(Romans 3:1-31, Romans 10:1-21) But the act of Peter went to maintain a difference. 5) Psalm 88:13 (NIV) But I cry to you for help, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Consequently we have no allusion to the Lord's coming in this epistle to the Galatians. It can even be used in a good sense in that connection, but much more commonly it means the rivalry which has found its outcome in quarrellings and wrangling. Leave room for God, and for God alone. Now, that righteousness depends upon the work of Jesus Christ as my sacrifice, as my substitute. (2.) He fully allows that the Lord was both made of a woman and made under the law; but what was the ultimate object in view! For it is by the Spirit and by faith that we eagerly expect the hope of being right with God. Galatia was near Phrygia and the great worship of that part of the world was of Cybele. That is, if you are circumcised ritually for the purpose of having a righteous standing before God. For he comes to another and most cogent argument. It describes not an anger which lasts but anger which flames out and then dies. There is nothing that requires more the power of grace; for even the truth itself, if severed from grace, ceases to be the truth. Who in times past you walked according to the course of this world. The apostle urges that all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The argument is founded upon the unity of the seed of promise in this connection. The Lord did stamp the testimony of Peter as being truly the revelation of His Father. I. then is the offense of the cross ceased ( Galatians 5:10-11 ). Not so. It cannot and ought not to spare sinners. The inheritance, therefore, depends on the grace of God fulfilling His promise, not on man's accomplishment of the law, even if possible. There followed Paul teachers, Judaizers who brought another gospel, which was not really a gospel. Are you prepared for this searching judgment of what looked a small and indifferent matter? What are you talking about?" Gentleness; praotes ( G4236) is the most untranslatable of words. Suppose a man desires to become a naturalized subject of a country and carefully carries out all the rules and regulations of that country as they affect naturalization. And what was the effect of God's giving him to have an application of law in his own conscience? I say something that is not of the Lord. But God took care that the call of Paul should be delayed till the whole order of the Jewish apostleship should be complete. In Paul's case the Holy Ghost could go a step farther, and that step He seems to me to take. In point of fact, to bring in Christ is also best of all to secure the blessing, the privileges, the glory that God has in His grace for every one that believes. "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me," etc. What does matter is faith which works through love. I could quickly get in trouble. And Paul, far from deriving his apostleship or aught else from Peter, was obliged to rebuke him, and this publicly. The Bible says, "The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit: neither can he know them, they are spiritually discerned" ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ). Therefore, when a man is baptized, he is not, of course, baptized into his own death; there is no sense in such a thought. Enmity; the idea is that of the man who is characteristically hostile to his fellow men; it is the precise opposite of the Christian virtue of love for the brethren and for all men. It is no question now of being subject to the Jews, who shall never possess the gate of their enemies, but be peeled and scattered and few, while the gospel is going forth. The sense is, if you contend with each other; and the reference is, probably, to the strifes which would arise between the two parties in the churches - the Jewish and the Gentile converts. And it proclaimed the full and equally blessed standing of those who received Christ. Lastly, he desires for his brethren, that "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" might be with their spirit. For the foundation was at stake. devourthe substance by injuring, extortion, &c. (Hab 1:13; Mt 23:14; 2Co 11:20). It brings in deliverance for man in the accomplishment of God's purpose in Christ. The apostle urges that all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." All rights reserved. With the utmost simplicity he shows that his own separation from man was a part of God's ways for the purpose of making more strikingly felt the great truth that he was afterwards to proclaim. 236.]. Old wine is called chrestos ( G5543) , mellow. Here I've got this new twist on the scripture. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you ( Galatians 5:7-8 ). Now, what does God say about it? No doubt this might be provoking to human importance sometimes. But the whole matter is decided before God. (3) c. Faith expressed in love is more significant than circumcision. consequences of a contrary spirit and conduct. . "I through law am dead to law." The other apostles enjoyed this more. He had the faith that could by grace cleave to God if he had not a companion; but God blesses that faith, and acts by it on the conscience of others, even on those that, alas! The apostle does not say, if grievous has an affinity for both. By-and-by will be fulfilled the promised earthly blessing, and power, and glory for Israel like the sand and the stars. The rod was the thing the shepherd used to hit the sheep on the flanks when they started getting out, you know, roaming out. "If righteousness come by the law," (he does not merely say, "come of the law," but come by it,) "then Christ is dead [died] in vain." Or are you inclined toward the easy-going yieldingness of Peter? It has been defined as "readiness for any pleasure." "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. But if ye bite and devour one another In its own proper sphere and blessings Christianity knows nothing of the sort, but denies it in principle. (iii) Derush, the meaning deduced by investigation. And you develop your own little following, which really appeals to your flesh. For they were saying that was it was necessary to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses in order to be righteous before God, to be saved. He warns against "another gospel," i.e., a different one, which was really none at all. What a subversion, not only of the truth of God revealed in the gospel, but also of redemption, which is its basis! He is a new creature in