who has faith in Christ, He is our “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Like the rich young ruler, those who do not exercise faith in God will be judged according to their works. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12, the religious of Matthew 7:21-23 will find their place among these). Therefore, we are reminded, and the Galatians are called on to exercise faith to see “that no man is justified by the law [through works] in the sight of God” (Galatians 3:11).
13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Paul continues with some straightforward language to these Galatians who were trying to mix the works of the Law of Moses with faith in Christ, thereby creating a whole new gospel that was devoid of its saving element. He is building a very strong case against what the Galatians were falling for – a faith-plus-works message that was entirely outside of the Good News of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7). What Paul declared so clearly in his opening comments, he now is expanding on so that there will be no misunderstanding in their minds when they have heard and digested his words.
Incredibly, the Galatians were being convinced to set aside faith alone in Christ for a works additive that would see them become cursed. Reminder: Paul identified that what they were falling for was another gospel – a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-7) that would see them living in disobedience to the truth (Galatians 3:1).
11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
We have here a reiteration of the culminating argument of chapter two: “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). Paul adds the clarifying words here: in the sight of God, or, literally, “before God.”32 What these Galatians were becoming convinced of, albeit falsely, was that their justification would somehow be made more complete if they kept the Mosaic traditions. Within the eyes of the Judaizers, there was some degree of justification, or grace, that was accorded them through keeping the Law of Moses, otherwise, why would they have shouldered the yoke? However, Paul is very carefully, and painstakingly, peeling the veneer away from the Galatians’ new, false gospel to reveal just how badly they were departing from God’s truth.
As individuals send money to charlatans offering prayer handkerchiefs that have been prayed over and anointed for the professed purpose of bringing miracles into the lives of the recipients, they are deceived into believing that the purchased item will provide them with sufficient justification before God to warrant a miracle. God declares that there is no justification before Him through such, neither for the charlatan nor the duped. His Message has not changed; we must come to Him through faith in the redemption that was accomplished by Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. There is nothing that we can do to improve our image before a holy God (Isaiah 64:6); it is all of faith in Christ, our Redeemer. However, Satan will continue to push his lies with power and great finesse (Romans 16:18); we are called to “try the spirits [to test or examine – present tense!] whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1).33 This process of testing the spirit of a man in order to determine his allegiance, is to be a continual part of our daily living; we can never let our guard down and relax. A local woman, after changing churches several times, exclaimed how good it was to be able to relax now and enjoy the teaching without having to continually evaluate what was being taught. When we adopt that attitude, we have just entered the realm of the “simple” of Romans 16:18 – those who are unwary, those who fear no evil from others but make themselves vulnerable to the subtleties of Satan’s ploys.
The Galatians had been convinced that they needed to mix the Old and the New Covenants together; they needed faith in Christ, but they also needed to practice the ordinances of the Law of Moses. Habakkuk 2:4 declares: “the just shall live by his faith,” and Paul quotes that passage here. Here is an Old Covenant prophet (Habakkuk) who openly declared that the just are to live by faith, not by works (the Lord made this abundantly clear through Isaiah as well – Isaiah 1:11-20). What we need to understand (this is something that these Galatians failed to comprehend) is that justification before God has always been by faith in what God has provided through His grace and mercy. When Adam and Eve sinned, God, in His mercy, clothed them with coverings that He made (Genesis 3:21); the coverings that Adam and Eve had improvised were wholly inadequate (Genesis 3:7). Even though Moses had carefully delineated God’s desire regarding the sacrificial system, it still did not provide man with one iota of justification before God unless it was accompanied by faith. Hebrews 11 clarifies that it was faith in God that made the saints of old righteous before Him; He required faith before the Mosaic Law, during its application, and it is this same faith that is effectual under the New Covenant that was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ. However, do not forget that saving faith has always been accompanied by works: Abel, through faith, offered an acceptable sacrifice to God (Hebrews 11:4), by faith Abraham went out (Hebrews 11:8), by faith Moses chose to identify himself with his own people (Hebrews 11:24), and we, by faith in Jesus, the Author of faith, must run with patience the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2). Works of obedience are always a necessary product of the faith (James 2:17), but they will never combine with faith to our justification (Ephesians 2:8-9). It was this truth that the Judaizers failed to apprehend, and the Galatians were being duped into losing sight of this fundamental truth. Evangelicals today shout their ignorance of this truth by loudly proclaiming that we are not under law but under grace. Salvation (or justification) never came by the Law (Galatians 2:16), but always by faith in the merciful grace of God.
12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Paul now includes a quote from Leviticus 18:5 – “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.” Preceding this is a warning to Israel that they were not to do as the Egyptians had done (what they were familiar with from their past), nor were they to do as the Canaanites (in the land to which they were going, Leviticus 18:3). In the ordinances and laws that God had given to Israel, there was life – if they would do them. Is this a contradiction to what has just been so clearly explained concerning faith?
Within its context, this quotation from Leviticus 18 follows the warning of the Lord to Israel to walk in His ways. They were not to follow the ways of the Egyptians (who had been decimated by the hand of the Lord when He brought Israel out), nor the ways of the Canaanite peoples who were going to be judged by the Lord and annihilated. What follows the quoted passage is a detailed explanation of the sexual sins that the Israelites (and any stranger who was with them) were to avoid (this includes incest, homosexuality and bestiality), lest they should face the same judgment as the Canaanites who practiced such perversions (Leviticus 18:26-28). The observation has often been made that a nation that follows the principles of God’s Word in their governance, will experience a peace and prosperity that will not be there for the nation that contravenes God’s principles. In other words, there can be a blessing for living according to God’s standards, even if it is not a product of a living faith. This verse would seem to support this.
However, there is more to it than that. Paul’s opening comment, “the law is not of faith,” provides an essential thought regarding the Law. In order to find life through the Law, it was required that it be kept perfectly and completely in every respect; “for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). To be a lawbreaker did not require you to break all Ten Commandments or all of the Law of Moses; breaking one Law was sufficient. Paul has already very clearly made the point that no one is justified before God through the works of the Law. “The law entered, that the offence might abound” (Romans 5:20); in other words, God established His Law so that there would be no question as to the sinful nature of man. What we must not forget is that God’s Law did not begin with Moses at Mt. Sinai; it was present even with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Cain and Abel knew that the Law of God required an animal sacrifice in order to express their faith in what God would one day do to redeem lost mankind (Genesis 4:3-5). Abel came to the Lord in faith; Cain’s failure was that he sought the Lord’s favor through his own works. We read of Abraham keeping God’s “charge,” “commandments,” “statutes” and “laws” (Genesis 26:5), and Abraham “believed in the Lord; and [the Lord] counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). God made His requirements known to Abraham, but his righteousness came through his faith in the Lord. Faith has always been the key that unlocks the favor of God; Cain learned firsthand that God’s approval could not be obtained through works, and recognized the favor of God upon his brother, Abel.
The rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). Notice that the question is “what can I do?” Before Jesus responded to his question, He sought to lead this man to recognize Who He was – God. The young man addressed Jesus as “good,” and Jesus provided him with clarification that there was only one who is good, and that is God – and then immediately went on to answer the man’s question. The implication is that He accepted the descriptive “good,” even as it applies only to God. Although this man sought to justify himself before the Lord by claiming to have kept all of the commandments that Jesus identified, he still recognized a lack within. Jesus then cut through the man’s aura of self-righteousness by telling him to dispose of everything that he owned and to follow Him – a call to abandon self-righteous works and physical security, and to exercise faith. On hearing this, the man went away sorrowful. Jesus called him to get sell his possessions (his security), give the proceeds to the poor, acquire treasure in heaven and put his faith in the Lord (follow Him); the call was to replace his own works that were not satisfying, with faith in the Lord. The one thing that this man could do, in order to demonstrate his faith in God, was the one thing that he was unwilling to do; his faith rested in his possessions, his position and his perceived self-righteousness, and he was unwilling to give these up for eternal life. He exhibited the righteousness of the Pharisees (Luke 18:11) and failed to recognize Who Jesus was, even though he had called Him “good.”
As mentioned before, individual spiritual life under the Mosaic Covenant came only through faith. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, refers to the lives of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel, and goes on to say: “... these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:39). These all lived under the Mosaic Law, yet their recognition by God was due to their faith in His promise of a Redeemer to come. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4); to everyone who has faith in Christ, He is our “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Like the rich young ruler, those who do not exercise faith in God will be judged according to their works. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12, the religious of Matthew 7:21-23 will find their place among these). Therefore, we are reminded, and the Galatians are called on to exercise faith to see “that no man is justified by the law [through works] in the sight of God” (Galatians 3:11).
13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Paul continues with some straightforward language to these Galatians who were trying to mix the works of the Law of Moses with faith in Christ, thereby creating a whole new gospel that was devoid of its saving element. He is building a very strong case against what the Galatians were falling for – a faith-plus-works message that was entirely outside of the Good News of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7). What Paul declared so clearly in his opening comments, he now is expanding on so that there will be no misunderstanding in their minds when they have heard and digested his words.
Shekel
Christ hath redeemed us. This alone speaks of that which is completely aside from what the Judaizers were attempting to introduce; we must not lose sight of the fact that the addition of works to faith in Christ results in a false gospel that is not good news. The word redeemed does not simply mean to buy; it is much more than that. In the Greek, the word is exagorazo (ex-ag-or-ad'-zo), a strengthened form of the word buy that means to “buy out ..., especially of purchasing a slave with a view to his freedom.”34 Christ paid a debt that He did not owe, because I owed a debt that I could not pay.35 To understand the reality of this redemption, we need to be able to identify with the servant who was brought before his king in Jesus’ parable about the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:23-27). The servant owed a debt of 10,000 talents (equivalent to a modern-day debt of at least $6 billion) – significantly more than most servants would be able to pay, considering that he would have to work for over 164,000 years in order to pay it off (one shekel or drachma was a day’s wage, and there are 6,000 drachmas to one talent36). This man owed a debt that he had no hope of ever paying – he faced an impossible situation. We stand before God as sinners, unclean; our best efforts come out as filthy rags before Him (Isaiah 64:6). Yet God, even as the king in Jesus’ parable, made a way for us, but it is not through anything that we can do – it is only through His forgiveness that is made available through His mercy. However, God’s forgiveness cannot be a word-in-the-wind, for His perfect justice would not permit such. The covering for sins has always required the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22); God shed the blood of animals in order to provide coverings for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). From Abel through to Christ, the blood of animals was shed in order to provide a temporary remission of sins (if it was done in faith); the Mosaic sacrificial system elaborated on the requirements for making a sacrifice and established a priesthood to mediate between men and God, but it did not initiate the necessity of a blood sacrifice. Jesus came, as determined from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20), as the sinless Lamb of God to shed His blood once (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:28), so as to become the final Sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:16-18). Christ died as the Sacrifice for our sins, and He lives as our High Priest in the presence of God (Hebrews 8:1). You will recall that at the moment that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51) – that indicated the end of the responsibilities of the high priest on earth, and, really, the whole sacrificial system under the Mosaic Law; the way had been opened into the Holy of Holies through the death of Christ. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us ...” (Hebrews 9:24).
The redemption that was accomplished through the Word made flesh, is a marvel of God’s mercy and grace in providing a way for one sinless Man to fulfill the requirements of His perfect justice for sin, and to make a way for mankind to stand before God in holiness and purity. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God made the plan, and God executed it (John 3:16) – there is nothing that we can do to enhance it; all that we can do is believe – to continually exercise faith, and keep that faith through obedience to Him to the very end (Hebrews 3:6).
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. We’ve just read, “... as many as are of the works of the law are under [a] curse ...” (Galatians 3:10). Deuteronomy 28 is a passage that expresses the blessings and curses of the Law very clearly; the first fourteen verses spell out the blessings that God will shower upon Israel if they “observe ... to do all his commandments ...” (Deuteronomy 28:1). However, we read on: “... it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee ...” (Deuteronomy 28:15), and the next fifty-three verses outline those curses. The Israelites bore the burden of the Mosaic Law, and it was a burden, for the system of ordinances and sacrifices was very specific – there was a definite protocol to follow and a precise location where the sacrifices for sin were to be made. After all of that, these great efforts would only be effective if they were carried out in faith; we have already seen so clearly that no one is justified by the works of the Law – ever! The evidence of the faith of the Israelites of old was visible through their adherence to the ordinances and sacrifices as given through Moses (keeping in mind that if faith was not present, then the ordinances and sacrifices were of no spiritual value). Likewise, the evidence of our faith is our obedience to the commands of God’s Word to us (and the absence of obedience speaks of a dead faith [or no faith] – James 2:17). The Israelites received the Law of God on tablets of stone, yet the Psalmist David, a man after God’s own heart, declared: “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8), and again: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). David believed the Lord’s promises, and sought to live righteously by working the Word of God into the essence of his being. With the New Covenant implemented through Jesus shed blood, the commands are now written by God upon the hearts of those who believe (Jeremiah 31:33), and the Spirit of God abides within so “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us ...” (Romans 8:4). “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). We must take heed lest a deceitful spirit of faithlessness cause us to depart from the living God (Hebrews 3:12).
Christ was made a curse for us, in accordance with Deuteronomy 21:23 – “... he that is hanged is accursed of God ....” Within the Jewish custom, hanging was not used as a method for killing a criminal, rather an idolater or blasphemer (provided they were not a woman) was hanged as an example after they had already been put to death.37 When Jesus was condemned by the Jewish leaders, the high priest said, “... ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death” (Mark 14:64). Within the Mosaic Law it was: “if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death [judgement is carried out and he is dead], and thou hang him on a tree ...” (Deuteronomy 21:22); notice that if he was found to be guilty of a sin worthy of death, he was first put to death and then suspended on a tree (probably a pole rather than a living tree).38 The specific instruction for such cases was that they were not to be allowed to hang beyond their execution day (Deuteronomy 21:23). Therefore, within the Jewish custom, anyone who was hanged upon a tree had already been found guilty of a capital offense and felt the curse of the Law (death for their deeds).
Inasmuch as we are sinners who sin (it is who we are, not just what we do), we bear about with us the sentence of death before God. However, in the eternal plan of God (1 Peter 1:19-20), Christ came, the perfect Son of God and the eternal Word made flesh, in order to take upon Himself the sins of the world. He died, not for His own sins (for He remained sinless), but for the sins of mankind so that He might open the way for man to be permanently reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ died on the cross, He bore the curse of the Law within the Jewish context, for He hung on the cross as a public declaration that justice had been served. As the sinless Son of God, He took upon Himself the sin-burden of the world (from Adam to the end of time) and bore it on the cross – an open demonstration that the requirements of the Law had been fulfilled, to those who had faith in Him. Within the Jewish tradition, a blasphemer was to be publicly displayed after he had been stoned to death (Leviticus 24:16; Deuteronomy 21:22); Jesus was falsely accused of blaspheming (Matthew 26:65), faced death by crucifixion (the Roman method) rather than stoning, and was hung on public display. Truly, He became a “curse for us.”
14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Here is the reason why Jesus became a curse for us – it was so that the blessing promised to Abraham so long ago would come on “all families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3). The Judaizers sought to draw faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the works of the Mosaic Law together to form a perfect blend of faith-and-works salvation with a Jewish flavor. The point that Paul is anxious for the Galatians to understand is that the faith of Jesus Christ reaches well beyond the Mosaic traditions and is anchored in the promise made by God to Abraham. There is no room for our works within God’s plan for salvation; He knows that our best efforts will only secure our condemnation (Isaiah 64:6). Gentiles (ta ethnos) specifically identifies the non-Jews within this context (hence, Gentiles or foreigners to the Jews). It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word translated as families in Genesis 12:3 means clans (people who hold something in common), or races (again, a common ancestor);39 although that may well suggest a common blood line, it expresses a much broader application than what we think of as being families (all of humanity holds a common ancestor in Adam). This blessing of Abraham is meant for all of the peoples of the earth, and is forever linked to faith (that common element necessary for the blessing to be received personally): “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:9 and Romans 4:16).
The word come bears the subjunctive mood, but, being part of a purpose clause, it expresses the reality of what has come through the redemption that Christ accomplished; there is no uncertainty that Christ’s sacrifice has brought redemption to all of humanity! Jesus came as the perfect fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham, and, as promised, the salvation purchased is available to all of mankind (just as it was declared to Abraham). However, that does not mean that all of the Gentiles will receive this blessing any more than it guarantees that all of the members of the Jewish race will be recipients of this blessing – the promise is that the blessing will be to everyone in the world, but that does not mean that everyone will avail themselves of it. Abraham is called “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11) – literally: those who are believing (believe is in the present tense).40 Here’s an interesting aside: because the blessing of Christ is anchored within the universal promise made by God to Abraham, the Calvinistic doctrine of limited atonement cannot stand (their teaching is that Christ only died for those whom God had chosen for salvation, yet God’s promise of blessing through Abraham was for all of mankind). As we have already noted, even though Christ’s sacrifice was made for all of humanity, not everyone will exercise the active, living faith required to make His redemption a personal reality. The word all used in Genesis 12:3 means just that: the whole, all;41 what must not be missed in this simple, yet far-reaching promise from God to Abraham is that the promised blessing will be to all peoples (families) – no one has been left out. This is in keeping with Peter’s words that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God’s Word is cohesive; He does not change, and therefore, His Word, which is the expression of Jesus, the Logos (John 1:1), cannot change either. Man’s manipulation of the original language texts, as carried out in the production of documents like the modern Greek New Testament, is done at his own peril (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32; Proverbs 30:6). “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25).
Having established that Jesus came as the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham by God, Paul now doubles back to a point that he has already made. In chapter 3:2 he asked: “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” The evident response to this question is that they had received the Spirit of God through faith. Paul now draws this all together by explaining that Jesus not only came as Abraham’s promised blessing, but also so that the Spirit of God would be available through the same faith in Jesus that brings us salvation. Jesus said: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever [this is a purpose clause: the Father will give the Comforter with the intent for Him to remain with us forever – that is God’s purpose in sending the Spirit; however, the fulfillment of His intention will depend upon the one into whom the Spirit comes 42] ... when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” (John 14:16, 15:26).
The redemption that was accomplished through the Word made flesh, is a marvel of God’s mercy and grace in providing a way for one sinless Man to fulfill the requirements of His perfect justice for sin, and to make a way for mankind to stand before God in holiness and purity. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God made the plan, and God executed it (John 3:16) – there is nothing that we can do to enhance it; all that we can do is believe – to continually exercise faith, and keep that faith through obedience to Him to the very end (Hebrews 3:6).
