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FREE BORN CHILDREN GALATIANS 1:1 THROUGH This is Paul’s
letter to the Christians living in the area of This letter is
infrequently studied. Maybe this is
because of its emphasis on Grace, which is such a nebulous term. Some teachers have tried to make this
letter into a forum on a criticism against Legalism. Jesus was never critical of the Law, He
said, He fulfilled the Law [Matthew The false
teachers, at any time, advocates some type of doctrinal necessity attached to
the Law, which must be applied to the Gospel message. Evidently, these so-called “Judaizers” were
taking a compromise position for the sake of appeasing the Zealot Jewish
persecutors. These teachers were
stressing that Jewish traditions were necessary in the Christian life when in
fact the Law was a necessary precursor to Grace. The Law defined sin and thereby introduced
the need for Grace [Romans 5:18-20, Galatians 3:24]. From the Judaizers point of view, Paul had
introduced into the Following the
wisdom of this world, these Judaizers created confusion and
confrontation. Paul screams at them,
“You foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you?” [Galatians 3:1] Paul’s condemnation is blunt and to the
point. Paul is calling for repentance
from these distorted wanderings in doctrinal thought. This letter is important to us today
because it reflects a number of common conditions found in the modern
church. This letter gives
us illustrations of many modern problems and provides a condemnation of our
natural tendencies. It is common to
honor traditions above God’s word.
This letter is a vivid applicational contrast between The Shepherd’s
grace and the sheep’s nature. The
Gospel message Paul gives focuses on three essential tenets. (1)
Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from any
works or actions [Galatians 1:6-10, Ephesians 2:1-10]. (2) Every Christian rests in a perfect
position in God’s sight and every Christian is led by The Spirit into a
development towards God’s plan, purpose, and condition [Galatians 3:1-5,
5:1-5, Romans 8:1, 8:29]. (3) We must
understand the function of the Law [Galatians The danger of
ignoring any of these three tenets leads to the danger of becoming a victim
of falling for the propaganda that promotes a variety of false teachings
stretching from Liberalism to Legalism. The first, Liberalism, depreciates grace by
emphasizing feelings and experiences.
This depreciated or disapproval of grace is seen in such philosophies
as Relativism, Existentialism, and Transcendentalism. The second class, Legalism, of false
teaching promotes Universalism and Puritanism; these are distortions of
pure Legalism. Assuming the Law is an
option in our Salvation is part of these false teachings. This assumption is refuted in many ways in
the Scriptures [Galatians A study of this
letter to the Galatians can yield three results. (1) A better appreciation of God’s
Grace. (2) A realization that
obedience is a harvest The Spirit produces.
(3) The Spirit has the power to overcome the inherent sinful nature. Learning to live by The Spirit, [Galatians
5:1] is the same thing as learning to listen to The Good Shepherd. The principles
are the same. We are under His
control We are owned by
Him We are trained by
Him Our purpose is to
follow Him The Judaizers
were maintaining that the Jewish traditions were to be honored inside of the
Gospel framework that Paul had preached to the churches throughout Paul’s attack on
this new and alternative gospel had five prongs. (1) Their source of information is not from
God [ CHAPTER ONE 1Paul, an
apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead— 2and all the brothers with him. Paul identifies
himself as an apostle. There are 14
men in the Scriptures who could claim such a title. The original 12, Matthias [Acts To
the churches in
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the
present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to
whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Grace
starts the Separation
process, established in God’s will.
Peace is God’s
planned Selection objective. Jesus is God’s
gift for the Supervision of the
entire plan Rescue is the
eternal Security in all of this
effort. God the Father is
Sovereign God’s Eternal
Glory is the reason for the Shepherd’s
work. These are the
concepts that are fundamental in the Gospel message. Notice, the Law has no functional
contribution in establishing these tenets.
These beliefs are consistent with the lessons found in John 10. These doctrines are under attack today, and
are the focus of many different theological arguments. Depreciate grace, redefine peace, insert an
exchange economy for the gift, avoid the unpleasant subjects, promote
self-control, and ignore the eternal plan are all patterns that form these
attacks. God’s word, as given to us in
the Scriptures and under the leadership of The Spirit is the way to avoid
being influenced by the ubiquitous propaganda surrounding us daily. Each element of
the propaganda attacks includes stolen pieces of the truth that is combined
with the agenda of those who are seeking the control of our thoughts and our
resources. It is a dangerous thing to
misrepresent God’s word or even to depreciate its authority [1 Peter No
Other Gospel
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who
called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which
is really no gospel at all. Evidently,
some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the
gospel of Christ. 8But even
if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we
preached to you, let him be eternally
condemned! 9As we have
already said, so now I say again: If anybody is
preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally
condemned! The Greek for
“deserting,” metatithemi (met-at-ith’-ay-mee),
is to transpose, to change, to pass over, or to turn away. These Christians are re-interpreting the
Gospel about Christ’s grace into something else. The typical path is to acknowledge grace
then add something else in human attitude or action. This new gospel with this modified grace is
no Gospel at all! It is easy to be
influenced by the impressive propaganda that is portrayed as the truth. We need constantly to ask ourselves, “What
is the Good Shepherd saying?” The phrase
“eternally condemned” can be troubling.
The NIV and the Greek diverge in the expression of this thought. The Greek literally says, “To receive a
curse.” The NIV translators seem to
assume that this curse is eternal.
There is nothing to affirm or deny this assumption. There is nothing in the Greek, in other
translations, or interpretations that use the word “eternal.” We are told explicitly that the believer
“in Christ” is in a position of perfect eternal security [Romans 8:1, 38, 39,
Colossians Today our
wanderings are very similar to that of the Galatians. We may appraise our environment as being
much more complex, but all around us are the same tendencies to depreciate
Christ’s gospel. We may not pay much
attention to the legacy traditions of Judaism yet we are surrounded with
doctrinal philosophies just as dangerous.
We embrace
popular theories as if they were connected to God’s word and His truth. The following list of common philosophies
represents theories that mostly go unnoticed although they shape our thinking
and our view of other churches, and are influencing our personal
beliefs. Too often, these philosophies
are integrated into basic beliefs in most church doctrines, explicitly or
implicitly: Synopsis of Modern Philosophies Liberalism -- 19th-century
Protestant movement that favored free intellectual inquiry, stressed the ethical and humanitarian content of
Christianity, and de-emphasized dogmatic theology. Stresses the importance of reason; whatever
disagreed with reason and science should be rejected. Sometimes this philosophy is classified as
Neo-Orthodoxy. [Depreciates grace] Legalism -- Strict, literal adherence to the law or to a
particular code, as in religion or morality.
The Pharisees were examples of the elevation of laws of Judaism above
God’s will. It is sometimes called
“Cafeteria Christianity” because of the tendency to pick and choose the rules
that is most suited to our comfort zone.
There are hidden agendas in all legalism. The Pharisees had one and so did the
“Judaizers.” It is an economic system
of being paid for working. It is
expected that obedience produces rewards [Depreciates grace]. Relativism -- A theory,
especially in ethics or aesthetics that conceptions of truth and moral values
are not absolute but are relative
to the persons or groups holding them.
The use of the “paradox” word is often heard in justifying various
interpretations of moral value conflicts.
[Depreciates grace] Existentialism -- A philosophy
that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual’s experience in
a hostile or indifferent universe. It
regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and
responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. Subjective experience is the existential
experience in life. “Subjectivity is
the truth.” [Depreciates grace] Transcendentalism -- A literary and
philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret
Fuller, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends
the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. “We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own
hands; we will speak our own minds.” [Depreciates grace] Universalism -- The doctrine of
universal salvation. All religions are true and therefore worthy of toleration and respect. [Depreciates
grace] Puritanism
– It tends to display scrupulously moral rigor, especially hostility to
social pleasures and indulgences. On the individual level, the Puritans emphasized that
each person should be continually reformed by the grace of God to fight
against indwelling sin and do what is right before God. A humble and obedient life becomes an
obsesion. [Depreciates
grace] Pelagianism – Denied original
sin and affirmed the ability of humans to be righteous through the exercise
of free will. Every soul is morally
innocent. Moral will is still capable of choosing good over evil. [Depreciates grace] These and all wanderings from the Gospel message are
interwoven with some form of Grace Depreciation. It is not important we understand all of
the nuances associated with these philosophies; or
even to be able to identify the specific applications in any church
doctrine. We need only to center our
attention on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our faith” [Hebrews 12:2,
3]. We do this by studying God’s word
under the guidance of His Spirit, with an attitude of prayer. Remembering always, we are members of only
one church, the body of Christ [1 Corinthians 10Am
I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to
please men? If I
were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Compromise
in order to appease powerful opinions is a common temptation. The verb “trying” used here can be thought
of in the same way we would interpret “listening” to men or to The Shepherd. The Shepherd’s voice compared with the
desires of our nature is being contrasted here. The Greek word, for this “trying,” is “peitho,”
which is to trust, to obey, and to listen with conviction. Listening to men is capricious and
untrustworthy. A servant of Christ
listens to God. This is the
contrast. The difference between these
two listening options is directly related to the condition of the listener’s
nature, temporal or spiritual.
The
nature that is born of God listens to God.
