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Galatians: Freed for Freedom

By Dave Cruver on November 24, 2005 11:15 AM | printer | | | comments (0)

Galatians 5:1-6 [1] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. [2] Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [3] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [6] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

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  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
Apologetics
  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
Biblical Resources
  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
Christian Worldview
  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
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  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
Gospel Blogs
  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
Gospel-Centered Audio Sermons
  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
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  • Galatians: Freed for Freedom
    * Now notice the emphasis that Paul places upon freedom to begin this section of verses. He says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." Paul literally says, "For freedom Christ freed us." Notice that freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life. Paul refers to the means when he says, "Christ freed us." He refers to the end when he says, "for freedom." * If you remember, the title of our series on Galatians is "Decisive Rescue / Profound Freedom." Galatians 5:1 is where our series’ title comes from. The phrase "decisive rescue" corresponds to Paul’s reference to means when he says, "Christ freed us." The phrase "profound freedom" corresponds to Paul’s reference to the end when he says, "Christ freed us for freedom." * What this tells us is that everything about the Christian life is freedom, even when we have to inconvenience ourselves for the good of another. That is how profound our freedom is. It is so profound that we can enjoy it even when we "bear up under the weaknesses of the weak" (Romans 15:1). * Now as profound as Christian freedom is it can still be lost. This is what Paul is warning the Galatians about. They are in danger of losing the profound freedom of the gospel, the freedom for which Christ set them free. So let’s look at our text by asking it three questions: (1) What is this freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? What is this Freedom? * In Galatians, Paul teaches that Christian freedom involves freedom from certain things as well as freedom to certain things. * Freedom From (1) This Present Evil Age (1:4) Galatians 1:4 [Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father * We have already seen that Paul speaks of two forms of slavery in this present evil age. First, there is the religious form. We find this form in Galatians 3:3. The Galatians were seeking to complete themselves through religious performance rather than through faith in Christ. They were trying to complete themselves through their own obedience. Paul is not telling us that it is wrong to be disciplined in having devotions. No, Paul says elsewhere that we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). I think it will be helpful if I put it like this, "The Galatians were seeking to derive a sense of completeness through their religious performance." In other words, they were seeking the subjective experience of feeling complete through their own efforts. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave himself to deliver us from this form of slavery. * Second, there is the non-religious form. Paul alludes to this form in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. * What does the non-religious form look like? When we try to give ourselves a sense of completeness by trying to make ourselves good looking, or by surrounding ourselves with "cool" people, or by owning the latest whatever, or by doing well on the athletic field or in the classroom, we are caught in the non-religious form of slavery. * I found came across some words to a song on the internet that illustrate this form of slavery through the experience of a teenage girl. It reads like this: I was so unique Now I feel skin deep Count on the makeup to cover it all. Crying myself to sleep ‘cause I cannot keep their attention Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me. Does someone hear my cry? I’m dying for new life. Chorus: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love * That is the language of the non-religious form of slavery. Now lest you guys think that this song does not reveal what goes on in your heart, there are a hundred words we could substitute that would make these words the cry of our heart. "I wanna be masculine. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be smooth. Make you stand in awe." "I wanna be cool. Make you stand in awe." * Both of these forms of slavery are the characteristic of "this present evil age." Paul says that "for freedom Christ set us free from the slavery of this present evil age." This is what we have been freed from. What about what we have been to? (2) The Curse of the Law (3:13) Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- * Christ has freed us from the curse of condemnation both objectively and subjectively. In other words, not only are the legal indictments of the law against us removed, but we need not live under a sense of condemnation. God is no longer against us. He is for us! * Freedom To (1) Live as sons. * In Galatians 3:26, Paul says that "in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." He uses the present tense. You are sons of God. Galatians 4:6 says that our sonship is to be experiential. It is not merely legal standing. Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" * So we are free to live and enjoy our sonship as children of the living God! That’s freedom! (2) To love (5:6). * I see this in our main text, verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * The word "counts" speaks of profitability. So Paul is saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision profits for anything. Now what does Paul mean by that? * Paul is using "circumcision" to represent the whole realm of religious disciplines and practices. He’s using "uncircumcision" to represent the whole realm of the irreligious world. So what Paul is saying here is striking. First, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Neither failure or "success" count toward right standing with God. Second, when it comes to being in Christ, neither religion or irreligion count toward the development of Christian character. Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 6. Galatians 5:6 in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. * As we will learn later on in Galatians 5, love is an inner fruit of the Spirit that is accompanied by external expression. And Paul says that this love is the expression of faith, specifically, faith in Christ ("but only faith working through love"). * So Christian freedom is at least freedom from this present evil age and from the curse of the law. It is also freedom to live and love as sons. How can we lose it? * I introduced our study of this text by saying that we are going to ask it three questions. (1) What is the freedom? (2) How can we lose it? (3) How do we keep it? Now what you are going to discover is that answering question two really provides an answer to question three, and answering question three really provides an answer to question two. So what I’m going to do is jump ahead to question three to answer it all the while making application to the question how we can lose Christian freedom. If I have confused you, I think the confusion will clear away as we move forward. So . . . How do we keep it? * How do we keep our Christian freedom? Paul provides two answers to this question. Notice verse 1 again. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free [So Paul’s main point is that Christ set us free for freedom. Then he says]; stand firm therefore [that’s the first answer - "Stand firm"], and [here’s the second] do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Question: So how do we keep our Christian freedom? * First, we must stand firm. Paul is using a military word here that has been translated as "stand firm." It combines the ideas of being vigilant, keeping alert, and always ready to resist attack. Standing firm is also to be the objective of a group and not merely that of an individual. It is a command given to a collection of individuals calling them to be vigilant, alert, and always ready to resist attack together. It involves watching each other’s backs. "You watch my back and I’ll watch yours." * So standing firm is a community effort. Each member of the community working together to protect both the Christian freedom of each individual as well as the group as a whole. * Second, we refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. Paul says, "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Paul is calling us to refuse to submit to the yoke of slavery again. This returning to the yoke of slavery is the same thing we saw in Galatians 4:9. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? * Before their conversion they were enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as pagans. Now they were becoming enslaved "to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" as moral conservatives. Do you remember what the link is between these two forms of enslavement? Both forms are different ways of attempting to complete ourselves or to give ourselves the feeling or sense of being complete or whole persons. * So we will lose our freedom if we do not stand firm and refuse to submit to the urge to take our completion into our own hands. Now that raises a very important question in my mind. Question: What does it mean practically to stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery? What does that look like? In other words, what do we have to do to stand firm and not submit? * The answer is found in verse 5. Let’s look at verse 5 with verse 4. Galatians 5:4-5 [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Now in verse 5 Paul is telling us why it is that true believers do not fall away from grace. Paul says, "True believers do not fall away from grace . . ." Galatians 5:5 For [because] through the Spirit, by faith, we [that is, we true believers] ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. * Let’s break verse 5 down a little bit. Paul says, "As true believers we do not fall away from grace because we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." Now what does Paul mean by "hope of righteousness"? It is important to remember that he is referring to those who have already been justified, to those who have already been counted righteous in Christ through faith. So what does Paul mean when he says that those who have been justified eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Obviously he’s not using "righteousness" to refer to our justification because he is speaking of it in terms of something that we do not yet have. I think 1 Corinthians 1:30 gives us some good help here. 1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom even [now notice the next three terms] our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. * We could put it this way: "God made Christ to be our wisdom even our positional righteousness (i.e. justification) and progressive righteousness (i.e. the outworking of righteousness in practice) and final righteousness (i.e. our glorification). * When Paul says that we eagerly wait for "the hope of righteousness" he is referring to the completion of our salvation, namely, our glorification. Notice how Paul puts it in Romans 8:23. Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. * Paul says that we eagerly wait for our glorification! "Hope" means the confident expectation of that which WILL happen. God will complete our salvation! This is what we eagerly wait for. * Notice that Paul says that those who have experienced the gospel’s power unto salvation "eagerly wait" for the hope of the completion of their salvation. What does it mean to "eagerly wait"? It means that you stop striving. It means that you stop trying to complete yourself! Waiting is opposed to striving. Waiting is waiting and not striving! Striving is not waiting! I think you get the point. But that brings us back to the question we’ve got to have an answer to, namely: Question: How can we practically wait for the completion of our salvation instead of striving for our completion? * Paul says, verse 5, that we do it "through the Spirit by faith." So what does waiting "through the Spirit by faith" involve? Tim Keller puts it like this: "Paul is talking about a spiritual discipline. It is the development of a frame of heart, an eager, passionate delight in all that we have been given in Christ. It involves meditation and reflection on our justification, adoption, and future glorification and then bringing our actions into line with that...Paul is talking about turning our minds to who we are and what we have in Christ so often that our hearts are stirred and our behavior is brought into line with these unseen realities. Only the Spirit can help us do this (cf. both Ephesians 1:18ff. and 3:16ff.) He alone can make Christ glorious to our heart (John 16:14)." * So what does it involve? It involves daily turning our minds to the glory of the gospel relying upon the Spirit to give us eyes to see its unsurpassed beauty. This is how we "stand firm" and "resist the yoke of slavery" as a community of faith (5:1). We must help each other do this all the time! AND we already have everything we need to do this! As a matter of fact we are doing it right now with what God has given us to do it with, namely, faith in the gospel. * Now I want to go back to the words of the song that I read to you and read the last section of it. It brings everything together for us very nicely. The chorus says: I wanna be beautiful, Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart. Be amazed. I want to hear you say Who I am is quite enough I just wanna be worthy of love [and then the song closes with the gospel] You, Lord, make me beautiful You make me stand in awe You step inside my heart And I am amazed I love to hear you say Who I am is quite enough You make me worthy of love Beautiful You make me worthy of love Beautiful [now that is the freedom for which Christ has set us free!]
  • Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
    Cornelius Plantinga puts it this way: “At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing—a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart. Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of filling him. Accordingly, the addict longs not for God but for transcendence, not for joy but only for pleasure” (Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 131). · What I want us to do today is look at addiction or spiritual slavery, as it is referred to in Scripture. So let’s answer two questions: (1) what are the two forms of spiritual slavery that plague humanity? And (2) how is freedom from spiritual slavery found and enjoyed? Galatians 4:8-11 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. What are the two Forms of spiritual slavery? · The two forms of spiritual slavery are very clearly delineated in verses 8 and 9. Notice in verse 8 that Paul says, “You were enslaved.” And then in verse 9 Paul says, “How can you turn back again . . . to be [slaves] once more?” · Notice carefully my verb tenses in this next statement. Based on Galatians 4:8-9 we can conclude (1) that there was a spiritual slavery from which the Galatians were freed, verse 8, and (2) there is a spiritual slavery to which they are returning, verse 9. · Now someone might say, “I don’t see two forms of spiritual slavery here. I see two times of spiritual slavery, but not two forms.” How do I respond to that? Well, I see both two forms and two times. The two times of spiritual slavery are pre-conversion and post-conversion. (1) Pre-conversion. We see this pre-conversion time of slavery very clearly in verse 8. Notice two things: first, the time words (underlined), and second, the relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · This is obviously refers to the time prior to their conversion, prior to their regeneration. (2) Post-conversion. Verse 9 refers to their post-conversion slavery. Notice the same two things: time words (underlined) and relationship reference (gray highlighted). Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · The two times of spiritual slavery are very clear in the text, but where do we see the two forms? First Form · Remember, most of the Galatian church was made up of Gentiles believers, which means that before their conversion they were pagan idolaters. The first form of spiritual slavery is pagan spiritual slavery. The Galatians were those who, according to Paul in Romans 1:25, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Acts 14 gives us a good sense of how deep pagan idolatry actually went in Galatia. Luke describes the pagan idolatry of Galatia in verses 11 through 15. This particular situation took place in the Galatians city of Lystra. Acts 14:11-15 [11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. · How enslaved were the Galatians? How deep was their idolatry? Well, they called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. So prior to conversion, these Galatian believers were really deep into pagan idolatry. Notice, in verse 15, that Paul identifies their pre-conversion spiritual problem as giving themselves to “vain things,” that is, to pagan deities, rather than to the God who made heaven and earth. That’s why Paul says what he says in Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. · Paul says that these Galatian believers were enslaved to these “vain things” prior to knowing God. Romans 1:21-25 gives us an inside look at the Galatians’ pagan spiritual slavery. Verse 21 tells us that the reason men choose “vain things” is that they want to be the ones controlling their own lives. Deep down they know that God is God and that they owe everything to Him, but they are determined to deny God His rightful control. Romans 1:21 For although they [men] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him · Often times the refusal to give someone thanks is a control issue. Giving thanks often goes against our desire to be seen as self-sufficient. Paul says that this is the reason why men refuses to honor and give thanks to God, namely, because it is an admission of their dependency. So, according to Paul, what did men do instead of giving thanks to God? Verse 23 tells us. Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. · They chose to set their hearts on created things and build their lives around them rather than on God. That’s the point of verse 23. To set your heart on “vain things” is to build your life around something(s) other than God. Galatians 4:8 says that when men make this choice, they become enslaved to those things “that by nature are not gods.” · Now if we look at the second half of verse 21 and verse 25, we learn two results of this idolatrous choice. Notice what verse 21 says men became due to their refusal to honor God and give Him thanks. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. · In other words, men became deceived. There was a resulting inability to discern the true reality of things, an inability to see that to set your heart on created things is to set your heart on “vain things.” [ILLUSTRATION: When I dreamed that my arm was a rattlesnake. My dream “changed” my perception of reality.] Look at verse 25. Romans 1:25 . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. · Whatever men give their hearts to they serve. Pagan spiritual slavery is the first form of spiritual slavery, and it is what these Galatian believers were delivered out of. That’s the first form. Let’s look at the second. Second Form · Although we are talking forms here, it is still important to note the time words. They force a very important question upon us. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? Question: Paul makes it very clear that his astonishment is that they have “turned back again” or “once more.” Does this mean that his shock is that they have turned back to pagan idolatry? · No, not at all. They were no longer calling Paul, Hermes, and Barnabas, Zeus. The issue that Paul is addressing in this letter is not a return to pagan idolatry, but an adding to ChristThe Galatians were beginning to adopt Old Testament ceremonies in order to be found acceptable to God (Galatians 2:14-16). They were not returning to “pagan idolatry.” Yet Paul says that they are returning to a spiritual slavery that is different in form but the same in essence. We see this at the end of verse 9. Galatians 4:9 . . . whose slaves you want to be once more? · So the second form of spiritual slavery is religious slavery. Now the key to understanding the link between spiritual pagan slavery and spiritual religious slavery is found in the phrase “the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” in verse 9. Look at it. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again [so they are turning back again . . .] to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Question: What does Paul mean by “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world”? Answering this question will help us see how Paul can refer to the adoption of religious ceremony in order to find divine acceptance as essentially the same as pagan idolatry. · Let’s begin by looking at two other places where this reference to “elementary principles” is used. Colossians 2:8, 20 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ . . . [20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— Galatians 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world . . . · So what does Paul mean by elementary principles or spirits? There are two basic uses of this phrase in ancient times: (1) to refer to basic elements of the material world, namely, fire, water, air, and earth; (2) To refer to the pagan belief that spiritual forces or gods lay behind and worked through the basic elements of the material world to control our lives and destinies. These “gods” demanded to be worshipped and appeased. So in order to gain what was needed or desired, a farmer would sacrifice to his weather-god, a sailor would pray to his sea-god, a soldier to his god of military success, a lover to the god of physical beauty, and so on,. The enslavement is seen in that in order to keep getting what you desired or craved (“needed”) from the deity you had to keep sacrificing to the deity. The “gods” always required that you do more in order to receive more. I think Paul is using “elementary principles” in this second way. · Notice that the language of Paul in both of these passages emphasizes the enslaving power of these elemental principles. In Colossians 2:8, he states that we can be taken captive by them. In Colossians 2:20, he implies that submitting to “man-made regulations” is essentially submitting to elemental spirits. Galatians 4:3 stresses enslavement as well. · If we consider “elementary principles” in the broader context of Galatians, we find that to turn to “elementary principles” is to turn to something in addition to Christ in order to complete ourselves (or, with reference to pagan idolatry, in exclusion to Christ in order to complete ourselves). Whenever we need to have Christ plus something else in order to be content in our relationship with God, we are turning to “elementary principles.” The Galatians were adding the ceremony of circumcision to Jesus in an effort to be complete (Galatians 3:3). Here is how Scotty Smith describes what was happening with the Galatians: “Before they became Christians, the people of Galatia ‘were slaves to those who by nature are not gods’ (Gal. 4:8). They were pagans who either chose from the pantheon of prevailing cultural gods or invented their own designer gods in an uncompromising commitment to make life work on their own terms. But in coming to Christ, they found their true center, identity, ‘sonship,’ and inheritance (Gal. 3:26-4:7). Now, however, they were reverting again to the slavery of idolatry—this time by ‘turning back to those weak and miserable principles’ (Gal. 4:9) of performance-based spirituality through a perverted form of Christianity, legalism. This was tantamount to deserting (Gal. 1:6) . . . Jesus. Every idol promises to free us so that we will finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life” (Scotty Smith, The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love, p. 156). · The Galatians were adding things to Jesus in order to get blessings that they already possessed in Jesus. Galatians 4:10 tells us that they did this with a passion. Galatians 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! · Days, months, seasons, and years cover all kinds of ritual celebrations. Their lives were now shot through with additions to Jesus just to get the blessing that Jesus alone can provide (Galatians 3:14, “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles”), namely, completion. Question: How can we tell if we are falling into this performance-based, adding-to-Jesus kind of spirituality? · If the spiritual disciplines (i.e. prayer and Bible study) are a burden to you (1 John 5:3), you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. A burdensome feeling indicates that we are engaging in the spiritual disciplines as an attempt to complete ourselves. This is not to say that prayer and Bible study will always be easy. No, that is not what I am saying at all. Because every believer has indwelling sin remaining in him, there will often be a struggle to do what we should do. Still, when we struggle through and continue to be faithful in the spiritual disciplines, there will always be a joy no matter how difficult the struggle may be (if we are resting in Christ as we should). · So if the spiritual disciplines are a burden to you, you are probably looking at them as additions to Jesus. This is the burden-bearing of religious spiritual slavery. A Pagan Way (this is where we learn that there is often an overlap of spiritual slavery forms for the believer) · Now there is also a pagan way to add to Jesus. Often a believer will suffer from a mixture of pagan spiritual slavery and religious spiritual slavery. How can this be? Because both forms of slavery are essentially the same in essence. In other words, both forms of slavery are merely different idolatrous ways we try to complete ourselves. Ken Sande puts it like this: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on (Luke 12:29; 1 Corinthians 10:19), that motivates us (1 Corinthians 4:5), that masters and rules us (Ps. 119:133; Eph. 5:5), or that we trust, fear, or serve (Isa. 42:17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 12:4-5). In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God (see Phil. 3:19). Given its controlling effect on our lives, an idol can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ As Martin Luther wrote, ‘To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by god. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god’” (The Peace Maker, p. 105). · What I want you to see from Sande’s quotation is that you don’t have to be adding some “religious ceremony” to Jesus in order to be guilty of what the Galatians were guilty of doing, namely, returning to spiritual slavery. Whatever we look to for refuge or comfort or security or happiness apart from Jesus, that is what we are adding to Jesus. We must be careful that we are not too narrow in our thinking on this point. It is critical that we understand that there are both religious and non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Adding the ceremony of circumcision is just one religious way of many to add to Jesus, but there are also many non-religious ways to add to Jesus. Example One: we are adding to Jesus in a non-religious way when we are anxious. In Luke 8:22-25, we find the disciples terribly anxious in a raging storm on the lake of Galilee. They were fearing for their very lives even though they had Jesus with them in the boat. So why were they anxious? Because having Jesus with them in the boat was not enough for a sense of security in the midst of the stormy sea. They “needed” to have Jesus plus calm seas. So what did Jesus do? Luke 8:24-25 [24] And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, "Where is your faith?" · What Jesus essentially says is, “Am I not enough? Must you have calm seas in order to feel secure?” If you are an individual who is often anxious, you are returning to spiritual slavery. You don’t have to add a “religious ceremony” (i.e. circumcision) in order to be returning to spiritual slavery. All you have to do is add a “stress free life” to Jesus in order to be happy and you are returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Two: If you struggle with anger, if you find yourself getting angry when circumstances change your plans, you are adding to Jesus. We usually get angry when we are prevented from having something that we really think we need. This is how James sees it. James 4:1-2 [1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder [James says that we murder because our desires are being blocked. In other words, we murder because we are not getting what we really think we need in order to be happy. James goes on . . .]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. · When we are angry, we are essentially saying, “I need Jesus plus a fun evening with my friends”, or “I need Jesus plus free time with my Xbox.” Whenever we find ourselves angry like this, we can be confident that we have returning again to spiritual slavery. · Example Three: If you really struggle with rejection or a strong sense of worthlessness in your relationships with the opposite gender, you are adding to Jesus. You are essentially saying, “I need Jesus and (plus) I need the opposite gender to see me as attractive or I am not happy or content with my life.” In other words, you believe that you need Jesus plus attractiveness in order feel complete. This is a return to spiritual slavery. Why do I say that a non-religious addition to Jesus such as this is return to spiritual slavery? Because it is an adding to Jesus in order to be complete. Jealousy, depression, self-pity, pride, and the like are all indications that we are adding to Jesus. · I hope you are recognizing how easy it is to return to spiritual slavery. We can do it in a thousand different ways. So regularly ask yourself, “What do I need in addition to Jesus in order to be happy or content?” This is the anatomy of spiritual slavery. It has two main forms, namely, pagan and religious, and the religious form has a thousand variations. Both pagan and religious spiritual slavery are different forms of the same thing, namely, idolatry. Know that falling back into spiritual slavery is a problem that we will have to deal with until Christ glorifies us. So . . . How are we freed from spiritual slavery? · How can we enjoy freedom from spiritual slavery? How can we keep ourselves from returning again to spiritual slavery? Paul gives us a clear answer in these verses. Notice, in verses 8 and 9, that Paul links freedom from spiritual slavery to two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. Galatians 4:8-9 [8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? The Two Aspects · Our knowing of God – John 17:3 tells us that everyone who has eternal life knows God. Knowing God is actually how Jesus defines eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. · Notice, in the first place, Paul calls the Galatians back to freedom by reminding them of the fact that they have come to know God personally. Now, in order for us to understand what Paul has in mind with reference to the believer’s knowing of God, we need to connect verses 8 and 9 back with verses 6 and 7 where Paul says: Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. · He is stressing the believer’s experiential relationship with God. The evidence that we possess a relationship with God (i.e. that we are sons) is that the Spirit cries, “Abba! Father!” in our hearts. So, Paul says, “Why would you want to go back into spiritual slavery? You are no longer slaves, but sons” (verse 7). · Paul draw’s them back from a return to spiritual slavery by directing the Galatians to one of the most astonishing effects of the gospel, namely, the experience of a personal relationship with God. · BUT Paul is not satisfied to leave off merely with the reminder of this experiential effect of the gospel. So he brings them back to the objective cause of this experiential effect. Question: Why? · Because our experience fluctuates. Our experience of “Abba! Father!” rises and falls depending on many different things. Our knowing of God experientially does not hold a steady line. It’s up and down. If all we have is our fluctuating experience, we will be hard pressed to resist the call of spiritual slavery. It offers a tangible “security.” It says, “Just do this and this and that and you are fine.” · So what does Paul do? He emphasizes the objective, invariable aspect of the gospel. Look at verse 9 again. Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God [so the second aspect is . . .], · God’s Knowing of Us – God’s knowing of us does not fluctuate! It does not rise or fall depending upon how we are living. It is absolutely fixed and unyielding! · Let me paraphrase Galatians 4:9 in a way that highlights its connection with the earlier verses on sonship. Galatians 4:9 Paraphrase: But now that the Spirit cries “Abba! Father!” in your hearts, or rather that God has given you the status of sons in Christ, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? · Paul knows that the only way we will enjoy consistent freedom from spiritual slavery (i.e. idolatry) is if our faith is firmly rooted in what the gospel has already brought to us, namely, God’s knowing of us. What we learn here is that the only antidote to idolatry is that God knows us, that is, that God has already set His love upon us in Jesus. Question: Why is God’s acceptance of us in Christ the only antidote to spiritual slavery? Because, as Richard Lovelace has written: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others.” · It is our insecurity concerning God’s acceptance of us that lures us into “adding to Jesus.” Only as we are sure of being accepted by God as revealed in the gospel will we be able to resist the appeal of the “elementary principles of the world” (4:9). So what delivers us from our spiritual slave masters is not how much our hearts are set upon God, but knowing how much His heart is set upon us! · Only when we are sure that God has set His love upon us will we be free from the over-desire to be attractive, or the over-desire for stress free circumstances, or the over-desire for Xbox free time. Only when we are sure that God has given us His full acceptance will the spiritual disciplines cease to be burdensome to us.
  • Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
    Let me read from the book at this point: "I reflected in a moment, that if this were indeed a shadow, it was useless to look for the object that cast it in any other direction than between the shadow and the moon. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose . . . Still the shadow remained, not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey. There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon . . . I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey . . . [now listen carefully to how he describes this terrifying creature] the most awful of [its] features were the eyes. These were alive, yet not with life. They seemed lightened up with an infinite greed. A gnawing voracity, which devoured the devourer, seemed to be the indwelling and propelling power of the whole ghastly apparition." « Well, just before the Ash tree takes him as his prey, another forest creature rescues him. After thanking this rescuer and telling her what he is doing in the forest, he asks her about the Ash tree. Listen to how she describes him. Her description gives us great insight into the human condition. His rescuer says: "[He] has a hole in his heart that nobody knows of but one or two; and he is always trying to fill it up, but he cannot. That must be what he wanted you for. I wonder if he will ever be a man." « Now what strikes me here is that what makes this creature so greedy is the hole in his heart. All of his energies given to filling up this hole that exists in the very center of his being. Evidently, the Ash tree wishes to become a man, therefore, he devours men. His entire existence is an endless quest to validate himself, to fill up the void of felt nothingness. « When I read this for the first time, I saw something of myself in him. My default mode of existence is to do what I do in life in order to validate myself, in order to fill up the void of felt nothingness. The form that this default mode takes in my life is the continued attempt to devour the praise of man. I try to fill up the hole in my heart, or validate myself by laboring for man’s praise. "If only people will validate me with their praise, then I will feel whole." « I don’t think I’m really any different from anyone else. You may not seek self-validation from the praise of man, but you seek it from something. How do I know this? Well, it has been said (I can’t remember who said it though), "My heart showeth me the way of everyone else’s." So my heart tells me that all of us live trying to validate ourselves, trying to fill up the hole in our heart. « Well, Galatians 3:25-4:7 gives us solution to this dilemma, a solution that is bound up in the teaching of sonship. So let’s examine our text today under three headings: (1) The Status of Sonship; (2) The Challenge of Sonship; and (3) The Experience of Sonship. Galatians 3:25-4:7 [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. [4:1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. The Status of Sonship « Let’s go back to pull out a few of the verses that directly refer to the topic of sonship, and I’ll add a few comments. Galatians 3:26 . . . in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. « So we are sons of God in Christ through faith. Galatians 3:29 . . . if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. « Paul says, "If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring." The more I think on this verse, the more amazing it becomes to me. Why is it so amazing to me? Well, do you remember what Paul says about this word "offspring" a few verses earlier? Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « Paul, in a manner of speaking, goes out of his way to make sure that we understand to whom he is referring when he uses the word "offspring." He doesn’t want us to think of "offspring" in terms of many, but in terms of one, namely, Christ. In other words, He wants us to be very clear on the fact that the promises of inheritance were made to Abraham and to Christ. « So we might read what Paul says here in verse 16 and say, "Paul, what about me? If those promises were made to Abraham and Christ, where does that leave me, a Gentile?" « Paul tells you in verse 29. He says, "Where does it leave you? Well, if you are in Christ through faith, then you too are Abraham’s offspring." That is an absolutely amazing statement. What does it mean? It at least means that you are an heir of the promises just as Christ is the heir of the promises! Through faith in Christ you now have inherited this very same privileged status! In other words, the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased," now apply to you! Through faith in Christ we are sons of God and Jesus is our Elder brother! « Listen to what Michael Barrett, one of my former seminary professors, has to say about this. He’s referring to what it means to be an heir with Christ: "What we inherit, we inherit in association with Christ Himself. What Christ inherits, we inherit. Merely to begin listing all that the Father has given His Son would be staggering. Just listen to this one promise from the eternal Father to the eternal Son: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten [You]. Ask of me, and I shall give [You] the heathen for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession’ . . . Whatever is included in that magnificent promise we will share with Christ. All His riches become our riches. Astounding! He shared our poverty that we might share His wealth" (Complete in Him, p. 186). « Now what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3 and 4 is that for us who are in Christ through faith this is our current status. This isn’t merely our future status, though it will be our status for all of eternity. It is our current status. That’s why Paul says: - 3:26, "You are all sons of God" - 3:29, "You are Abraham’s offspring" - 4:6, "You are sons" - 4:7, "You are no longer a slave, but [you are] a son . . . and . . . an heir" « You don’t have to live like an Ash tree. You don’t have to be on the endless quest of trying to validate yourself. Why? Because through faith in Christ you are a son! Question: How did we get this privileged status? Galatians 4:4-5 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law [in other words, "those who were under the law’s curse], so that we might receive adoption as sons. « Galatians 3:13 tells us how Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [the blessing of acceptance/the blessing of sonship!] might come to the Gentiles . . . « So we got this unimaginable status through Christ’s bearing the curse of divine condemnation, the curse of divine rejection, in our place. This is why it can be said that "we are sons of God" sharing in the very inheritance promised to Christ. « In verses 4 and 5, Paul says that God sent forth His Son into the word to give us this status. An unimaginable status. This takes us to our second heading: The Challenge of Sonship « What’s the challenge of sonship? Well, up until this point, Paul is not talking about experience. Rather, he is referring to our legal standing as sons of God. Through faith in Christ you are a son whether you feel like it our not. It is one thing to have a legal standing. It is entirely another thing to experience that legal standing, to feel it. « The challenge is that a status like this is almost impossible for us to believe because of what we experience within and without. On the one hand, we look into our own hearts only to see sin and blackness and think, "How can I be a son of God?" On the other hand, we look at society and there is absolutely no indication from it that we are sons of God. « So it is one thing to have this status and an entirely different thing to experience this status. « Now I want to go back and point out something that if we are not careful students, we will miss. Galatians 3:26 says that we are all sons of God in Christ through faith. Then verse 28 says that in Christ . . . Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. « To hear these two verses read together was an astounding thing to the first century hearer. It was unbelievable to think that in Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. This went against everything within their first century culture. Culture said, "There is a massive divide between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female." But here is Paul saying that in Christ all of them are equally sons of God! « So this was unbelievable to hear, but it was most unbelievable to women to hear this. In the day that Galatians was written, women were considered absolutely inferior to men. And because of that daughters were not permitted to inherit property. The status of "heir" was absolutely forbidden to women. « Therefore, when a woman in Paul’s day heard that in Christ they too were heirs, it went against everything that she felt internally and had reinforced externally by society. "This could not possibly be true!" Everything within and everything without vehemently argued against this status. It was almost impossible for a woman to believe. My Point: It is just as impossible for us to believe that we actually have the status of sonship! Everything within and everything without vehemently argues against our possession of this status. We find it almost impossible to believe this. It just seems too good to be true. Sinclair Ferguson has written a great chapter on adoption in his book, Children of the Living God. He brings this very point out much more eloquently than I. He is illustrating sonship with the parable of the prodigal son. He writes: "Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ’s parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underlining the fact that-despite assumptions to the contrary-the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians go through much of their life with the prodigal’s suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and failure; all their thoughts are introspective. That is why (in the Greek text) John’s statement about the Father’s love begins with a word calling us to lift up our eyes from ourselves and take a long look at what God has done: Behold! - look and see - the love the Father has lavished upon us" (Children of the Living God, p. 27)! « The challenge of sonship is to really believe this! You might say, "No, I don’t find this difficult to believe." Oh, really. Then why are you so defensive? Why can’t you take criticism very well? Why after having failed spiritually does it take you so long to feel normal again? Why do you care so much about what people think of you? If you really believed in your status as a son, you wouldn’t struggle like this. This brings us to our third point. The Experience of Sonship « I think everyone here would agree that being able to claim sonship through faith in Christ is an awesome thing (this claiming aspect is seen in John 1:12). But I also think that everyone of us would agree that we want more than just the right to claim it. We desperately want to experience it. Well, notice what Paul does in 4:4-6. He makes two parallel statements. The first relates to our status as sons of God. The second to our experience as sons of God. Let me just read the pertinent portions. Galatians 4:4-5 [4] . . . God sent forth his Son . . . [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:6 . . . God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Notice the parallel structure: (1) Verse 4 says, "God sent his Son." Verse 6, "God sent the Spirit of his Son." (2) Verse 4 has an understood "into the world"-"God sent forth His Son into the world." Verse 6 says, "God has sent the Spirit into our hearts." (3) Verse 5 says that God sent His Son into the world "to redeem [us] so that we might receive adoption as sons." Verse 6 says that God sent the Spirit into our hearts "to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!" in our hearts. « The point of the parallelism: To show (1) that God sent His Son to do something objective, that is, to secure for us the legal status of sons. Where did God send His Son to do this? He sent Him into the world. And to show (2) that God sent the Spirit of His Son to do something subjective, that is, to give us the experience of our sonship. To put it in the context of the parable of the prodigal son: (1) God sent our Elder Brother, Jesus, into the far country to give us the right to come to Him as sons (John 1:12, "To all who did receive him [that is, our Elder Brother], who believed in his name, he gave [to them] the right to become children of God."). This status of sonship is the work of the Son. (2) God sent the Spirit so that we would experience the kiss of our sonship (Luke 15:20, "And he [the prodigal] arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him".). This kiss of the Father is the work of the Spirit. ILLUS: Isaiah playing with his trucks as I sit in the chair watching him. Suddenly I get up out of the chair, pick him up, and begin tickling him and kissing him all over the face. Isaiah’s status as a son has not changed. He is no more a son when I am kissing him than when he is playing by himself. What has changed? His experience of sonship. Question: Where is the kiss in Galatians 4:6? Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « Without going into all the specifics here, the Spirit’s crying out, "Abba! Father!" in our hearts is the cry of intimacy (Whenever I leave the house, Isaiah cries, "D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y!" for about 10 minutes. His cry is the proof that he enjoys intimacy with me, his father). It is a crying out that involves deep and profound passion and feeling. It is a cry that indicates a strong sense of our Father’s loving presence and nearness. There is, in the cry, a confident expectation to be heard and joyfully welcomed. Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way: "Christ is giving us access to the presence of His Father, and saying to us: ‘You may now speak to Him as I speak to Him; with the same right of access, with the same sense of intimacy, with the same assurance that He loves you.’ This is, of course, what Jesus means when He tells us, ‘Pray in my name.’ He does not merely mean that our prayers should conclude with the formula ‘in Jesus name’. He means that we may speak with the Father just as He speaks with the Father, for the Father’s ear will open as readily to our cries as it does to the voice of His own Son" (Children of the Living God, p. 33). « This it too good to be true!! Question: How can we experience more of the Father’s kiss? « Notice how Paul connects verses 4 and 5, which speak of the Son’s work, with verse 6, which speaks of the Spirit’s work. Galatians 4:4-6 [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" « What does the phrase "and because you are sons" teach us? It teaches us that it is not only the status of sonship that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work, but also the experience of our sonship comes to us on the basis of Christ’s work. In other words, both the status and the experience of our sonship come to us through and in the gospel. « So what should we do to experience more of the Father’s kiss? Answer: Meditate upon the work of Christ! Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that it is not enough just to ask God for the experience of His kiss. The kiss of the Father is never given in isolation from the gospel. It is always and only given in and through the truth of the gospel. « The kiss of the Father comes as we give our hearts and minds to the truth of the gospel. It is as we reflect upon and contemplate and study the good news of what God has done for us in Christ that the Spirit comes to us to give us the experience of the Father’s kiss. We experience the kiss when the Spirit ignites the kindling of the gospel in our hearts. « Now that is incentive to give our minds and hearts to deep reflection upon the gospel! That is gospel-centered incentive! The Spirit of God meets us in the truth of the gospel to give us the experience of our privileged sonship! The close connection between verses 4-5 and verse 6 means that we need to be people who give ourselves to gospel as a way of life.
  • Galatians: The Power of Promise
    « This frustration shows that God’s people long for more than once or twice a year camp-decision spiritual renewal. They yearn for it to be an ongoing daily or at least weekly occurrence. So is it even reasonable to ask if renewal as a way of life is even possible? « As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to believe that this lack of ongoing spiritual renewal is in large measure due to the failure to understand the proper function of the law and the gospel within the life of a believer. Renewal as a way of life will not be possible so long as we do not understand how the law and the gospel work together in effecting spiritual change. Galatians 3:15-25 is one of the best texts in the entire Bible to teach us what we need to know to get on the path of ongoing spiritual renewal. So let’s look at it by asking it three questions: 1. What is Promise? 2. Where is its Power? « Now I want to introduce our first question before we read through our text. I think it will help us pick up on what we need to pick up on. 1. What is Promise? « You will see when we read today’s text that Paul is contrasting "promise" with "law." Why? Because the Galatians’ lack of true spiritual growth and renewal was due in large measure to their failure to understand "promise" and its implications. So Paul knows that the best way for them to get a proper understand "promise" and its implications is to contrast it with "law." Notice how Paul moves back and forth from promise to law in these verses. Galatians 3:15-25 [15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith [DON’T READ: in other words, "in order that we might receive the promise]. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, « The main point of the contrast is to show us the difference between receiving something by law and receiving something by promise. As soon as we get this two confused, we stunt our spiritual growth and renewal. I think one reason (not the only potential reason) camp decisions don’t stick is that we are not really clear on the difference between receiving by promise and receiving by law. « Now before we discuss the difference between receiving something by promise or by law, let’s consider "what that something received is" that Paul has in mind. Look at verse 18. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it [that is, the inheritance] to Abraham by a promise. « So Paul’s contrast is between receiving "the inheritance" either by law or by promise. Question: What exactly is this inheritance? Romans 4:13 gives us the answer. Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir [so here is the inheritance, "that he would be heir"] of the world [so according to what Paul says here the inheritance is the world. Now notice what he says next: "the world, that is, the inheritance"] did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith [So this links us right back with Galatians 3:18. This last statement helps us fill in what is meant by receiving the inheritance "by promise." To receive the inheritance by promise is the same as receiving it "through the righteousness of faith." So it is important to keep our thinking on "the inheritance" centered on "justification by faith."]. « Genesis 17:4-6 tells us what Paul means by "world." Genesis 17:4-6 [4] "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be [here is what is meant by "world" in Romans 4:13] the father of a multitude of nations [So Abraham’s inheritance was "a multitude of nations"]. [5] No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. [6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." « So Abraham’s inheritance is the world or the nations of the earth. To put it in the context of Galatians 3, the inheritance is the blessing that comes to the world [or the nations] through Abraham, namely, the blessing of justification by faith. So the promise of this inheritance is unbelievably good news for the nations as well as Abraham as we saw in our lesson on Galatians 3:7-9! « Now I want us to pause and see that Paul keeps the gospel central even as he speaks of this inheritance. Notice what Paul says in verse 16. Galatians 3:16 Now the promises [of the inheritance] were made to Abraham and to his offspring [now if we are not careful we might think that "offspring" refers to Abraham’s descendents, but it doesn’t. So notice what Paul says next]. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. « So the inheritance of the nations was not just promised to Abraham but also to Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises. There is no justification through faith apart from Christ. Or we could say that there is no blessing for the nations apart from faith in the righteousness of Christ. So Christ is at the very center of the inheritance because Christ is the very center of the good news. Question: Why does Paul contrast the receiving of this inheritance by promise with the receiving of it by law? « Because you can’t have it both ways. You can’t receive something partially by promise and partially by law. Promise and law cannot be combined when it comes to receiving something. Either you receive something entirely by promise or entirely by law. ILLUSTRATION: What is the difference between saying (to somebody), "Do you see this $5 bill? I will give it to you when Sunday school is over." and saying, "Do you see this $5 bill? It will give it to you if you pay close attention to the remainder of the lesson." « What is the difference between these two statements? We could say that they are both promises, right? Both statements promise $5, but if we look at them closely, we see that the second one is really not a promise at all. It is a law. « The second statement is really not a promise because you don’t receive the $5 just because I promised it. You receive it because you earned it by paying attention. If you end up getting the $5, it is not because I promised it to you. But because you worked for it. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t get it. Therefore, you receive it by law not by promise. « How do you receive the $5 according to the first statement? All you have to do to receive the money is believe that I am going to give it to you. You don’t have to pay attention or take notes or ask good questions. You don’t have to do anything but put your hand out and receive it. As soon as I say, "You’ve got to pay attention." The $5 is no longer received by promise but by law. This is what Paul is saying. The promise to which Paul refers here is one that God makes with us apart from any working on our part. Our "part" is to believe what God has promised, namely, that we are blessed through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. « In summary, if you receive something through faith, it comes to you by promise. If you receive something by doing something, it comes to you by law. So, to answer our first question, what is promise? Promise is what you receive through faith alone apart from works. As soon as you add the smallest work, it ceases to be promise. « This brings us to our second question: 2. Where is its Power? « Remember that the main application I am making from these verses concerns the spiritual renewal of the believer. How can we enjoy spiritual renewal on an ongoing, daily basis? How can we come to enjoy spiritual renewal as a way of life? We’ve taken our first step toward answering these questions by examining what promise actually is, namely, the righteousness that is received through faith alone. « At this point it is time to take our second step toward answering these questions concerning spiritual renewal. If you are a thinking individual, after hearing that the inheritance comes to us through faith in the promise and not through works of the law, you will wonder why we were given the law in the first place. If the inheritance of blessing comes by promise and not by law, why then the law? This is the question that Paul expects us to be asking at this point. Look at the first part of verse 19. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? « Now let me back up and address why our second question is "Where is its Power" instead of "Why then the law". Over the last two years we have clearly demonstrated from Scripture that the power of spiritual renewal is the gospel (i.e. the Christ of the promise), but what often happens, after having been convinced that this is the case, is that we begin to wonder why we are not experiencing frequent spiritual renewal. We begin to wonder why our hearts are more often cold than warm let alone hot. We become increasingly frustrated, confused, and discouraged. This is why I am asking the question: "Where is the gospel’s power?" We know that God’s promise of blessing (i.e. the good news of justification by faith) IS power (Romans 1:16-17), so when we are not daily experiencing its power, when our daily experience is not spiritual renewal, we grow frustrated and wonder what our problem is. « Paul gives us an answer to this question in this section of "Why then the law" (Galatians 3:19ff). So let’s look at these verses. Galatians 3:19-22 [19] Why then the law? [I see two answers to this question in the following verses. The two answers are really two sides of the same coin. First . . .] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary . . . [21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture ["Scripture" is metonymy for God Himself. And this is the second answer to the question "Why then the law." "The Scripture, or God" . . . ] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « So let’s answer Paul’s question (i.e. Why then the law?) so that we can then answer our question (i.e. Where is its power?). Why then the law? (1) To reveal sin. Galatians 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [that is, Christ] should come to whom the promise had been made, « Paul says that the law was given (in part) because man has a major sin problem. So God gives the law so that man would be made painfully aware of his sin until the Person through whom sin would be forgiven came, namely, Christ. This is clearly taught elsewhere in Paul. Romans 3:20 . . . by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." « So the law was given in part to make us devastatingly aware of our need of Christ. The law comes to us and says, "You are condemned!" Or to put it in the words of Galatians 3, the law comes and says, "You are under the curse, the curse of condemnation!" That is the first side of the coin. Here is the second. (2) To prepare the soil (of the heart) for the good news (i.e. the gospel of Christ). Galatians 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Question: "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin" - What does this strange statement mean? First of all, notice that "the Scripture" is used as metonymy for God to teach that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. So essentially Paul is saying, "God imprisoned everything under sin." Obviously, we have not eliminated the strangeness of this statement, which can only be removed if we understand Paul’s meaning. What we do know is that God did something that imprisoned everyone under sin. What did He do? Paul answers this question for us just a few verses later. Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came [i.e. before the object of our faith came in the flesh, namely, Jesus, the Christ], we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed [Romans 1:16-17 informs us that this coming faith is what the gospel reveals, namely, the righteousness that God provides to sinners through faith in His Son!]. « Now let’s take all of this and go back to what Paul says in 3:22. Notice why the law and the condemnation that it brings was given: Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin [to be under sin is to be under the laws verdict of condemnation. So God imprisoned everything under sin in this way . . .], so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. « Paul is making it very clear that God imprisoned everyone under the law’s condemnation "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Question: Who believe in what? Answer: Who believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom in Himself redeemed us from the curse or condemnation of the law by becoming the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13). So the law came alongside the promise in order to prepare the soil of the heart for the good news of Christ. « Application to Spiritual Renewal: How does this help us understand spiritual renewal? One helpful way of putting what we have learned here is that the sin-exposing law of God was given to us in order that we might see by faith something of the unimaginable beauty of the gospel and flee to Christ who is our righteousness! (With great joy in our hearts!!!!) This has huge implications with regard to renewal as a way of life. One main implication is that the darker we see our sin to be as exposed by the law, the brighter will we perceive the shining light of the gospel to be. Before we go any further, it is critical that we understand that the law does not come to us as believers in the same way that it came to us as unbelievers. To unbelievers the law comes with the message of condemnation. It brings the knowledge of sin to the unbelieving heart and with that knowledge it seeks to level the unbeliever with the verdict of condemnation. But though the law will continue to expose our sin as God’s children, it is no longer meant to press the verdict of condemnation upon our hearts. The gospel removes the law’s condemnation from us! So we need not be afraid of or terrified by the law! o Spiritual Renewal: I hope you recognize that the law and the gospel work together not only to bring about our justification, but also, by way of implication, our sanctification or spiritual renewal. Therefore, it seems to me that spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together and only as the two of them work together. If the law and gospel are not working together within the individual believer, spiritual renewal will be seriously lacking. But, when the law and the gospel are working together, the more the law exposes the depth of our sin the greater will be our love for the good news, the greater will be our joy in the good news, the greater will be our gratitude for the good news, the greater will be our amazement at the grace of the gospel, the greater will be our worship of Christ! This is the way of spiritual renewal. o Richard Lovelace puts it like this: "Growth in sanctification should be a lifelong series of alterations in our lives through such crises of conviction. One of the functions of God’s law (biblical moral principles which declare God’s will for our behavior) is to measure our lives and locate places where they need changing" (Lovelace, p. 145). Question: So what if we are not experiencing spiritual renewal as a way of life? « It may be either that (1) we are primarily trying to grow by keeping the law and are not actively resting in the gospel (e.g. merely making camp decisions of greater commitment to Christ), or (2) our understanding of the gospel is without a corresponding understanding of the law. Both result in the lack of being awed by the gospel of free grace! A lack of joy in the gospel is evidence that we are falling into #1 or #2 to some degree. « As long as we are on this side of glorification, the law will function for us in this way. But don’t fear this function or use of the law! It is NOT bringing the message of condemnation! The gospel has taken away that message and has replaced it with the message of full acceptance! But the law is always preparing the soil of your heart for the gospel of Christ by revealing to you the depth of your own sin so that the gospel can continue to reveal to you the height of the righteousness of Christ! « There is a wonderful diagram that illustrates the relationship that the law and the gospel has in the spiritual renewal of the believer. It illustrates what must happen if we are to experience spiritual renewal as a way of life. Kk or Kk = The top half of the diagram represents the holiness of God that is veiled to us Kk or Kk = The bottom half represents the sinfulness of our sin that is veiled to us = The Law revealing both the holiness of God and the depth of our own sinfulness. Remember, for the believer, the law no longer brings condemnation, but it continues to expose sin that we are unaware of. It will continue to do this until we are glorified. = The gospel revealing the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law comes alongside the gospel so that we increasingly see how great and sufficient is the work of Christ. The law says, "look how bad you really hard," so that we can hear the gospel say, "look how even better Christ is for you!" The Believer’s Conversion « In the life of the believer, the law and the gospel work together to show him at the same time (1) that he is far more sinful than he has ever imagined, and (2) that Christ is a far greater Savior than he has ever dreamed. When the law and the gospel work together in the life of a believer in this way, spiritual renewal is experienced. « Here is how we are not to live. This is not the way of spiritual renewal. This is what happens when we (1) forget that the law no longer condemn us, and (2) forget the gospel (i.e. the work of Christ). « Spiritual renewal happens as the law and the gospel work together. The more darkness in our hearts that the law exposes, the brighter the light of the gospel seems to us. This fills our hearts with a deeper worship, a deeper joy, a greater gratitude! This is the path of spiritual renewal and it is to be a way of life. "Optimum spiritual health simply involves remaining in the focused light of truth concerning our needs and their fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work (1 John 1:5-7). An honest assessment of our spiritual state and a deepening trust in the Messiah are qualities which guarantee our continued spiritual growth" (Lovelace, p. 134).
  • Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
    « So the specific problem that Paul is addressing here in chapter three is the Galatians misguided attempts to complete themselves spiritually through their own efforts. « If we were to state the Galatians’ problem in the words of Galatians 3:10-14, we would say that the Galatians were not living as if they were blessed (i.e. justified). Rather, they were living as if they were cursed. This is very important for us to realize because what Paul was trying to do in these verses was get the Galatians back to living upon/feeding upon the gospel. He was trying to get them off of the path of foolishness (i.e. faith in their own efforts) and back on the path of wisdom (i.e. faith in the gospel of Christ). « Question: What are some indications that we are living like the Galatians? In other words, what are some indications that to some extent we are living as if we are cursed rather than blessed? 1. We are living this way if after having sinned we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God. Instead, we think we have to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. 2. Likewise, we are living like this if when we feel a measure of guilt for having failed spiritually in some way, our first response is either to increase our effort or to say, "What’s the use? I have the hardest time being consistent!" 3. We are living as if we are cursed if we find ourselves being defensive or sensitive to criticism. Whenever we find ourselves in a defensive posture in reaction to something someone did or said to us, we can be sure that we are not living knowing we are blessed. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed. « These are just a few examples of indications that you are living as if you are cursed rather than blessed. Paul’s primary purpose in writing these verses is to bring us back to living the Christian life knowing we are blessed rather than as if we are cursed. So with this in mind, let’s read Galatians 3:10-14. Galatians 3:10-14 [10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." [12] But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Let’s look at these verses by asking them two questions: 1. What does it mean to be cursed? 2. How are we freed from this curse? 1. What does it mean to be cursed? « There are few things that we need to recognize in order to answer this question. The first is that this curse is directly linked to the law of God. We see this in verses 10 and 13. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- « The second is that at the heart of the law is relationship. We can also say, conversely, that at the heart of relationship is law. Law and relationship cannot be separated. - Relationship is at the heart of the law: The 10 Commandments demonstrate this very clearly. Jesus summed up them up this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39). The law of God is not a sterile code of ethics that exists within a relational vacuum. The law of God is covenantal. In other words, it was given in the context of relationship. - Law is at the heart of relationship: Someone says, "What do you mean by ‘law is at the heart of relationship’? That sounds too oppressive. Where is the freedom, the openness that I see relationships providing?" Well, let’s say that there is a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman who have been dating pretty seriously for about one year and are beginning to discuss marriage. One evening on a quite walk the woman says, "John, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. First of all, when we get married, I really believe that we need to move into a poorer section of the inner city so that we can serve the poor. The Lord has blessed us with two well paying jobs and I believe that we should just live on your salary and use my salary to minister to the needy. Second, I don’t think we should be spending a lot of money on exotic vacations. I believe that we should use 1/2 of our vacation time each year to visit and encourage the missionaries that our church supports. I think this is a much better investment of our time and resources. Third, as you know, I am terribly allergic to cats. So before we get married you are going to have to make arrangements for your cat to live somewhere else." John listens carefully and replies, "Sarah, that’s great, but there is no way I am going to live in the poorer section of the inner city. As a matter of fact, I’ve already picked out the apartment that we will live in. It runs about $3k a month which means we will need to live on both of our salaries. Plus, there is a mountain cottage that I want us to buy for weekend get aways. Second, I plan on us using our vacation weeks to go skiing and big game hunting ever year. Third, I am going to add another cat. I love cats and the one I currently have needs a friend. Well, good, this has been a great time of sharing. Sarah, will you marry me?" « Now what would you say if you were Sarah? Does Sarah really have a relationship with John? Absolutely not! How do we know this? Because he does not care at all about what she values and cares about. Every person possesses a set of personal laws, that is, a set of convictions, likes, and dislikes, that in large measure make up whom he or she is. So if a relationship is to develop between two such individuals, there must be a mutual giving and taking. In other words, there must be an effort not to violate the other individual’s laws. To totally disregard the other individual’s "laws" is trample under foot the very possibility of relationship. « I hope you see that law is not a bad thing. It is a very good thing, and essential for a healthy, happy relationship. This being the case, what do you think happens when these relational laws are habitually trampled? Answer: the relationship ceases to exist. This is what the curse involves. Look at Galatians 3:10 again. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them « The curse involves a definitive loss of relationship. Now it is important that we do not ignore the connection between verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 says: Galatians 3:9-10 [9] So then, those who are of faith [faith is a relational word. It involves trusting in or relying upon someone else. It is a faith that connects you to a person.] are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith [Verse 9 makes a strong truth claim: "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham." This truth claim raises a question: "Why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed or justified?" Verse 10 is Paul’s answer to that question.]. [10] For [or "because"] all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « So why is it that only those who are of faith are blessed? Paul essentially answers, "Because the only alternative to faith is works, and those who rely on works are cursed rather than blessed. How do we know this? Because Scripture itself tells us this, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) « What I want you to see is that "faith" and "works" are at odds here. Faith is reliance upon someone other than yourself for your righteousness or completion. Works is reliance upon yourself for the same. « Now let’s answer our question: What does it mean to be cursed? Deuteronomy 21:22-23 [22] "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death [in other words, he breaks a law of God that is punishable by death] and he is put to death, and [after you have put him to death] you hang him on a tree, [23] his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." « Notice that it would be incorrect to say that the man is cursed because he is hung on a tree. It is just the opposite. The man is hung on the tree because he is cursed. Hanging the criminal on a tree was merely the outward sign of the already existing curse of God. Question: So what did hanging the criminal on a tree signify? If being "blessed" means that you are accepted by God, being "cursed" means that you are rejected by God. « Therefore, when an Israelite saw a dead man hanging on a tree, he would have thought something like, "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" Question: So what exactly was/is the curse? It was/is to be rejected by God. The "hanging on a tree" was merely the sign of condemnation and ultimate rejection. So what does Galatians 3:10 say? Galatians 3:10 For all who rely [or "who are relying"] on works of the law are under a curse [in other words, "Those who are relying on the works of the law are already condemned and separated from God."]; for it is written, "Cursed be [or "Cursed is"] everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." « Remember, being hung on a tree does not make you cursed. All you have to do is fail to obey everything contained within the Law of God. All you have to do if fail to love God with all of your being and your neighbor as yourself. To fail in this way is to be cursed by God, and to be cursed by God is to be rejected by God. 2. How are we freed from this curse? Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." « Paul’s words here were absolutely unintelligible to the Jews. They could not conceive of the Messiah, the one anointed of God, being hung on a tree. Do you remember what an Israelite would have thought when he saw a criminal who was hung on a tree? "This man has been rejected by God Himself! He is to be of all men most pitied! It would have been better that he had never been born!" It was utterly incomprehensible to the Jews because to accept it as true would mean that their own Messiah experienced the curse of divine rejection. Remember, a man was not cursed because he was hung. He was hung because he was cursed. "How could that be? How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" « This helps us better understand Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 1 Corinthians 1:23 . . . we preach Christ crucified [cursed of God and hung on a tree], a stumbling block [or "offense"] to Jews « "How could our Messiah be cursed of God?" Paul answers this question in Galatians 3:13. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us [literally- "in our place"]-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Question: What is Paul saying here? He is not saying that Jesus was cursed of God because He was hanging on a tree. No, he is saying that Jesus was cursed because He was being treated as if He had failed to obey everything in the Law of God, as if He had failed to love the Lord His God with all of His being. The cross-tree was only the sign that He was cursed. The Jews could not fathom that the Messiah, the Anointed of God, would be under such a curse. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. « Jesus received the curse of divine rejection that we earned through our disobedience (v. 13) so that we might receive the blessing of divine acceptance that He earned through His obedient life and death (v. 14). Look at verses 13 and 14 together and you will see this very clearly. Galatians 3:13-14 [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- [14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham [namely, divine acceptance] might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Question: Is there any evidence in the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels that Jesus did indeed suffer the curse of divine rejection? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ["why have you rejected me?"]?" « In the words "for us", Galatians 3:13 is saying that we are the ones who should have experienced this divine rejection, but Jesus experienced it in our place. He was treated as if He were the sinner. Martin Luther says that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him: "You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity" (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians). « So Christ become a curse for us so that in Him the blessing of Abraham might come to us (3:13-14). Now I want us to back up and look at the big picture of Galatians 3:10-14. Paul is identifying two kinds of people in these verses: (1) Those who are of works-In other words, those who "live by" God’s laws (3:12, "the one who does them [i.e. God’s laws, Lev. 18:5] shall live by them."). (2) Those who are of faith-In other words, those who "live by" faith (3:11b). « The key phrase in these verses as it relates to these two groups of people is "live by." Question: What does it mean to "live by" something? « To "live by" something means that you are relying upon it for your righteousness, or we might say, for your acceptability or completeness. It is whatever you rely upon to give your life a sense of worth, meaning, or significance. So Paul says that humanity is comprised of people who either (1) "rely upon" their obedience to some set of laws whether God’s (the religious set-e.g. elder brother) or the world’s (the irreligious set-e.g. prodigal son) or (2) "rely upon" the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them at the cross (Galatians 2:20). « Now those who are within the category of people who rely upon the Son of God still struggle, sometimes violently, with the residual propensity to rely upon something other than Jesus for their completeness or wholeness. The Galatians are case in point. So we should not be surprised when we find ourselves struggling and even failing in these ways. « Let’s go back to the examples I gave at the beginning of this lesson that are indications that we are relying upon something other than Jesus to give our lives a sense of meaning and significance. We are relying upon some set of laws for our completeness: (1) When we are NOT quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek the sweet forgiveness of God, but rather we think we need to feel bad for some period of time before we can go to God for His forgiveness. (2) When our first thought is either to increase our effort or quit altogether after having failed spiritually in some way. (3) When we are defensive or overly sensitive to criticism. (4) When we are despondent or hating ourselves. (5) When we become angry at or frustrated with family, friends, and/or circumstances. (6) When we lie or "shade" the truth? (7) When we are fearful or badly worried. (8) When we are "stressed out" because of the life pressures that are upon us. (9) When we are indecisive and afraid to make a decision. (10) When we feel humiliated because of something that we are someone close did. « When we find ourselves thinking and acting like this, we can be sure that we are not living knowing that we are blessed, that is, accepted by God. Rather, we are living as if we are cursed, that is, not accepted by God. This is always (1) why we are NOT quick to run to God for forgiveness and fellowship, (2) why our first thought is to step up our effort, (3) why we are defensive, and (4) why we become so quickly angry or frustrated. We are not living knowing we are blessed. We are living as if we are cursed. In other words, we are living relying on something other than Jesus to complete us. It is not just that we were NOT relying on Jesus at the moment we were responding these ways, but that for some period of time prior to these responses we were relying on something other than Jesus. Question: So how do we become people who are always quick to confess and repent of our sin and seek sweet fellowship with God? How do we become people whose first thought is not to increase our effort after having failed? How do we become people who are never defensive or overly sensitive? Answer: (1) We repent of our self-righteous striving. We repent of our relying upon something other than Jesus for our completion. To rely upon something other than Jesus to complete you is really trying to be your own savior. This is idolatry. So first we must repent of trying to be our own savior, and we must turn from it in faith knowing that Jesus has taken the curse of God that my striving deserves. (2) We must meditate upon the one who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us remembering that He did this so that the blessing of Abraham might be ours. We do this until we find our hearts rejoicing in the acceptance that we posses in Jesus. « One last word, we need to strive to be proactive in this rather than always reactive. To be proactive means that we begin each day and continue throughout the day repenting of our self-righteous striving and rejoicing in the blessing of Abraham that has come to us in Christ. Two Quotations « "Living by" faith in the Son of God means that "at the outset of each day, we should hear God saying, You are accepted, because the guilt of sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ" (Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life, p. 137). This should be what we hear not only at the outset of each day, but throughout each day. « "‘I am accepted’-accepted as though my life displayed the spiritual perfection of the Messiah himself-ought to be the automatic response of our hearts whenever we wake, like the compass needle that always points north. This is a response which is always relevant to our current spiritual condition" (Lovelace, p. 142). This is what living knowing you are blessed involves.
  • Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
    Galatians 3:6-9 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. « Now what do you think is the good news of these verses? It is that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of the main implications of this promise is that what the nations need most is to be blessed in this way (we will consider what this blessing involves later on in the lesson). This promise of blessing is the greatest news ever given to the nations of this earth (Greater news than the news of Sadam’s capture!!!). « Now that might sound pretty outrageous to you if you are a non-Christian, but I think Christian and non-Christian alike can agree that the nations of the earth are not satisfied with the way things currently are inside and outside their borders (national and international unrest) . . . « What does this deep dissatisfaction with the way things are reveal? That every nation believes that somewhere out there is a blessing to be had, a blessing that will set all things right . . . « What I think you will find in these verses is that a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal and external unrest. If you look carefully, you can see that unrest is really at the heart of the Galatians’ struggles. Look at 3:3. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? « It is very apparent that the Galatians were painfully aware of their personal lack. They knew that they were in need of being made complete (i.e. of being perfected). But their main problem was not so much that they were incomplete though they were. It was that they were seeking completion in the wrong way and from the wrong place. « So what Paul does to help them is to talk about this blessing-what it is and how it is received. He does this in three ways: by showing them (1) the historic depth of the gospel, (2) the enormous breadth and beauty of the gospel, and (3) the unimaginable simplicity of the gospel. Our lesson today will give us the opportunity to consider how a proper understanding of what this blessing involves and how it is received is essential if we are to solve our deep-seated problems of internal dissatisfaction. The Historic Depth of the Gospel Galatians 3:6-8 [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « Notice how Paul is demonstrating the historic depth of the gospel here. In verse 6, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Then in verse 7 Paul says that everyone who believes like Abraham is a true son of Abraham. In other words, everyone who believes like Abraham is justified like Abraham. A true son of Abraham is one who has been justified by faith. « Question: Who is included in the phrase "those of faith" in verse 7? Well, Paul tells us in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [justify who?] the Gentiles by faith « So Paul’s point is that God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, namely, through faith. Now notice the time words in verse 8. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing [or "knowing beforehand" - a time word] that God would [in the future] justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [before what? Before God began to justify the Gentiles], saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « What is the point of all these time words? Paul intends for us to get a sense of the historic depth of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel was preached to Abraham - "the Scripture . . . preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham." So Abraham who lived in 2100 B.C. heard the gospel, that is, he heard the same good news that Paul is defending in this letter to the Galatians 2150 years later. One of the most significant things we learn here is that the gospel is not new news. It is very old news. It did not change from the time it was preached to Abraham to the time it was preached to the Galatians (3:1f), and it still has not changed. Paul says that Abraham himself heard it 2100 years before Christ was even born! « Why is it important for us to see the historic depth of the good news? So that we see that God deals with us in the same way he dealt with Abraham. 4100 years ago the gospel came to Abraham the idolater. Before God came to him, Abraham lived in Ur, which was a city that was consecrated to the worship of the Babylonian moon-god. There was nothing in Abraham that worshipped or even desired to worship the one true God. Yet the gospel came to him! « One of the amazing truths that we learn from Galatians 3:8 is that for 4100 years now the gospel has come to idolaters. The gospel has always come to those who stand guilty before God as idol worshippers. Idol worshippers are people who are driven in their living by inner unrest. This is why we all instinctively worship idols. We bow to the idols of human approval and power and earthly pleasure in order eliminate our inner unrest striving to create our own sense of righteousness (rest is found in righteousness, that is, Christ’s). We know that we are terribly messed up, but instead of seeking the only one who can make things right, we turn to idols just as Abraham turned to idols before God came to him with the good news. « When we recognize the historic depth of the gospel we realize that it has not changed. It has always been the answer to man’s God-belittling, God-dishonoring problem of idolatry. God is so gracious to come to us with the same good news that He came to Abraham with. « Notice secondly . . . The Gargantuan Breadth and Beauty of the Gospel « Look at verse 8 again. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Question: How does the phrase "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith" relate to the statement that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham? « It tells us that the gospel was never just given to Abraham. Yes, it was given to Abraham, but not just to Abraham. It was also given to all the nations of the earth in Abraham. « Now I want you to see how absolutely remarkable this is. Question: Who are these nations to whom the gospel has been given? There are two texts that answer this question very well. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « Paul says that the nations do not pursue righteousness, that is, they do not pursue the righteousness of God. So what do they pursue? Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you [Paul is referring to the nations or Gentiles] were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out [or pursuing] the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. « Probably the best fleshed out illustration of this is one that is very familiar to us, namely, the prodigal son. What did his living in the passions of his flesh and pursuing the desires of his body and mind look like? (1) He journeyed far from his father into a far country (Luke 15:13). (2) He squandered the property which had been given to him by his father in reckless or immoral living (15:13). In other words, he devoured or consumed his father’s property with prostitutes (15:30). « So what does it mean to be one who does not pursue the righteousness of God? It means that your life is about running away from the Father. How can you tell if your life is about running away from the Father? When you are squandering His good gifts. We squander His good gifts when we try to find our satisfaction anywhere but in Him. What are some of God’s good gifts that we use in this way? Let me give you just one example to direct your thinking as you have opportunity to come up with more on your own: God has given everyone a mind that can think and imagine, but instead of using our minds to contemplate and enjoy the unbelievable beauty of the Godhead, many use their minds to imagine sexual fantasies. Others use their minds thinking about things that are good in themselves, like good grades and good friends, but they do it without a spirit of thanksgiving to God for these good gifts. Any time we give our minds to lust or to thinking about good things without a spirit of thanksgiving, we are squandering God’s good gifts (1 Timothy 4:3). The squandering of God’s good gifts is evidence that we are not pursuing the righteousness of God. « So the gospel is not just for the one idolater, Abraham, but also for all idolaters, the nations! It is for all those who do not pursue the righteousness of God! Now notice the content of the gospel that was given to Abraham and the nations: Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." « The good news for Abraham and the nations is that "in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Now what is this blessing that the nations are promised in Abraham? Well, we do not have to go far to answer this question. It is right here in verse 8. I’m going to read it again but I am going to switch things around just a little bit. I think it will make it very obvious exactly what the blessing is. Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed", foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. « So what is this blessing for the nations? It is that God will justify them through faith. This is one of the reasons why I chose to read Romans 9:30 a little earlier. Let me read it again. Romans 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles [i.e. the nations] who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; « So the breadth of the gospel is that it is for all the nations, all races, all peoples. The beauty of the good news is that those who do not pursue righteousness, namely, the nations, attain the very righteousness that they do not pursue. « Some one says, "Really, are you saying that all the nations of the earth will attain this righteousness?" Absolutely. Revelation 5:9 says: Revelation 5:9 And they [the four beasts and the 24 elders] sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God [in other words, "You blessed them!"] from every tribe and language and people and nation [People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will attain the righteousness of God which is by faith!] Application: Do you know what the nations are really looking for? They are looking for the blessing of the gospel! They just don’t know it because they are blinded by unbelief and idolatry. In his "Essay on Fairy Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien writes: "[The Christian story] has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation [by that Tolkien is referring to humans who write] has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe [a eucatastrpohe is a catastrophe that unexpectedly turns to joy] of Man's history. The Resurrectgion is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale that men would rather find true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. « When you cut through all the layers of unbelief and idolatry, you learn that the one thing that every man and every nation on earth desires is the blessing of the gospel. It is the only story that makes sense out of history. It is the only story that makes sense out of individual and national unrest. It is the only story that makes sense out of both individual and national dissatisfaction. It is the only story that answers all of the world’s problems! « This brings us to our third point: The Unbelievable Simplicity of the Gospel « How are we to attain this blessed righteousness? Let me read Galatians 3:7-9 again. Be amazed as we see the answer that these verses give to our question. Galatians 3:7-9 [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed (or justified) along with Abraham, the man of faith. « So how are the nations blessed with justification? Simply by believing in Christ! This is the unbelievable simplicity of the gospel. We are justified or accepted as righteous before God through faith in Christ alone! Question: How can this be? How can God justify the nations through faith in Christ alone? How can God justify an idolater just through his faith in Jesus? It seems that God would have to require at least some measure of obedience and payment to do that. « Well actually, God has and is demanding not just some measure of obedience and payment. He has and is demanding perfect obedience and total payment, but the beauty and wonder of the gospel is that He has received this in Christ. Jesus, the God-man, perfectly obeyed and offered Himself as the perfect payment for all the sins of His people! This truth is what Paul unpacks for us in the next several verses in Galatians 3 (vv. 10-14). I can’t wait to get there next week. But I want to give you a little sneak peak by looking quickly at verse 14 where Paul brings all of this together in a single verse. Galatians 3:14 . . . in Christ Jesus [the one who lived in died in our place] the blessing of Abraham . . . come(s) to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. « So what must we do? Repent of our idolatrous striving and believe, rejoice in Christ Jesus alone who is for us and all the nations of the earth righteousness!
  • Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
    « What we are talking about here is hotly debated. Is sanctification by faith alone, or is it by faith and obedience or whatever else you think the "and" should include? So here is our main question for this lesson: What does Galatians 3:1-6 think about this two-book take on Christianity? To answer this question we will consider (1) the argument, (2) the question, and (3) the revelation as they relate to Galatians 3:1-6. Galatians 3:1-6 [1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- [6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? The Argument - for sanctification by faith alone « If you recall from our first lesson on these verses (actually verses 1-5 not including verse 6), Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because they were guilty of trying to grow in Christ through their moral effort or obedience to the law. So how does Paul address this problem in chapter 3? Let’s walk through these verses. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. « Now why does Paul address this problem by immediately referring the Galatians to the crucifixion of Christ? I believe it is because there is a definite relationship between our understanding of the cross and how we actually seek to live the Christian life. To put it another way, when we find ourselves trying to grow in Christ through obedience to the law of God, it is because our vision of the cross is being clouded, or we are forgetting what the cross really has to say about us. So what is the connection between the cross and faith failure such as the Galatians were suffering here? (1) The crucifixion tells us how bad off we really were. It tells us that we are so sinful that it took the death of God Himself to save us. There was nothing we could do to contribute to our deliverance, and that is the understatement of eternity. We were absolutely helpless and hopeless! (2) The crucifixion also tells us how immeasurably blessed we really are. It tells us that everything that needed to be done for our salvation has been done by Jesus. It all was done by another! It was done completely by another! You are blessed beyond measure. Galatians 3:9a says, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed." « So Paul says, "Have you forgotten how terribly bad off you were before you were rescued ‘from this present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4)? Have you forgotten what it took to bring about your justification, to give you acceptance before the Father? Was it not before your spiritual eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? How can you forget that which brought about your entrance into eternal life (i.e. a vital relationship with God - John 17:3)?" « Now look at verse 2 where Paul follows up with a rhetorical question. Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? « The Galatians knew that they did not receive the Spirit through moral effort or obedience. They received Him through faith. I think it is important that we see that Paul contrasts "hearing with faith" with "works of the law." By "works of the law" Paul is referring to the doing of the law. The purpose of the contrast is to show that we do not receive the Spirit through obeying the law. He is only received through believing. « Now notice verse 3 where Paul takes the point he makes in verse 2 to another level. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit [through faith, v. 2], are you now being perfected ["are you now being made complete"] by the flesh? « In verse 2, Paul makes the point that we received the Spirit, or to put it another way, we were brought into the Christian life through faith, not through obedience to the law. Then in verse 3, he takes it a step further. Not only do we not enter the Christian life through obedience, but we do not grow in the Christian life through obedience ("by the flesh"). To put it positively, we not only begin the Christian life through faith, we are made complete in the Christian life through faith. « Then in passing Paul seeks to get the Galatians to see the folly of the course they have recently chosen (verse 4). Galatians 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? « Evidently these Galatian believers suffered in some way to become Christians though we cannot be sure how. But Paul is saying that, if they are now going to seek to complete themselves through obedience to the works of the law, they could have spared themselves persecution (whatever they were) in the first place. What Paul is trying to do is get the Galatians to see how ridiculous it is to become a Christian in a way that brought persecution and then live and then seek to live "the Christian life" in a way that frees you from that persecution. « Now in verse 5, Paul asks another rhetorical question that is really a continuation of his question in verse 3 ("Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected ["made complete"] by the flesh?"). Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles in you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- « Paul now points them to their present experience. He says, "Is the Spirit now at work within you because you are relying upon the law and your obedience or because of your faith in Christ?" What’s Paul’s point? It is to say that the Spirit’s work in us (cf. Galatians 5:16-24) is not because we are obeying the law but because we are believing in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced in us through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ. « This brings us to Paul’s strongest argument for sanctification by faith alone. I had never before seen the connection between Galatians 3:1-5 with verse 6. I never saw verse 6 as an argument for sanctification by faith alone. I only saw it as a statement about justification. It is a statement about justification, but it is used to clinch Paul’s argument for being made complete through faith in Christ alone. Galatians 3:5-6 [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith [obvious answer: by faith]- [6] [and now don’t miss the first two huge words of verse 6] just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? « What is Paul saying here? The Spirit works in us and completes us through faith in Christ just as Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. If you go back to Genesis 15, you learn that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was declared righteous apart from doing anything. All he "did" was believe. « What is remarkable to me about what Paul is doing with verse 6 is that he is using the doctrine of justification by faith alone as evidence for his teaching on sanctification by faith alone. Paul says, "You are made complete and the Spirit works in you through faith just as Abraham believed apart from works and God declared him righteous." « Paul’s intention is to say that both justification and sanctification are by faith apart from the works of the law. Just as we are justified by faith alone, so are we make complete by faith alone. So what does Galatians 3:1-6 think about the two-book take on Christianity? It very clearly teaches that this approach to the Christian life is wrong. The believer does not have one book for evangelism that says we are justified by faith and another for discipleship that says we are sanctified by faith and obedience. There is only one book that says you are both justified and sanctified by faith alone apart from obedience to the law of God. Just as we cannot attain justification through obedience, we cannot attain sanctification through obedience, but through faith in Christ. « Now it is at this point that we start to get really uncomfortable. "Wouldn’t teaching sanctification by faith alone create worldly people?" So let’s move on to our next point. The Question - How are we sanctified by faith? « Let’s go back to verse 5 and unpack this verse a little more fully. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « In statement form, Galatians 3:5 says, "God supplies us with the Spirit and works miracles in us through faith not through obedience to the law." Question: What are these miracles that God worked in the Galatians by the Spirit? « I don’t think that Paul is referring to those miracles that we often consider being interruptions into the natural order of creation. He is not referring to physical manifestations of divine power within the created order. Rather, Paul is referring to the miraculous works of the Spirit within one who was once dead in sins. So what are these miracles? Galatians 5:19-23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But [and now here are the miracles that God works by the Spirit] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. « The miracle is that in a heart that was once ruled by the desires of the flesh, the Spirit is now producing spiritual fruit, such as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a miracle greater than the creation of the world. This is a miracle of sovereign grace! « Notice also that Paul does not call these graces "the fruit of the law." The law cannot produce these things in us. Rather, the Law condemns us for not having these things. The Law does not serve to produce these things within us, but drives us to terror for not having these things. It is true that the Law leads us to Christ but we must understand that it does not make us like Christ (Gal. 3:24). « Now look again at Galatians 3:5 and note how the Spirit works these miracles of spiritual fruit within us. Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith « He does it through faith! He does not do it through our moral effort no matter how hard we try. It is all of faith. Probably the best cross-reference is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. « What I want you to see here is that "beholding the glory of the Lord" is the activity of faith. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectually assenting to the truth about Jesus. It includes this assent, but it is not limited to it. True evangelical faith beholds the glory of the Lord. Question: What does it mean to see the glory of something? « It means to realize in the heart the significance and beauty of what you see and how it relates to and affects you. To behold the glory of the Lord means that what we are seeing of the person and work of Christ is affecting us in heart and life. The way the Spirit produces His fruit within us is by "shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). « The Holy Spirit glories in and magnifies the beauty of the person and work of Jesus by unveiling it to our spiritual understanding (cf. John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The essential work of the Spirit is to set Christ before our eyes until in adoration our hearts find Him more beautiful than whatever our flesh desires to have or do. The Revelation - What use does the law have in sanctification? « Are we to say then that the law has no use in the process of sanctification? Absolutely not. The issue at stake in the sanctification/law debate is one of revelation versus power. If we see the law as one way the power of God works in us to make us like Christ, we err. We have already established that we are not made like Christ by obeying the law. But if we see the law as a revelation of the character of Christ, we see rightly. I’m sure you would say that if someone perfectly kept the Law, he would be like Christ. Why would you say that? Because the Law is the revelation of His character. « The law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us (we can gaze upon the beautiful character of Christ through the Law) and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit - with the certain knowledge that we will fail daily in this life and then the Law becomes our Tutor to drive us back to Christ (back to the good news of God’s provision for our failure). « It is interesting to note here that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is essentially the Law at the heart level. The Spirit works to internalize the Law within us (He works love within us which is the summary of the Law). Question: So how do we grow in Christlikeness? « We are made complete by the Spirit as we repeatedly behold Jesus Christ graphically portrayed as crucified before the eyes of our heart (Galatians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:18). In other words, we are progressively sanctified as we behold Christ in the gospel. But remember, this does not mean that the Law has no use. It does. It works as a guide revealing to us the image of Christ into which we are being transformed by the gospel. Posted by Cruv at February 18, 2004 01:31 PM Comments This is really good stuff. Who wrote this? Posted by: Candy at April 24, 2004 07:40 PM I thought I was following you until I got to this sentence toward the end of this article: "the law is useful for believers to reveal His character to us and as a goal for which we should strive in the power of the Holy Spirit..." Now I'm not sure I follow you at all. I thought you had said we are sanctified by faith and that we are to "lay our deadly doing down." Now you are saying we are to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Could you explain what "striving in the power of the Holy Spirit" means, and how that is different from observing the law?