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. We’ve just read, “... as many as are of the works of the law are under [a] curse ...” (Galatians 3:10). Deuteronomy 28 is a passage that expresses the blessings and curses of the Law very clearly; the first fourteen verses spell out the blessings that God will shower upon Israel if they “observe ... to do all his commandments ...” (Deuteronomy 28:1). However, we read on: “... it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee ...” (Deuteronomy 28:15), and the next fifty-three verses outline those curses. The Israelites bore the burden of the Mosaic Law, and it was a burden, for the system of ordinances and sacrifices was very specific – there was a definite protocol to follow and a precise location where the sacrifices for sin were to be made. After all of that, these great efforts would only be effective if they were carried out in faith; we have already seen so clearly that no one is justified by the works of the Law – ever! The evidence of the faith of the Israelites of old was visible through their adherence to the ordinances and sacrifices as given through Moses (keeping in mind that if faith was not present, then the ordinances and sacrifices were of no spiritual value). Likewise, the evidence of our faith is our obedience to the commands of God’s Word to us (and the absence of obedience speaks of a dead faith [or no faith] – James 2:17). The Israelites received the Law of God on tablets of stone, yet the Psalmist David, a man after God’s own heart, declared: “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8), and again: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). David believed the Lord’s promises, and sought to live righteously by working the Word of God into the essence of his being. With the New Covenant implemented through Jesus shed blood, the commands are now written by God upon the hearts of those who believe (Jeremiah 31:33), and the Spirit of God abides within so “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us ...” (Romans 8:4). “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). We must take heed lest a deceitful spirit of faithlessness cause us to depart from the living God (Hebrews 3:12).
Christ was made a curse for us, in accordance with Deuteronomy 21:23 – “... he that is hanged is accursed of God ....” Within the Jewish custom, hanging was not used as a method for killing a criminal, rather an idolater or blasphemer (provided they were not a woman) was hanged as an example after they had already been put to death.37 When Jesus was condemned by the Jewish leaders, the high priest said, “... ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death” (Mark 14:64). Within the Mosaic Law it was: “if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death [judgement is carried out and he is dead], and thou hang him on a tree ...” (Deuteronomy 21:22); notice that if he was found to be guilty of a sin worthy of death, he was first put to death and then suspended on a tree (probably a pole rather than a living tree).38 The specific instruction for such cases was that they were not to be allowed to hang beyond their execution day (Deuteronomy 21:23). Therefore, within the Jewish custom, anyone who was hanged upon a tree had already been found guilty of a capital offense and felt the curse of the Law (death for their deeds).
Inasmuch as we are sinners who sin (it is who we are, not just what we do), we bear about with us the sentence of death before God. However, in the eternal plan of God (1 Peter 1:19-20), Christ came, the perfect Son of God and the eternal Word made flesh, in order to take upon Himself the sins of the world. He died, not for His own sins (for He remained sinless), but for the sins of mankind so that He might open the way for man to be permanently reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ died on the cross, He bore the curse of the Law within the Jewish context, for He hung on the cross as a public declaration that justice had been served. As the sinless Son of God, He took upon Himself the sin-burden of the world (from Adam to the end of time) and bore it on the cross – an open demonstration that the requirements of the Law had been fulfilled, to those who had faith in Him. Within the Jewish tradition, a blasphemer was to be publicly displayed after he had been stoned to death (Leviticus 24:16; Deuteronomy 21:22); Jesus was falsely accused of blaspheming (Matthew 26:65), faced death by crucifixion (the Roman method) rather than stoning, and was hung on public display. Truly, He became a “curse for us.”
14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Here is the reason why Jesus became a curse for us – it was so that the blessing promised to Abraham so long ago would come on “all families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3). The Judaizers sought to draw faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the works of the Mosaic Law together to form a perfect blend of faith-and-works salvation with a Jewish flavor. The point that Paul is anxious for the Galatians to understand is that the faith of Jesus Christ reaches well beyond the Mosaic traditions and is anchored in the promise made by God to Abraham. There is no room for our works within God’s plan for salvation; He knows that our best efforts will only secure our condemnation (Isaiah 64:6). Gentiles (ta ethnos) specifically identifies the non-Jews within this context (hence, Gentiles or foreigners to the Jews). It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word translated as families in Genesis 12:3 means clans (people who hold something in common), or races (again, a common ancestor);39 although that may well suggest a common blood line, it expresses a much broader application than what we think of as being families (all of humanity holds a common ancestor in Adam). This blessing of Abraham is meant for all of the peoples of the earth, and is forever linked to faith (that common element necessary for the blessing to be received personally): “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:9 and Romans 4:16).
The word come bears the subjunctive mood, but, being part of a purpose clause, it expresses the reality of what has come through the redemption that Christ accomplished; there is no uncertainty that Christ’s sacrifice has brought redemption to all of humanity! Jesus came as the perfect fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham, and, as promised, the salvation purchased is available to all of mankind (just as it was declared to Abraham). However, that does not mean that all of the Gentiles will receive this blessing any more than it guarantees that all of the members of the Jewish race will be recipients of this blessing – the promise is that the blessing will be to everyone in the world, but that does not mean that everyone will avail themselves of it. Abraham is called “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11) – literally: those who are believing (believe is in the present tense).40 Here’s an interesting aside: because the blessing of Christ is anchored within the universal promise made by God to Abraham, the Calvinistic doctrine of limited atonement cannot stand (their teaching is that Christ only died for those whom God had chosen for salvation, yet God’s promise of blessing through Abraham was for all of mankind). As we have already noted, even though Christ’s sacrifice was made for all of humanity, not everyone will exercise the active, living faith required to make His redemption a personal reality. The word all used in Genesis 12:3 means just that: the whole, all;41 what must not be missed in this simple, yet far-reaching promise from God to Abraham is that the promised blessing will be to all peoples (families) – no one has been left out. This is in keeping with Peter’s words that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God’s Word is cohesive; He does not change, and therefore, His Word, which is the expression of Jesus, the Logos (John 1:1), cannot change either. Man’s manipulation of the original language texts, as carried out in the production of documents like the modern Greek New Testament, is done at his own peril (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32; Proverbs 30:6). “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25).
Having established that Jesus came as the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham by God, Paul now doubles back to a point that he has already made. In chapter 3:2 he asked: “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” The evident response to this question is that they had received the Spirit of God through faith. Paul now draws this all together by explaining that Jesus not only came as Abraham’s promised blessing, but also so that the Spirit of God would be available through the same faith in Jesus that brings us salvation. Jesus said: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever [this is a purpose clause: the Father will give the Comforter with the intent for Him to remain with us forever – that is God’s purpose in sending the Spirit; however, the fulfillment of His intention will depend upon the one into whom the Spirit comes 42] ... when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” (John 14:16, 15:26).
What the Galatians had lost sight of was that they were part of the New Covenant. When Jesus met with His disciples before the cross, He declared that the cup symbolized the “new testament” in His blood (Luke 22:20). This was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah: “... this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). The Mosaic covenant has been fulfilled, completed and replaced through the sacrifice that was made by the Lord Jesus Christ; abolished, as applied to the Mosaic Law in Ephesians 2:15, means to be removed by replacement.43 Jesus was sinless; therefore, He was qualified before God to pay our debt of sin. He hung on the cross as a public declaration that the demands of the Mosaic Law had been met. Paul made this reality abundantly clear in his letter to the Ephesians (2:14-16), and again to the Colossians (2:16-17). What the Galatians were being reminded of was that they were under a New Covenant – not a grace-versus-law scenario, but rather where the Law of God was now written upon their hearts, and the Spirit of God was present within them through faith in Christ, in order to enable them to apply that written Law to their lives so that “the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). We are not freed from the Law of God, rather the Spirit of God abides within us in order to provide the enablement so that the righteousness of His “holy law” might be lived out through us (Romans 7:12). Jesus said: “Abide [meno] in me, and I in you” (John 15:4a); the Spirit of God, through John, declared: “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth [meno] in him, and he in him” (1 John 3:24). There is absolutely no room for a do-as-you-please grace within Biblical Christianity. Man has always been under God’s Law; even in the perfect Garden of Eden we read that “the LORD God commanded the man” (Genesis 2:16-17). The declaration of the Apostle John in his visions on the Isle of Patmos is: “Here is the patience [endurance] of the saints: here are they that keep [are carefully attending to (present tense)] the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).44 From Genesis to Revelation, God’s people have always come to Him by faith, and that living faith has always been expressed through obedience to His commandments (James 2:26).
15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
Paul now draws an illustration from the traditions of men to help make his point – he will now speak according to what man does. The essence is that if someone makes a covenant, or contract, with someone else, and the contract is legally ratified, then no one will set it aside as being of no value, nor will anyone casually try to add anything to it. The point being emphasized here is that when a covenant has been established properly, then no one is able to make it of no effect, or to add anything to it – the agreement stands as it was made.
The analogy is appropriate and very clear. If we give such respect to the covenants that are made between men, would it not be understood that a covenant made by God should receive at least the same honor? God established His covenant with Abraham (He chose Abraham as the father through whom the promised Redeemer would come), and He included the promise that everyone (all families of the earth) would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3). Therefore, as a legitimate covenant made by Jehovah (not mere man), no one is able to set it aside as being invalid, and, most appropriately for the Galatians’ situation, it is not possible for anyone to add anything to it. God’s way for man has always been by faith (Hebrews 11).
The Galatians were being convinced to add the traditions of Moses to their faith in Christ, which was causing them to fall from the truth (Galatians 3:1). In reality, they were seeking to add something of their own doing to the covenant that God had established – something that they wouldn’t try to do with a covenant made between men. The history of the Roman Catholic Church is a never-ending series of adding to what God has said, not only in doctrine but also in practice, to the point that today there is very little left within their theology that has not felt the manipulating touch of their hands. The doctrinal changes were made largely for establishing the authority of their central leadership, and the practical changes were directed toward bridging the gap between the pagan population and the religious “righteous.” In keeping with the words of Proverbs 14:12, they have produced a form of religion that leads to the death of all who walk in its pathway. Despite this blatant desecration of God’s truth, Evangelicals, who once held God’s truth in their hands, are bending over backwards in an attempt to build bridges of peace and understanding with this hotbed of heresy: “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith [apostatize], giving heed to seducing spirits, and the doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1).45 A more apt description for the activities and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church cannot be found.
Paul declares, unequivocally, that the Galatians were being removed from the Gospel of God unto a false gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). The Judaizers were zealous about adding the ordinances of Moses to their new found faith in Christ, yet by doing so they were corrupting the Fresh Covenant that Jesus implemented with His disciples through His shed blood (Luke 22:20). The word to the Galatians was that even adding the traditions of Moses to the faith of Christ was a destruction of that faith. Likewise, the Roman Catholics have been removed (past tense) from the truth of the Gospel of God to a false gospel of faith and works – faith in the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and the works as prescribed by that same leadership. Unfortunately, with the dulled minds of Evangelicals today selectively acclaiming Catholic doctrine, they are rapidly falling prey to the same deadly faith-works teaching. We must recognize the exclusivity of God’s covenant – He has defined the terms, and any attempt that we make to add to or take away from those terms is the same as abandoning the covenant entirely. Unless this reality becomes deeply rooted within our hearts, and we are carefully guarding against a heart of faithlessness (through the enablement of the abiding Spirit of God, our only Hope), we will, in the same way as the Galatians, be tempted to relax our defenses and yield to a way of life that is less offensive to others and makes fewer demands upon us. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). By adding to, or taking away from God’s prescribed way to life, we will either miss the strait gate entirely or fail as we walk His narrow way – there are only two paths: one leads to life, the other to destruction.
16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
God confirmed to Abraham that He would establish His covenant with those who would follow him: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Genesis17:7). The covenant was God’s promise: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). This promise was to find fulfillment through Abraham’s descendants.
If we pause to consider the descendants of Abraham, we will then very soon realize that this promise was not passed along through all of his subsequent family members. God was very specific in clarifying to Abraham who would carry His covenant forward: “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him” (Genesis 17:19). This immediately excluded Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn, and all of the sons of Abraham’s second wife, Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2). At the establishment of the promise with Abraham, God carefully defined the family line through which the promise would come – Isaac, but further consideration makes it very evident that there was a continual narrowing of the line through which the promised Seed would come. “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend” (Isaiah 41:8). From Abraham, the chosen line was through Isaac; from Isaac, it was through Jacob (Israel). When Israel blessed his sons at the end of his days, once again the line of the Blessed One was narrowed: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [meaning: that which belongs to him] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10).46 The Lord, through Nathan the prophet, spoke unto King David: “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever” (2 Samuel 7:16); again, a lineage has been selected. Out of all of the sons of Jesse (of the tribe of Judah), God chose David (1 Samuel 16:12), and of the many sons of David, Solomon was chosen to bear the promise forward (2 Chronicles 1:8). Therefore, we have the genealogy from Abraham to Christ in Matthew chapter one passing through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, Solomon, etc. When Jesus was baptized by John, a voice from heaven broke forth: “Thou are my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Here was the Seed Who had been promised to Abraham, and through Whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3) – here was the promised “Shiloh” (Genesis 49:10). However, we can even look beyond Abraham, for here was the Seed Whom God promised would deal a bruise to Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15).
Paul’s purpose here is to establish in the minds of the Galatians that the promise of God to Abraham was singular in nature, and as you follow the lines of the promise down through the generations, it is evident that God never lost sight of the Promised One. Yes, there was a general promise that Abraham’s descendants would be as the sand of the sea and the stars of the heavens (Genesis 22:17), but the very specific promise of blessing for all of the families of the earth was focused on the promised Redeemer, Jesus. What this tells us is that even before the Law of Moses was instituted, God’s promise of redemption was alive and well (1 Peter 1:19-20). This is the truth that Paul really wants the Galatians to understand.
17. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
Paul now draws an illustration from the traditions of men to help make his point – he will now speak according to what man does. The essence is that if someone makes a covenant, or contract, with someone else, and the contract is legally ratified, then no one will set it aside as being of no value, nor will anyone casually try to add anything to it. The point being emphasized here is that when a covenant has been established properly, then no one is able to make it of no effect, or to add anything to it – the agreement stands as it was made.
The analogy is appropriate and very clear. If we give such respect to the covenants that are made between men, would it not be understood that a covenant made by God should receive at least the same honor? God established His covenant with Abraham (He chose Abraham as the father through whom the promised Redeemer would come), and He included the promise that everyone (all families of the earth) would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3). Therefore, as a legitimate covenant made by Jehovah (not mere man), no one is able to set it aside as being invalid, and, most appropriately for the Galatians’ situation, it is not possible for anyone to add anything to it. God’s way for man has always been by faith (Hebrews 11).
The Galatians were being convinced to add the traditions of Moses to their faith in Christ, which was causing them to fall from the truth (Galatians 3:1). In reality, they were seeking to add something of their own doing to the covenant that God had established – something that they wouldn’t try to do with a covenant made between men. The history of the Roman Catholic Church is a never-ending series of adding to what God has said, not only in doctrine but also in practice, to the point that today there is very little left within their theology that has not felt the manipulating touch of their hands. The doctrinal changes were made largely for establishing the authority of their central leadership, and the practical changes were directed toward bridging the gap between the pagan population and the religious “righteous.” In keeping with the words of Proverbs 14:12, they have produced a form of religion that leads to the death of all who walk in its pathway. Despite this blatant desecration of God’s truth, Evangelicals, who once held God’s truth in their hands, are bending over backwards in an attempt to build bridges of peace and understanding with this hotbed of heresy: “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith [apostatize], giving heed to seducing spirits, and the doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1).45 A more apt description for the activities and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church cannot be found.
Paul declares, unequivocally, that the Galatians were being removed from the Gospel of God unto a false gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). The Judaizers were zealous about adding the ordinances of Moses to their new found faith in Christ, yet by doing so they were corrupting the Fresh Covenant that Jesus implemented with His disciples through His shed blood (Luke 22:20). The word to the Galatians was that even adding the traditions of Moses to the faith of Christ was a destruction of that faith. Likewise, the Roman Catholics have been removed (past tense) from the truth of the Gospel of God to a false gospel of faith and works – faith in the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and the works as prescribed by that same leadership. Unfortunately, with the dulled minds of Evangelicals today selectively acclaiming Catholic doctrine, they are rapidly falling prey to the same deadly faith-works teaching. We must recognize the exclusivity of God’s covenant – He has defined the terms, and any attempt that we make to add to or take away from those terms is the same as abandoning the covenant entirely. Unless this reality becomes deeply rooted within our hearts, and we are carefully guarding against a heart of faithlessness (through the enablement of the abiding Spirit of God, our only Hope), we will, in the same way as the Galatians, be tempted to relax our defenses and yield to a way of life that is less offensive to others and makes fewer demands upon us. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). By adding to, or taking away from God’s prescribed way to life, we will either miss the strait gate entirely or fail as we walk His narrow way – there are only two paths: one leads to life, the other to destruction.
16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
God confirmed to Abraham that He would establish His covenant with those who would follow him: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Genesis17:7). The covenant was God’s promise: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). This promise was to find fulfillment through Abraham’s descendants.
If we pause to consider the descendants of Abraham, we will then very soon realize that this promise was not passed along through all of his subsequent family members. God was very specific in clarifying to Abraham who would carry His covenant forward: “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him” (Genesis 17:19). This immediately excluded Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn, and all of the sons of Abraham’s second wife, Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2). At the establishment of the promise with Abraham, God carefully defined the family line through which the promise would come – Isaac, but further consideration makes it very evident that there was a continual narrowing of the line through which the promised Seed would come. “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend” (Isaiah 41:8). From Abraham, the chosen line was through Isaac; from Isaac, it was through Jacob (Israel). When Israel blessed his sons at the end of his days, once again the line of the Blessed One was narrowed: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [meaning: that which belongs to him] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10).46 The Lord, through Nathan the prophet, spoke unto King David: “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever” (2 Samuel 7:16); again, a lineage has been selected. Out of all of the sons of Jesse (of the tribe of Judah), God chose David (1 Samuel 16:12), and of the many sons of David, Solomon was chosen to bear the promise forward (2 Chronicles 1:8). Therefore, we have the genealogy from Abraham to Christ in Matthew chapter one passing through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, Solomon, etc. When Jesus was baptized by John, a voice from heaven broke forth: “Thou are my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Here was the Seed Who had been promised to Abraham, and through Whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3) – here was the promised “Shiloh” (Genesis 49:10). However, we can even look beyond Abraham, for here was the Seed Whom God promised would deal a bruise to Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15).
Paul’s purpose here is to establish in the minds of the Galatians that the promise of God to Abraham was singular in nature, and as you follow the lines of the promise down through the generations, it is evident that God never lost sight of the Promised One. Yes, there was a general promise that Abraham’s descendants would be as the sand of the sea and the stars of the heavens (Genesis 22:17), but the very specific promise of blessing for all of the families of the earth was focused on the promised Redeemer, Jesus. What this tells us is that even before the Law of Moses was instituted, God’s promise of redemption was alive and well (1 Peter 1:19-20). This is the truth that Paul really wants the Galatians to understand.
17. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
Bethlehem
Paul now goes on to elaborate just a little more on the central truth in God’s promise to Abraham that both the Judaizers and the Galatians had failed to comprehend. This covenant, established specifically with Abraham, was pre-established in Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One – encapsulated within the promise made by the Lord in the Garden (Genesis 3:15), and established in the mind of God before man was ever created (Revelation 13:8 – “... the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”). “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah [ancient name for Bethlehem47], though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting [or, from eternity past] (Micah 5:2).48 “... according as he [God] hath chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world ...” (Ephesians 1:4); “... who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began ...” (2 Timothy 1:9); “... in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began ...” (Titus 1:2). Clearly, this is not an obscure doctrine, although it may have been a little more hidden to those who did not have the writings of Paul. As we consider the plight of the Galatians, we can understand why the eternality of the promised Savior received such a great emphasis within the time of the Apostles. The Judaizers sought to focus the attention of the new believers on the beginnings within the Mosaic Covenant, rather than recognizing that the promise of God, fulfilled in Christ, went well beyond the Law of Moses to the mind of God in eternity past.
Paul identifies the Law as coming 430 years after the covenant, or promise, was confirmed with Abraham. When Joseph sent for his father to come to Egypt, God confirmed to Jacob that His hand was in it: “And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes” (Genesis 46:2-4). The promise that Abraham would become a great nation was confirmed with Jacob as he prepared to journey out of the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham and to Isaac, his forefathers. As they prepared to journey into Egypt, they went down as a family of sixty-six men (Genesis 46:26-27); yet the Lord confirmed His promise that He would make of them a great nation. This was the chosen line of the descendants of Abraham through which the promise was kept alive by God. Exodus 12:40-41 speaks of the end to this time: “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” The thrust of this is that Israel had remained without land ownership for the entire time that they were in Egypt; the reality is that the chosen descendants of Abraham, to this point, only owned two small pieces of land in Canaan. Abraham had purchased a small parcel of land for a burial site when Sarah died (Genesis23:17-20), and Jacob had purchased a part of a field (Genesis 33:19-20). However, as Moses prepared the Israelites to keep the first Passover in preparation for their flight from Egypt, God introduces the new thought that He was going to redeem them from Egypt and give them the land to which they were going (Exodus 12:25). The promise, made to Abraham that he would own the land of Canaan as far as he could see in every direction, was not forgotten and took on new life at this point.
What Paul is emphasizing here is the large space of time between when the promise was confirmed with Jacob (before entering Egypt) and when Israel received the Law of Moses at Mt. Sinai. However, the coming of the Mosaic Law could not do away with the promise that was given to Abraham and confirmed with Isaac and Jacob; the Law did not impact the promise that God made to Abraham – not one iota. The word disannul means to “deprive of force and authority;”49 God’s promise of the Seed of Abraham being a blessing to all of the families of the earth was not undermined in any way by the Law of Moses. The Law, given through Moses, could not render the promise of God of no effect, literally: “to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul, abolish.”50
Elsewhere we read: “For he [Christ] is our peace, who hath made both [the Jew and the Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Ephesians 2:14-16). The Law of Moses had no effect (katargeo) on the promise that God made to Abraham (Galatians 3:17), but the Fulfillment of that promise abolished (katargeo) the ordinances of Moses (Ephesians 2:15). What the Law of Moses could not do to the promise, the Promised One did to the Law of Moses – He abolished it, rendered it obsolete!
Paul identifies the Law as coming 430 years after the covenant, or promise, was confirmed with Abraham. When Joseph sent for his father to come to Egypt, God confirmed to Jacob that His hand was in it: “And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes” (Genesis 46:2-4). The promise that Abraham would become a great nation was confirmed with Jacob as he prepared to journey out of the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham and to Isaac, his forefathers. As they prepared to journey into Egypt, they went down as a family of sixty-six men (Genesis 46:26-27); yet the Lord confirmed His promise that He would make of them a great nation. This was the chosen line of the descendants of Abraham through which the promise was kept alive by God. Exodus 12:40-41 speaks of the end to this time: “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” The thrust of this is that Israel had remained without land ownership for the entire time that they were in Egypt; the reality is that the chosen descendants of Abraham, to this point, only owned two small pieces of land in Canaan. Abraham had purchased a small parcel of land for a burial site when Sarah died (Genesis23:17-20), and Jacob had purchased a part of a field (Genesis 33:19-20). However, as Moses prepared the Israelites to keep the first Passover in preparation for their flight from Egypt, God introduces the new thought that He was going to redeem them from Egypt and give them the land to which they were going (Exodus 12:25). The promise, made to Abraham that he would own the land of Canaan as far as he could see in every direction, was not forgotten and took on new life at this point.
What Paul is emphasizing here is the large space of time between when the promise was confirmed with Jacob (before entering Egypt) and when Israel received the Law of Moses at Mt. Sinai. However, the coming of the Mosaic Law could not do away with the promise that was given to Abraham and confirmed with Isaac and Jacob; the Law did not impact the promise that God made to Abraham – not one iota. The word disannul means to “deprive of force and authority;”49 God’s promise of the Seed of Abraham being a blessing to all of the families of the earth was not undermined in any way by the Law of Moses. The Law, given through Moses, could not render the promise of God of no effect, literally: “to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul, abolish.”50
Elsewhere we read: “For he [Christ] is our peace, who hath made both [the Jew and the Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Ephesians 2:14-16). The Law of Moses had no effect (katargeo) on the promise that God made to Abraham (Galatians 3:17), but the Fulfillment of that promise abolished (katargeo) the ordinances of Moses (Ephesians 2:15). What the Law of Moses could not do to the promise, the Promised One did to the Law of Moses – He abolished it, rendered it obsolete!
Seder Plate
It is becoming increasingly popular within Evangelical circles to dabble in ancient liturgies, and many times this means drawing from the Roman Catholic traditions. However, there are those within Evangelicalism who are also looking to the liturgies of the Jews and incorporating these into their practices. The Jewish Seder is an example of a tradition that is being embraced by many Evangelicals today, and one that has been practiced by many Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants since well back into the 1960s;51 whether the Evangelical community is bringing this in from the Roman Catholics or independently from the Jews is open to debate. The elements of the Seder are: three thick unleavened cakes, parsley and a bowl of salt water (representing the hyssop and blood), watercress or horseradish tops (the bitter herbs), a mixture of nuts and apples (representing the clay that the Israelites made into bricks), a roasted bone (a memorial of the paschal lamb), “a roasted egg in memory of the free-will offering of the feast,” and several bottles of wine.52 What is immediately evident is that there is both much more and much less here than was present at the first Passover (Exodus 12:5-8; Numbers 9:11), which is a clear indication that the Jews have changed the elements of the meal, with the addition of the egg being most puzzling. From ancient times, the egg was accepted as the symbol of new life and, most noteworthy, of the pagan goddess, Astarte.53 However, that aside, the response today is: “Holding a Seder is a way to connect with the heritage of our religion and to see how the practices of the ancient world are still relevant to us as Christians today.”54 There is a tendency to look to the traditions of others in order to explain our own practices, and this can be both helpful and dangerous. In this case, I would suggest that the look into the Seder is a dangerous practice, as the Seder is filled with Jewish traditions that do not find their origin within the Scriptures. We know from the Gospels that the Lord found many of the traditions of the Pharisees to be stilted and dry – devoid of any spiritual significance. Just because something is practiced by the Jews does not make it Biblical, and we must exercise caution as we look at Jewish traditions; after all, we are looking into a letter written to a people who were adding Jewish traditions to their faith in Christ, and thereby falling from the truth (Galatians 3:1).
David Fitch
However, today it is not just Jewish practices to which Evangelicals are looking to add to their experience; there is a general movement to look backward in an effort to provide justification for modern practices. David Fitch writes concerning his church: “... the specific ways we sought to carry out these three commitments [community, transformation, and mission] represent, in some way, a renewal of some incredibly potent impulses found at the earliest origins of our denominational heritage.”55 He goes on to say: “... we found that these were core gospel values that could be found, if we digged hard enough, within our own denominational history.”56 Fitch is identifying the practices that he is cultivating within his own church with those who founded his particular denomination (if you look hard enough for them). What you can’t see in his comments here is that he is drawing his people into the bosom of Emergent Church heresy, including “art, symbol, candles, silence, and ancient prayers,”57 and justifying his actions based on some strained interpretation from the beginnings of his denomination (the Christian and Missionary Alliance) and “gospel values.” In typical modern fashion, Fitch is drawing those who follow his example into ancient practices – not so much from the Alliance traditions as from the Roman Catholic ancient mystics and heretical monastics. Whether we dabble in the Jewish Seder service, look into applying a new interpretation to what happened years ago within a particular denomination, or dredge up an ancient prayer used by some mystical heretic from the early years AD, we have stepped outside of the instructions of God’s Word and are in danger of discovering the reality of Satan’s charm. The Galatians were no exception in this regard; they reached back and added the traditions of Moses on the basis that this was the common practice of the Jews among them – a people who bore the promised Seed of Abraham. It matters not how far back we might reach – anytime that we add to or diminish from God’s truth, we are in the same error as the Galatians. A common problem is the failure to look to the Scriptures to determine if the message being received is of God, or from the subtle adversary, the devil (1 John 4:1; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
18. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
The promise made to Abraham was: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). This was the inheritance that Abraham passed on to his son Isaac, who, in turn, bestowed it upon his son Jacob. As a matter of fact, the primary inheritance, through several generations, was only the promise that God had first given to Abraham; the descendants of Abraham may have accumulated great wealth, but they had no homeland to call their own. Through the promise given to Abraham came the hope of a Redeemer through Whom all peoples would be blessed.
18. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
The promise made to Abraham was: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). This was the inheritance that Abraham passed on to his son Isaac, who, in turn, bestowed it upon his son Jacob. As a matter of fact, the primary inheritance, through several generations, was only the promise that God had first given to Abraham; the descendants of Abraham may have accumulated great wealth, but they had no homeland to call their own. Through the promise given to Abraham came the hope of a Redeemer through Whom all peoples would be blessed.
The inheritance promised by God, namely Christ, the Messiah, was not established through the Law that was given to Israel through Moses. The promise had already been in full effect for several generations prior to Mt. Sinai (see chart at right); therefore, it is very obvious that the Law of Moses did not initiate the promise of a Redeemer Who would be a blessing to all people. God promised the Messiah to Abraham, and confirmed it with Isaac and Jacob (three generations); we hear nothing further of the promise until Exodus 6:8, where it is affirmed to Moses and so declared to the children of Israel. God told Abraham that his descendants would be afflicted for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13), and in the fourth generation they would be brought out for the express purpose of bringing God’s judgment on the Amorites (Genesis 15:16). Hezron, the grandson of Judah, would have been young when his family entered Egypt; likewise, Salmon, the fourth generation from Hezron, would have been young (less than twenty years of age – Numbers 14:28-30) when the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt. Not only did God make the promise of a Redeemer to Abraham, but He also gave him a glimpse into what his descendants would endure in the future – this was all promised and foretold eight generations before the Law was given at Mt. Sinai. There can be no doubt that the promise was in full effect long before the events of Moses.
The point that Paul is making is that the Messiah came by promise, not through the establishment of the Law of Moses. The significance of this is that if Jesus had come based solely upon the Mosaic Law, then the promise that God had made to Abraham would have been rendered of no effect. However, this is not how things unfolded, and so the universal promise made to Abraham was untouched by the Law of Moses, and Christ came in fulfillment of the promise made by God (He was the One promised), and, through His coming, an end was made of the Mosaic laws and ordinances (Ephesians 2:14-16).
19. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
The focus now shifts slightly to look more closely at the Law, the reason that it was given, and its ultimate purpose. The question asked here is probably the one that would be screaming through the minds of the Galatians by this time – “why, then, the law?”58 If saving faith in Christ is the fulfillment of the promise given very specifically to Abraham generations before the Mosaic Law, then what was the purpose for giving the laws and ordinances to Moses?
Paul does not keep them waiting for the answer; his response is both clear and very applicable to the Galatian problem, and, if we have eyes to see, a very revealing explanation that most today seem to have missed. In providing this clarification, we receive the answer both as to why the Law of Moses came and how long it was to remain in effect.
As to why the Law was given, we are told that it was “added because of transgressions.” The word transgression within our English language means “a crime or any act that violates a law, command, or moral code.”59 The Greek word so translated in the KJV means, “a going aside ... an overstepping,”60 “a violation”61 with respect to a law. Consider this very carefully – the Law of Moses was added because of violations to existing commands (the only way to have a transgression). God said of Abraham: “[he] obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:5). Before the Law of Moses, Abraham understood and obeyed the Lord’s commands; man has NEVER been without an understanding of what the Lord requires of him. Even within the confines of the perfect Garden of Eden (before sin entered the picture), Adam heard these words from the Lord: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). The Law of God has always been present with man; he may well have ignored it, fought against it, or tried to exalt himself sufficiently so as to think that he was superior to it, but it has always been there. We read: “... for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15); in other words, if there is no law, there can be no violation of a law, for it does not exist. If there is no law that says you cannot own a dog, then you are not in violation of any law if you own a dog. However, if there is a law that requires your dog to be licensed, and you do not license your dog, then you are in violation of the law – you are a transgressor of a law that is in existence. The verse that we just considered in Romans confirms this simple understanding.
Romans 5:13-14 provides us with further clarification: “For until the law sin was in the world: but [nevertheless] sin [a violation of a law] is not imputed [taken into account] when there is no law. Nevertheless [but] death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression ....”62 This is so important to understand: from Adam to Moses (the time before the Mosaic Law) sin was in the world; we know this because death (the just result of sin – Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23) was applied to all of mankind from Adam to Moses. We are told that there is no transgression where there is no law (Romans 4:15), and sin is not charged where there is no law (Romans 5:13), therefore, this confirms that the Law of God was present from Adam to Moses (even as we are told in passages like Genesis 26:5). Romans chapter 5 tells us that from Adam to Moses, sin (a violation of the law) was being reckoned against the sinner, for death had the last word for all of mankind. Through all of these intervening years, only Enoch escaped death (Genesis 5:24). Therefore, when we read that Abraham obeyed the commands of the Lord, we should not be surprised, for the Lord did not leave the people who lived prior to Mt. Sinai without an understanding of His requirements.
Romans 7:8b tells us: “For without [or apart from] the law sin was dead [destitute of life].”63 What we have just looked at told us that sin was alive before Moses because it was chargeable to all of mankind (death, the penalty for sin, was present). Here we are told that apart from the Law, sin has no power – it is lifeless. Through ignorance of the requirements of God, man can often enjoy life – “For I was alive [to enjoy life] without [apart from] the law once [formerly] ....” (Romans 7:9).64 We see here the ability of man to rationalize that his actions are not only okay, but that he is really very spiritual. We not only see this in the people of the world, but we see this attitude increasingly evident within the Evangelical community (Proverbs 14:12). Today’s average Evangelical has swallowed the lie of Satan that they are under God’s grace, and that His law has been done away with entirely; they profess to be redeemed but live like the world in direct contravention of God’s commandments. Jesus said, “Abide [meno] in me ...” (John 15:4); the Spirit of God has declared: “... he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth [meno] in him ...” (1 John 3:24). Man will always be the object of God’s grace, but he will also always be under God’s Law – the two are not mutually exclusive as today’s Evangelical would have you believe. On the contrary, the two come together within the life of the one who has an active, living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ so “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk [are walking (present tense)] not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:4)..65 “For as many as are led [being led, present tense] by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).66 It is not a matter of law or grace (as we have been led to believe); it is really law and grace!
Two things happened at Mt. Sinai: 1) God wrote His ten Laws on stone tables with His own finger (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 4:13) – unchangeable, unalterable and clearly identifiable (the Law of God), and 2) God provided Moses with detailed instructions on how He wanted the people of Israel to live, which included very specific directives regarding sacrifices, the role of the priests to intercede for the people, and numerous other ordinances that the people were to observe in their daily living (the Law of Moses). However, none of these represented the beginning of the Law for mankind – it had been there from the creation of man. Paul’s words to the Galatians confirm this – the Law of Moses was added because of the sinfulness of mankind (the transgression of God’s Laws was already present); this is why the Mosaic Law came. Man can so easily talk himself into believing that he is such a wonderful person, but God brought the Law of Moses in so “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” for all who would have eyes to see and ears to hear (Romans 7:13). With the coming of the Law (both the Law of God and the Law of Moses were in written form), what was right and wrong was no longer left to the imaginations of the evil heart of man. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). We know that not everyone had ears to hear of the grace of God; “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward” (Jeremiah 7:24).
However, Paul goes on to clarify how long the Law of Moses was to remain. The Law was added until “the seed should come to whom the promise was made.” Paul has already proclaimed that Christ is the promised Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16). Therefore, the Mosaic Law, made up of all of the numerous statutes and ordinances, was determined to be in force until the promised Seed, Jesus Christ, should come. “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby ...” (Ephesians 2:14-16).
The Mosaic Law found its fulfillment and end at the cross; it foreshadowed the work of Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4).
Here we have the answer to the difficulty of the Galatians: the Mosaic Law was added until the promised Messiah should come to make an end of the ordinances. As they sought to incorporate the ordinances of Moses into their faith in Christ, they were acting contrary to God’s determination – they were making a different gospel (Galatians 1:6-7) that was contrary to the truth (Galatians 3:1). The gospel of the average Evangelical today is: have faith in Christ, pray for salvation (to secure your place in heaven) and then you are free to live as you please – this, too, is a different gospel that bears no resemblance to the Message of God!
The final phrase in our verse is, “... and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” At the time of the giving of the Mosaic Laws, we read: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:18-21).
The point that Paul is making is that the Messiah came by promise, not through the establishment of the Law of Moses. The significance of this is that if Jesus had come based solely upon the Mosaic Law, then the promise that God had made to Abraham would have been rendered of no effect. However, this is not how things unfolded, and so the universal promise made to Abraham was untouched by the Law of Moses, and Christ came in fulfillment of the promise made by God (He was the One promised), and, through His coming, an end was made of the Mosaic laws and ordinances (Ephesians 2:14-16).
19. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
The focus now shifts slightly to look more closely at the Law, the reason that it was given, and its ultimate purpose. The question asked here is probably the one that would be screaming through the minds of the Galatians by this time – “why, then, the law?”58 If saving faith in Christ is the fulfillment of the promise given very specifically to Abraham generations before the Mosaic Law, then what was the purpose for giving the laws and ordinances to Moses?
Paul does not keep them waiting for the answer; his response is both clear and very applicable to the Galatian problem, and, if we have eyes to see, a very revealing explanation that most today seem to have missed. In providing this clarification, we receive the answer both as to why the Law of Moses came and how long it was to remain in effect.