Those who are abiding in the sinful nature ignore this voice [Romans
8:5-11]. Those who are outside of the
fold cannot hear the Shepherd’s message [John
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Chapters |
Major
themes |
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1&2 |
SUMMARY of the
problem |
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3&4 |
theological
principles |
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5&6 |
the Spirit’s
role |
Chapter Three
Introduction
The theme of this
chapter is captured in a single verse, “The Righteous Will Live by Faith”
[Galatians
The “will live”
phrase is actually a single verb in the original texts. In the Greek, the verb is “zao” that means causing to live, the
principle behind life, the life force, and “shall-be-living.” This verb has nothing to do with predicting
a future condition, exercising a diligence, or an expression of deliberate
intentions. The Greek verb does not
express any type of willingness. The
verb for the common usage of predicting future life found in a “Judaizers”
fantasy and more suited in some arbitrary context would use the Greek word
“bios.” These are two different words
derived from two very different roots, and should not be used
interchangeably. English has some
limitations in its vocabulary and in its ability to express the truth. This is why researching the original text
at times can be very helpful. A good
lexicon can be very helpful in Bible study and in examining the “Judaizers”
tricks. Eugene Peterson in his
interpretation of this verse puts it very well and avoids the common problem
of using this compound verb when he writes this key verse as, “The person who
believes God, is set right by God --- and that’s the real life.”
In Hebrew, this
“will live” phrase is replaced by one word, “Haga,” which has rich meanings such as
“to live anew,” “to be well,” and “to preserver.” The best definition is an illustration
found in Moses’ sermon to the people of
3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger
and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had
known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the
LORD. 4
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty
years. 5 Know then in your heart that
as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
God’s word is the
reason for this righteousness, this life, and for this faith. The rest of this chapter is about this
faith.
1You
foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched
you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
Beliefs are among
the most basic influence in all of our thinking, and yet there is little
agreement about the origin of these beliefs or on how they are derived. Beliefs are basic to our understanding of a
wide range of significant topics. For
example, our beliefs are key components of our personalities and sense of
identity, and our expressions of beliefs often define us to others. Many of our reactions to others are based
on our beliefs and our perceptions about them, and it is impossible to
understand racism, prejudice, religions, and national conflicts without
disagreements in basic belief systems.
We join many groups because we believe the group will support our
beliefs, and our participation in groups changes many of our beliefs.
These Galatians
churches are a case study into exemplifying the contrast between “position”
and “condition.” There is no
implication or inference here that their faith “position” is in
question. Their understanding about
their “position” in Christ is questionable, but this confusion does not
change their “position.” Their problem
lies in the status of their spiritual “condition.” They are being influenced by their leaders
into a faulty belief structure. This
letter is attempting to lead them away from these influences and back towards
a more stable understanding of God’s ways.
Focusing on what God has done and not looking at what we can do --- is
the change in thinking that is encouraged here.
Today our
“Judaizers” could be classified into four categories. (1) Those that play on our desires to satisfy any human
discontentment by utilizing a “think method” routine. (2) Those that exploit the delusion that we
need what they are offering. (3) Those that develop propaganda and
encourage widespread confusion
concerning the Scriptures with subtle deceptions. (4) Those that promote and claim that there
is an inherent power in the human
spirit to choose one’s own destiny, a defiance of God’s word. Or, they use some
combination of these categories. These
approaches can be identified by their liberal use of the verbs “want, need,
can, and will.” The subject nouns
associated with these verbs vary from “you,” “God,” and “I.” The context is always the same --- it is
about what the human can do to influence God into giving some blessing. The defense against these Judaizers is the
same today as it was in Paul’s time.
Follow The Spirit in His grace and His word.
Do not listen to
or read the words of these “Judaizers.”
Consider seriously the words from Peter when he wrote, “His divine
power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of Him who called us” [2 Peter 1:3]. Contemplate Jesus’ words given to us about
the tasking of The Spirit [John 16:7-15].
2I would like to learn just one
thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by
believing what you heard?
The Spirit always
precedes any approach towards the subjects of “position” and
“condition.” The Spirit initiates the
event of the new birth, which eternally establishes the believer’s “position”
[John 3:6]. The Spirit is tasked with
guiding and managing the believer on the path towards full compliance with
the image of Christ [John
This verse is a
direct challenge to all “Judaizers” then and now. All of the various approaches to the
alternative gospels are addressed in this single question about receiving The
Spirit. Neither our obedience to the
law nor our employment of some type of self-determination is the correct
origin for the type of belief Paul is writing about. “The Spirit gives birth to the spirit”
[John 3:6]. The contrast between
self-will and God’s action is the focus in this verse. God acts and we react is the subtle
emphasis. The entire Bible testifies
to this order of action and reaction.
The human players, both good and bad, are at the mercy of God’s
control and God’s plan. The Galatians
were imposing Levitical rules that were out of context and modified according
to there selfish desires. They acted
as if grace was insufficient to develop their belief, and so it is with all
the promoters of today’s alternative gospels who seem also to depreciate grace
is a like manner.
The Greek word
for “receive” has a wide variety of meanings, and this makes the translation
of this verse possibly problematic.
The Greek word is “lambano,” which
can be translated as “to take,” “to have,” “to possess,” “to receive
something that is given,” and “to follow instructions.” The context of this usage supports an
attitude of participating according to the action initiated by the
giver. This can be thought of as
someone standing in the rain and “receiving” the gift of this heavenly
water. Receiving the Spirit is a
reaction to God’s “drawing” action [John
.
3Are you so
foolish? After beginning with the
Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
The answers to
these questions are typically, yes and yes!
This is all part of the training exercise. It may not be nice, but it is
necessary. This verse is complimentary
to the previous verse. The implication
of being called foolish is disturbing.
However, the Scriptures openly tell us that our nature is inherently
incapable of gaining an understanding in true wisdom [Romans
It is our Faith
that is “beginning with the Spirit.”
We are told that our Faith is the conduit through which God’s grace
flows into us [Ephesians 2:8, 9]. We
hear that because of our belief we have eternal life [John
We tend to
believe that our effort is our “living sacrifices” [Romans 12:1] and thereby
we are in God’s will. This Roman verse
does not contradict the implication in this Galatians verse. When The Spirit is leading, there is no
contradiction.
The reason for
bring up the question in this Galatians verse is to address the age-old
confusion about the difference between God’s action and our reaction, which
is a cause for misunderstanding about the state of our “condition.” This Romans verse is about our attitude, a
characteristic of our “condition.”
This Galatians and this Romans verses both demonstrates that --- God acts and we react. The Spirit manages our “condition,” or
attitude, so that we learn that when we are being led by The Spirit then the
effort is not for our goal; the effort is a natural product of our growing
experience.
Under the
Spirit’s management the desires of the body are slowly dying, literally a
“living sacrifice” and the “human effort” is not goal oriented. Our desire to expend “human effort” is
usually a product of our sinful nature.
Desiring to reach some spiritual goal through our efforts is a foolish
thing to do. Yet, the “Judaizers” use
our belief in the economy of working for pay to their benefit. The implication of this verse is that we
should be examining our assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes in terms of what
the true Gospel is telling us.
“Judaizers” use effort performance as a measure of our current
“condition.” This is very different
from God’s measurement of our obedience.
Obedience
produces healthy growth, which does best in a good environment. The admonition for the Christian to be holy
literally means we must be separated from the wrong environment.
13Therefore, prepare your minds for action;
be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when
Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children,
do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But
just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for
it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." [1
Peter
The
danger of mixing in an unhealthy environment, performance based effort, is
the influence of others. We naturally
compare ourselves with others and this is what we need to watch and resist. It does not matter what other people or our
leaders may think. Are we obeying The
Spirit’s guidance? The answer to this
question determines our performance.
Remember Jesus
said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." [Matthew 11:29, 30]
4Have you suffered so much for
nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit
and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you
believe what you heard?
Our current
effort and our pain may seem to be leading to nothing tangible or having any
conceivable purpose, and yet even such experiences, as these, have
utility. Our faith is strengthening
when there appears to be no hope. We
never have a clear view of what God is doing, only glimpses of our direction
by looking backwards and believing in His promises. The Spirit’s function during these times is
His invaluable encouragements and His harvesting of His fruits [Galatians
The miracles God
performs mostly go unnoticed. We feel
our pain and ignore the products of this pain as if such fruit would have
happened anyway. Looking back in a
musing moment, we see the road we have traveled and the joys that went by
unappreciated. Those slivers of time
we cherished are forever gone, only selectively recalled from our
memory. Those times that now can be
viewed as miracles, but then they were lost in the confusion of all those
battles, which seem now so unimportant.
The value in reminiscence is the production of thanksgiving. We can see how God is working in spite of
our effort, our belief, or our pretense.
Trying to
interpret God by using the world’s wisdom just adds more to the fruitless
wanderings, more confusion, and more anxiety.
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been
His counselor? Who has ever given to
God, that God should repay him? For from Him and
through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen.
[Romans 11:33-36]
The individual’s purpose is not
trying to understand God, to gain happiness, or to escape suffering; God’s
purpose for us is to be conformed to the likeness of Christ [Romans
6Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to
him as righteousness." 7Understand,
then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
The way God works
in our lives is illustrated in the life of Abraham. He was an ordinary man, originally named
Abram, born in a city called
Paul is
addressing here specifically the “Judaizers” using an irrefutable
premise. No one promoting Jewish
Legalism would want to be caught discrediting Abraham in any way. The Father of Israel and the sanctity of
Abraham’s name are beyond reproach in Judaism. Paul’s tactics here are clear and clever. If Abraham was made righteous in his belief
without the law then it follows that God’s gift of faith makes you righteous
in spite of the law [Romans 4:16, 17].