Christ. it is added, he conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before him; but went into Arabia, and returned again, not to Jerusalem, but to Damascus, the place near which he had been called at first. False doctrine was probably a judgment from heaven upon their ambition, pride, and other offenses. His spirit died, and Adam broke fellowship with God. But if ye bite and devour one another,. Another reason inducing to love is taken from the pernicious consequences of a contrary spirit and conduct. There is no mention here of grace, nor even of any special powers conferred by the Spirit of God. As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? And Paul said, "Hey, wait a minute. It means that no matter what a man may do to us by way of insult or injury or humiliation we will never seek anything else but his highest good. You remember as Paul defined love for us in I Corinthians chapter thirteen, he uses longsuffering. The Christian by the cross of Christ has terminated his connection with flesh, with the world, with the law. All right, I'm still one of His sheep, you know. It is thus, then, that grace uses it to give me death in my conscience before God. You cannot weaken his apostleship without endangering the very gospel that you have received yourselves. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh ( Galatians 5:24 ). As the child of the slave girl persecuted the child of the free woman, the children of law now persecute the children of grace and promise. He does not deny that others preached it; but if so, they preached the same truth. Even though it might be a minor departure from the truth, be careful. After all, what God had at heart was the accomplishment of His own promise in grace. And so with the Mormons. The superior Trinity is made up of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, you did not get this from God. Paul was confident the Galatians would resist the one leading them in the wrong direction. It was a very unusual circumstance. And that's why Paul was persecuted by the Jews, because he was saying, "The law of Moses is not necessary for righteousness or for salvation. Born and bred in the abominable idolatries of the heathen, they were strangers to the institutions of Israel. remove, the candlestick out of its place. What can you say to a guy? Who would have ventured to say, without express scripture, that the old Jewish forms thus adopted by a Gentile believer have such an idolatrous character? To excite Christians hereunto, and to assist them herein, the apostle shows. But then he goes farther. Well, they thought that they had me convinced to their way of thinking. You were running well. "This persuasion didn't come from Him who called you." There was no believer, Jew or Gentile, who had not gladly submitted to that very blessed sign of having part with Christ, and of that which is made good by Christ. "The theme of love . It was Paul's belief and experience that the Christian died with Christ and rose again to a life, new and clean, in which the evil things of the old self were gone and the lovely things of the Spirit had come to fruition. Can anything prove that it is not an old creation better than this that there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, which last at least is an absolute necessity for the perpetuation of the race? Another reason inducing to love is taken from the pernicious What throws most light on its meaning is that the adjective praus ( G4239) is used of an animal that has been tamed and brought under control; and so the word speaks of that self-control which Christ alone can give. The Galatians did not think of this; people that are thus blinded by the enemy never do. another; ( 2 Corinthians 6:14 ) How can I really fellowship with God if I'm unrighteous? Such is the only possible way in which blessing can be brought in, in order that such souls as we are should be blessed and maintained in it. If therefore we would have it appear that we are Christ's, and that we are partakers of his Spirit, it must be by our walking not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Paul went on to argue that if you accepted circumcision, that is to say, if you accepted one part of the law, logically you had to accept the whole law. As made under the law He was for Israel; but He died and rose, and was thus free to bless a Gentile as much as a Jew. Now, let us not believe or think that this liberty that we have is the liberty to do anything we might want to do in the flesh. Hence, you see, all exactly suits the gospel as Paul insisted on it. The writer of First Maccabees ( 1Ma_8:4 ) says that it was by makrothumia ( G3115) that the Romans became masters of the world, and by that he means the Roman persistence which would never make peace with an enemy even in defeat, a kind of conquering patience. 5:16-21 I tell you, let your walk and conversation be dominated by the Spirit, and don't let the desires of the lower side of your nature have their way. They had followed Jesus in His earthly path of presentation to Israel. Some guy comes up and says, "Hey man, I got a watch, genuine made, you know. It is past dispute that the things he here speaks of are the works of the flesh, or the product of corrupt and depraved nature; most of them are condemned by the light of nature itself, and all of them by the light of scripture. The law is never life to the dead, but kills morally those who seem alive. Drunkenness; in the ancient world this was not a common vice. And then he, indignant at such a thought, makes his most solemn appeals. All that I have as a living man in the world is gone, not, of course, as a mere matter of fact, but, what is far more important, as a matter of faith. Note, 1. It is once that I have reckoned myself to be crucified with Christ when I accepted Him. But the fruit of the Spirit ( Galatians 5:22 ), Now, "walk in the Spirit, you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh." For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, which answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. She is desolate; she is no longer in the condition of the married wife, but like the fugitive bondwoman. But it is life after death to law, and consequently in another sphere. He was legitimately angry at self-proclaimed followers of God who abused followers of God -- just as Jesus was. Paul ends with a very blunt saying. It will create a lot of envy and a lot of provocation. Look at all the notches on my belt." And facts tell on their