  • Galatians: Entering and Continuing
    + Chapter 3 addresses this main problem by exploring how we enter and continue in the Christian life. In the first 5 verses, Paul answers these two questions: (1) How do we enter the Christian life? (2) How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + I want you to notice that before Paul addresses these two questions he rebukes the Galatians very sternly. Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? + Paul calls the Galatians foolish because (1) they are failing to walk in line with the truth of the Gospel and (2) they are failing to see that the Gospel is for all of life. The Galatians were guilty of not walking in line with the Gospel and Paul classifies their failure as foolish and may be indicating that their foolish behavior was the result of demonic influence. + When Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you?", he uses a singular "who" which he may have used to point to satanic influence. Paul writes, "Galatians, who has bewitched you?" The expected answer: "Satan." I think one of the things that Paul implies in this is that one of Satan’s main objectives is to keep believers from clearly seeing the Gospel and walking in line with it. + I’m stressing this point so that we all recognize how important the words that follow Paul’s stern rebuke really are. There are spiritual forces that do not want believers to get the Gospel! They really don’t care if we do the church thing, the religious thing as long as we are really not getting the Gospel right. So it is absolutely critical that we are able to answer these two questions biblically and that we daily live out what we discover. + So with the importance of these two questions in mind lets begin to answer them. How do we enter the Christian life? Galatians 3:1-3a O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit + Notice in verse 1 that Paul describes what happened when the Galatians became Christians. He says that the Galatians came to faith in Christ when He "was publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. What is really striking about Paul’s choice of words here is that we have no reason to believe that any of these Galatian believers were physically present at the crucifixion of Christ. It is most likely that none of them saw Christ die with their physical eyes. Question: So how can Paul say that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their eyes? + First, what does "publicly portrayed" mean? It basically means to portray something vividly or graphically. So what Paul is saying is that the breadth and length and depth and height of what happened at the cross was clearly presented to them. When Paul says this we must be careful not to think that he is primarily referring to a graphic description of the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. We must not think that by "publicly portraying Christ as crucified" Paul was detailing such things as the shredding of Christ’s flesh that every blow of the Cat-of-Nine-Tails caused. His portrayal of Christ’s crucifixion was not so much about the physical content of Christ’s sufferings as it was about the theological content of Christ’s sufferings. + If you were to go to Acts 13 where you find a sample of what Paul preached to the Galatians and study that particular sermon thoroughly, you would find that he clearly lays out the why and how of Jesus’ saving work on the cross. His emphasis is not so much upon what took place visibly as it is upon what took place theologically. + One of the things that we can learn from this is that it is the theological content of the cross that gives the external sufferings of Christ meaning and enables us to see the profundity of His internal sufferings. As we move on through Galatians 3, we will see the depth of the theological content that was behind the cross (cf. 3:10-14). All Paul is doing in the verses that follow our study today is re-portraying "Christ as crucified." So what Paul did when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians was to make clear the theological significance of the physical and spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross as it related to them personally. + So what does Paul mean by "before your eyes"? ILLUS: D.C. Sniper: not being there vs. being there + He obviously is not referring to their physical eyes, but rather to the eyes of their heart. All Paul is saying is that when the Galatians heard the Gospel it penetrated their hearts with great power. The Gospel affected them deeply, profoundly. A great cross reference that helps us understand what Paul is meaning here is: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Question: So how do we enter the Christian life? + We enter the Christian life when the theological content of the Gospel penetrates our hard hearts so that we see with the eyes of faith not just that Jesus died in general, but that He died for us. We enter the Christian life when at the same time we are full of conviction because we see that Jesus died for us and full of adoring amazement because we see that Jesus died for us. Paul is referring to this personal aspect of the truth of the Gospel to the hearer in the phrase "before your eyes." A person is converted when by faith he sees that Jesus bore his sin and that Jesus lived and died in his place. Notice how Martin Luther puts it in his commentary on Galatians. "But who is this Me? It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter aright this little word me shall be a good advocate and disputer against all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience. For Christ delivered up for me neither sheep, nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but Himself, and that entirely and wholly for me. Yes even for me, who am such a wretched and miserable sinner. Say me then with all thy might, and print this pronoun me indelibly in thine heart. Not doubting, no -- not for one moment, but that word is written for thee, to make it thy very own and to make Christ and his death for sin thy very own also" (Martin Luther). Follow-up Question: But what does this saving faith really involve? I mean, if I am really seeing my relationship to the cross and the cross’ relationship to me with the eyes of faith, what will be different about me? + Notice in verse 2 that Paul contrasts the "works of the law" with "hearing with faith." Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law [that is, by observing the law] or by hearing with faith? + So the opposite of "hearing with faith" is "observing the law." Verse 3 goes on to tell us what an individual is seeking to accomplish through observing the law. Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [or completed] by the flesh? + The individual who in contrast to "believing" is "observing the law" is doing this in order that he might attain completion through his own effort. Tim Keller writes this about Paul’s words in verse 3. "The word Paul uses for ["being perfected"] in v.3 is epi-teleo, ‘completion.’ He is describing our normal course of life. We all are striving to ‘complete’ ourselves, to make ourselves acceptable to God, ourselves, and others and we trust our efforts to attain that through moral, vocational, and relational achievements. But Paul says that to believe the gospel is to abandon that entire approach to life, to ourselves, and to God . . . Thus, before we became Christians, we trusted various projects of personal effort to make us feel complete. But to ‘believe’ in Christ is to enact a revolution in what we trust for our sense of epi-teleo, completion or perfection." ILLUS: Frodo, along with the other three hobbits, was clearly the least of all within The Fellowship of 9. Gandalf was a great wizard. Aragorn was of kingly descent and a great warrior. Legolas was an elf with amazing fighting skills. Gimli was surprisingly powerful for his short yet stocky stature. Boromir was the oldest son of a ruling family. Frodo was but a simple hobbit who lived the simple life and never accomplished anything of significance in comparison to his companions. « If you were Frodo, how would your sense of inadequacy in comparison to the others demonstrate itself? Probably in one of two ways: (1) You would try to convince yourself that you are not inadequate in comparison to them by identifying and meditating upon their bad traits; or (2) by trying to show no fear by being the first to volunteer for dangerous jobs along the way. « But what should you do if you were Frodo? (1) Recognize and meditate upon the fact that you were chosen by God (God is inferred in The Lord of the Rings) to be in the Fellowship and bear the ring. You are there because you were acted upon from the outside. That the divine design was to choose the weak things of the world to defeat the strong. (2) Consider and meditate upon what you had been clothed in. Do you remember what Frodo wore underneath his coat and shirt? A Mithril vest. Do you remember the value of this vest? It was worth more than all the wealth of the Shire in its entirety. It was worth far more than all the combined wealth of the other Fellowship members. Frodo was clothed in more wealth and value than he could possibly fathom. His worth, his value was inestimable and it was not due to his striving or working. It was simply due to a most gracious gift! + That’s the point Paul is making here. True completion cannot be attained through human striving. It is only found through believing in the one who was for us crucified and became for us our vest of righteousness! In Christ you have been given far more than you can possibly fathom. He is your completion! Repeat Follow-up Question: So what does this saving faith really involve? + It involves (1) a ceasing to complete ourselves through personal effort (religious or secular achievements), and (2) an active resting and rejoicing in Christ as our completion/perfection. Believing in the Gospel means that we no longer seek to complete ourselves through peer popularity or academic achievement or through wearing nice clothes and owning our own car. No, believing in the Gospel means that we derive our sense of completion from the one who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). + I close every e-mail I write with the following verse from a great hymn: "Lay your deadly doing down-down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete." Jesus is our perfection. It is in Him that we find our sense of epi-teleo, completion! So stop your striving! How do we continue in the Christian life? Galatians 3:2-5 [1] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- + Notice in verse 2 that Paul says that the Galatians received the Spirit through "believing" not through "striving" ("works of the law"). Then he goes on in verse 3 to confront them with their foolishness and ask, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being made complete by the flesh?" Question: What is Paul really getting at here? + He is trying to get the Galatians to recognize their failure to believe (present tense) the Gospel. In other words, Paul says to the Galatians, "Since you entered the Christian life receiving the Spirit through faith and a putting away of personal striving, are you now so foolish as to try to complete yourself through striving again?" + Then Paul kicks it up a notch in verse 5. Galatians 3:5 Does he who [continually] supplies the Spirit to you and [continually] works miracles among [or "in"] you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? + Paul is trying to get the Galatians to realize afresh that the Spirit of God continues to work in them completing them (cf. Philippians 1:6) not through their striving but through their believing. What this means is that we continue in the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life, namely, by believing in the Gospel! Application: (1) When your parents or some other authority corrects you, do you become defensive? If so, why? Why are we so often defensive when someone corrects or criticizes us? It usually (if not always!) because our sense of righteousness (being right or at least being thought of as right) is threatened. We become defensive when we feel like our identity is being threatened. Whenever this defensive spirit raises up its ugly head, its usually because we are striving to complete ourselves rather than resting and rejoicing in the righteousness of Christ which is our completion. (2) Some of you have some spiritual struggles that you would like some help with, but you won’t go to your parents, or youth leaders, or other spiritual leaders for counsel and accountability. Why is that? It may be because you think that they will think less of you than you want to be thought of. It may be because you think they will think of you as less spiritual than they do right now. If this is the case, it’s a subtle indication that you are striving to complete yourself (it’s a form of self-righteousness) rather than resting and rejoicing in Christ as your completion. + What has gone wrong? Whenever we find ourselves living like this we can be sure that we have moved from actively believing and resting in the Gospel to "being perfected by the flesh" (3:3). We have transferred our trust from Christ to ourselves. Whenever we do that, we will soon become angry or worried or jealous or bitter or frustrated or defensive or self-protective because we will always fail in our attempts to complete ourselves. Look at Galatians 2:16. Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified [or declared complete] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified [declared complete] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified [or declared complete]. + So what must you do when you get angry like this? First, repent of your self-righteous attempts to complete yourself and rejoice in the Christ "who loved you and gave Himself for you" that you might be the righteousness of God in Him. This is how we live the Christian life, namely, by daily repenting of our self-righteous striving and daily rejoicing in "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 14) which is that you are justified through faith in Christ alone.
  • Galatians: Facing Your Justification
    If you take a close look at 2:11-14, you will notice that Peter's failure to walk in line with justification was on two counts: (1) he drew back from table fellowship with the Gentile believers, and (2) he did it because of his fear of man (2:12). One of the most significant things that this indicates is that the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ sends out lines of implication that guide our behavior and decision making. Therefore, Peter withdrew from the Gentile believers caving in to the fear of man because he was not thinking out the implications of justification through faith. In other words, Peter’s problem was that his heart was not warm with the reality of being fully accepted in Christ through faith alone. o I think that one of the great things that we learn here is that our primary problem with the great doctrine of justification through faith is that we often fail to see that it has implications for all of life. It has much more to offer than simply telling us how we got saved. Justification is meant to inform all of the believer’s living. o This is what Galatians 2:17-21 teaches. Paul is showing us just how relevant the doctrine of justification by faith is to all of life. What we learn in these verses is that all of life is to be lived facing our justification. * I want us to examine the profound relevance of justification under three headings: (1) Acceptance (2:17-18); (2) Freedom (2:19); and (3) Life (2:20). So lets read Galatians 2:17-21 and then look at each heading. Galatians 2:17-21 [17] But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [18] For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. [20] It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Acceptance * Coming to understand what Paul is saying in verses 17 and 18 was very difficult for me. It didn’t help matters for me to discover that commentators are all over the map on these two verses. So I wrestled and wrestled without any light until I figured out what Paul meant by the word sinners in verse 17. That one word ended up being the doorway through which I walked to figure out what Paul is saying in these two verses. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Now we need to connect Paul’s reference to sinners here with his reference to Gentile sinners back in verse 15. Galatians 2:15 We ourselves [meaning Paul and Peter] are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; * Last time we discussed how Paul was not saying that Peter and he were not sinners in the general sense. Paul well establishes elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:9). So in what sense does he mean that Gentiles are sinners while Jews by birth are not? In that since the Gentiles did not receive the law, which in this particular context Paul is thinking primarily about the ceremonial law, they flagrantly neglected it. In other words, since the ceremonial law was not given to the Gentiles they did not know or practice it. * So a Jew would consider a Gentile a sinner in that he constantly neglected the ceremonial law whereas a Jew by birth was brought up to keep it rigorously. * Now remember that the ceremonial law was a teaching method by which God showed that sinful people cannot go into the presence of a holy God without cleansing. This particular teaching method could not fail to make man aware of his sinfulness because the law included so many regulations that it was absolutely impossible for someone to keep everyone of them all of the time. But God also provided the elaborate sacrificial system for the inevitable failure to keep all the clean laws God. * So to what did all the clean laws and the sacrificial system point? They pointed to the one who would be the fulfillment of all the clean laws and sacrificial system. Through his life and death Jesus made the ceremonial laws obsolete. Man is now made clean not through the observance of the clean laws but through faith in Christ. * Now with all of this in mind lets read verse 17 and see if we are given any insight into what Paul means by found to be sinners. Galatians 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * Keep in mind that Paul is still talking about Peter and himself when he says our or we. Paul is acknowledging that both Peter and he have sought justification through faith in Christ which means that they are now free from observing the ceremonial law. Why are they free from the ceremonial law? Because it is through faith in Christ alone that anyone is found acceptable. In other words, the ceremonial laws are now obsolete because the one to whom they pointed had come and already given Himself to save His people from their sins. * So a paraphrase of Galatians 2:17 would be . . . Galatians 2:17 But if Peter, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ through faith, we too were found by the Judaizers to be as Gentile sinners no longer observing the ceremonial law, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! * The Judaizers believed that eating with Gentiles was sin. And thus they argued that if Jews ate with Gentiles because of Christ, Christ was the author of sin. The Judaizer’s problem was to think that the clean laws themselves made a person acceptable to God thus failing to realize that their purpose was to point to the one whom alone could make one acceptable to God. It was not sin to stop observing the clean laws because the clean laws never made one clean or acceptable. Christ came to free man from having to do anything to be found acceptable to God. Application: So how does this apply to us today? * Like Peter, we can believe the gospelthat we are clean through Jesus alonebut yet not walk in line with what we know to be true. If you ever feel a sense of condemnation, that is, that God does not accept you, because you fail to have devotions or pray, you are not walking in line with doctrine of justification by faith. You see having devotions and praying does not make you acceptable to God. God does not accept or reject you on the basis of what you do or don’t do. God does not accept you because you have your devotions or because you pray or even because you don’t sin. * Usually when we feel a sense of condemnation for doing or not doing certain things we are tempted to engage in some form of self-flagellation to convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve his acceptance. This is not thinking that is in line with the Gospel. * The Gospel says that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin so that we might receive His righteousness and be fully accepted by the Father. We cannot merit or demerit God’s acceptance because Christ has merited His acceptance for us. * So what Paul was seeking to do here for Peter was help him see afresh that God’s acceptance of him is not based upon any religious discipline that he does or doesn’t do. Rather, his acceptance before God is by his faith in Christ alone. Whenever we have a sense of God’s condemnation it is because we are failing to face our justification. Freedom * Now we will look specifically at the concept of freedom as it relates to our justification. Notice verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Question: What does Paul mean when he says that he died to the law? * He certainly does not mean that he is no longer responsible to obey God’s law. Just a cursory reading of Paul’s letters will demonstrate this. So what does he mean? When Paul says that he died to the law he means two things: (1) that he died to it in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved; and (2) that he died to the law’s condemnation. Prior to his conversion Paul labored to obey all the law that he might be found acceptable to God. Paul used the law as a way of being saved. But it was through the law (2:19), as he was trying to obey it, that he came to see how impossible it was to obey it. In Romans 7:9-12, Paul says that he was alive until the commandment came (i.e. Thou shalt not covet) and put him to death. * What Paul means in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2:19 (by the phrase through the law) is that one day the commandment Thou shalt not covet actually penetrated his heart and for the very first time he began to understand it and see that he could never obey it. So Paul says that he died to the law in that he no longer sees it as a way of being saved. * But he also means that he died to the law’s condemnation. If we are not justified by the law, but by Christ (v. 16), then that means that the law cannot condemn us. So if you as a child of God are feeling condemned and fear that God will no accepts you, then you have simply forgotten that you are dead to the law. You’ve forgotten that it can no longer harm you. * Notice what Paul says next: Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. * Paul is making a remarkable admission here. He is acknowledging that as a Pharisee he never really lived for God when he was trying to complete himself through obedience to the law. He was trying to be very moral and good, but it was for himself, not for God. I think what we learn here is that if you obey God without knowing you are accepted, then you are obeying God to get a reward, namely, acceptance. But when you obey God knowing that He has already accepted you, then you are obeying out of sheer delight in His grace. That is what Paul means by live to God. * Justification provides a whole new motive for obedience that is far more powerful than guilt or fear motivated obedience. It provides us with an obedience of freedom. John puts it like this: 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. * When we are convinced that God loves us in Christ, our obedience will not be burdensome. It’s when we are not convinced that God loves and accepts us that obedience becomes burdensome. Acceptance-based or love-based obedience comes from knowing that we have already been accepted, rather than obeying to be accepted. This is the freedom that the doctrine of justification brings us. When we find that obeying God is burdensome, it is because we are not facing our justification. * Notice what Paul says at the end of verse 19. Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. * Paul’s point is to say that his new found freedom to live to God flows from his identification with the passion and death of Christ (see Romans 6:1-6). So whenever obedience to God becomes drudgery, it is because (1) it is not acceptance-based, and (2) we are not feeding upon what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross. In other words, it is because we are not facing our justification. Life * Notice the tension found in Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. * The tension is that first Paul says, It is no longer I who liveit is Christ who lives in me, but in the very next sentence, he says, The life I now live . . . I live by faith in the Son of God. So what is Paul saying when he says, I don’t live but I live? The two statements together show us that we are to live our lives out on the basis of who we are in Christ. In other words, verse 20 is just a restatement of verse 14, namely that we need to live our lives in line with the truth of the gospel. * Living out our lives in line with the gospel means that we are living actively remembering that at the cross Christ loved me and gave himself for me (2:20b). So when we live our lives and make our choices and do our work, we do so remembering who we are by faith in Christ. * Listen to this great quotation from Richard Lovelace that really sums up what this great text is teaching us: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives . . . Many . . . have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for their justification . . . drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude . . . Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons . . . Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.(Renewal as a Way of life, Richard Lovelace). Shepherd Group Discussion: * Does knowing that you as a believer are already fully accepted by God remove incentive for repenting of your sins? [Have your teens give reasons for their answer. Press them hard for thorough answers before you share what is below. Make them really think. Maybe even see if you can question them through the three paragraphs below.] You can’t answer this question properly without considering how the gospel affects and transforms the very act of repentance. If your repentance is not gospel-based, the purpose of your repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you. This means that non gospel-based repentance is (1) selfish, (2) self-righteous, (3) and bitter all the way to the bottom. First, non gospel-based repentance is "selfish". In non gospel-based repentance we are only sorry for sin mainly because of its consequences to us. It will bring us punishmentand we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can't ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) Our sin’s heinousness is therefore in what it does to Godit displeases, dishonors him. Thus non gospel-based repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In non gospel-based repentance we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself. Second, non gospel-based repentance is "self-righteous." Non gospel-based repentance easily becomes a form of atoning for the sin. As we saw in the lesson, it often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. But in the gospel, however, God reveals that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin in our place. We do not make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:8 says that God forgives us because he is just. That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God now to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In non gospel-based repentance we are seeking to earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we are just receiving it. Third, non gospel-based repentance is "bitter all the way down." In non gospel-based repentance our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress will a non gospel-based person admit he has sinned--because his only hope is his moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won't be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our ownso it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the character and true dimensions of your sin.