This argument crumbles the “Judaizers” claim that it takes having
faith plus their interpretation of
the law, or whatever. Subsequent to
the Galatians, we have today an emerging a school of thought that is similar
to the “Judaizers.” These modern days
“Judaizers” advocate that there are other considerations beyond faith and
grace, impacting a person’s salvation and eternal reward. These advocates have created an implicit
and explicit set of rules and rituals that must be followed in order to have
a proper relationship with God. These
rules are necessary to “become the person God intends you to be.” Be very cautious when someone uses this
quoted phrase!
Today’s “Judaizers”
sell books or offer courses in order to teach us “How to” grow into the
Christian we need to become. In just
six or eight weeks, we can, they claim, become “spirit filled” Christians, or
you can pray as you should, or study correctly. As children of Abraham, we must understand
that God does not work like this! The programs seem very scriptural, but the
contexts of the promoted passages are skillfully twisted to fit an erroneous
philosophy, which is --- we must act before God can react; this makes us God’s
partners, which is an erroneous thought..
The “Judaizers of today seem to target
our thinking in at least three subtle ways.
This chapter’s 8th verse gives us an example of two of
those ways. “The Scriptures foresaw”
everything because “all Scriptures” are God’s words [2 Timothy
GOD ACTS AND WE REACT
Remember -- “My
sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my
hand. My Father, who has given them to
me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out
of my Father's hand. I and the Father
are one." [John 10:27-30]
Our modern day
“Judaizers” target and exploit at least three common and deeply believed
“truths” in our culture:
· CONSENSUS -- If it is popular and successful then it
must be right and an indication of a blessing from God. This is a worldly wisdom. This is a delusion.
· EXPERIENCE – If we experience the right “feeling”
then we have faith. The Scriptures are
clear about the origin of faith. This
experience-based faith idea is a deception.
· RESPONSIBILITY – They tell us that we must accept
responsibility for our action before we can find peace. We are responsible for our sin
propensities. This implies we have
god-like powers over sin. This is a
defiance of God’s responsibility.
These three
wandering attitudes are buried in the remainder of this chapter. It is hard not to be influenced by these
sources of discontentment. The
messages coming out of these common attitudes are very persuasive and it is
easy to assume there must be “truth” in them.
8The Scripture
foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the
gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through
you."
In other words,
The Spirit who authored the Scriptures knew all the Gentiles individually by
name that would be justified by faith because this was God’s plan. God’s complete quotation is recorded as,
“I will make you
into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and
you will be a blessing. I will bless
those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on
earth will be blessed through you.” [Genesis 12:2, 3]
Paul’s summary of
this verse omits some interesting details, such as there will be both
blessing and cursing associated with reactive attitude towards Abraham’s
offspring. The Hebrew word for
“nations,” goyium,
means a large number of people who are non-Jews, or Gentiles. However, Moses described
God’s contract is
limited for the benefit of all of Abraham’s seed. The justification by faith was fulfilled in
the coming of the Messiah, as prophesied in Isaiah 9:6 and 7. The writer of Hebrews states, “The
promises didn’t do them a bit of good, because they didn’t receive the
promises with faith” [Hebrews 4:2 Message]. The message of justification was dependent
upon the right time in history and throughout history based upon the gift of faith. It was never dependent upon any
individual’s actions.
This grace was given us in Christ Jesus
before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed
through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death
and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. [2 Timothy 1:9, 10]
8For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. [Ephesians 2:8, 9]
At the center of
our modern day “Judaizers” confusions and philosophies, is an effort to
redefine faith into a product of this “Experience-Based Knowledge.” We are coerced into thinking we must be
convinced of certain “truths” before we can believe. This “faith versus knowledge” argument is
pandemic and deeply influences our basic church doctrines. Most Christian Education systems support
the premise that learning precedes the advent of faith. This assumption is not supported by the
Scriptures, “Consider Abraham.”
However, it is true that learning is important subsequent to faith and
is closely associated with the beginning moments of faith. Paul is an example of this faith then
learning phenomenon. His early
learning was anti-faith until he received faith that led to 10 years of
intense training before he was called to his missionary service. There is no question that our experiences
and our past teachings are used by The Spirit in His calling His children to
faith, but there is no way to convince someone of their need for faith
without the leading of The Spirit. If
such convincing was possible then there would be no need for The Spirit in
this manner, and we could live without needing The Spirit. Besides, who could honesty convince us,
using logic, that eternal life was a certainty and that reality was in an
invisible domain [Hebrews 11:1]?
Consider how we started this life!
“Jesus answered,
"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the
“Jesus answered,
"The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” [John 6:29, Philippians 2:13]
“All that the
Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive
away.” [John 6:37]
"No one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up
at the last day.” [John 6:44]
“The Spirit gives
life; the flesh counts for nothing.”
[John 6:63]
“He went on to
say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the
Father has enabled him." [John
6:65]
“for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.” [Romans 11:29]
9So those who have
faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Those specific
individuals who have been given faith are justified like Abraham. The life of Abraham is not ideal in every
respect. He experienced good times and
bad times. He was used and
abused. He was blessed with abundance
and he suffered loss. His faith was
continually tested during times of growth and times of failure. He was not perfect, but his faith was made
stronger with each passing year. He is
known for his faith and obedience in a hostile environment. His victories and his errors are all part of
God’s blessing. He is known as the
father of all who have faith because he is the first person to be recorded as
being righteous because of his faith.
He is the father of a family bound by faith. This faith is not out of “Consensus” or
“Experience.”
God’s contract as
specified to Abraham is without any contingency [Genesis 12:1] or involving
any prerequisite terms. The contract
is specific about God’s absolute promise, prophesies, and has no provision
requiring Abraham to comply with anything.
This is a contract about what God is doing and not about what Abraham
has to do. The story of Abraham is
about this man’s reactions to God’s actions.
This contract is at a time that pre-dates the giving of the law and
subsequent to the eating of the fruit.
No commandment or any behavior code existed. There were at this time recorded judgments
handed down from God, such as the
There is an
implication in this verse that not all are justified by faith. “So those who have faith” implies that this
faith is limited in some way. This
blessing of faith also is presented as if others are sharing this blessing
with Abraham. The group justified by
faith includes Abraham. “The
promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to
all of Abraham’s offspring --- not only to those who are of the law but also
to those who are of the faith of Abraham.
He is the father of us all.”
[Romans 4:16] Therefore, those
who have been given faith are also those who are justified. This faith and this justification go
together, which implies here that these two states cannot be considered
separately. The selection and
distribution of justification and faith are under God’s control. The Gospel is God’s covenant or contract
with those who are of the seed of Abraham.
So it is with all who are called out and given this faith are like
Abraham. They will live by faith and
they are righteous in God’s sight.
This is God reaching down and creating a new creature, which may or
may not be directly from one of the Israeli tribes, but is still from the
seed of Abraham. This is an example of
God acting and then the “holder of faith” reacting. God’s actions are guaranteed to be right [2
Corinthians 1:21. 22, Ephesians 1:13, 14], and not “consensus” driven.
10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is
written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything
written in the Book of the Law."
Those who depend
upon human action as a means to gain favor with God are in danger of
receiving a condemnation and not a blessing.
The reliance on some action is condemned, regardless of its
“correctness.” Too often good and honorable
actions are used as a foundation for gaining some expected reward. The “Judaizer” leaders will stress
following some precept in order to attain an “improved relationship” with
God. Follow a specific ritual, a
particular prayer, or perform some routine is recommended. This all leads to the third “Judaizers”
target for confusion, which could be called the “Responsibility” guilt
trip. “Are we doing enough?”
Some claim that
we can gain our “full potential” by reaching inside of ourselves and drawing
upon our inter-strength. Believing
that in our willingness to accept “responsibility” for our behavior, we can
then find peace and prosperity. Such
subjective experiences, they say, are where the true meaning of life can be
found. These are the types of
self-help objectives behind the routines used today by our modern
“Judaizers.”
These contrived
routines are not specifically a part of the Mosaic Law, but they are a part
of the law found in the wisdom of this world.
One “Christian” leader exposes his philosophy when he writes, “Life is
a test and a trust.” This puzzling
claim is neither Scriptural nor logical.
Then he claims life on earth is a temporary assignment, “to make God
smile!” The Scriptures define our
purpose differently [Romans
Examining our faith and our dogma is a very Scriptural thing we can do
[1 Corinthians
The subject of
responsibility prompts a brief discussion on the widely held doctrine about
the “Age of Accountability.” This
doctrine claims that all children who die before this nebulous age are
automatically saved. This is a nice
thought, but there is no Scriptural evidence to support such a claim. If this claim was true then abortion
becomes a valuable tool in populating heaven.
The Scriptures tell us a different story.
We can wander
around in a philosophy that sounds pleasing or we can examine the Scriptures
relating to this Existential claim. “5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths
straight” [Proverbs 3:5] is a good place to start. In addition, “There is no one righteous, not
even one”; [Romans
There is hope for
the believer’s children who are not in the “conditioning” phase of
Salvation. “14For the
unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his (believing) wife and the
unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean,
but as it is, they are holy.” [1
Corinthians 7:14] In other
words, the children of believer’s are in a “position” of righteousness, and,
therefore, in time, will live by faith.
Reviewing our previously noted differences between “Position” and
“Condition” must be addressed here or there is a tendency to wander into some
new doctrine.
In any event, the
Psalms of David needs to be carefully examined at this point. Particularly, [Psalms 139: 16, 17]
“ 16
your eyes saw my unformed body. All
the days ordained for me
were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your
thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum
of them!”
The conclusion in
such an examination must be --- God Acts and we React, which is
another way of saying, God is Sovereign, and He knows
what He is doing.