As to why the Law was given, we are told that it was “added because of transgressions.” The word transgression within our English language means “a crime or any act that violates a law, command, or moral code.”59 The Greek word so translated in the KJV means, “a going aside ... an overstepping,”60 “a violation”61 with respect to a law. Consider this very carefully – the Law of Moses was added because of violations to existing commands (the only way to have a transgression). God said of Abraham: “[he] obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:5). Before the Law of Moses, Abraham understood and obeyed the Lord’s commands; man has NEVER been without an understanding of what the Lord requires of him. Even within the confines of the perfect Garden of Eden (before sin entered the picture), Adam heard these words from the Lord: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). The Law of God has always been present with man; he may well have ignored it, fought against it, or tried to exalt himself sufficiently so as to think that he was superior to it, but it has always been there. We read: “... for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15); in other words, if there is no law, there can be no violation of a law, for it does not exist. If there is no law that says you cannot own a dog, then you are not in violation of any law if you own a dog. However, if there is a law that requires your dog to be licensed, and you do not license your dog, then you are in violation of the law – you are a transgressor of a law that is in existence. The verse that we just considered in Romans confirms this simple understanding.
Romans 5:13-14 provides us with further clarification: “For until the law sin was in the world: but [nevertheless] sin [a violation of a law] is not imputed [taken into account] when there is no law. Nevertheless [but] death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression ....”62 This is so important to understand: from Adam to Moses (the time before the Mosaic Law) sin was in the world; we know this because death (the just result of sin – Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23) was applied to all of mankind from Adam to Moses. We are told that there is no transgression where there is no law (Romans 4:15), and sin is not charged where there is no law (Romans 5:13), therefore, this confirms that the Law of God was present from Adam to Moses (even as we are told in passages like Genesis 26:5). Romans chapter 5 tells us that from Adam to Moses, sin (a violation of the law) was being reckoned against the sinner, for death had the last word for all of mankind. Through all of these intervening years, only Enoch escaped death (Genesis 5:24). Therefore, when we read that Abraham obeyed the commands of the Lord, we should not be surprised, for the Lord did not leave the people who lived prior to Mt. Sinai without an understanding of His requirements.
Romans 7:8b tells us: “For without [or apart from] the law sin was dead [destitute of life].”63 What we have just looked at told us that sin was alive before Moses because it was chargeable to all of mankind (death, the penalty for sin, was present). Here we are told that apart from the Law, sin has no power – it is lifeless. Through ignorance of the requirements of God, man can often enjoy life – “For I was alive [to enjoy life] without [apart from] the law once [formerly] ....” (Romans 7:9).64 We see here the ability of man to rationalize that his actions are not only okay, but that he is really very spiritual. We not only see this in the people of the world, but we see this attitude increasingly evident within the Evangelical community (Proverbs 14:12). Today’s average Evangelical has swallowed the lie of Satan that they are under God’s grace, and that His law has been done away with entirely; they profess to be redeemed but live like the world in direct contravention of God’s commandments. Jesus said, “Abide [meno] in me ...” (John 15:4); the Spirit of God has declared: “... he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth [meno] in him ...” (1 John 3:24). Man will always be the object of God’s grace, but he will also always be under God’s Law – the two are not mutually exclusive as today’s Evangelical would have you believe. On the contrary, the two come together within the life of the one who has an active, living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ so “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk [are walking (present tense)] not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:4)..65 “For as many as are led [being led, present tense] by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).66 It is not a matter of law or grace (as we have been led to believe); it is really law and grace!
Two things happened at Mt. Sinai: 1) God wrote His ten Laws on stone tables with His own finger (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 4:13) – unchangeable, unalterable and clearly identifiable (the Law of God), and 2) God provided Moses with detailed instructions on how He wanted the people of Israel to live, which included very specific directives regarding sacrifices, the role of the priests to intercede for the people, and numerous other ordinances that the people were to observe in their daily living (the Law of Moses). However, none of these represented the beginning of the Law for mankind – it had been there from the creation of man. Paul’s words to the Galatians confirm this – the Law of Moses was added because of the sinfulness of mankind (the transgression of God’s Laws was already present); this is why the Mosaic Law came. Man can so easily talk himself into believing that he is such a wonderful person, but God brought the Law of Moses in so “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” for all who would have eyes to see and ears to hear (Romans 7:13). With the coming of the Law (both the Law of God and the Law of Moses were in written form), what was right and wrong was no longer left to the imaginations of the evil heart of man. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). We know that not everyone had ears to hear of the grace of God; “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward” (Jeremiah 7:24).
However, Paul goes on to clarify how long the Law of Moses was to remain. The Law was added until “the seed should come to whom the promise was made.” Paul has already proclaimed that Christ is the promised Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16). Therefore, the Mosaic Law, made up of all of the numerous statutes and ordinances, was determined to be in force until the promised Seed, Jesus Christ, should come. “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby ...” (Ephesians 2:14-16).
The Mosaic Law found its fulfillment and end at the cross; it foreshadowed the work of Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4).
Here we have the answer to the difficulty of the Galatians: the Mosaic Law was added until the promised Messiah should come to make an end of the ordinances. As they sought to incorporate the ordinances of Moses into their faith in Christ, they were acting contrary to God’s determination – they were making a different gospel (Galatians 1:6-7) that was contrary to the truth (Galatians 3:1). The gospel of the average Evangelical today is: have faith in Christ, pray for salvation (to secure your place in heaven) and then you are free to live as you please – this, too, is a different gospel that bears no resemblance to the Message of God!
The final phrase in our verse is, “... and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” At the time of the giving of the Mosaic Laws, we read: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:18-21).
Moses described this event in these words: “I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount” (Deuteronomy 5:5). As Jehovah proclaimed the statutes and ordinances, Moses filled the role of mediator between the Lord and the children of Israel.
Jeremiah foretold the establishment of a new covenant: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new [fresh] covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31-33).67
When Jesus met with His disciples the evening before His crucifixion, He declared: “This cup is the new testament [fresh or recently made covenant] in my blood ...” (Luke 22:20).68 The shed blood of Jesus established the prophecied New Covenant with the house of Israel (Romans 11:17-22 confirms that all who are born anew through faith in Christ are grafted into the spiritual root of Israel and, consequently, made a participant in the New Covenant). Jesus is the Mediator of this New Covenant: “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more ... But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new [recently born] covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:18-24).69
Jeremiah foretold the establishment of a new covenant: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new [fresh] covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31-33).67
When Jesus met with His disciples the evening before His crucifixion, He declared: “This cup is the new testament [fresh or recently made covenant] in my blood ...” (Luke 22:20).68 The shed blood of Jesus established the prophecied New Covenant with the house of Israel (Romans 11:17-22 confirms that all who are born anew through faith in Christ are grafted into the spiritual root of Israel and, consequently, made a participant in the New Covenant). Jesus is the Mediator of this New Covenant: “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more ... But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new [recently born] covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:18-24).69
The writer of Hebrews spells out the parallels between the covenant mediated through Moses and the New Covenant facilitated through Jesus, and takes time to establish the superiority of the latter. Earlier, the writer declared that Christ “was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house” (Hebrews 3:3). Moses is part of the house that Christ is building: “... Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Hebrews 3:6). Moses received the Mosaic Covenant from the Lord at Mt. Sinai and brought it to the children of Israel; Christ has mediated a far superior Covenant through the work that He completed on the cross. Moses, a fallible man, provided the children of Israel with Jehovah’s instructions regarding sacrifices, the priesthood, the numerous ordinances and the pattern for the tabernacle – all set in order and placed in his hands by angels (ordained by angels, cp. Hebrews 2:2). Christ, the eternal Word made flesh, came to bring an end to the Mosaic covenant by fulfilling it, and He replaced it with a New Covenant through His personal sacrifice, a Covenant that is established in heaven itself and places the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) into our hearts by the eternal Spirit of God, Whom He promised to send after He was ascended to the Father (John 16:7) – the Spirit Who has been sent to remain with us forever (John 14:16).
20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
A mediator is someone “who works with both sides in a dispute in an attempt to help them to reach an agreement.”70 This definition affirms what this verse declares; a mediator is not of one. However, the contrast declared is that God is one.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ...” (1 Timothy 2:5). Here we have Christ established as the Mediator between God and man. As we ponder this, we might well be somewhat puzzled by the thrust of verse twenty. However, if we give it careful consideration, we will then understand what Paul is declaring to the Galatians. Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh; the eternal Word (John 1:1) took on the form of man, but remained no less God (John 10:30). Therefore, in reality we have God the Son mediating between man and God the Father, yet the Father and the Son are One. This is an exception to the normal definition of a mediator; God, taking on the form of man, is fulfilling the role of Mediator between mankind and Himself. Within the Mosaic traditions, the high priest would act as mediator between man and God; now, in Christ, we have a High Priest “who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ...” (Hebrews 8:1), Who is also making intercession for us (Romans 8:34). Once again, we are reminded of the superiority of Christ’s representation of us over that of the Mosaic system.
21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
We’ve seen that the Law of Moses had no impact upon the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the thrust of the Judaizer’s position was that the Law of Moses did impact God’s promise to Abraham); the question that is raised now asks whether the Law is actually in opposition to the promises made by God. We noted in verse 17 that the Law could not render the promise of God to Abraham of no effect – it was powerless to change His promise. We also saw that the Law was added because of the transgressions of mankind (verse 19) to ensure that man understood his sinfulness before a holy God. As Paul stated: “... I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7). It’s not that man has not always been guilty of sin since the transgression of Adam, for the consequence of sin (death) has been ever present, but the ability of man to justify himself in his own eyes knows no bounds. The Law of Moses, brought into the earthly family to whom God promised the coming Redeemer, established beyond any doubt the sinfulness of mankind and the holiness of God. As the statutes and ordinances of the Mosaic Law became a part of the daily practice of the Israelites, they were continually reminded of their transgressions before God – if, by faith, they had eyes to see and ears to hear. The element of faith was essential in order to make the practices delineated in the Mosaic Law more than empty liturgy. However, as we look at the history of Israel after Mt. Sinai, we realize that the statutes and ordinances quickly became devoid of meaning. Speaking to Israel, the Lord said: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah [Israel is likened to Sodom and Gomorrah]. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of [had enough of] the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats” (Isaiah 1:10-11).71 It was through faith that Israel of old had access to the grace of God; obedience to the Mosaic Laws was essential for them but unless it flowed out of a heart of faith in the God Who established their traditions, their rituals became nauseating to the Lord. The same holds true for us today; “... because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). James understood and wrote of the necessity of obedience to the Lord being the vehicle through which our faith is to be demonstrated, yet what we find today among most Evangelicals is a head filled with religion and a heart filled with the world. When the king of Assyria replaced the exiled Israelites with people from elsewhere in his kingdom, the Lord sent lions among them. As a result, they desired to learn of the God of the land so that they would not be subject to these attacks (this is in keeping with the superstition that every culture had its gods and knew how to appease them). An exiled Israelite priest was sent back to teach them the ways of the Lord, and we read: “They feared the LORD, and served their own gods ...” (2 Kings 17:33) – an apt description of much of what we call “church” within Evangelicalism today. Actually, in many ways today’s Evangelicals are probably worse than these pagans, for they have also lost the fear of the Lord. By compromising the Word of God, the Evangelical community has produced a new gospel (which is not the Gospel) and, thereby, have lowered the standards of what they are prepared to accept as being Christian. The world has been welcomed into the churches and has learned a form of Evangelicalism, yet they have not left their gods behind; Evangelicals, in the name of tolerance and acceptance, have willingly made room for the new gods (for they found them to be very similar to their own gods). To compound the seriousness of the situation, the leaders of these churches have softened their approach to the Word of God so as to make the world more comfortable in their midst, and, consequently, the world will never hear the alarm sounded that they are on the broad road to destruction. In fact, the leaders, themselves, are often walking that same broad way to hell. They have a form of godliness but it is not sufficient to impact their lives (2 Timothy 3:5); they are blind guides leading the blind, and, truly, both have already landed in the ditch (Matthew 15:14).
The messenger (someone filling the role of overseer or bishop – 1 Timothy 3:1) of the ekklesia at Laodicea was both self-satisfied and self-deluded (Revelation 3:17), and did not have a heart for the things of God. He had “works” but they were not pleasing to the Lord; “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Although the will of God is that we walk in obedience to His commands, unless our obedience is a product of our faith in Him, our efforts will prove to be unacceptable to a holy God (Romans 14:23; Hebrews 11:6; 1 John 2:3). This is not new – as we’ve already seen, the same held true for the Israelites; unless their compliance with the Mosaic Laws flowed out of their faith in God, the physical rituals were of no value. Today’s churches are filled with people who are content with their lives: they do not suffer want and they do not want to suffer. They are sufficiently religious to quiet their consciences, and the devil is quite willing to leave them alone, for he understands what they do not – namely, that their lives and religion will never provide them with access to heaven and God’s glory. The pathway that they are religiously navigating, will lead them to an eternity in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Unfortunately, these same churches are being led by men who are like unto the messenger of Laodicea – men who are filled with themselves and happy in their jobs but devoid of godliness – men who are lukewarm and declare empty words that lead their listeners away from the truth (2 Timothy 4:4).
Even though the Law confirms the sinful condition of mankind, it is equally clear that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). Paul confirms this for the Galatians, too, by the phrase translated as “God forbid.” The Greek phrase is made up of two words: me (may), which means no, and a form of ginomai (ghin'-om-ahee), which means to become.72 The English phrase “God forbid” seems to have come from the translation that appears in The Latin Vulgate (Dei absit),73 and has been brought into the English translations as early as Wycliffe’s translation of 1395 (God forbede).74 Robert Young, on the other hand, translates the phrase as “let it not be,” which is much closer to the Greek text.75 What is evident is that it is out of the question that the Law and the promises of God are in opposition to one another; they are actually complementary – they work together (as we will see shortly).
Having established that the Law of Moses was not in opposition to the promises of God, Paul now states that IF there had been a Law that could have instilled spiritual life within a person, then righteousness would have come through the Law. However, spiritual life did not come through the Law (Galatians 2:16) but through faith in God’s promise of a Redeemer (foreshadowed and foretold to the OT people). The Law of God and the Law of Moses served to establish, beyond any doubt, the sinfulness of mankind: “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10; Psalm 14:3). The reality of a proper view of the Law is that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). Attempting to keep every detail of the Law will not bring spiritual life; “... when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Romans 7:9). If there was a Law that could have instilled spiritual life when it was kept, then man would have discovered it and gloried in his achievement. All of the glorying done today in the level of spiritual acumen achieved by mankind is based upon “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). In his cleverness, man has set a standard for spirituality and then achieved it; yet this is but death before God, a righteousness that is paraded before God as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). What we must recognize, and accept, is that there is no true spiritual life apart from faith in God’s promise of redemption for mankind (whether looking forward, or backward, in hope). If there would have been any hope of man achieving spiritual life before God, then it would have been the most possible for Adam and Eve – yet it is clear that this was not a possibility; an expressed faith in God’s promise was immediately man’s only hope.
22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
A mediator is someone “who works with both sides in a dispute in an attempt to help them to reach an agreement.”70 This definition affirms what this verse declares; a mediator is not of one. However, the contrast declared is that God is one.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ...” (1 Timothy 2:5). Here we have Christ established as the Mediator between God and man. As we ponder this, we might well be somewhat puzzled by the thrust of verse twenty. However, if we give it careful consideration, we will then understand what Paul is declaring to the Galatians. Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh; the eternal Word (John 1:1) took on the form of man, but remained no less God (John 10:30). Therefore, in reality we have God the Son mediating between man and God the Father, yet the Father and the Son are One. This is an exception to the normal definition of a mediator; God, taking on the form of man, is fulfilling the role of Mediator between mankind and Himself. Within the Mosaic traditions, the high priest would act as mediator between man and God; now, in Christ, we have a High Priest “who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ...” (Hebrews 8:1), Who is also making intercession for us (Romans 8:34). Once again, we are reminded of the superiority of Christ’s representation of us over that of the Mosaic system.
21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
We’ve seen that the Law of Moses had no impact upon the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the thrust of the Judaizer’s position was that the Law of Moses did impact God’s promise to Abraham); the question that is raised now asks whether the Law is actually in opposition to the promises made by God. We noted in verse 17 that the Law could not render the promise of God to Abraham of no effect – it was powerless to change His promise. We also saw that the Law was added because of the transgressions of mankind (verse 19) to ensure that man understood his sinfulness before a holy God. As Paul stated: “... I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7). It’s not that man has not always been guilty of sin since the transgression of Adam, for the consequence of sin (death) has been ever present, but the ability of man to justify himself in his own eyes knows no bounds. The Law of Moses, brought into the earthly family to whom God promised the coming Redeemer, established beyond any doubt the sinfulness of mankind and the holiness of God. As the statutes and ordinances of the Mosaic Law became a part of the daily practice of the Israelites, they were continually reminded of their transgressions before God – if, by faith, they had eyes to see and ears to hear. The element of faith was essential in order to make the practices delineated in the Mosaic Law more than empty liturgy. However, as we look at the history of Israel after Mt. Sinai, we realize that the statutes and ordinances quickly became devoid of meaning. Speaking to Israel, the Lord said: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah [Israel is likened to Sodom and Gomorrah]. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of [had enough of] the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats” (Isaiah 1:10-11).71 It was through faith that Israel of old had access to the grace of God; obedience to the Mosaic Laws was essential for them but unless it flowed out of a heart of faith in the God Who established their traditions, their rituals became nauseating to the Lord. The same holds true for us today; “... because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). James understood and wrote of the necessity of obedience to the Lord being the vehicle through which our faith is to be demonstrated, yet what we find today among most Evangelicals is a head filled with religion and a heart filled with the world. When the king of Assyria replaced the exiled Israelites with people from elsewhere in his kingdom, the Lord sent lions among them. As a result, they desired to learn of the God of the land so that they would not be subject to these attacks (this is in keeping with the superstition that every culture had its gods and knew how to appease them). An exiled Israelite priest was sent back to teach them the ways of the Lord, and we read: “They feared the LORD, and served their own gods ...” (2 Kings 17:33) – an apt description of much of what we call “church” within Evangelicalism today. Actually, in many ways today’s Evangelicals are probably worse than these pagans, for they have also lost the fear of the Lord. By compromising the Word of God, the Evangelical community has produced a new gospel (which is not the Gospel) and, thereby, have lowered the standards of what they are prepared to accept as being Christian. The world has been welcomed into the churches and has learned a form of Evangelicalism, yet they have not left their gods behind; Evangelicals, in the name of tolerance and acceptance, have willingly made room for the new gods (for they found them to be very similar to their own gods). To compound the seriousness of the situation, the leaders of these churches have softened their approach to the Word of God so as to make the world more comfortable in their midst, and, consequently, the world will never hear the alarm sounded that they are on the broad road to destruction. In fact, the leaders, themselves, are often walking that same broad way to hell. They have a form of godliness but it is not sufficient to impact their lives (2 Timothy 3:5); they are blind guides leading the blind, and, truly, both have already landed in the ditch (Matthew 15:14).