mind. As in their baptism they were obliged hereunto (for, being baptized into Christ, they were baptized into his death, Romans 6:3), so they are now sincerely employing themselves herein, and, in conformity to their Lord and head, are endeavouring to die unto sin, as he had died for it. There is no depreciating of any soul, but the plain statement of the positive truth, which after all is the best and the humblest way, that most of all magnifies God, and edifies His children. Now, the word temperance is one we have a little difficulty with. But in this he could glory. He gives us a catalogue of evil things. Even though keeping God's law cannot earn us salvation, God clearly expects us to keep His law after we've been forgiven (through repentance and baptism) for breaking it. As far as this temper prevails among Christians, they will be ready to slight and despise those whom they look upon as inferior to them, and to be put out of humour if they are denied that respect which they think is their due from them, and they will also be apt to envy those by whom their reputation is in any danger of being lessened: and thus a foundation is laid for those quarrels and contentions which, as they are inconsistent with that love which Christians ought to maintain towards each other, so they are greatly prejudicial to the honour and interest of religion itself. But he lists some of the works of the flesh. It can mean the beneficent use of drugs by a doctor; but it can also mean poisoning, and it came to be very specially connected with the use of drugs for sorcery, of which the ancient world was full. The apostle specifies the works of the flesh, which must be watched against and mortified, and the fruits of the Spirit, which must be cherished and brought forth (Galatians 5:19; Galatians 5:19, c.) and by specifying particulars he further illustrates what he is here upon. It is a joy whose foundation is God. Romans chapter six, "Know ye that the old man was crucified with Christ? Their lives should demonstrate the truth that their sinful nature has been crucified with Christ and has no further power over them. When we seek to interpret a passage like this we must remember that for the devout and scholarly Jew, and especially for the Rabbis, scripture had more than one meaning; and the literal meaning was often regarded as the least important. They had so completely lost sight of the grace of Christ, the sweetness and the bloom of it, that he travailed again for them: his soul once more passed through that which had exercised him when they were converted. It comes by reading the book of Mormon. "We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" The apostle had heard enough of circumcision: it was repulsive to him henceforth. It is not a question of law at all. (iv) Sod, the allegorical meaning. Impurity; the word that Paul uses (akatharsia, G167 is interesting. There's nothing that you can add to what Jesus paid. For what has a risen man to do with Israel more than the nations? This is heavy. Merge them, as unbelief does, and all is confusion and ruin. "Thy seed ( i.e., the numerous seed) shall possess the gate of his enemies." I violated. Fidelity; this word (pistis, G4102) is common in secular Greek for trustworthiness. In the case of the twelve, we do find an apostle chosen to supply the gap of Judas chosen, I admit, of God, though after a Jewish sort, as Chrysostom justly remarks, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust [desires] of the flesh ( Galatians 5:15-16 ). ", Mark how nicely every word was suited to deal with their souls. Law is gone and grace ensures forgiveness anyway." He particularly recommends to us, love, to God especially, and to one another for his sake,--joy, by which may be understood cheerfulness in conversation with our friends, or rather a constant delight in God,--peace, with God and conscience, or a peaceableness of temper and behaviour towards others,--long-suffering, patience to defer anger, and a contentedness to bear injuries,--gentleness, such a sweetness of temper, and especially towards our inferiors, as disposes us to be affable and courteous, and easy to be entreated when any have wronged us,--goodness (kindness, beneficence), which shows itself in a readiness to do good to all as we have opportunity,--faith, fidelity, justice, and honesty, in what we profess and promise to others,--meekness, wherewith to govern our passions and resentments, so as not to be easily provoked, and, when we are so, to be soon pacified,--and temperance, in meat and drink, and other enjoyments of life, so as not to be excessive and immoderate in the use of them. And you find that these people espousing them are plagiarizing from other people who have espoused them, and it goes back and back and back. And the old flesh likes to get people excited and stirred up like that. (Acts 15:1-41) As it is said here, "They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen and they unto the circumcision. The contents of the greeting ( Galatians 1:3a ) ii. But there was no sense of union then. He does not charge them with anything of an openly gross or immoral nature; but what a proof that the truth of God, that the grace of Christ, is exclusive of everything but itself! Or literally, "I wish they were castrated who trouble you. We find that offensive in our society today, but in those days, the area of Galatia was the center of the worship of Sybil, and the priests of Sybil would castrate themselves. For if I yet pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ." Thus it wrought among the Galatians. Arabia was regarded as the land of slaves where the descendants of Hagar dwelt. Carousing; this word (komos) has an interesting history. I mean, if you're walking in love, what rules can you lay down? Galatians 5:15 by Grant Richison | Apr 11, 2000 | Galatians | 1 comment Read Introduction to Galatians "But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" The Galatian church entered a stage of conflict because of legalistic thinking. A common vice same truth there is no mention here of grace, nor even of any special conferred! Man to do with Israel more than the nations cometh not of him that calleth you Galatians! False doctrine was probably a judgment from heaven upon their ambition, pride, power... Me to take solemn appeals him for righteousness, all exactly suits the as! To what Jesus paid a common vice in grace it will create a lot of provocation Spirit and by that. 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