11Clearly no one is justified
before God by the law because, "The righteous will live by faith."
This quotation,
taken from Habakkuk 2:4, is also used in Romans
First,
justification is independent from the law.
Justification is totally dependent upon God’s grace. The law is completely separate, with
another function, and should be detached from any discussion about
grace. Secondly, those who are
justified by grace are by definition righteous and they will naturally live
by faith. This perfect “position” of
righteousness will be joined in time by a perfected “condition” in the image
of Christ [Romans
Trying to insert
human actions and guilt driven obligations or “responsibly” into this process
is non-scriptural and illogical. We
tend to feel uncomfortable with such a stark separation between our desire to
be in control and the reality that The Spirit is controlling this process.
Faith
in God is a condition resulting from God’s action [Romans 5:5,
The phrase “will
live” when interpreted as an unavoidable part of the “conditioning” process
is troubling to many people. Personal
memories of someone in the past that were known for their faith then for some
reason began to act like someone who had no faith. These past memories seem to contradict the
uncompromising interpretation of this phrase.
Our experience seems to imply that we should take a more yielding
interpretation, such as, “eventually” those of faith will be righteous. It is hard to take the strict interpretation
of this phrase too seriously because we know that our life is anything but
righteous. The future prospects of
righteousness are much easier to reconcile than applying this verse to
personal and current circumstances.
However, the
participle “will live”, in the Greek, zao,
is used in transitive sense and means not only living, but causing to live,
to bring life, and to make alive [John 4:10, Ephesians 2:5 , and Hebrews
10:38, 39]. These verses emphasize the
intimate and necessary inter-action of The Spirit in this process. Christ is the “living water,” the giver of
faith, and the protector of the faith.
In Hebrew [Habakkuk 2:4], this phrase expresses the thought that we
gain life through the Spirit of God.
All these references support the interpretation that this life is not
contingent upon anything we may do or become; this is a God given life. It is not some future “condition” it is
always part of the current “condition.”
There are three
logical reasons to believe in “unavoidable” growth, rather than “eventual”
growth. (1) God’s grace is the
foundation of faith. God does not give
faith and then allows it to be taken away [Romans
Why does God
allow wandering? This is His way to
teach His children the lessons they must learn in order to be conformed to
the image of His Son.
Does wandering
indicate that a “believer” has lost his faith? No!
It means either the “believer” was never given faith or the “believer”
is in the process of learning some hard lessons. It is not our place to judge someone else’s
condition. The Spirit always knows
what He is doing.
“But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive
with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have
been saved [Ephesians 2:4, 5]
12The law is not
based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will
live by them."
The law does not
produce faith, but faith produces
obedience. It is a natural
reaction from those who have been given faith to be obedient. Often our “Judaizers” will stress
“walk-the-talk” self-improvement programs, which is an exposure of their lack
of appreciation for the guidance and management of The Spirit. The “will live” phrase in this verse is
unavoidable behavior and not a self-deterministic goal achieved through good
intentions or positive thinking. It
literally points to the essence and cause of God’s gift of life. This thought is elaborated upon later in
the letter to the Romans:
15But the gift is
not like the trespass. For if the many
died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the
gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the
many! 16Again, the gift of
God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one
sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and
brought justification. 17For
if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how
much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of
the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. [Romans 5:15-17]
This passage
illustrates how God’s plan reigns over human actions to bring the gift of
eternal life in spite of human actions and sin.
The positive
thinking preachers seem to teach and, maybe, believe that faith is a force
that relates to a person’s desires.
They claim this force is available to anyone who wants to release
it. This is an error in
interpretation. The twisting of God’s
word that uses a meaning that gains personal advantage and selfish desires is
abominable and a heresy. They
arrogantly blend mysticism, dualism, and Gnosticism into a self-serving and
self-worshiping delusion. They
encourage their listeners to reach beyond the limits of desire to goals and
objectives found only in imagination.
The listeners find these messages inspirational until reality sets in
and only discontentment remains.
If
the condition resulting from this God given faith or belief is absent then
the action is empty and meaningless [Hebrews. 11:6]. If this faith “condition” is present then
the reaction is inevitable [Romans
GOD ACTS WE REACT
VERSUS
DOING SOMETHING “TO MAKE GOD SMILE”
“Show me your
ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for
you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember,
O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my
youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are
good, O LORD. Good and upright is the
LORD; therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and
teaches them his way.” [Psalms 25:4-9]
Our modern day
“Judaizers” attempt to influence us in three ways. They play on our natural inclinations to be
self-determined, to be discontented, and to feel insecure about our God given
“Position.” We are given in this
letter to the Galatians to identify these influence techniques, which were
also used in the First Century church.
The techniques have always been an attempt to transfer attitude and
action from The Spirit’s control to self-control.
CONSENSUS à PRIDE
EXPERIENCE à GREED
RESPONSIBILITY à REBELLION
| |
ATTITUDE
ACTION
The Spirit à
(“His will”) à (“His
work”) ç The Spirit
The most
difficult of these techniques to recognize is the distortion of the term
responsibility. The “Judaizers”
attempt to convey the impression that we have a personal responsibility to
control every aspect of our lives.
They try to change service into an obligation. This is an attempt to create a new law made
up of various nebulous obligations.
They seem to think that if we feel guilty about not doing enough then
this is progress towards consolidating their control over us and we will then
“buy” into their program.
God has His own
unique plan for us. The Spirit is
guiding us in this plan whether we realize it or not. As we “acknowledge Him,” our distress and
twisting guilt will disappear and we begin to hear The Spirit leading us in
the path we will travel. Under The
Spirit’s control, our attitude begins to conform to His will and our actions
begin to look like His works. “His
good, pleasing, and perfect will” is our spiritual act of worship [Romans
12:1, 2].
13Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed
is everyone who is hung on a tree."
The Greek term
for this redemption is “exagorazo,”
which pictures a slave being purchased in a public market. Christ literally purchased His children in
a slave market; the world and the sinful nature were the masters.
The slaves were
void of any rights or choice in the matter.
The price levied was set by the buyer and indicative of the buyer’s
estimation of the slave’s worth. Since
this price was infinitely high for all of His children, God, the buyer, must
have seen an infinite value in the slaves He brought.
In addition, this redemption was not a
reaction due to any human action, but part of the eternal plan [Ephesians
1:4-10]. This conclusion is a natural
consequence coming out of the belief that God is Sovereign [Romans 8:3]. No human can contribute to the payment of
such a high price. The payment is a
part of God’s plan to create His family [Romans
4But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made
us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace
you have been saved. [Ephesians 2:4,
5]
The “hung on a
tree” references Deuteronomy 21:22, 23 and indicates the execution was first
then the body was hung up for public display.
This OT reference was not technically a crucifixion. The Greek word for such a hanging, kremannumi, in
this verse literally means suspended above a resting place. Jesus was suspended between heaven and
earth for the purpose of human ridicule and for God’s gracious payment of the
sin debt, and there by He was killed BY being hung on a tree [Acts
Crucifixions were
not according to the Hebrew traditions.
Stoning was the most accepted form of execution, and burial was
required before sundown. The types of
executions that were allowed, in addition to stoning, were burning,
strangulation, and decapitation.
Crucifixion or sometimes poetically called “hanging on a tree” was a
Gentile thing. The Jews considered
this a gross heresy and horrific form of death because it broke away from all
their traditions. It is believed that
the Persians invented crucifixion, as early as 500-600 BC. The Romans adopted crucifixions as the
official method for the ultimate punishment, and these types of executions
were numerous, as many as hundreds in a given day. We get the word “excruciating” from the
same root word for “crucifixion.”
14He redeemed us in order that
the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles, through Christ
Jesus --- so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
God’s redeeming
purpose was that all of His children, both Jew and Gentile, could be
justified and thereby be eligible for the blessing given to Abraham. This redemption is His “responsibility,”
with a “consensus” of One, and He gave faith with the “experience” of this
life in The Spirit’s promises.
1Therefore, there
is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me
free from the law of sin and death. 3For
what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful
nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a
sin offering. And so, he condemned sin
in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the
law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature
but according to the Spirit. [Romans
8:1-4]
This redemption
established in those who have the promise of Abraham in the eternal
“Position” of righteousness. This is
the plan, and Christ, as God’s sin offering, was the price. The contrast between this righteousness and
sin has been written on the hearts of all who have been given faith, and
thereby given the blessing of Abraham.
God initiated the giving of His blessing without any contingency.
The blessing
given to Abraham had three parts [Genesis 15:1]. (1) Abraham was to be free from fear. (2) Abraham would have an indestructible shield
protecting him from evil, and (3) Abraham would have the hope of an eternal
reward. The God given faith in Christ
provides these same blessings, as recorded in the Scriptures. Jesus promises that in the faith given by
His Spirit His truth will be made known and (1) that this truth will set us
free [John 8:32]. The faith-owner has
(2) the promise of God’s powerful and trustworthy shield [1 Peter 1:5] and
complete security from eternal harm [Romans
The criterion for
receiving these promises of the Spirit is the possession of faith. Without faith, no one will receive these
promises. The gift of faith is a work
of God’s Spirit [John 3:6,
Since The Spirit
is guiding us in all truth, the believer’s faith has a guarantee that the
promises are true, sealed with The Spirit’s personal assurance that the
believer is God own child [2 Corinthians
It is popular in
the “Judaizers” thinking that the believer must take responsibility for
exploiting the “gifts” God has given.