The messenger (someone filling the role of overseer or bishop – 1 Timothy 3:1) of the ekklesia at Laodicea was both self-satisfied and self-deluded (Revelation 3:17), and did not have a heart for the things of God. He had “works” but they were not pleasing to the Lord; “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Although the will of God is that we walk in obedience to His commands, unless our obedience is a product of our faith in Him, our efforts will prove to be unacceptable to a holy God (Romans 14:23; Hebrews 11:6; 1 John 2:3). This is not new – as we’ve already seen, the same held true for the Israelites; unless their compliance with the Mosaic Laws flowed out of their faith in God, the physical rituals were of no value. Today’s churches are filled with people who are content with their lives: they do not suffer want and they do not want to suffer. They are sufficiently religious to quiet their consciences, and the devil is quite willing to leave them alone, for he understands what they do not – namely, that their lives and religion will never provide them with access to heaven and God’s glory. The pathway that they are religiously navigating, will lead them to an eternity in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Unfortunately, these same churches are being led by men who are like unto the messenger of Laodicea – men who are filled with themselves and happy in their jobs but devoid of godliness – men who are lukewarm and declare empty words that lead their listeners away from the truth (2 Timothy 4:4).
Even though the Law confirms the sinful condition of mankind, it is equally clear that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). Paul confirms this for the Galatians, too, by the phrase translated as “God forbid.” The Greek phrase is made up of two words: me (may), which means no, and a form of ginomai (ghin'-om-ahee), which means to become.72 The English phrase “God forbid” seems to have come from the translation that appears in The Latin Vulgate (Dei absit),73 and has been brought into the English translations as early as Wycliffe’s translation of 1395 (God forbede).74 Robert Young, on the other hand, translates the phrase as “let it not be,” which is much closer to the Greek text.75 What is evident is that it is out of the question that the Law and the promises of God are in opposition to one another; they are actually complementary – they work together (as we will see shortly).
Having established that the Law of Moses was not in opposition to the promises of God, Paul now states that IF there had been a Law that could have instilled spiritual life within a person, then righteousness would have come through the Law. However, spiritual life did not come through the Law (Galatians 2:16) but through faith in God’s promise of a Redeemer (foreshadowed and foretold to the OT people). The Law of God and the Law of Moses served to establish, beyond any doubt, the sinfulness of mankind: “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10; Psalm 14:3). The reality of a proper view of the Law is that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). Attempting to keep every detail of the Law will not bring spiritual life; “... when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Romans 7:9). If there was a Law that could have instilled spiritual life when it was kept, then man would have discovered it and gloried in his achievement. All of the glorying done today in the level of spiritual acumen achieved by mankind is based upon “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). In his cleverness, man has set a standard for spirituality and then achieved it; yet this is but death before God, a righteousness that is paraded before God as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). What we must recognize, and accept, is that there is no true spiritual life apart from faith in God’s promise of redemption for mankind (whether looking forward, or backward, in hope). If there would have been any hope of man achieving spiritual life before God, then it would have been the most possible for Adam and Eve – yet it is clear that this was not a possibility; an expressed faith in God’s promise was immediately man’s only hope.
22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Max Lucado
The plain declaration made here is that the Word of God has concluded (shut-up completely) that all of mankind is under sin.76 When the Lord created man, He gave him this instruction: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). While Adam and Eve were the only people on earth, they sinned (Genesis 3:6) and, consequently, they died spiritually and the death process began for them physically. Therefore, all of their descendants have inherited sin and death, which places all who are born of Adam (all of mankind) under sin (1 Corinthians 15:22). The Psalmist, many centuries later, confirmed this reality: “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:2-3). Isaiah understood this inherent condition of man: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way ...” (Isaiah 53:6). This is the same word that Paul had for the Romans: “... as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned [on account of which all sin] ...” (Romans 5:12).77 Indeed, the Scriptures are clear about man’s condition. We are sinners – it is who we are, not what we do; we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin. The prevalent view today is that we are all inherently good; it’s just that we do bad things that are really out of character for us. This is an incorrect view of our condition, which has led to the development of many paths “to God” as we seek to build upon that inherent goodness. The Mormons and New Age philosophy speak of a spark of the divine within. However, this concept is no longer the sole teaching of the cultic heretics; Evangelical heretics, not to be outdone, are now promoting it as well. Max Lucado, a very popular author within Evangelical circles, speaks of “a divine spark” that everyone has.78
Lucado has served as a pastor for some twenty years, has received many accolades including being named “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, has authored more than fifty books that have sold some 28 million copies – and yet he stumbles on the simple doctrine of the inherent sinfulness of man.79 Despite having the Scriptures in hand that speak clearly to the sinfulness of all of humanity, Evangelicals will gravitate toward heresies that seek to make them feel better about themselves – much to the delight of Satan. Unfortunately, men like Lucado have tremendous influence in the lives of the unwary (Romans 16:17-18). “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8); this is as fitting for today as it was for the Colossians.
With everyone shut-up completely unto sin, Paul again directs the Galatians to the promise: the promise of redemption was established before the earth was formed (Revelation 13:8), the promise that was voiced as God dealt with the sin of Adam (Genesis 3:15), the promise that God gave to Abraham that through him all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3), and the promise that could not be impacted by the Law of Moses (Galatians 3:17). How is this promise received? It is received by faith in the Promised One, Jesus Christ, and it is given to all who are actively believing in Him. Romans 4:11 confirms this: “... that he [Abraham] might be the father of all them that believe [are believing (present tense)] ...”;80 “for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6), for “though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved” (Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:20-21). There is only one Way out of the sin inheritance (John 14:6), and that is by an active and continuing faith in Jesus Christ. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if [on the condition that] we hold [subjunctive mood (identifying this as a possibility that requires our choice)] the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14).81 “And hereby we do know [are knowing (present tense)] that we know him [God], if we keep [are keeping (present tense)] his commandments” (1 John 2:3).82 There is no provision for holding onto a past decision to believe in Jesus Christ; unless that belief is presently active, it is of no value. If our lives do not demonstrate an active obedience to the commandments of God, then we have no basis for claiming salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16). If we are careful to observe the fruits of those about us, then we will begin to recognize the wolves that come masquerading as sheep. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5); “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the fruit that must be evident – the product of the working Spirit of God, the One Whom Jesus promised to send (John 15:26), and through Whom obedience to the commands of Scripture is possible (John 14:15).
23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Here is a statement that speaks specifically of the reality that faced everyone who lived prior to the installation of the New Covenant of God; before saving faith in Christ, all were under the guard of the Law. This does not refer to the faith of all ages by which man was saved, but to the specific faith referred to in the previous verse, namely, the “faith of Jesus Christ.” As said before, man has always been under the Law of God – there has never been a time when the commands of the Lord were not known, and the grace of God has also always been available through faith. The word kept speaks of being confined or restrained, and so all were kept under the guard of the Law (though not necessarily under the condemnation of the Law).83
Although this bears a very specific application to the time of the Apostles, it can easily be applied to anyone today. Until an individual comes to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are under the Law of God and the condemnation of the Law rests upon them. When we read of the last judgment day before God, we are told that all of the dead will stand before Him (those saved prior to the Millennium have already been resurrected, so they are not included with these “dead” – Revelation 20:4-5).
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. … And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
This speaks primarily of those who could not be bothered to walk by faith in God and in obedience to His commands, including those who professed to be following God but had simply fabricated a more pleasing path than the narrow way that leads to life; the exception will be the Millennial saints (who are born during the Millennium and come to the Lord) who will be among the dead, but will enter glory because their names are in the Book of Life. The rest of the dead will be made up of those who were “fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” (Revelation 21:8), but will also include those who will say: “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matthew 7:22). Jesus said, “... except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case [certainly not] enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).84 By Jesus’ own words, the scribes and Pharisees were excluded from the kingdom of heaven – they, too, will stand before God at the end of the ages to be judged according to their works. Yet, within the Jewish community of Jesus’ day, the scribes and Pharisees were considered to be righteous, which proves that by works alone no one will enter into righteousness before God. What had Paul made clear to the Galatians? “... by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). The reality of this statement will become painfully clear to the unrepentant who stand before God at the last judgment.
As Paul continues, we are given another indication of the purpose of the Law: we are shut up (enclosed or confined) unto the faith that is destined to be revealed. 85 We are boxed in by the Law – the same Law that condemns us, and by which we cannot be justified before God. However, if we have eyes to see our condemnation under the Law, then it will bring us to cry out to God in faith. The Jews were bound by the yoke of the Mosaic Law, yet, if their eyes had not been blinded, then they could have seen the salvation that God offered to them through His grace – a salvation that was only available through faith. The Mosaic Law included very specific instructions concerning the sacrifices that were to be made for sin and the activities of the priests in providing the people with a temporary cleansing from sin (Leviticus). Yet the promise that remained untouched by the Mosaic Law, declared that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), and there would come a blessing for all of mankind (Genesis 12:3). As Moses enumerated the demands of the ordinances and statutes to the children of Israel, the Lord included this promise: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). For those among Israel who had eyes of faith, the Lord as their Savior and Redeemer was clearly portrayed. The Psalmist understood and declared this reality: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). David understood that salvation did not come from the slain lamb on the altar, but through faith in the God Who had made a way for man to be redeemed from his sin (temporarily through the shed blood of the lamb). Psalm 78 is a lament against the people of Israel for their waywardness and their failure to follow the Lord with a pure heart; yet in the midst of the Psalm is this glimpse of truth: “When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer” (Psalm 78:34-35). When adversity came from the hand of the Lord because of their disobedience, then the people recalled that God was their Savior.
However, God’s grace was not lost on those who lived outside of, or before, the Jewish community: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ...” (Job 19:25). God is faithful: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). James provides balance to these words of Jesus by clarifying: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3); there is no room for selfish motives in our petitions to God. John bears this out further: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Hebrews 11 overflows with proof of the faithfulness of God toward those who exercise faith in Him.
24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
This now flows out of what just came before (wherefore); namely, the Jews were kept under the Law (specifically, in this case, the Mosaic Law) so that they might be directed toward faith in Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. Because of this, the Law then became their schoolmaster, literally, “a child-leader”86 to Christ. Here is what the Galatians (and the Judaizers before them – Acts 15:5) failed to comprehend: the Mosaic Law was installed, first of all, because of transgressions (verse 19), and now we see that it also served as a schoolmaster, or a tutor, to provide guidance and instruction regarding God’s requirements for the sole purpose of leading the Jews to spiritual life. The word schoolmaster “among the Greeks and the Romans ... was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood.”87 The Mosaic Law was provided as a very specific guide to life; it was a means of instilling an acute awareness of the holiness of God and His requirements for mankind. However, even more than that, if anyone would look at the Mosaic traditions through the eyes of faith, he could see the coming of the One promised to bring blessings to all of the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). The principle at work here is this: “... the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Without an active faith, the Mosaic Laws were reduced to mere, empty rituals (Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 1:11-15; Hebrews 4:2). When Jesus walked this earth, we see this very same response from the religious rulers – they would have welcomed a political messiah, but they were not prepared to accept the promised Messiah Who had come to redeem their lost souls. They had much knowledge of the Scriptures, but it was visually based (as opposed to faith based) – i.e., the application of the Scriptures was always outward and never impacted their hearts. The religious Jews of that day, particularly the Pharisees, were zealous to keep the Mosaic Law with great precision (every ordinance and statute was meticulously kept) but they failed to comprehend the bigger picture. “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, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23). Jesus goes on to say: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24); Jesus uses the example of drinking water to illustrate the error of the Pharisees. They would go through the meticulous process of straining the water to remove the gnat (a tiny annoyance, representing their meticulous tithing of herbs), even while they were drinking down a camel that they failed to see (an unclean animal, representing their failure in the more significant matters of justice and mercy). Unless they could understand the spiritual aspect of the Mosaic Law expressed through justice, mercy and faith, the tithing of their garden herbs was of absolutely no eternal value. Through the eyes of faith, the realization will dawn that justification before God comes only by faith.
The thrust of this verse is that if the Mosaic Law (the statutes and ordinances) was approached in faith, it would then lead that person to the reality of the promised Messiah. The ordinances and statutes that were given to the children of Israel, were designed to underline the holiness of God and the sinfulness of mankind. The entire sacrificial system and the priesthood emphasized the gulf that existed between God and man, but it also provided a way for man to receive the grace of God for the cleansing of his sin. Once again, we are faced with the reality of both law and grace. Unfortunately, within the Evangelical community, any thought of law (generally speaking) has been banished to the realms of a distant dispensation, well out of sight, lest it should lead to guilt within the worldly heart of today’s “Christian.” However, the reality is that we must hold law and grace together, or we will never be able to abide in Christ or walk the narrow way that leads to life. For the believer today, the Law of God, which is placed upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33), reminds us of our sinfulness and of our dependency upon the grace of God ministered through the Spirit of God Who is abiding within us. If we banish the Law from our lives, as the majority of Evangelicals have done, then we become careless, and presume upon God’s grace to somehow work our worldliness into righteousness. We would do well to carefully observe how the Lord directed the children of Israel to deal with such a person: “But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously [high handedly], whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth [or blasphemes] the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Numbers 15:30).88 We must acknowledge the presence of the Law of God in our lives (not the Mosaic Law of statutes and ordinances, but the Ten Commandments), or we will be prone to become careless in our Christian walk – the evidence for such carelessness is rampant throughout Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism today.
The basis for such carelessness often springs from an incorrect understanding of Romans 6:14-15 – “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” We’ve briefly considered this matter before, but let us look at it more carefully and seek to remove the stumbling block into which this passage has been made. First of all, we must recognize that this passage is used so many times as a feeble attempt at providing self-justification for something that we should or should not do, most often in an area that we love to see as being gray (as opposed to black or white), but which God does not consider to be gray. Satan may confront us with an opportunity that might be seem to be of great benefit to us, but it sounds an alarm in our heart of hearts; we remind ourselves that we are under grace and, so, as a perceived gray area, this is where I simply consider the outcome and take advantage of the opportunity. Most often, this is a step downward, perhaps a first step onto the slippery slope of compromise, or, perhaps, another step taken to quicken the slide downward. Perhaps we are faced with a matter that might require something of us and we would rather not pay the price; this is an opportunity to be reminded that we are not under the law – we really don’t have to do it. What this becomes, and has become among Evangelicals, is an excuse to permit pragmatism to be our guide; like the Israelites of old, we no longer hear the “thus saith the Lord.” The question simply becomes: is the anticipated end generally beneficial? When you combine this subjective evaluative process with a growing lack of understanding of the Scriptures, you have a deadly team that will keep Satan smiling and the average self-proclaimed Christian rapidly sliding down the slippery slope to destruction.
Lucado has served as a pastor for some twenty years, has received many accolades including being named “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, has authored more than fifty books that have sold some 28 million copies – and yet he stumbles on the simple doctrine of the inherent sinfulness of man.79 Despite having the Scriptures in hand that speak clearly to the sinfulness of all of humanity, Evangelicals will gravitate toward heresies that seek to make them feel better about themselves – much to the delight of Satan. Unfortunately, men like Lucado have tremendous influence in the lives of the unwary (Romans 16:17-18). “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8); this is as fitting for today as it was for the Colossians.
With everyone shut-up completely unto sin, Paul again directs the Galatians to the promise: the promise of redemption was established before the earth was formed (Revelation 13:8), the promise that was voiced as God dealt with the sin of Adam (Genesis 3:15), the promise that God gave to Abraham that through him all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3), and the promise that could not be impacted by the Law of Moses (Galatians 3:17). How is this promise received? It is received by faith in the Promised One, Jesus Christ, and it is given to all who are actively believing in Him. Romans 4:11 confirms this: “... that he [Abraham] might be the father of all them that believe [are believing (present tense)] ...”;80 “for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6), for “though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved” (Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:20-21). There is only one Way out of the sin inheritance (John 14:6), and that is by an active and continuing faith in Jesus Christ. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if [on the condition that] we hold [subjunctive mood (identifying this as a possibility that requires our choice)] the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14).81 “And hereby we do know [are knowing (present tense)] that we know him [God], if we keep [are keeping (present tense)] his commandments” (1 John 2:3).82 There is no provision for holding onto a past decision to believe in Jesus Christ; unless that belief is presently active, it is of no value. If our lives do not demonstrate an active obedience to the commandments of God, then we have no basis for claiming salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16). If we are careful to observe the fruits of those about us, then we will begin to recognize the wolves that come masquerading as sheep. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5); “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the fruit that must be evident – the product of the working Spirit of God, the One Whom Jesus promised to send (John 15:26), and through Whom obedience to the commands of Scripture is possible (John 14:15).
23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Here is a statement that speaks specifically of the reality that faced everyone who lived prior to the installation of the New Covenant of God; before saving faith in Christ, all were under the guard of the Law. This does not refer to the faith of all ages by which man was saved, but to the specific faith referred to in the previous verse, namely, the “faith of Jesus Christ.” As said before, man has always been under the Law of God – there has never been a time when the commands of the Lord were not known, and the grace of God has also always been available through faith. The word kept speaks of being confined or restrained, and so all were kept under the guard of the Law (though not necessarily under the condemnation of the Law).83
Although this bears a very specific application to the time of the Apostles, it can easily be applied to anyone today. Until an individual comes to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are under the Law of God and the condemnation of the Law rests upon them. When we read of the last judgment day before God, we are told that all of the dead will stand before Him (those saved prior to the Millennium have already been resurrected, so they are not included with these “dead” – Revelation 20:4-5).
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. … And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
This speaks primarily of those who could not be bothered to walk by faith in God and in obedience to His commands, including those who professed to be following God but had simply fabricated a more pleasing path than the narrow way that leads to life; the exception will be the Millennial saints (who are born during the Millennium and come to the Lord) who will be among the dead, but will enter glory because their names are in the Book of Life. The rest of the dead will be made up of those who were “fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” (Revelation 21:8), but will also include those who will say: “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matthew 7:22). Jesus said, “... except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case [certainly not] enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).84 By Jesus’ own words, the scribes and Pharisees were excluded from the kingdom of heaven – they, too, will stand before God at the end of the ages to be judged according to their works. Yet, within the Jewish community of Jesus’ day, the scribes and Pharisees were considered to be righteous, which proves that by works alone no one will enter into righteousness before God. What had Paul made clear to the Galatians? “... by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). The reality of this statement will become painfully clear to the unrepentant who stand before God at the last judgment.