  • Galatians: Walking in Step
    Galatians 2:11-16 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. The Confrontation o As we saw in our study last week Paul has already demonstrated that he did not derive his sense of identity from those of reputation. If you recall, four times in verses 1 through 10 Paul refers to “those who seemed influential.” Galatians 2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. Galatians 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. o I’m reviewing our emphasis a week ago because we’ve got to be careful that we do not lose sight of this important theme of Paul’s as we move into verses 11 through 16. This is still a major thought in Paul’s mind. o If you will look back to verse 9 again, you notice that he refers to Peter (i.e. Cephas) as one “who seemed to be a pillar.” So Paul is making it clear that he did not even derive any part of his sense of identity from the leading apostle to the Jews (2:7, “Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised”). o Now lest we think that Paul is just one of those guys who talks big but can’t back it up when it matters, we have verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. o So one proof of whether we derive our sense of identity from those who seem to be influential or from just people in general is how we act toward them when they are in need of being confronted. Confrontation is a really tough test! I don’t think there is anything quite like having to confront someone else especially when they are influential that reveals from where we really derive our sense of identity. Paul definitely passes the test here. His sense of identity is not easily shaken. o I could spend a good bit of time talking about this issue of confrontation as it relates to our sense of identity, but I want to make application in a little different area. Question: What are other evidences that we derive our sense of identity from those who seem influential? This is the question I encourage all of you to take time to answer for yourself, but I do want to take the time to mention one. I think cliques are often evidence of seeking to derive our sense of identity from the wrong place. o Very often the existence of cliques is related to an identity issue. Why do we often hang out in cliques? - I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would say that it has something to do with the fact that we feel more alive with certain groups of people than we do with others. We usually choose people that make us feel good when we are with them. Maybe we choose them because they make us feel accepted. Or maybe its because they make us look good or we think people think we are “somebody.” I hope you can see that this is really an identity issue. - If we look at it from a little different angle, we can probably say that we hang out in cliques because we are not really secure in our identity if we are with people who are different than we are and who we don’t know that well. o So here is my question for you. Test yourself: Do you have an identity problem? Are you someone who derives your sense of identity from other human beings? o Well, Paul gives us proof that he does not derive his sense of identity from man whether they are influential or not. Can you supply proof? If so, what is it? Paul’s proof is verse 11. Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. The Problem Question: Why did Paul oppose Peter to his face? Galatians 2:11-12 [11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o Now I want us to go back and look at why Peter originally began eating with the Gentiles. Acts 11:1-4 [1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2] So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, [3] "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." [4] But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5] "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. [6] Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. [7] And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' [8] But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' [9] But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' [10] This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. o Peter’s struggle was that his conscience was still bound to the “ceremonial law” which was a series of extensive regulations that God’s people had to follow in order to be found acceptable in the worship of God. It was God’s way of teaching His people that sinful people cannot go into the presence of God without cleansing. o Thus, God was seeking to reeducate Peter’s conscience. “Peter, what God has made clean, do not call common.” This reeducating of his conscience is what freed him to eat with the Gentiles. Later on in Acts he shares the content of the theological education he received from God back in Joppa. Acts 15:7-9 [7] And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed [made clean] their hearts by faith. o So what Peter came to realize is that it is through Christ alone that all believers are “made clean” and acceptable to God, because now it is Christ who makes us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22) and “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Question: Why did Peter draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles? Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. o He drew back out of fear. It did not draw back out of conviction but fear. Peter fell back into the trap of trying to derive his sense of identity from those who were influential. His “need” for a sense of identity from those who were influential beat out what he knew about the Gospel. What’s worse is that he takes others with him. Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. o So Scripture teaches that whenever believers make a decision based upon the fear of man we are being hypocritical. Verse 14 puts it a little differently. Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" o Whenever we make a decision based upon the fear of man we are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel. In other words, we are not walking in line with the Gospel. One of the main things we learn here is that the Gospel sends out lines into all of life and it is the responsibility of the believer/church both to know what those lines are and walk them. Being a believer means that we are seeking to discern the lines that the Gospel sends out into every area of life where we have relationships. Note the following diagram: o When Peter and the other Jews drew back from the Gentiles they were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronts their leader to the face “because he stood condemned” or guilty of not practicing the Gospel. Question: So are cliques in line with the Gospel? o One way to look at Peter’s problem here is that he was being cliquish. He decided to eat with the circumcision party rather than with the Gentiles. Why? Well, his sense of identity was very weak so he decided to derive a sense of it from “those who seemed influential.” o Galatians 2 teaches that whenever we do this we are not walking in line with the Gospel. Question: So what did Paul do? o He confronted Peter with the Gospel and this is what we must do with ourselves. If we are not daily confronting ourselves and being confronted with the Gospel, we will quickly fall out of line with the Gospel. So notice the content of Paul’s confronting words: The Solution Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Interpretation Issue: If we are to properly understand these verses we must understand what Paul means by “Gentile sinners.” o Paul, speaking to Peter says, “We ourselves (you and me, Peter) are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Is Paul saying that as Jews Peter and he are not sinners? No, Paul is not using the term “sinners” in its broadest sense. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin o What we need to keep in mind is that Paul is making a contrast between Jews and Gentiles in the context of a discussion on the ceremonial law. Gentiles were considered sinners as Paul uses the term in verse 15 because they neglected the ceremonial law. Jews were not guilty of neglecting it because it was given specifically to them by God to practice. o Now that we know what Paul means by “Gentile sinners”, let’s go back and read verses 15 and 16 again. I think it will make better sense to you now. Galatians 2:15-16 [15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [who from birth neglected the ceremonial law]; [16] yet [though we were not born as ceremonial law-neglecters] we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. o Paul’s point is to say, “Peter, you know that we are not found acceptable to God by keeping any part of the law. You know that we are found acceptable to God through faith in Christ alone. So whether you are a law-keeping Jew by birth or a law-neglecting Gentile by birth, you are justified the same way, namely, through faith in Christ.” o Now what is really beautiful to me is that Paul is linking two major concepts in this chapter: the ceremonial clean laws and justification. If we consider them together, I think we will see the line the Gospel sends out so that we don’t cave in to the fear of man. o Both the “ceremonial clean laws” and “justification” deal with the issue of acceptance. As it relates to the “clean laws” in the OT, if man was to be found acceptable for entrance into the presence of God, he had to obey the clean laws. The concept of justification, that is, the concept of standing justified before God refers to man’s acceptance by God. Both of these concepts are at the heart of the Gospel and speak to the issue of our acceptance before God. o But “justification” adds a significant point to our understanding of what must happen in order for us to be accepted by God. If all we do is think in terms of “clean” and “unclean”, we might (we shouldn’t but we might) be tempted to think that all Christ does to make us acceptable to God is to wash us of our spiritual pollution. This would imply that we are really okay as long as our sin pollution is taken away. Question: So what does the term “justification” to do our understanding of the clean laws? o It clarifies it. It makes sure we understand that it is not enough merely to have the pollution of sin removed, that is, to have our sins forgiven. That would only take away the negative leaving no positive. Justification says that not only are you no longer considered polluted by sin, but also the “cleanness” of Christ who is the fulfillment of all the clean laws is credited to your account. In other words, because of Christ’s obedience you are treated as if you fulfilled all of the law perfectly including the clean laws and thus are fully accepted by the Father. o You see God does not merely accept you because your sin pollution has been dealt with. No, He accepts you because not only has your sin has been forgiven, but also because Christ’s obedience to the law has been credited to your account. Question: What does this mean? o It means that everything you need to be fully accepted by the Father, namely, the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of Christ, you already have through faith in Christ. Application: So one of the things Paul said to Peter was, “Peter, if you are already justified in God’s eyes, why do you need to be justified in man’s?” You see this was Peter’s problem. When he drew back from the Gentiles, he was seeking to justify himself in the eyes of the circumcision group. Peter had “forgotten” that God loved and had fully accepted him.  Now does that mean that after hearing Paul’s’ words, Peter said, “Oh, yea! That’s right! God has fully accepted me! How in the world did I forget about that?”  No, Peter did not forget about God’s acceptance in that he had no recollection of it. We are not taking about the difference between having something in your head and not having something in your head. No, Peter had forgotten that we are justified through faith in Christ alone in that he was not feeling the reality of it. He knew the reality of it, but he wasn’t “feeling” it. o This is one reason why Paul confronted Peter. There are really two reasons: (1) The Gospel was at stake. Peter’s behavior led many others astray so that a significant group of believers were not walking in line with the Gospel. So Paul confronted Peter to set things right. (2) Paul was facing Peter with the reality of the Gospel so that Peter would feel it again. He was essentially doing Hebrews 11:24. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, o In the context of Hebrews 10 “to stir up” means to provoke others unto love and good works by encouraging them with the truth of the Gospel (10:25). Hebrews 10 is full of the Gospel. Here is one example of its emphasis upon the good news of Christ. Hebrews 10:8-14 [8] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. o So Hebrews 10:24 says, “Take this good news and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He is talking about encouragement, and encouragement always aims at the heart. It is so easy for us to “forget” the truth of the Gospel, that is, it is so easy for us not to “feel” the reality that we are fully accepted by God through faith in Christ alone. It doesn’t take long for this to happen. That’s why Hebrews 3:12 and 13 say, Hebrews 3:12-13 [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. QUESTION: So what are we to do so that we walk in line with the Gospel every day? o Three Answers: (1) We’ve got to think through the implications of the Gospel in every area of life. (2) We’ve got to be our own Paul’s! We’ve got to preach the truth of the Gospel to ourselves everyday. Otherwise we start forgetting and not feeling its truth in our hearts. So be your own Paul. (3) We’ve got to have some people in our lives that are Paul’s for us. Peter needed a Paul and so do we. Find a Paul and ask him to regularly (day to day if at all possible) preach the truth of the Gospel to you. This is one reason why we gather as the people of God (Heb. 10:25). We come together to be a Paul and be around other Paul’s so that we can remember. Identifying the Gospel Lines: o Man/Woman Relationships: When we think of “man/woman relationships” we usually think very individualistically. We usually think we are walking in line with the Gospel when (1) we are not engaging in sexual relations until we are married, and (2) we are not marrying individuals who are not believers. But is that all that walking in line with the Gospel involves? No. Though the Bible teaches (1) that sexual relations are reserved for the marriage bed only, and that (2) believers are not to marry unbelievers, those two commands really do not demonstrate the beauty of “the truth of the Gospel”, that is, the beauty of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, as it relates to every aspect of man/woman relationships. o Here is what I mean: How should “the truth of the Gospel” make a difference in the area of man/woman relationships? If a man were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, he would not only date externally good-looking women, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, his acceptance of a woman would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon her internal relationship with Christ. If a woman were to live out the implications of being accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, she would not only date externally good-looking men, but also actually assess their potential worth as a marriage partner based upon their personal walk in the Gospel. In other words, her acceptance of man would not be primarily based upon the externals, but would primarily be based upon his internal relationship with Christ. o In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most Christian people are basically ‘conformed to the world’ in this area and therefore not walking in line with the Gospel. The more we personally come to grips with “the truth of the Gospel”, the more we will be freed to pursue relationships with the opposite sex in line with “the truth of the Gospel.” o Work Relationships: Our culture does place high value on relationships at the work place, but relationships are not viewed as ends in themselves, but rather as a means to further one’s own personal interests. In other words, instead of choosing relationship because the relationships are good in themselves, we choose to spend time with people who will “open doors” for us in the work place. Relationships at work are often chosen based upon their usefulness for reaching career goals. Thus, people we relate to are not really viewed as persons but objects. They are just a means to an end. They get us connected to what we really want, namely, advancement. o That kind of thinking is not walking in line with the truth of the Gospel. The “truth of the Gospel” says that we cannot get any more “connected” than we already are in Christ. In Christ we already enjoy full acceptance from the greatest, most awesome being in the universe. There is nothing greater to be found in all of life. o So when we go to work, we don’t use relationships to advance ourselves. Why not? Because we already have far more than we could possibly get for ourselves by moving up the ladder. The Gospel frees us to view people as people and not as means to an end. It frees us to relate to people as fellow image bearers rather than as objects that we use further our own personal agendas.
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