The discovering of “gifts” has become a standard occupation in most
churches. Paul does discuss spiritual
gifts [1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Romans 12:6-8], but the context concerning
gifts is always in the confines of The Spirit’s control. It is not appropriate and certainly not
Scriptural to “search” for gifts. The
Spirit determines what and when the gifts are to be identified [1 Corinthians
It is promised that The Spirit will help the believer in
times of difficulty [Romans
The Spirit’s path is independent of the individual’s
desire or will [2 Peter
All of the basic
principles have now been illustrated.
The remainder of the letter focuses on applications of these
principles. Paul in addressing the
influence the “Judaizers” were having on the churches in
There are seven
principles touched upon in these first three chapters of this letter. These principles are also distributed and
referenced in Paul’s other letters, particularly in Romans and
Ephesians. The model developed within
the boundaries of these principles can be very helpful any evaluation we may
undertake of our current day “Judaizers,” or ourselves.
1. Our eternal “position” in God’s sight is perfect,
without any condemnation [Galatians 1:3-5, 3:9, 11, and Romans 8:1]. “In Christ” the believer is eternally
justified.
2. The Gospel of
Christ is in the eternal “Now” [Galatians
1:6-9,
3. The Spirit
controls the distribution and the personal “conditioning” in God’s grace [John
4. Being influenced
by popular “consensus” is a
dangerous source for any alternative gospel [Galatians
5. Looking for ways
to find a new spiritual “experience”
is a foolish wandering in some alternative gospel [Galatians 3:8-11].
6. Once faith is
given, which is God’s “responsibility”, there is an
unavoidable course set towards an obedience that complies with God’s plan
[Galatians
7. Always, it is God who initiates any action and His
children then react to His will and plan [Galatians
The Lord says, “I
will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you
and watch over you. Do not be like the
horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit
and bridle or they will not come to you.
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love
surrounds the man who trusts in him.”
[Psalms 32:8-10]
At any given
moment in time, the Child of God touches Eternity, possessing a perfect
“Position” in God’s sight. From this
infinitesimal moment reflected in a temporal state, we are being
“Conditioned” from an imperfect state, which is influenced by the inherent
sinful nature. This imperfect state
loves the “Consensus” of this world’s foolishness, and seeks more and more
emotional “Experiences” to quail the persistent fears about the unknown
future. This future becomes the
harbinger of self-imposed feeling of guilt about the unfulfilled
“Responsibilities” and fear about impending punishment for past actions. As the “Conditioning” progresses the Child
of God learns that The Spirit is in Control and in everything, this life is
but a Reaction to a loving God’s Actions.
Contracts and
Promises
Contracts during Conditioning
15Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant,
that has been duly established, so it is in this case.
Paul changes the
tone of this letter at this point. He
changes his pugnacious manner, “You foolish Galatians,” into a more empathic
posture, “Brothers.” Let’s explore the
ideal along side of the practical.
First, there is a pervasive misunderstanding stemming from our bent on
trying to humanize God. We tend to
think that God has the same limited options that we do. God’s contract does not require agreement
from both sides before it becomes valid.
Most of our contracts can be broken by using “loop-holes’ or some
carefully crafted provision. We also
tend to believe that God is our partner and not our God. It is difficult for us to reconcile that
God’s contracts are unbreakable, unchangeable, and uncompromisable. God does not need us, or some majority
“consensus,” to agree with His contractual terms.
The initiation of
human contracts entails theoretical preconditions. We are taught from an early age that our
promises are special kinds of agreements that should not be broken, but often
they are. We soon learn in life from
the “consensus” that promises are provisional, and we learn that many
promises have to be changed outside of our control. One of life’s painful “experiences” is
learning how to deal with the ephemeral nature of our commitments and
responsibilities, and then adjusting to the ensuing damaged
relationship. There are many kinds of
commitments and each kind directs or implies some type of
“responsibility.” It is incumbent on
those in the mist of a commitment to honor the implied responsibility. Commitments are definable in our culture as
a pledge, a promise, a contract, and as an emotional or intellectual
agreement.
Our legal system
has become enormously complex.
Contractual law is specialized into various compartments addressing
issues like disagreements between many types of litigants. The specialization found in the legal
system has created a certain perception that the citizen is more secure from
abuse because of all of the laws. Yet,
we hear of miscarriages of justice too frequently for us to be overly
confident in the law. We find little
protection from the professional financial predators that make and break
contracts without compunction; this is a fact of life. We should not ignore this fact in this
world filled with individuals seeking to enhance their own
self-interest. We should be constantly
on guard concerning the potential of being cheated and mislead by some of the
most trustworthy looking people imaginable, like “Judaizers.”
We sometimes pay
high fees to specialized lawyers as an insurance against the hazards of
entering into commitments that still have a remote chance of being
faulty. We make contractual and legal
commitments because we have learned, by experience or observation, that
personal commitments are unreliable.
If we want to feel secure in our agreement with someone, we will
propose that the terms of the agreement are in writing. The effort is to circumvent the reality
that human trust is more theoretical than practical. Human trust is proven unreliable. This harsh lesson influences our attitude
towards God. This is an intended
distinction between human and God’s ways.
Without divine intervention, humans are incapable of trust and the
keeping of any commitment because of the dominant power of the sinful
nature. The sinful nature compels
humans to seek only selfish advantage over others. This may sound unduly cynical, but the
enormous caseloads in our courts attest to the many contractual problems in
this world [Psalms 106:6].
A human-to-human commitment becomes very theoretical in the presence
of, at least, two selfish human natures vying for control and their
individual self-interest. The human
commitment is dependent upon the maintenance of mutual self-interest in order
to be maintainable over the agreement period.
The concept of trust in any human commitment is an illusion. If there is no impelling reason for a human
to honor the contract, then a nebulous concept like “trust” is only
superficial. Entering into commitments
without some kind of default provisions are foolish forms of contracts
because of the basic unreliability of human nature. Intentions mean nothing if, for example,
the participant is facing financial ruin or bankruptcy.
Trust is always a forward-looking term that assumes an unknowable set
of conditions and is not humanly guaranteeable. Such an unknowable future variable is an
idealistic provision that has no assurance of being realized and should not
be a part of any commitment without a default provision. The center of faith, in contrast, is being
hopeful [Hebrew 11:1] about what God will do, this we call real trust or
faith. The benefit in all of God’s
contracts is that God knows all about the future, and, therefore, we do not
have to incorporate any forward-looking provisions into our trust. God has already taken care of all the
future. Looking back in the history
that the Scriptures provide, we can see that everything that happened was
exactly the way God intended it to happen.
God was never surprised or puzzled about what might happen. 16For by him all things were
created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him
and for him. 17He is before
all things, and in him, all things hold together. [Colossians 1:16, 17] --- God is “Responsible.”
Position’s
Promise
16The promises were
spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The
Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but
"and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.
The Greek (legǒ) for “spoken” is literally to say, to
relate, and to communicate. This
emphasizes on how God’s promises came directly from God voice to Abraham and
not via some transcendental mysticism.
God is known to have spoken audibly very few times, to Adam, to Moses,
and to those witnessing Jesus’ baptism.
This speaking makes this a very special event.
Being of
Abraham’s seed is another way of saying being “in Christ,” which means every
Christian, Jew, or Gentile, is related to Abraham through God’s given grace,
transmitted through faith [Ephesians 2:8, 9].
Christ is God’s redemptive seed
of Abraham. Grace is independent
of any “consensus” or “experience.”
The point is also stressed that this privilege of being “in Christ” is
limited to those who are called to be of Abraham’s seed. It does not include everyone. The promises are limited to those who are
called according to God’s plan, which was established before time began
[Ephesians 1:3-14]. God made us alive
with Christ, the seed of Abraham [Colossians
17What I mean is this: The law,
introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously
established by God and thus do away with the promise.
God’s promises of
yesterday are all relevant today [Hebrews 13:8]. The “Judaizers,” then and today, attempt to
create a variable relevancy between the Old and New Testament. Such reasoning may be convenient in arguing
how the church will escape God’s wrath through a secret rapture, but such
optimism is not scripturally founded.
The point here is not about some escape clause; it is about how God’s
promises are completely reliable and beyond our “responsibility.” God is Sovereign and, therefore, “responsible.”
The saints listed
in Hebrews 11 lived before and after the giving of the law. This indicates that God’s grace and the
gift of faith are independent from the law.
All of God’s promises are as valid today as they were when they were
first announced. God has one plan that
includes one faith and one Lord [Ephesians 4:5]. Trying to organize God’s plan into various
dispositions, or phased events, serves no productive purpose. Such divisions of history only cloud our
vision about God’s plan and purpose.
All of invented dispositional divisions detract from our belief in the
nature of Sovereignty. God is capable
of seeing all of history and His plans from His timeless eternal “Now” view.
God’s Provision
--- It’s all about grace!
18For if the
inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but
God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
A promise has
meaning only if there is trust in the giver of the promise. This trust we call faith “in Christ” in our
eternal “Now” [Romans 8:1, 2]. The inheritance
is therefore to us dependent upon our faith and not the law. God’s given grace, through this faith, is
the assurance that there is an inheritance.
Such a faith is independent from all logic, emotional urging, and
intellectual understanding. Faith is
beyond our cognizance, definition, and human perception, i.e., independent
from any “consensus.” We know about
faith because The Spirit gives us the “experience” of faith. We just believe Jesus is Lord and that God
raised Him from the dead. We do not
have to understand grace we just “experience” the product of grace, which is
faith. It is through the “experience”
of faith that grace is realized and the promise of salvation is appreciated. “Consider Abraham” he had no prior
knowledge of the meaning of righteousness, or of faith, or of God’s plan for
him, but because of God’s grace Abraham believed, was righteous, and was
obedient.