As Paul continues, we are given another indication of the purpose of the Law: we are shut up (enclosed or confined) unto the faith that is destined to be revealed. 85 We are boxed in by the Law – the same Law that condemns us, and by which we cannot be justified before God. However, if we have eyes to see our condemnation under the Law, then it will bring us to cry out to God in faith. The Jews were bound by the yoke of the Mosaic Law, yet, if their eyes had not been blinded, then they could have seen the salvation that God offered to them through His grace – a salvation that was only available through faith. The Mosaic Law included very specific instructions concerning the sacrifices that were to be made for sin and the activities of the priests in providing the people with a temporary cleansing from sin (Leviticus). Yet the promise that remained untouched by the Mosaic Law, declared that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), and there would come a blessing for all of mankind (Genesis 12:3). As Moses enumerated the demands of the ordinances and statutes to the children of Israel, the Lord included this promise: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). For those among Israel who had eyes of faith, the Lord as their Savior and Redeemer was clearly portrayed. The Psalmist understood and declared this reality: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). David understood that salvation did not come from the slain lamb on the altar, but through faith in the God Who had made a way for man to be redeemed from his sin (temporarily through the shed blood of the lamb). Psalm 78 is a lament against the people of Israel for their waywardness and their failure to follow the Lord with a pure heart; yet in the midst of the Psalm is this glimpse of truth: “When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer” (Psalm 78:34-35). When adversity came from the hand of the Lord because of their disobedience, then the people recalled that God was their Savior.
However, God’s grace was not lost on those who lived outside of, or before, the Jewish community: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ...” (Job 19:25). God is faithful: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). James provides balance to these words of Jesus by clarifying: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3); there is no room for selfish motives in our petitions to God. John bears this out further: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Hebrews 11 overflows with proof of the faithfulness of God toward those who exercise faith in Him.
24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
This now flows out of what just came before (wherefore); namely, the Jews were kept under the Law (specifically, in this case, the Mosaic Law) so that they might be directed toward faith in Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. Because of this, the Law then became their schoolmaster, literally, “a child-leader”86 to Christ. Here is what the Galatians (and the Judaizers before them – Acts 15:5) failed to comprehend: the Mosaic Law was installed, first of all, because of transgressions (verse 19), and now we see that it also served as a schoolmaster, or a tutor, to provide guidance and instruction regarding God’s requirements for the sole purpose of leading the Jews to spiritual life. The word schoolmaster “among the Greeks and the Romans ... was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood.”87 The Mosaic Law was provided as a very specific guide to life; it was a means of instilling an acute awareness of the holiness of God and His requirements for mankind. However, even more than that, if anyone would look at the Mosaic traditions through the eyes of faith, he could see the coming of the One promised to bring blessings to all of the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). The principle at work here is this: “... the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Without an active faith, the Mosaic Laws were reduced to mere, empty rituals (Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 1:11-15; Hebrews 4:2). When Jesus walked this earth, we see this very same response from the religious rulers – they would have welcomed a political messiah, but they were not prepared to accept the promised Messiah Who had come to redeem their lost souls. They had much knowledge of the Scriptures, but it was visually based (as opposed to faith based) – i.e., the application of the Scriptures was always outward and never impacted their hearts. The religious Jews of that day, particularly the Pharisees, were zealous to keep the Mosaic Law with great precision (every ordinance and statute was meticulously kept) but they failed to comprehend the bigger picture. “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, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23). Jesus goes on to say: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24); Jesus uses the example of drinking water to illustrate the error of the Pharisees. They would go through the meticulous process of straining the water to remove the gnat (a tiny annoyance, representing their meticulous tithing of herbs), even while they were drinking down a camel that they failed to see (an unclean animal, representing their failure in the more significant matters of justice and mercy). Unless they could understand the spiritual aspect of the Mosaic Law expressed through justice, mercy and faith, the tithing of their garden herbs was of absolutely no eternal value. Through the eyes of faith, the realization will dawn that justification before God comes only by faith.
The thrust of this verse is that if the Mosaic Law (the statutes and ordinances) was approached in faith, it would then lead that person to the reality of the promised Messiah. The ordinances and statutes that were given to the children of Israel, were designed to underline the holiness of God and the sinfulness of mankind. The entire sacrificial system and the priesthood emphasized the gulf that existed between God and man, but it also provided a way for man to receive the grace of God for the cleansing of his sin. Once again, we are faced with the reality of both law and grace. Unfortunately, within the Evangelical community, any thought of law (generally speaking) has been banished to the realms of a distant dispensation, well out of sight, lest it should lead to guilt within the worldly heart of today’s “Christian.” However, the reality is that we must hold law and grace together, or we will never be able to abide in Christ or walk the narrow way that leads to life. For the believer today, the Law of God, which is placed upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33), reminds us of our sinfulness and of our dependency upon the grace of God ministered through the Spirit of God Who is abiding within us. If we banish the Law from our lives, as the majority of Evangelicals have done, then we become careless, and presume upon God’s grace to somehow work our worldliness into righteousness. We would do well to carefully observe how the Lord directed the children of Israel to deal with such a person: “But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously [high handedly], whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth [or blasphemes] the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Numbers 15:30).88 We must acknowledge the presence of the Law of God in our lives (not the Mosaic Law of statutes and ordinances, but the Ten Commandments), or we will be prone to become careless in our Christian walk – the evidence for such carelessness is rampant throughout Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism today.
The basis for such carelessness often springs from an incorrect understanding of Romans 6:14-15 – “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” We’ve briefly considered this matter before, but let us look at it more carefully and seek to remove the stumbling block into which this passage has been made. First of all, we must recognize that this passage is used so many times as a feeble attempt at providing self-justification for something that we should or should not do, most often in an area that we love to see as being gray (as opposed to black or white), but which God does not consider to be gray. Satan may confront us with an opportunity that might be seem to be of great benefit to us, but it sounds an alarm in our heart of hearts; we remind ourselves that we are under grace and, so, as a perceived gray area, this is where I simply consider the outcome and take advantage of the opportunity. Most often, this is a step downward, perhaps a first step onto the slippery slope of compromise, or, perhaps, another step taken to quicken the slide downward. Perhaps we are faced with a matter that might require something of us and we would rather not pay the price; this is an opportunity to be reminded that we are not under the law – we really don’t have to do it. What this becomes, and has become among Evangelicals, is an excuse to permit pragmatism to be our guide; like the Israelites of old, we no longer hear the “thus saith the Lord.” The question simply becomes: is the anticipated end generally beneficial? When you combine this subjective evaluative process with a growing lack of understanding of the Scriptures, you have a deadly team that will keep Satan smiling and the average self-proclaimed Christian rapidly sliding down the slippery slope to destruction.
What is critically important in determining the thrust of any passage of Scripture, is its context, and this passage is no exception. If we step back to Romans 6:3, then we can lay the proper context and understanding of these verses that have become a real problem within the Christian community. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” Baptism is our identification with Christ in His death: our “old man is crucified with him” (Romans 6:6). “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him ...” (Romans 6:8); we not only identify with Christ in His death, but through His resurrection we anticipate a new life in Him. Because of this, we are to consider ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Earlier, Paul declared, “... the law entered, that the offence [or sin] might abound” (Romans 5:20). With the entrance of the written Law of God and the Mosaic Law at Mt. Sinai, sin shone in all of its misery; there was no escaping the reality of the failure of mankind before God. However, when by a living faith we identify with Christ’s death and resurrection, we are then dead to sin – the spotlight of the Law’s condemnation is turned off; we now stand in the grace of God (Romans 5:1-2; 8:1). For the Israelite under the Old Covenant, this came when, by faith, he identified with the lamb that was slain for his sins (a God-instituted foreshadowing of the sacrifice that would be made by the Promised One); by this faith, he also stood in the grace of God. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). As we are in Christ, the condemnation of the Law has no power over us – we abide in God’s grace by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). No one is justified through the Law, yet God has declared that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). However, what we must not miss is that the Law of God has not been removed from our lives so that we should live unto ourselves. “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 3:24-4:1). We are called to a life of obedience to God’s commands – the Spirit of God working out the righteousness of the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) in our lives (Romans 8:3-4; James 1:25).
Reading on to complete the context: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants [doulos (slaves)] to obey, his servants [doulos] ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).89 This is not advocating a salvation by works; on the contrary, it is calling us to a life of obedience to the Law of God as so clearly declared in 1 John 3:24: if we are keeping His commandments, we are then dwelling in Him. The reality is that we could not live a life of “obedience unto righteousness” without the enablement of the Spirit of God (Galatians 2:16; Romans 8:4). The question that we are faced with is this: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). In other words, because of God’s infinite grace, do we continue as we were so that we might behold the grace of God abounding to cover our sin? The answer is very clear: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:2). If we are in Christ, which means that we have died to sin, then it is impossible for us to carry on in a life of sin. Will we fail? Yes, for we carry our sin nature about with us (Romans 7:22-23), but a way has been made for dealing with our failures. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What Paul is making abundantly clear is the importance of obedience to the commands of God (and this is corroborated by John in 1 John 3:24). When we are born anew by faith in Christ, we have accounted ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin” (Romans 6:11); since we have identified with Christ in His death, how can we live any longer unto sin? If we continue in a lifestyle of sin, then we have not identified with Christ in His death and we remain in our sins. However, if by faith we have made that identification with Christ in what He has done for mankind, then we will yield to the Spirit of God so that we may be led in paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:3; Romans 8:4).
“We are not under the law” – through faith in Christ, we are no longer under the condemnation of the Law of God (Romans 8:1), and the Mosaic Law of statutes and ordinances has been nailed to the cross by Christ (Ephesians 2:15). However, to say that we are not under obligation to be obedient to the Law of God is to contradict Scripture; therefore, we must understand this to mean that we are no longer subject to the penalty of sin (the result of the Law on sinful man) as long as we continue in Christ (Hebrews 3:14). However, (and this is a caveat of which most Evangelicals today will not hear) if we should become faithless and turn away from Christ (Hebrews 3:12), then there is no way to be restored to faith in Him again for we have spurned the only Way to life (Hebrews 10:26; 2 Peter 2:20-21). If we abide in Christ (John 15:4) then we will obey His commandments (1 John 3:24) – beginning with the Ten Commandments that God has written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
Reading on to complete the context: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants [doulos (slaves)] to obey, his servants [doulos] ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).89 This is not advocating a salvation by works; on the contrary, it is calling us to a life of obedience to the Law of God as so clearly declared in 1 John 3:24: if we are keeping His commandments, we are then dwelling in Him. The reality is that we could not live a life of “obedience unto righteousness” without the enablement of the Spirit of God (Galatians 2:16; Romans 8:4). The question that we are faced with is this: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). In other words, because of God’s infinite grace, do we continue as we were so that we might behold the grace of God abounding to cover our sin? The answer is very clear: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:2). If we are in Christ, which means that we have died to sin, then it is impossible for us to carry on in a life of sin. Will we fail? Yes, for we carry our sin nature about with us (Romans 7:22-23), but a way has been made for dealing with our failures. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What Paul is making abundantly clear is the importance of obedience to the commands of God (and this is corroborated by John in 1 John 3:24). When we are born anew by faith in Christ, we have accounted ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin” (Romans 6:11); since we have identified with Christ in His death, how can we live any longer unto sin? If we continue in a lifestyle of sin, then we have not identified with Christ in His death and we remain in our sins. However, if by faith we have made that identification with Christ in what He has done for mankind, then we will yield to the Spirit of God so that we may be led in paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:3; Romans 8:4).
“We are not under the law” – through faith in Christ, we are no longer under the condemnation of the Law of God (Romans 8:1), and the Mosaic Law of statutes and ordinances has been nailed to the cross by Christ (Ephesians 2:15). However, to say that we are not under obligation to be obedient to the Law of God is to contradict Scripture; therefore, we must understand this to mean that we are no longer subject to the penalty of sin (the result of the Law on sinful man) as long as we continue in Christ (Hebrews 3:14). However, (and this is a caveat of which most Evangelicals today will not hear) if we should become faithless and turn away from Christ (Hebrews 3:12), then there is no way to be restored to faith in Him again for we have spurned the only Way to life (Hebrews 10:26; 2 Peter 2:20-21). If we abide in Christ (John 15:4) then we will obey His commandments (1 John 3:24) – beginning with the Ten Commandments that God has written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
“We are under grace” – in truth, everyone who comes to God by faith in His Promised One, stands in His matchless grace. Whether we looked forward to the coming of the Fulfillment of God’s promise made in the Garden of Eden, or back on the redemption accomplished by Christ on the cross, it matters not, for we are equally recipients of God’s grace. God’s grace toward mankind did not begin at the cross – it began before the world was formed (Revelation 13:8), and found expression when Adam sinned. Salvation has always been the same – by faith in the grace of God. Today’s average Evangelical stumbles at this simple truth, and this same truth caused the Judaizers and the Galatians to falter; works have never played a role in the salvation of mankind, and this was the error of the Galatians. They were attempting to add the keeping of the ordinances of Moses as necessary to completing their faith in Christ, and Paul makes it very clear that thereby they were abandoning the Gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). The Law of Moses came to guide the children of Israel to faith in the promised Redeemer, that they might be “justified by faith,” and it was never intended to be incorporated into the New Covenant (Galatians 3:19). Under the New Covenant, the wooing of God has taken on a different format. Jesus declared: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:7-11). One of the tasks of the Spirit of God is to bring conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, and conviction of judgment to the world, and Jesus explains what this means. The world (the people of this world) will be convicted of sin because they are not believing (present tense) in the Son of God, they will be convicted of righteousness as they see the disciples of Jesus living righteously even though the physical presence of the Son of God is no longer evident, and they will be convicted of judgment because Satan’s promised judgment has been fulfilled (perfect tense, indicating an action completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated).90 The pronouncement of judgment, recorded in Genesis 3:15, was sealed through the death and resurrection of Christ, and God’s final judgment of Satan (and all who fall for his deceit) will one day be implemented (Revelation 20:10, 14-15).
We must not fail to grasp the reality of the Spirit of God working the righteousness of the Law of God into our lives (Romans 8:3-4). “The Law and the Spirit work together to conform us to the image of Christ. Without the Spirit we fall into legalism and bondage; without the Law we fall into mysticism and unbridled searchings, but are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”91 Today’s self-absorbed “Christian” may hold a form of godliness but it is without life; always learning and never into the knowledge of the truth are they able to come (2 Timothy 3:7).92
25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Here is confirmation of what we have just looked at. The purpose of the Law of Moses (the numerous statutes and ordinances given at Mt. Sinai) was to lead the individual to see the Promised One and, thereby, to find justification before God through faith in His promise. However, once Christ, the Promised One, came, the justifying faith that He brought into being saw an end to the role of the schoolmaster – the Law of Moses. With the installation of the New Covenant as promised by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:33), the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) is inscribed upon the heart of the individual believer and the Mosaic traditions having been brought to an end. No one is under the schoolmaster any longer, and there is “now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Just as it has always been, faith in the Promised One is the key to no longer standing under the cloud of condemnation – not by anything that we have done or could do, but based solely upon the reality of Christ fulfilling the Mosaic Laws – the fulfillment of God’s purposes determined from before the world was set in place (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8). The seal for the New Covenant is the Holy Spirit, promised by the Lord Jesus before He left this earth (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; John 16:7-11).
Within the Jewish community, the child remained under a tutor’s guidance until he came of age, and then he was freed from the tutor. Without faith, the Law of Moses was condemning; it left no doubt that man was a sinner before an infinitely holy God. Through faith, the individual came of age spiritually and was no longer under the condemning eye of the Tutor, but was freed into the grace of God. Would he continue to keep the Mosaic Laws? Yes! For him to obey the commands of the Lord meant that he would keep the statutes and ordinances of Moses, along with the Law of God (the Ten Commandments), but now he could see the grace of God expressed through the Mosaic Law, and could grow in his understanding of the spirit of the Law (judgment, mercy and faith – Matthew 23:23). By contrast, since Christ removed the Mosaic Law of ordinances and statutes, our faith in Him and the abiding presence of the Spirit of God lead us to follow the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) that has been written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). The numerous admonitions given within the writings of the Apostles provide us with practical ways for doing so. For those who are not “in Christ,” the Spirit of God will bring conviction of sin (the work of the Tutor prior to the implementation of the New Covenant), as Jesus promised (John 16:8-9).
The Psalmist understood the reality of looking beyond the ordinances and statutes: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins [pride]; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression [the downfall of Satan was pride]. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:7-14).93 Woven throughout this passage is the salvation of the soul and the uprightness of the Law (Romans 7:12). Not everyone who lived under the ordinances of Moses viewed them simply as things to do; the grace of God came to them through faith (just as it always has and always will) and they experienced freedom from the condemnation of the Law through God’s grace as expressed through the Mosaic traditions.
The truth that Paul would have the Galatians understand is that when the faith spoken of comes (the New Covenant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ), then we are no longer under the condemnation of the Law – “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). What we have already looked into, and what we must never forget, is that the Law of Moses has been done away with through Christ (Galatians 3:19, Ephesians 2:15), but the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) is alive and very applicable. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them” (Exodus 24:12). “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). However, the Lord has not left us to struggle to keep His commands in our own strength – “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4). It is the reality of the Spirit of God living His righteousness through us that the Galatians failed to grasp; they sought to add to their righteousness by keeping the ordinances of Moses, even though God had provided a far better Way, and had abolished those ordinances at the same time.
We must not fail to grasp the reality of the Spirit of God working the righteousness of the Law of God into our lives (Romans 8:3-4). “The Law and the Spirit work together to conform us to the image of Christ. Without the Spirit we fall into legalism and bondage; without the Law we fall into mysticism and unbridled searchings, but are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”91 Today’s self-absorbed “Christian” may hold a form of godliness but it is without life; always learning and never into the knowledge of the truth are they able to come (2 Timothy 3:7).92
25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Here is confirmation of what we have just looked at. The purpose of the Law of Moses (the numerous statutes and ordinances given at Mt. Sinai) was to lead the individual to see the Promised One and, thereby, to find justification before God through faith in His promise. However, once Christ, the Promised One, came, the justifying faith that He brought into being saw an end to the role of the schoolmaster – the Law of Moses. With the installation of the New Covenant as promised by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:33), the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) is inscribed upon the heart of the individual believer and the Mosaic traditions having been brought to an end. No one is under the schoolmaster any longer, and there is “now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Just as it has always been, faith in the Promised One is the key to no longer standing under the cloud of condemnation – not by anything that we have done or could do, but based solely upon the reality of Christ fulfilling the Mosaic Laws – the fulfillment of God’s purposes determined from before the world was set in place (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8). The seal for the New Covenant is the Holy Spirit, promised by the Lord Jesus before He left this earth (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; John 16:7-11).
Within the Jewish community, the child remained under a tutor’s guidance until he came of age, and then he was freed from the tutor. Without faith, the Law of Moses was condemning; it left no doubt that man was a sinner before an infinitely holy God. Through faith, the individual came of age spiritually and was no longer under the condemning eye of the Tutor, but was freed into the grace of God. Would he continue to keep the Mosaic Laws? Yes! For him to obey the commands of the Lord meant that he would keep the statutes and ordinances of Moses, along with the Law of God (the Ten Commandments), but now he could see the grace of God expressed through the Mosaic Law, and could grow in his understanding of the spirit of the Law (judgment, mercy and faith – Matthew 23:23). By contrast, since Christ removed the Mosaic Law of ordinances and statutes, our faith in Him and the abiding presence of the Spirit of God lead us to follow the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) that has been written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). The numerous admonitions given within the writings of the Apostles provide us with practical ways for doing so. For those who are not “in Christ,” the Spirit of God will bring conviction of sin (the work of the Tutor prior to the implementation of the New Covenant), as Jesus promised (John 16:8-9).
The Psalmist understood the reality of looking beyond the ordinances and statutes: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins [pride]; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression [the downfall of Satan was pride]. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:7-14).93 Woven throughout this passage is the salvation of the soul and the uprightness of the Law (Romans 7:12). Not everyone who lived under the ordinances of Moses viewed them simply as things to do; the grace of God came to them through faith (just as it always has and always will) and they experienced freedom from the condemnation of the Law through God’s grace as expressed through the Mosaic traditions.
The truth that Paul would have the Galatians understand is that when the faith spoken of comes (the New Covenant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ), then we are no longer under the condemnation of the Law – “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). What we have already looked into, and what we must never forget, is that the Law of Moses has been done away with through Christ (Galatians 3:19, Ephesians 2:15), but the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) is alive and very applicable. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them” (Exodus 24:12). “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). However, the Lord has not left us to struggle to keep His commands in our own strength – “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4). It is the reality of the Spirit of God living His righteousness through us that the Galatians failed to grasp; they sought to add to their righteousness by keeping the ordinances of Moses, even though God had provided a far better Way, and had abolished those ordinances at the same time.
Constantine
We have spoken much of keeping the commands of God, and there are those within the Evangelical community today who will agree that we need to keep the Ten Commandments yet they will stumble before they get half way through them. The Fourth Commandment seems to be largely ignored, either because of the traditions that we have inherited and never examined, or because the Evangelical and Fundamentalist theologians have devised explanations to deflect the reality of this Commandment. If we bring several passages of Scripture together, God’s desire for us should become very obvious. “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested [shabath] on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed [incomplete action] the seventh day, and sanctified [incomplete action] it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3).94 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day [exactly the same Hebrew words as used in Genesis 2:2-3] is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11). “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89); “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35); “... the word of the Lord endureth for ever” (1 Peter 1:25). What could be more plain? Of all of the Ten Commandments, this is the only one that begins with the word remember, and it is the one that suffers the greatest neglect today. Keep three things in mind and it will be easier to have a proper understanding of this matter: 1) the seventh-day Sabbath did not begin at Mt. Sinai (just like all of the other Ten Commandments); 2) it is set within the Commandments that God wrote with His own finger upon tables of stone thereby emphasizing the permanency of these Commandments (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 4:13); 3) it is contained within the Law written by God upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). There is nothing from Scripture that would indicate that the Fourth Commandment has ever been changed; the changes have come about through the manipulations of men as the Church of Rome became increasingly organized and exercised greater control over the lives of those who declared their allegiance to her. The finger can be pointed very specifically at Emperor Constantine, for in AD 321 he “forbade the sitting of courts and all secular labor in towns on ‘the venerable day of the sun.’”95 Within his declaration, Constantine made no attempt to base his decision upon any Christian doctrine, but only sought to accomplish two things: 1) to draw a distinct separation from anything Jewish, and 2) to draw the Christian and pagan cultures together through establishing a common day of rest. Paganism already kept the first day of the week in honor of the sun god, and now the Christians could join them through Constantine’s new law. Anti-Semitism grew rapidly within the Roman culture, and Constantine was not immune to its influence; what came together in Constantine was an apostate form of Christianity and anti-Semitism.
Ignatius (c. AD 100), in his epistle to the Philippians, expresses the attitude of the day: “If any one celebrates the passover along with the Jews, or receives the emblems of their feast, he is a partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles.”96 The animosity toward the Jews served as a guide in the early years of the organized, increasingly apostate church. By the time of Constantine, some 200 years later, this anti-Jewish sentiment had only grown and matured. The Roman Catholic Church (the product of Constantine’s combining Roman governmental power with religious control) has held strong anti-Semitic sentiments for centuries; it is only beginning to seemingly soften its attitude toward the Jews since Vatican II, as Ecumenism has become the focus of the Church – a one-world religion where they envision all religions brought together under their control. When Constantine melded the power of Rome with the Roman Church, the pattern was set for many years to come; his hybrid of paganism and Christianity was launched, and it continued to play a dominant role in the history of the world. As one historian put it: “From the days of Constantine, the corruption of the Christian profession proceeded with rapid progress.”97 Caught up in this corruption was the desecration of the Sabbath (instituted by God at the time of creation), and today that desecration is defended at every turn by heretics, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists alike.
As Paul made very clear to the Galatians, the ordinances of Moses were done away with when the Promised One came; Jesus Christ took these regulations to the cross and made an end of them (Ephesians 2:15) – however, we must be careful not to include with them the Ten Commandments, the Law of God.
26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Here is a concise summary of the Christian’s position, and what is notable is that there is no reference to the ordinances of Moses (I wonder if the Galatians noticed). Earlier, Paul exhorted them that everyone who was of faith was the child of Abraham (Galatians 3:7), but now, after providing the evidence for the superiority of the promise over the Law of Moses, he declares that by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all the children of God.
Ignatius (c. AD 100), in his epistle to the Philippians, expresses the attitude of the day: “If any one celebrates the passover along with the Jews, or receives the emblems of their feast, he is a partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles.”96 The animosity toward the Jews served as a guide in the early years of the organized, increasingly apostate church. By the time of Constantine, some 200 years later, this anti-Jewish sentiment had only grown and matured. The Roman Catholic Church (the product of Constantine’s combining Roman governmental power with religious control) has held strong anti-Semitic sentiments for centuries; it is only beginning to seemingly soften its attitude toward the Jews since Vatican II, as Ecumenism has become the focus of the Church – a one-world religion where they envision all religions brought together under their control. When Constantine melded the power of Rome with the Roman Church, the pattern was set for many years to come; his hybrid of paganism and Christianity was launched, and it continued to play a dominant role in the history of the world. As one historian put it: “From the days of Constantine, the corruption of the Christian profession proceeded with rapid progress.”97 Caught up in this corruption was the desecration of the Sabbath (instituted by God at the time of creation), and today that desecration is defended at every turn by heretics, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists alike.
As Paul made very clear to the Galatians, the ordinances of Moses were done away with when the Promised One came; Jesus Christ took these regulations to the cross and made an end of them (Ephesians 2:15) – however, we must be careful not to include with them the Ten Commandments, the Law of God.
26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Here is a concise summary of the Christian’s position, and what is notable is that there is no reference to the ordinances of Moses (I wonder if the Galatians noticed). Earlier, Paul exhorted them that everyone who was of faith was the child of Abraham (Galatians 3:7), but now, after providing the evidence for the superiority of the promise over the Law of Moses, he declares that by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all the children of God.
Pope John Paul II
The Quakers believe that we (mankind in general) are all the children of God and, as such, have all inherited certain powers from God. “Each of us was given a measure of this power or light and in accordance with how we used it, so more would be given to us.”98 They view this “inner light” as being Jesus Christ, and so “the Light of Christ has been given to all people everywhere”;99 a gross misapplication of Jesus’ words in John 12:46 – “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” This concept of the inner light or divine spark (as it is often called) within everyone has been the source of much heresy through the centuries. Mormonism includes this idea, as does the New Age movement, and, alas, as we have noted earlier, it is even seeping (or, sweeping?) into Evangelicalism through men like Max Lucado. Robert Schuller declared that he was immediately attracted to Pope John Paul II when “his published speeches invariably called attention to the need for recognizing the dignity of the human being as a child of God.”100 If we will no longer accept the Scripture’s clear portrayal of man as a sinner before God, then we must construct another philosophy that says that man is essentially good, and then use that as a basis for self-righteousness. It is true that unregenerate man does have some knowledge of good, which is not surprising since Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17; 3:5). Jesus acknowledged that those who were evil could give good gifts to their children (Luke 11:13), but that in no way provides a basis for placing a divine spark within the hearts of all of mankind. When man becomes a god unto himself, he then must find some way of justifying such an egocentric view of life, and he does that by declaring that if you look deep within, then you will find good. Then as you build on the good that you find (so the philosophy goes), you will then discover fulfillment and a spiritual experience that will confirm that you are right.
Paul clarifies that there is a qualification to being a child of God, but it has nothing to do with any supposed divinity that lies within man – it is simply faith in the Lord Christ Jesus. There is only one Way to God and that is through Christ (John 14:6), and that has not changed, nor will it ever change. What has been declared numerous times before, but always warrants repeating in our present Evangelical climate, is: our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must be presently active. We cannot rest on the laurels of a past decision and hope that we are eternally secure because we prayed a prayer at one time or walked with God at one time. Unless our belief, or faith, is presently active and alive with the Spirit of God bearing witness (Romans 8:16), then we are simply deluding ourselves and falling prey to the devices of Satan. If we are not actively keeping the Commandments of God, then we absolutely cannot claim to be dwelling in Him (1 John 3:24), and if we are not dwelling in Him, then we will be cast off and burned (John 15:6). To claim faith when it is not actively present is to become a professor of faith but a doer of nothing (James 2:10, 17).
The marvel that Paul is expressing here is that through a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we not only become children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7) but we are also accounted as children of God. We are told that “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23). It is faith that found expression in obedience that made Abraham the “Friend of God”; it is that kind of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we must have in order to be accounted as children of God.
27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Here is a simple statement of fact; whoever has been baptized into Christ has put on Christ. This might appear to be a declaration of an obvious truth, but for the Galatians it would have been much more. Remember, these people were in the process of abandoning faith alone in the work of Christ, and were embracing a faith-works gospel that Paul has made very clear is not the true Gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). Clearly, from this statement we know that there were many among the called-out ones of the region of Galatia who had been baptized; they were not mere hearers of the Gospel but had set out to make the truths of the Gospel of Christ a reality in their lives. These were not those who simply professed faith but had taken the significant step of identifying with Christ in the ordinance of baptism. Paul says to the Galatians that when they were baptized, they were identified with Christ – they had put on Christ. This was the reality of their relationship with Christ – they were not those who simply went forward at a huge crusade and prayed a prayer; they had heard the truth of the Gospel and responded. They were walking in the reality of faith in Christ when they were lured by the bleating of the Judaizers (wolves in sheep’s clothing), and now they were falling from this perfect relationship into error (Galatians 3:1).
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This verse shows two things that relate to the Galatian problem. First, through baptism, we identify with Christ in His death (we are now dead to sin and must reckon this to be a reality, Romans 6:6-7, 11) and in His resurrection (Romans 6:8-11). The ordinance of baptism involves descending beneath the water (the death), but we do not stay there – we come up out of the water, thereby identifying with Christ’s resurrection, the putting on of the new man (Ephesians 4:24). The second thing that speaks directly to the error of the Galatians, is the two words, should walk. The Greek word for walk carries the subjunctive mood, which means that walking “in newness of life” is a possibility and a potentiality, but not necessarily a certainty – a choice must be made. In other words, this walk is a deliberate choice – no one has ever happened to fall into newness of life. The Galatians had set out on this pathway of newness – they had a correct and precise knowledge of the truth; nevertheless, Paul does not mince his words that they were in the process of removing themselves from God, Who had called them unto Christ, to a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). They were in danger of falling away from God; they were in the process of replacing God and His Gospel of grace through Christ with something that was outside of God’s way. The reality is that they were in the process of losing their hold of the Truth and were destined to become apostate. General understanding has it that the epistle to the Galatians is one of the earliest of the books that make up our New Testament (dates vary from AD 48 to 58101), and even at this early date, we find such significant error that Paul’s assessment is that they were on the brink of apostasy. It is a warning that error entered into the local gatherings very soon after the Apostles preached the Word of God, and Satan was crafty enough to not deny the message of faith in Christ – he simply added to it, knowing full well that to add to God’s truth is to depart from it (Deuteronomy 12:32).
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
To understand the full impact of this statement, we must keep in mind the foundation that Paul has built before declaring this truth. Let’s review some of the central truths that have been expounded up to this point:
1. The Galatians were in the process of replacing a relationship with the God of the Gospel of Christ with a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-7),
2. They (and we) are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, not through any works of the Law of Moses (Galatians 2:16),
3. They were being deceived so as not to be obedient to the truth (Galatians 3:1),
4. All who are of the faith of Christ are the children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7),
5. Christ provided redemption through the cross so that the blessing promised to Abraham might come on the Gentiles as well (Galatians 3:13-14),
6. What God promised to Abraham could not be derailed by the coming of the Mosaic Law so many years later (Galatians 3:17),
7. The Mosaic Law was done away with at the cross (Galatians 3:19), and
8. The Mosaic Law was given so that all who had faith might be drawn to Christ (as foreshadowed in the ordinances) and justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).
Upon this foundation of tremendous teaching, Paul now declares that we “are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Galatians were being influenced to add Jewish ordinances to their faith, and were being convinced that they needed to live Jewish lives in order to be truly Christian. This is shattered by the clear declaration that being a Jew or a Greek is of little consequence within the Christian context, for we are simply one in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14 and Ephesians 2:14-16 carry the same emphasis). There are no levels of importance within the Body of Christ – we are all one.
However, this verse can in no way be used to justify the confusion of roles within the Body of Christ. The emphasis used here is on being a part of the Body, with no thought given to the individual roles within that Body. First Corinthians 12:27 declares the Body of Christ and that each one is a part of the whole (“members in particular”),102 and that is the emphasis that Paul makes to the Galatians here – we are all part of the one Body. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Having declared the oneness of faith in Christ, Paul goes on to speak to the roles within that unity, of the various giftings that God has given to the members of the Body so that we all might grow in Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). There is such a profusion of confusion in this area within churches today: women are being awarded positions of authority (1 Timothy 2:12) and, increasingly within the mainline Protestant denominations, there is a validation of homosexuality, even within the leadership (Romans 1:26-32). God has not changed His mind about what sin is, nor has He softened His position regarding the roles of men and women; we may never know the full extent of the spiritual devastation that is being caused by ignoring God’s clear direction in these matters. What we do know is this: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication [porneia], uncleanness, lasciviousness [unbridled lust], idolatry, witchcraft [potions, drugs], hatred, variance [strife], emulations [jealousy], wrath, strife [rivalry – putting one’s self forward], seditions [divisions], heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).103 How many of these find their place in the lives of Evangelicals today? How many church leaders are willing to turn a blind eye to these activities? Today’s professing Christian might well pride himself on being open-minded and tolerant, but there will come a day when he will come to recognize that God took no pleasure in his sin of rebellion. The lie of the devil, “ye shall not surely die,” has not changed (Genesis 3:4).
29. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Paul now places a capstone on what he has just related as being the product of faith in Jesus Christ: we are children of God (Galatians 3:26), we have put Christ on (v. 27), and we are all one in Christ (v. 28). If you belong to Christ, then you are of the seed (heritage) of Abraham (a restatement of verse seven) and heirs of the promise of God to Abraham. Once again, we must reflect on the position of the Galatians to understand the full impact of this statement. The Galatians were replacing the true Gospel of faith in the finished work of Christ with a false gospel of dependency upon their own ability to keep the traditions of Moses. Paul says that if you are truly Christ’s, then you are the children of Abraham by faith, which is far superior to being the children of Moses through works. Keep in mind that unless doing the works of Moses was coupled with faith, the works alone were of no value (Isaiah 1:11).
If we consider the declaration made here, we must quickly realize, then, that this refers to becoming Abraham’s seed through the common faith that we exercise; it is not that suddenly and magically through Christ you become a physical descendent of Abraham. Likewise, the inheritance spoken of is not physical but spiritual, realized through the living faith that we have in common with Abraham. “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13). Remember Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). As we look around today, or even review history, it is very evident that those of mild disposition have not yet received the earth as their inheritance (the Greek word for inherit in Matthew 5:5 bears the same root as the Greek word translated as heirs in Galatians 3:29). However, as we look ahead, we see God’s plan continuing to unfold. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ... And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:1-3). When sin and Satan have been dealt with for the final time, it will be the meek who will enjoy eternity in the presence of God.
The promise given to Abraham that shone through all of the years (including the years under the Mosaic Law), was that through him all peoples would be blessed. When Christ came to earth as the eternal God wrapped in the flesh of man, He came in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham (as well as many other promises); for through Him all of the people of the world have been blessed (whether they recognize it or not). As we are in Christ, we are made inheritors in accordance with the promise given to Abraham. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works [product of active faith], and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Jesus’ instruction to His disciples before He was taken up into glory was that they were to go and “teach all nations ... to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ...” (Matthew 28:19-20). The Apostle John declares, “... he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him” (1 John 3:24a). The words of James underline the importance of our obedience: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26).
Paul clarifies that there is a qualification to being a child of God, but it has nothing to do with any supposed divinity that lies within man – it is simply faith in the Lord Christ Jesus. There is only one Way to God and that is through Christ (John 14:6), and that has not changed, nor will it ever change. What has been declared numerous times before, but always warrants repeating in our present Evangelical climate, is: our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must be presently active. We cannot rest on the laurels of a past decision and hope that we are eternally secure because we prayed a prayer at one time or walked with God at one time. Unless our belief, or faith, is presently active and alive with the Spirit of God bearing witness (Romans 8:16), then we are simply deluding ourselves and falling prey to the devices of Satan. If we are not actively keeping the Commandments of God, then we absolutely cannot claim to be dwelling in Him (1 John 3:24), and if we are not dwelling in Him, then we will be cast off and burned (John 15:6). To claim faith when it is not actively present is to become a professor of faith but a doer of nothing (James 2:10, 17).
The marvel that Paul is expressing here is that through a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we not only become children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7) but we are also accounted as children of God. We are told that “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23). It is faith that found expression in obedience that made Abraham the “Friend of God”; it is that kind of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we must have in order to be accounted as children of God.