God gives grace to those whom He has made
alive with Christ [Ephesians 2:4, 5].
This statement in God’s plan is independent of any human requirements
or preconditioning effort. The
inheritance afforded through God’s grace is administered by God’s Spirit, who
is responsible for leading each of God’s elect in a planned development
leading towards a condition that conforms to God’s Son [Romans 8:29]. It is The Spirit’s responsibility to guide
God’s children towards this purpose [Romans
OUR SUGGLE HAS TWO SIDES
|
GOD’S GRACE (FAITH BASED) |
“RESPONSIBILITY” (PERFORMANCE BASED) |
|
Grace is a gift
that is complete [Ephesians 2:8] |
Believes that
we are held to be responsible for doing more. |
|
The Spirit
controls growth [1 Corinthians
2:10-13] |
We believe we
need to be performance and goal oriented. |
|
There is a
planned purpose for each and every one of God children [Ephesians
2:10] |
There is a
belief that we must perform recognized acts of service. |
|
God’s
inheritance due to His children was planned before time began [Ephesians
1:11] |
Various
misguided beliefs about God’s “reward” encourages fear and anxiety |
|
The Spirit
awards peace and joy to those who listen and obey [Galatians
5:22-25] |
Individual
directed efforts produces guilt and discontentment |
|
Under The
Spirit’s leadership there is satisfaction [2 Corinthians |
Jumping ahead
of The Spirit produces failed expectations |
|
The attribute
of love develops through His power [2 Peter 1:3-10] |
Human works
produces anger and animosity |
These lessons
have been taught to all the saints since the beginning. No saint learns these lessons easily, but
eventually, like Joseph they begin to see, “God intended it for good …”
[Genesis 50:19, 20]. God’s law was never promised as a means to be used
to gain His blessings, rewards, or a popular “consensus.” Our
focus should be on our faith in Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our
faith” [Hebrew 12:2]. If faith has
been given then obedience is unavoidable [1 John 3:6] and through the
guidance of The Spirit [John
God’s Planned
Strategy in Three Steps
1. Addressing Sin
19What, then, was the purpose of
the law? It
was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise
referred had come. The law was put
into effect through angels by a mediator.
The law, coming
after the promise, was part of God’s plan in the preparation for the coming
of Christ, the righteous seed, at the center of the plan. The law exposed sin as the problem, and God
provides Christ as the solution to the problem. The law proved, beyond any doubt, that
humans were incapable of obeying fully God’s righteous requirement, and,
therefore, the problem of sin means all humans are inherently condemned to eternal
death if it was not for God’s resolution.
It is a fact; God’s absolute standard cannot accommodate anyone who is
less than perfect.
The law as
presented in the Pentateuch, the first five books in the Old Testament,
specifies some 613 commands and decrees.
Obedience to such a complex set of ordinances made it impossible to
follow, let alone to measure obedience.
Jesus made this obedience more difficult by specifying that it was not
only the action but also the motivating thought preceding the action would be
judged [Matthew 5:3-11]. Any and every
sin prohibited by such a legal system could only be judged after the
commission of a sin because the thoughts and intentions could not be known by
any judge or rabbi, only God can judge thoughts. God’s judgment is that “There is not a
righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” [Ecclesiastes
The law, a major
topic in this letter, coming after the promise to Abraham, was also a part of
God’s plan in the preparation for the coming of Christ, the righteous seed,
at the center of the plan. The law
exposed sin as the problem, and God provides Christ as the solution to the
problem [Romans 8:1]. The law proved,
beyond any doubt, that humans were incapable of obeying fully God’s righteous
requirement, and, therefore, the problem of sin means all humans are
inherently condemned to eternal death without God’s resolution.
The law addresses
the problem of sin. Often, we use the
term “transgressions,” parabasis, in referring to an action that is
contrary to the law, a violation, which is always a product of the sinful
nature. The direct and indirect
references in the Scriptures to the sinful nature are too numerous to
count. Unquestionably, sin is a major
topic in the Bible. Our lives are
enormously affected by our inherent sinful nature. We should, therefore, examine and recognize
this nature continuously, whether we like to or not. Two common Scriptural passages that can be
helpful in illustrating the characteristics of this inherent nature are
Genesis 3:6 and Matthew 4:1-10.
A very early
example of the existence of the sinful nature is found in The Garden [Genesis
3:6] indicating that Eve thought about how to rationalize what she wanted to
do before she took any action, or
committed any sin. This verse deals
with her intimate thoughts prior to her action for a purpose, so we can
understand ourselves a little better.
A careful examination of Eve’s temperament and expressed thinking
indicates first a propensity towards a discontentment with God’s Garden, as
expressed in her personal dissatisfaction, an expression of unfulfilled desire. She wanted food she knew she should not
have. She implied a hunger, a need,
which was very unlikely, in a place where there was no reason to be hungry. She wanted to have wisdom like God without
any right for such insight or capability.
She took the fruit and then she ate the fruit, which was the crime, a
defiance of God’s command, which was her “transgression.” This process was a progression through a
“want,” a “need,” a desire for a “capability,” and finally “defiance” of
God’s command.
God used the created
being called Satan, the devil, [Matthew 4:1-10] to demonstrate the fact that
Jesus was tempted in every way yet found innocent of all sin [Hebrews 2:18,
4:15]. The setup was 40 days and
nights of fasting [Matthew 4:2], which creates, in any human and in Jesus’
human nature, a condition of extreme discontentment, or a “wanting.” The devil uses the human desires, like
wanting to eat to confuse “needs” and “wants”, into the introduction of false
delusions,
“needs” [Matthew 4:3]. The temptation
was to misuse a capability under the guise that the end justifies the means.
Our sinful nature
copies this technique by telling us that our “wants” are really our “needs,”
and, therefore, our actions are justified in order to meet these
“needs.” The utilization of one of the
sinful nature’s often-used tools is deception, about our capability and rights. Deception is frequently used in attempts to
confuse “good” and “evil” [Matthew 4:5, 6].
We are often told that our intentions should be our judgment criteria,
if it feels good it must be right.
Jesus reminds Satan that God is Sovereign, and He should not be
questioned, which means that God is the only holder of the truth --- this
fact should never be compromised [Matthew 4:7]. Now, since all of the other three traps
have failed, Satan employs his and our natures’ most serious and destructive
trap, defiance, or the belief in human will power
[Matthew 4:8, 9]. The truth is that we are helpless without
The Spirit’s strength to obey any of God’s commands. Always, the law is powerless to change “I
want,” “I need,” “I can,” and “I will” without the power of God’s
Spirit. Eve was without it and Jesus
had it.
Any attempt to
codify something as complex as the sinful nature, often called human nature,
into such a simplistic model as “I want,” “I need,” “I can,” and “I will” is
inviting criticism from the professional behavioral scientists. However, we can see these tendencies in our
original parents, Adam and Eve, even before there was the commission of human
sin. We can also see that Jesus’ human
side was tempted by such a nature, which was controlled by His Father’s
Spirit. This nature is common in both
the created human and God’s incarnate Son --- there must be a reason for this
detail in the human design. All of the
lives who are documented in the Bible show signs of these same
characteristics. From this evidence,
it is reasonable to conclude that this sinful nature is inherent and is
incorporated into our basic design.
There must be a purpose for this design just the way it is. One purpose is to develop every believer to
a point where we can see clearly our helplessness and dependence on the
guidance of The Spirit so that we can
give God the glory in all things [Galatians 1:3, 4]. We are given clues about the scope of this
purpose, although to a very limited extent; it does appears to be related to
the creation of the new nature that is tested in pain and suffering. Just as Jesus learned obedience and was
made perfect [Hebrews 5:8], similarly, are we trained. The complete explanation will have to wait
until we see Him face to face [1 Corinthians
In the meantime,
God has given us the law as a tool to measure and recognize our basic
tendencies in order to illustrate vividly how much we need Him. The law given to Moses remarkably addresses
the profile of this sinful nature. If
we look carefully at The Ten Commandments, we can see how these commands
point directly at the characteristics of this sinful nature.
This examination
needs to be conducted within the context of Jesus’ guidance given to us in
His sermon often called The Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:1-
Viewing the
commandments backwards helps us to see the connection between our inherent
tendencies and those thoughts and actions God considers as
unrighteousness. The commands numbered
ten through six relate to the “I want” category, in an order of impact on
other people. These are action derived from our
discontentment or conceit. The
commands four and five connect in more subtle ways. Command number four, regarding the Sabbath,
illustrates a love for God’s laws and His ways over our perceived “needs,”
which are confused in our delusions.
In God’s will, everyday is a Sabbath day of rest because we are
resting in the faith that He controls everything in our lives [Hebrews
4:3-11]. It is “Now” we can rest “in
Christ” [Romans 8:1]. The fifth
command is the most difficult to see primarily because we are not told what
to “honor our father and mother” means.
Jesus emphasizes this command by telling us we should not judge
anyone, even if we think we “can”; this would include our father and
mother. We can today speculate about
this because we know something about our genes and DNA. We are genetically linked to our parents,
and if we dishonor our parents, we are dishonoring ourselves, and we are
dishonoring the plan God has predetermined for us [Ephesians
21So I find this
law at work: When I want (1) to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's
law; 23but I see another law (2) at work in the members of
my body, waging war(3) against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin (4) at work within my members [Romans 7:21-23]
The Lord “came
with myriads of holy ones,” angles, to
2. Authorizing a Mediator (verses
20A mediator, however, does not
represent just one party; but God is one.