27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Here is a simple statement of fact; whoever has been baptized into Christ has put on Christ. This might appear to be a declaration of an obvious truth, but for the Galatians it would have been much more. Remember, these people were in the process of abandoning faith alone in the work of Christ, and were embracing a faith-works gospel that Paul has made very clear is not the true Gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). Clearly, from this statement we know that there were many among the called-out ones of the region of Galatia who had been baptized; they were not mere hearers of the Gospel but had set out to make the truths of the Gospel of Christ a reality in their lives. These were not those who simply professed faith but had taken the significant step of identifying with Christ in the ordinance of baptism. Paul says to the Galatians that when they were baptized, they were identified with Christ – they had put on Christ. This was the reality of their relationship with Christ – they were not those who simply went forward at a huge crusade and prayed a prayer; they had heard the truth of the Gospel and responded. They were walking in the reality of faith in Christ when they were lured by the bleating of the Judaizers (wolves in sheep’s clothing), and now they were falling from this perfect relationship into error (Galatians 3:1).
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This verse shows two things that relate to the Galatian problem. First, through baptism, we identify with Christ in His death (we are now dead to sin and must reckon this to be a reality, Romans 6:6-7, 11) and in His resurrection (Romans 6:8-11). The ordinance of baptism involves descending beneath the water (the death), but we do not stay there – we come up out of the water, thereby identifying with Christ’s resurrection, the putting on of the new man (Ephesians 4:24). The second thing that speaks directly to the error of the Galatians, is the two words, should walk. The Greek word for walk carries the subjunctive mood, which means that walking “in newness of life” is a possibility and a potentiality, but not necessarily a certainty – a choice must be made. In other words, this walk is a deliberate choice – no one has ever happened to fall into newness of life. The Galatians had set out on this pathway of newness – they had a correct and precise knowledge of the truth; nevertheless, Paul does not mince his words that they were in the process of removing themselves from God, Who had called them unto Christ, to a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). They were in danger of falling away from God; they were in the process of replacing God and His Gospel of grace through Christ with something that was outside of God’s way. The reality is that they were in the process of losing their hold of the Truth and were destined to become apostate. General understanding has it that the epistle to the Galatians is one of the earliest of the books that make up our New Testament (dates vary from AD 48 to 58101), and even at this early date, we find such significant error that Paul’s assessment is that they were on the brink of apostasy. It is a warning that error entered into the local gatherings very soon after the Apostles preached the Word of God, and Satan was crafty enough to not deny the message of faith in Christ – he simply added to it, knowing full well that to add to God’s truth is to depart from it (Deuteronomy 12:32).
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
To understand the full impact of this statement, we must keep in mind the foundation that Paul has built before declaring this truth. Let’s review some of the central truths that have been expounded up to this point:
1. The Galatians were in the process of replacing a relationship with the God of the Gospel of Christ with a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-7),
2. They (and we) are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, not through any works of the Law of Moses (Galatians 2:16),
3. They were being deceived so as not to be obedient to the truth (Galatians 3:1),
4. All who are of the faith of Christ are the children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7),
5. Christ provided redemption through the cross so that the blessing promised to Abraham might come on the Gentiles as well (Galatians 3:13-14),
6. What God promised to Abraham could not be derailed by the coming of the Mosaic Law so many years later (Galatians 3:17),
7. The Mosaic Law was done away with at the cross (Galatians 3:19), and
8. The Mosaic Law was given so that all who had faith might be drawn to Christ (as foreshadowed in the ordinances) and justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).
Upon this foundation of tremendous teaching, Paul now declares that we “are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Galatians were being influenced to add Jewish ordinances to their faith, and were being convinced that they needed to live Jewish lives in order to be truly Christian. This is shattered by the clear declaration that being a Jew or a Greek is of little consequence within the Christian context, for we are simply one in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14 and Ephesians 2:14-16 carry the same emphasis). There are no levels of importance within the Body of Christ – we are all one.
However, this verse can in no way be used to justify the confusion of roles within the Body of Christ. The emphasis used here is on being a part of the Body, with no thought given to the individual roles within that Body. First Corinthians 12:27 declares the Body of Christ and that each one is a part of the whole (“members in particular”),102 and that is the emphasis that Paul makes to the Galatians here – we are all part of the one Body. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Having declared the oneness of faith in Christ, Paul goes on to speak to the roles within that unity, of the various giftings that God has given to the members of the Body so that we all might grow in Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). There is such a profusion of confusion in this area within churches today: women are being awarded positions of authority (1 Timothy 2:12) and, increasingly within the mainline Protestant denominations, there is a validation of homosexuality, even within the leadership (Romans 1:26-32). God has not changed His mind about what sin is, nor has He softened His position regarding the roles of men and women; we may never know the full extent of the spiritual devastation that is being caused by ignoring God’s clear direction in these matters. What we do know is this: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication [porneia], uncleanness, lasciviousness [unbridled lust], idolatry, witchcraft [potions, drugs], hatred, variance [strife], emulations [jealousy], wrath, strife [rivalry – putting one’s self forward], seditions [divisions], heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).103 How many of these find their place in the lives of Evangelicals today? How many church leaders are willing to turn a blind eye to these activities? Today’s professing Christian might well pride himself on being open-minded and tolerant, but there will come a day when he will come to recognize that God took no pleasure in his sin of rebellion. The lie of the devil, “ye shall not surely die,” has not changed (Genesis 3:4).
29. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Paul now places a capstone on what he has just related as being the product of faith in Jesus Christ: we are children of God (Galatians 3:26), we have put Christ on (v. 27), and we are all one in Christ (v. 28). If you belong to Christ, then you are of the seed (heritage) of Abraham (a restatement of verse seven) and heirs of the promise of God to Abraham. Once again, we must reflect on the position of the Galatians to understand the full impact of this statement. The Galatians were replacing the true Gospel of faith in the finished work of Christ with a false gospel of dependency upon their own ability to keep the traditions of Moses. Paul says that if you are truly Christ’s, then you are the children of Abraham by faith, which is far superior to being the children of Moses through works. Keep in mind that unless doing the works of Moses was coupled with faith, the works alone were of no value (Isaiah 1:11).
If we consider the declaration made here, we must quickly realize, then, that this refers to becoming Abraham’s seed through the common faith that we exercise; it is not that suddenly and magically through Christ you become a physical descendent of Abraham. Likewise, the inheritance spoken of is not physical but spiritual, realized through the living faith that we have in common with Abraham. “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13). Remember Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). As we look around today, or even review history, it is very evident that those of mild disposition have not yet received the earth as their inheritance (the Greek word for inherit in Matthew 5:5 bears the same root as the Greek word translated as heirs in Galatians 3:29). However, as we look ahead, we see God’s plan continuing to unfold. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ... And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:1-3). When sin and Satan have been dealt with for the final time, it will be the meek who will enjoy eternity in the presence of God.
The promise given to Abraham that shone through all of the years (including the years under the Mosaic Law), was that through him all peoples would be blessed. When Christ came to earth as the eternal God wrapped in the flesh of man, He came in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham (as well as many other promises); for through Him all of the people of the world have been blessed (whether they recognize it or not). As we are in Christ, we are made inheritors in accordance with the promise given to Abraham. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works [product of active faith], and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Jesus’ instruction to His disciples before He was taken up into glory was that they were to go and “teach all nations ... to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ...” (Matthew 28:19-20). The Apostle John declares, “... he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him” (1 John 3:24a). The words of James underline the importance of our obedience: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26).
Harold J. Ockenga
The reality is that if we desire to have a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (presently and actively believing-in-Him), then we must live in obedience to His unchangeable commands (which includes the Ten Commandments and the many admonitions given within the Word of God, but excludes the statutes and ordinances of Moses that have been abolished, Ephesians 2:15). The decadent condition of Evangelical churches today speaks volumes about what happens when the Law of God is excluded from our thinking – compromise is inevitable because the foundation of how to live out our faith has been removed. The “thus saith the Lord” of the eternal Word of God has been replaced with the devil’s, “yea hath God said?” The mystical emergent thinking that is sweeping through the churches today is based upon faith alone (faith in the teachings and philosophies of the emergent leaders, not the Word of God), and it is luring millions into the clutches of Satan. Experience has become the measure of success and the Bible is referred to only often enough to dupe the average, Biblically-illiterate Evangelical into complacency and compliance. Despite the many claims of revival throughout the world today, the reality is that it is not a revival of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but a propagation of a pseudo-faith that has departed from the only true foundation, the Word of God. When Harold Ockenga announced the launch of New Evangelicalism over sixty years ago, did he fully realize that he, and those with him, had actually laid the groundwork for perhaps the greatest apostasy of all time? Shallow-thinking Evangelicals have accepted, at face value, the philosophies that have been carefully crafted and fed to them until emergent thinking has been able to sweep across the Evangelical landscape with little resistance. Satan has always had a ready philosophy that can make the forbidden fruit look like it is “good for food, and that it [is] pleasant to the eyes, and … desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6; cp. 1 John 2:16). We must continually test the spirits that come our way, to determine if they are of God (1 John 4:1); this demands continual vigilance – we cannot let our guard down for a moment (Colossians 2:8).
Indeed, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4). If we are in Christ, then, and only then, are we no longer under the condemnation of the Law of God, for we have been freed to have the Spirit of God live out the righteousness of God’s Law in us through obedience to His commands. This will see the fulfillment of Jesus’ words: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Obedience to the Law of God, through the working of the Spirit of God, can never be legalism. As we look at the sacrifices made in the Old Testament Scriptures, we read that they were a sweet savor before God (Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:18), they were a soothing aroma to the Lord.104 This does not speak of the physical odor that would have been produced, but of the fact that they were being carried out in obedience to what the Lord desired – they foreshadowed the day when Christ would come to offer His body, once, as a sacrifice for the sins of man. The key ingredient to make the sacrifice a sweet savor to God was faith; unless these sacrifices were made in faith, they were actually a stench in the nostrils of God (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 66:1-4). What the Galatians failed to see was that, through faith in Christ, they had it all, but as they were in the process of casting their faith in Christ off (which is what they failed to recognize), they were teetering on the brink of spiritual disaster and were in danger of losing it all.
Indeed, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4). If we are in Christ, then, and only then, are we no longer under the condemnation of the Law of God, for we have been freed to have the Spirit of God live out the righteousness of God’s Law in us through obedience to His commands. This will see the fulfillment of Jesus’ words: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Obedience to the Law of God, through the working of the Spirit of God, can never be legalism. As we look at the sacrifices made in the Old Testament Scriptures, we read that they were a sweet savor before God (Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:18), they were a soothing aroma to the Lord.104 This does not speak of the physical odor that would have been produced, but of the fact that they were being carried out in obedience to what the Lord desired – they foreshadowed the day when Christ would come to offer His body, once, as a sacrifice for the sins of man. The key ingredient to make the sacrifice a sweet savor to God was faith; unless these sacrifices were made in faith, they were actually a stench in the nostrils of God (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 66:1-4). What the Galatians failed to see was that, through faith in Christ, they had it all, but as they were in the process of casting their faith in Christ off (which is what they failed to recognize), they were teetering on the brink of spiritual disaster and were in danger of losing it all.
ENDNOTES:
1 Strong’s Online.
2 Vine’s “foolish.”
3 Vine’s “bewitch.”
4 When Sheen died in 1979, Billy counted him as a friend for over 35 years. David Cloud, Evangelicals & Rome, p. 81.
5 Billy Graham, Just as I Am, p. 693.
6 Cloud, Evangelicals, p.81.
7 Ibid.
8 Graham, Just, p. 167.
9 Cloud, Evangelicals, p. 82.
10 Harold J. Ockenga, Foreword to The Battle for the Bible by Harold Lindsell.
11 Strong’s Online.
12 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
13 Vine’s “openly.”
14 Strong’s Online.
15 Strong’s Dictionary.
16 Vine’s “foolish.”
17 Strong’s Online.
18 Strong's Dictionary.
19 Harold Lindsell authored The Battle for the Bible, which speaks of this error, yet he never removed himself from the apostasy of the New Evangelical movement. His daughter, Joanne, married Robert Webber, one of the premiere advocates of ancient-future worship – a return to the practices of the Catholic mystics and eastern gurus.
20 Strong’s Online.
21 Ibid.
22 Vine’s “depart.”
23 Vine’s “supply.”
24 Strong’s Online.
25 Vine’s “miracle.”
26 Strong’s Online.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Stephanus 1550 NT.
30 http://heart2heartbeat.com/prayer_handkerchief.htm
31 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerney_Thomas
32 Friberg Lexicon.
33 Strong’s Online.
34 Vine’s “Redeem.”
35 These words are attributed to G. McSpadden.
36 Wikipedia, “drachma.”
37 http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=128&letter=C “Capital Punishment.”
38 BDB.
39 BDB; English and Hebrew Lexicon, Selig Newman (1832).
40 Stephanus 1550 NT.
41 BDB.
42 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
43 Friberg Lexicon.
44 Strong’s Online.
45 Vine’s “depart.”
46 Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon, Bibleworks 8.
47 Easton’s Bible Dictionary.
48 Strong’s Online.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Zofia Smardz, “Some Jews see trespass in Christian Seders” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12295083/
52 http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=427&letter=S
53 http://www.spiralgoddess.com/Astarte.html
54 Smardz.
55 David Fitch, “On Being an Emerging Church in the Christian and Missionary Alliance,” http://documents.fuller.edu/news/pubs/tnn/2008_Fall/8_cma.asp
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Young’s.
59 Encarta Dictionary, “transgression.”
60 Vine’s, “transgression.”
61 Strong’s Dictionary.
62 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
63 Strong’s Online.
64 Ibid.
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 EnCarta Dictionary, “mediator.”
71 Strong’s Dictionary.
72 Strong’s Online.
73 The Vulgate, ESword.
74 https://studybible.info/Wycliffe/Galatians%203.
75 YLT.
76 Strong’s Online.
77 Friberg Lexicon.
78 Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life, p. 3.; his reference to a divine spark is footnoted to the writings of Martin Buber, a Jewish theologian, who sees the world as the irradiation of God, that there is a divine spark in everyone and everything, and “Only man can liberate it and re-join it with the Origin” (p. 215).
79 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Lucado
80 Strong’s Online.
81 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
82 Strong’s Online.
83 Friberg Lexicon.
84 Strong’s Online.
85 Friberg Lexicon.
86 Vine’s, “Instructor.”
87 Strong’s Online.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid.
91 Albert James Dager, Vengeance is Ours¸ p. 275.
92 Stephanus 1550 NT.
93 Strong’s Online.
94 Ibid.
95 History of the Christian Church, Volume III, Chapter III, p. 75.
96 Ignatius’ “Epistle to the Philippians,” Chapter XIV, The Apostolic Fathers, Philip Schaff, p. 167.
97 William Jones, The History of the Christian Church, p. 153.
98 http://www.quaker.org/friends.html
99 Ibid.
100 Robert Schuller, Self-Esteem the New Reformation, p. 17.
101 http://www.errantskeptics.org/DatingNT.htm
102 Strong’s Online.
103 Ibid.
104 Ibid.
1 Strong’s Online.
2 Vine’s “foolish.”
3 Vine’s “bewitch.”
4 When Sheen died in 1979, Billy counted him as a friend for over 35 years. David Cloud, Evangelicals & Rome, p. 81.
5 Billy Graham, Just as I Am, p. 693.
6 Cloud, Evangelicals, p.81.
7 Ibid.
8 Graham, Just, p. 167.
9 Cloud, Evangelicals, p. 82.
10 Harold J. Ockenga, Foreword to The Battle for the Bible by Harold Lindsell.
11 Strong’s Online.
12 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
13 Vine’s “openly.”
14 Strong’s Online.
15 Strong’s Dictionary.
16 Vine’s “foolish.”
17 Strong’s Online.
18 Strong's Dictionary.
19 Harold Lindsell authored The Battle for the Bible, which speaks of this error, yet he never removed himself from the apostasy of the New Evangelical movement. His daughter, Joanne, married Robert Webber, one of the premiere advocates of ancient-future worship – a return to the practices of the Catholic mystics and eastern gurus.
20 Strong’s Online.
21 Ibid.
22 Vine’s “depart.”
23 Vine’s “supply.”
24 Strong’s Online.
25 Vine’s “miracle.”
26 Strong’s Online.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Stephanus 1550 NT.
30 http://heart2heartbeat.com/prayer_handkerchief.htm
31 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerney_Thomas
32 Friberg Lexicon.
33 Strong’s Online.
34 Vine’s “Redeem.”
35 These words are attributed to G. McSpadden.
36 Wikipedia, “drachma.”
37 http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=128&letter=C “Capital Punishment.”
38 BDB.
39 BDB; English and Hebrew Lexicon, Selig Newman (1832).
40 Stephanus 1550 NT.
41 BDB.
42 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
43 Friberg Lexicon.
44 Strong’s Online.
45 Vine’s “depart.”
46 Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon, Bibleworks 8.
47 Easton’s Bible Dictionary.
48 Strong’s Online.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Zofia Smardz, “Some Jews see trespass in Christian Seders” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12295083/
52 http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=427&letter=S
53 http://www.spiralgoddess.com/Astarte.html
54 Smardz.
55 David Fitch, “On Being an Emerging Church in the Christian and Missionary Alliance,” http://documents.fuller.edu/news/pubs/tnn/2008_Fall/8_cma.asp
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Young’s.
59 Encarta Dictionary, “transgression.”
60 Vine’s, “transgression.”
61 Strong’s Dictionary.
62 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
63 Strong’s Online.
64 Ibid.
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 EnCarta Dictionary, “mediator.”
71 Strong’s Dictionary.
72 Strong’s Online.
73 The Vulgate, ESword.
74 https://studybible.info/Wycliffe/Galatians%203.
75 YLT.
76 Strong’s Online.
77 Friberg Lexicon.
78 Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life, p. 3.; his reference to a divine spark is footnoted to the writings of Martin Buber, a Jewish theologian, who sees the world as the irradiation of God, that there is a divine spark in everyone and everything, and “Only man can liberate it and re-join it with the Origin” (p. 215).
79 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Lucado
80 Strong’s Online.
81 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
82 Strong’s Online.
83 Friberg Lexicon.
84 Strong’s Online.
85 Friberg Lexicon.
86 Vine’s, “Instructor.”
87 Strong’s Online.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid.
91 Albert James Dager, Vengeance is Ours¸ p. 275.
92 Stephanus 1550 NT.
93 Strong’s Online.
94 Ibid.
95 History of the Christian Church, Volume III, Chapter III, p. 75.
96 Ignatius’ “Epistle to the Philippians,” Chapter XIV, The Apostolic Fathers, Philip Schaff, p. 167.
97 William Jones, The History of the Christian Church, p. 153.
98 http://www.quaker.org/friends.html
99 Ibid.
100 Robert Schuller, Self-Esteem the New Reformation, p. 17.
101 http://www.errantskeptics.org/DatingNT.htm
102 Strong’s Online.
103 Ibid.
104 Ibid.