A mediator’s
purpose is to stand between two parties who are in disagreement. The mediator represents both parties. One party has many members and the other
party is God only. If the mediator
fails to resolve the dispute then legal action is the only remaining
recourse. In this case, God is one
party, who is also the judge, and humankind is the other, who has a proven
record of disobedience. The law,
therefore, is separated from God by this human mediator. The law is also contrasted with the New
Covenant, which has Christ as the mediator, being a direct equivalency with
God.
Given the
evidence and the requirement, the human cannot afford to go to trial. It is all up to the mediator, Christ, to
solve this disagreement. The large
“consensus” is powerless. Since Christ
is equal with God, the problem is solved by the mediator’s payment of the
entire debt. God planned and accepted
the “responsibility” for the problem to be resolved this way [Galatians
1:3-5].
Since God is
absolute and timeless, His requirement for perfection is also absolute and
timeless. God’s predetermined plan
[Ephesians 1:4-10] allowed a way to resolve the created disparity between the
perfect requirements He imposed upon His incomplete, inherently corrupt, and
deficient design. It has been revealed
to us that God’s Son served as the means to pay the expense caused by the
planned incompleteness in the original design. The role of this mediator was not to be
employed as a negotiator, but as a payer of the debt that had been accrued by
the destined family member. The debt
was infinitely large and could have only been paid by an infinite God. Since the requirement and the resolution
are both in the eternal domain, no temporal participation is feasible. The dimensions and implications are beyond
mere human comprehension and influence.
It seems that this complex plan was necessary to give meaning to God’s
amazing grace, which also is incomprehensible.
33Oh, the depth of
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34"Who has known the
mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35"Who has ever given
to God,
that God should repay him?"
36For from him and through
him and to him are all things.
To him be the
glory forever! Amen. [Romans 11:33-36]
21Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For
if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would
certainly have come by the law.
The spiritual law
given to the temporal domain proved that there is no question about existence
of a universal sin debt. The human is incapable of living a sinless
life. History has proved this. However, without the law, there would be no
crime to prosecute [Romans
After the advent
of sin, the human nature defines all of the “I wants” as being relative to
what is expedient at any given time.
If it feels good or seems right, it must be right! In spite of this nature, God’s Spirit and
God the Father directly worked with some known individuals to act in certain
ways as a preparation for what was to transpire in this temporal domain. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph are
examples of this early period. Then
Moses and the giving of the law were introduced to this history. This period of the law continued until God interpreted the law using His
grace. Throughout all these steps,
moving towards the coming of God’s indwelling Spirit is God working His plan
according to His will. The stories we
have learned, about the history before and after the law, remain just as
valid as ever. No stage of law or
these stories has any power to change our lives. The law remains a powerless enlightenment
about God’s standard that He uses to measure
His righteousness. It has always been
God is acting and all of the rest of us are just reacting to His purpose and
plan. God gives life according to His plan. God uses the past [Ephesians 2:3] to
influence our lives for the future He has prepared. He separates
us according His plan to meet His requirements one moment at a time. Under the guidance of The Spirit, due to
God’s grace, a new creature is born and is changed into the nature that God
is creating, a nature that conforms to the image of Christ [Romans 8:29, 2
Corinthians 5:17].
22But the Scripture declares
that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being
given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
There is
technically a difference between being a prisoner and a slave. A prisoner is bounded, constrained, and
confined in a limited space for some predetermined time. A slave, on the other hand, is purchased
for performing certain acts. A
prisoner of sin is compelled [Romans 8:7, 8] to sin. A slave of sin has sin as its master. Christ frees us from the sin master,
through faith.
The gift of Faith
is something that only God gives, and it is not procurable, earnable, or
inheritable [Ephesians 2:4-9]. After
Faith is given, the believer is no longer a slave to the sinful nature, but
then becomes a slave to The Spirit’s control [Rom.
Upon the creation
of this new condition, which is called becoming a slave to God’s Spirit,
where “conditioning” or sanctification begins. In such a condition, human commitments made
to God are actually meaningless because slaves do not initiate agreements nor
negotiate terms with the slave’s Master.
Slaves follow instructions and obey commands. Slaves are not free to have independent
control. Slaves only follow the
Father’s Will [Matt.
23Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law,
locked up until faith should be revealed.
The opening
phrase is difficult in the NIV. The
New Living Translation is closer to the Greek --- “Before the way of faith in
Christ was available to us” implies that faith existed before Christ,
as the NIV does not. Certainly, faith,
as well as Christ, was before Abraham [Hebrews 11]. Without Christ, all humans are under the
rule of the inherent sinful nature, which acts naturally in disobedience to
the law. The power of the creator of
the universe is constraining us by His authority and system of justice. There is no way to escape the just
condemnation except through the provision granted by His Son. “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first
fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as
sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
[Romans 8:23] Grace was
introduced as the way of escape from the inevitable death sentence that sin
brought, as defined by the law. Now we
can see what God had planned, and the reason He gives us the law, to show us
His grace. By His grace, we are able
to move out of our ignorance.
In the mist of
today’s evangelistic fervor is the stressing of some personal acceptance of
Jesus as our Lord and Savior; therefore, we do naturally wonder about the
destiny of all those who have never heard about Christ and His plan of
salvation. This verse addresses a part
of this question, concerning those who were born before faith and under the
condemnation of the law. Then we could
also wonder about those before the law.
Many believe that those under the law were “saved” by their obedience
to the law and the ritual of performing animal sacrifices. There is nothing in the Scriptures to
indicate that rituals saved anybody [Hebrews 10:3-4]. The keeping of the commandments never saved
anybody either [Romans
4For he chose us
in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his
sight. In love, 5he
predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance
with his pleasure and will—[Ephesians 1:4, 5]
This is all in the eternal domain first and without human
influence.
24So the law was
put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we
are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Free at
last! Free from the penalty of death
resulting from sin and free from the prison the law once represented. This freedom is given to those who called
into the fellowship that Christ provides [Romans
It is vogue to
discuss freedom as a “right” endowed by our creator, but the Scriptures teach
us that freedom is something that God selectively allows for His
purpose. This freedom is always
limited by His established boundaries.
It is never an inevitable right given to everyone.
The compliment of
faith is obedience. “Living by faith,”
means obeying the giver of faith in all things. This level of obedience is not
self-directive or “consensus” friendly.
First faith is given then the “conditioning” process or regeneration
begins. This process is not an option;
it is required and managed by The Spirit.
The direction and scope of this process cannot be anticipated by
anyone. The actions produced by the
enactment of this process often results in events we call “works,” and these
products of faith are independent of salvation, or our “position” in
Christ. This living by faith has
nothing to do with any freedom “to” do anything. It
is all about being free “from” the wages of sin. The most common experience during this
process is suffering some kind of pain.
This suffering is a major motivation to become more obedient to the
directions that The Spirit gives. The
contrast to this suffering is the peace and joy The Spirit gives in times of
obedience to the law. The law is good
for us. Obedience reflects God’s
presence in this peace.
3. Assembling a Family
(verses 26 to 4:7)
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
The reason we can
know this is true because of our faith in Christ [Romans 8:1]. The Spirit leaves some telling signs about
this close family relationship with God.
After all, the progress in the “Conditioning” process should
start to become visible in some way.
The Scriptures give us markers or indicators to track this
progress. “We know that we have come
to know Him if we obey His commands,” [1 John 2:3] since obedience is
becoming complete [1 John 2:5]. The
righteousness found in the “Position” begins to become apparent [1 John
God’s Spirit
gives birth to the human spirit [John 3:6], which is being born of God [John
“But now you have
arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct
relationship with God. Your baptism in
Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult
faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.” [Galatians 3:26, 27 from The Message,
by Eugene H. Peterson]
This is the
result of the justification by faith, which sets us free from the law of sin and death. The immersion or being clothed in Christ
gives a freedom from all fears because perfect love drives out fear [1 John
28 There is neither
Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.
Being “in Christ”
does not depend upon any type of “consensus.”
Neither nationality, nor social standing, nor personal differences
have anything to do with the justification by faith. God is “responsible” for establishing an
individual’s “position” “in Christ.”
The family of God is unified in this God given faith. “There is one body and one Spirit --- just
as you were called to one hope when you were called --- one Lord, one faith,
one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and
in all.” [Ephesians 4:4-6].
The attempts to
divide and confuse the message of the Gospel have gone on since the
beginning. The “Judaizers” in Paul’s
day and as in our day, will all fail in their time. The Spirit actually uses these selfish
attempts to derail or confuse the enviable progression of God’s work. The conflicts and disagreements caused by
these temporal wanderings are always proven wrong in light of God’s
word. The techniques and presentations
change over time, but God’s message and His plan is consistently noted in the
Scriptures to those who diligently seek His will. [Psalm 119:10-16]. Of all of the various efforts to cloud and
mask God’s message about a single faith, the detractors seem to be stuck on a
single theme, “I am in control, and God is not!” This contention is always augmented by the
supplemental theme, “My way is right and the Bible is a fantasy.” These approaches lead to divisions and
conflicts between various classes of people and away from the truth that is
found only “in Christ.”
No matter how
hard we try to pretend otherwise, God is always acting and we are just reacting. “For we cannot do anything against the
truth, but only for the truth. “ [2
Corinthians 13:8]
2 9If you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The
disassociation between two groups is clear.
Either you belong to Christ or you do not. Christ is the owner of all Christian
believers; this is regardless --- of nationality, of social standing, of age,
of gender, or of whatever is irrelevant.
This relationship is fixed, guaranteed, and eternal. Being “in Christ” is a reflection of being
conformed to the image of God, a son of God, an heir to all this means
[Colossians 1:15-18]. God initiates,
establishes, and takes “responsibility” for His plan of salvation and the
preparation of His family. Because of
His grace, no prerequisites in terms of “knowledge” and understanding are
required. His justification is not
based upon group participation or ethnic origin. His
Spirit has complete “responsibility” over the growth and application of each
individual, without any required “searching” for a service [John
Jesus, who was
completely obedient, without sin, and He completely fulfilled the
requirements of the law. He then
becomes the rightful mediator between God and man. Only Christ can bridge the sin gap existing
between God and man. Sin, as defined
by the law, is the performance gap between God and man. Through Christ, as our mediator, God has
provided the resolution to this dilemma.
The price necessary to pay for the damages caused from the advent of
sin is Jesus’ death on the cross, which creates our perfect “position.”
This new creation
rising from grace’s justification is perfect [2 Peter 2:3] to reconcile God’s
requirement and thereby the new creature is ready to become Christ’s
ambassadors in this world full of unrighteousness. The law is then the standard by which all
unrighteousness is judged. The
implementation of the law and the resolution of the law’s judgment is
dependent upon God’s grace, again, is totally God’s “responsibility.” [John 14:6]
Equating the seed
of Abraham with God’s elected family is a significant leap into the
development of our appreciation for all that the Scripture tells us about
God’s plan. Those who have the one
faith in the one Lord are God’s chosen people, the true
Galatians Four
1What
I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child,
he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2He is subject to guardians and
trustees until the time set by his father.
This
Father-to-child relationship is an interesting and rich concept. It not only re-iterates the metaphor about
being born again through the action of The Spirit, it provides us with the
assurance that God is working the whole process out for the good of the
child, whom He loves and protects [Romans
3So also, when we were children,
we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully
come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to
redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
There are two
states alluded to here, being God’s child with all of the advantages this
might imply and the state of being a slave in a hostile environment. These are the states of “position” and
“condition.” The believer is living in
a justified, perfect, and eternal state, while at the same time, in this
temporal world, we are in an imperfect changing state that is described as
being in slavery. This temporal state
is a combination of being influenced by two forces. One force is the inherent sinful nature, which
is bent upon the destruction of God’s child.
The other force is God’s Spirit who is protecting the child from this
destruction and is developing the child according to a predetermined plan.
6Because you are sons, God sent
the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,
Father.” 7So you are no
longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an
heir.
Developing the
child requires a process that changes the child from being completely
helpless into someone who can appreciate and love God as a dear “Daddy.” The change from a slave, who has no rights
to choose anything, into someone who is an ambassador and honored
representative of God’s Kingdom, is a supernatural miracle. Paul later describes this transformation as
like a resurrection of someone who is dead raised into someone who is living
[Ephesians 2:4, 5]. This process
requires time to grow and mature in a learning experience where there is a
discovery about God’s plan and purpose for it all. “That
the testimony of the Spirit of God must, in the very nature of things, be
antecedent to the testimony of our own spirit, may appear from this single
consideration.” [John Wesley, Sermon # 11,
“The Witness of the Spirit”]
Family Characteristics
Birth certificate ---
Recognition via faith ---
Mind, heart, and actions --- 3:28
Christ’s power ---
Grace reconciliation --- 4:1
God’s control --- 4:2-5
Inheritance --- 4:6, 7
Before starting
into even more controversial principles that Paul is teaching in the
remainder of Galatians 4, it would be good to review briefly the supporting
principles Paul presented in Chapter 3.
The following is a selection of key verses from Chapter 3 with a
companion N.T. passage.
3:3After beginning
with the Spirit,
6Flesh gives birth
to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. [John 3:6]
3:6Consider Abraham:
"He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
29Jesus answered,
"The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." [John 6:29]
3:11Clearly no one is
justified before God by the law, because--- "The righteous will live by
faith."
13But when he, the
Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak
only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. [John 16:13]
3:18For if the
inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but
God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
6And God raised us up with Christ
and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in
order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his
grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. [Ephesians 2:6-9]
3:19What, then, was the purpose
of the law?
It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the
promise referred had come.
12Therefore, just as sin entered the
world through one man, and death through sin, and in
this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before
the law was given, sin was in the world.
But sin is not taken into account when there
is no law. [Romans 5:12, 13]
3:21 For if a law had
been given that could impart life, then
righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
1Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through
Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin
and death. 3For what the law was
powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so
he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous
requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to
the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. [Romans 8:1-4]
3:23Before this faith
came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be
revealed.
21So I find this law at work: When I
want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I
delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the
members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. [Romans 7:21-23]
3:29If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
11In him we were also chosen, having
been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in
conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who
were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in
Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the
promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the
praise of his glory. [Ephesians
1:11-14]
Paul has
developed in the third chapter an overview of God’s plan for the creation of
His family, through redemption, justification, and glorification. This letter presents a number of basic
contrasting characteristics as a part of Paul’s appeal to stress the
objective in following The Spirit’s leadership. We are given some clues about how God
starts with nothing and constructs His eternal family. The implementation of this plan can be seen
in various stages in the Galatians’ churches, and this letter illustrates a
profile of how this same plan is being implemented today. These church problems are similar to any individual’s
life. We are by nature starting in a
state of confusion seeking a better place even though we have been given more
than we deserve. The gift of salvation
and God’s promises are looked upon with lethargy and with a desire for
something more. Like Eve, we seek the
forbidden just because its there. In
pain and suffering, we slowly begin to realize we are helplessly enslaved by
our inherent sinful nature. We begin
to appreciate how God is working through His Spirit in us, and that we are
actually becoming a part of God’s family, with all of the advantages such
inheritance brings.
This letter shows
us that God is acting in His way and in His time to change us into the child
He predestined us to become. We are
shown that the law has a purpose in defining for us the nature of evil, which
is hidden from us without His illumination.
We begin to see how God has been working with our ancestry since the
beginning of time, as He is working with us.
We begin to see that God has awarded us His special miraculous
ointment called “grace” to heal our inherent and fatal disease called
“sin.” We are amazed that this healing
comes without any requirement for payment.
We eventually accept the wonder of how God’s Spirit is working in us
to conform our helpless nature into a new creation
holy and perfect in God’s sight.
Believing the promise and prophesy that we are destined to be treated
as God’s child is incomprehensible.
When we struggle
to try to understand God’s ways, His Spirit is constantly telling us just to
trust in His promises and to obey His commands then these concerns will go
away. In the course of obeying The
Spirit, we find ourselves searching His word and seeking His will, over our
own. As we trust Him more, we discover
our worries fade away. Our faith grows
and a peace begins to flood our soul.
If only everyone we knew could find such a peace, but we are told,
that is God’s business. Acceptance of
such a thought as this requires another level of faith. Paul in this letter addresses such a
concern that must have been in the Galatians’ minds also. This concern is closely related to our
desire to do something for God. This
desire is what supports the “Judaizers” efforts and gives encouragement to
the false teachers to construct strategies to “save the world.” This next section Galatians 4:8 through
4:31 gives us some insight into God’s approach relating to this concern.
Out of Slavery
8Formerly, when you did not know
God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God—or
rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and
miserable principles? Do you wish to
be enslaved by them all over again?
Two conditions
are clearly emphasized here. Before
God’s gift of faith, there was a condition where there was no freedom, a
state of slavery. After God’s gift of
faith, God knows or claims ownership of the faith holder. This transition is described as being born
again or becoming a new creation [John 3:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 18], all of this
is from God. This is a radical change
from being a commodity to becoming a part of God’s family. The Greek word for “know,” eido, is to
see, to perceive, to ascertain, to experience. The state of not knowing God is a state of
not being able to see, or to perceive, or to experience anything about
God. This is why it takes an act of
God to initiate a transition from this blindness into the light [John
12:46]. The ability to see is a God
given attribute for His glory [John 9:3, 39].
The two states, sight and blindness, are a reality in this life.
The struggle with
the old nature is a problem when our sinful nature starts influencing us to
listen to the logic and the reasoning of this world system. The contrast between the way we remember
things and the way things are tends to cause discontentment [Romans
7:21-23]. Our memories can be very
selective and unreliable. The struggle
with the sinful nature causes conflicts within ourselves and makes us
susceptible to false teachers who are selling various “get well tonics”
wrapped in “How to” routines [Galatians 3:1-3].
A common
perception in this current time is the belief that our relationship with God
is dependent upon a feeling of closeness with God. Some are constantly seeking happiness or a
more meaningful experience. Others
find themselves feeling guilty about their unworthiness due to their thoughts
or deeds. Such conflicts are fertile
ground for the false teachers who sell the “get well” procedures and promises
of “success and happiness.” These
false teachers stress how anyone can find peace with God by just following a
simple routine. Pray a certain prayer,
think positive, listening to a specific CD, or reading the latest
inspirational book is the answer. When
the emotional impact declines, we become discouraged, disappointed, or
disillusioned in this inadequate attempt in “experiencing God.” After trying a few of these “How to”
routines we start blaming God for
not honoring our efforts, plus for everything else that goes wrong in our
lives. Instead of following God’s
Spirit, we find this constant searching for God through some concocted effort
does not work; it is much like the builders of the Tower of Babel.
The world’s
philosophy today rests upon the premise that we have an inherent cognitive
ability to reason without reference to particular facts or experience, a priori. Roughly, this can be reduced to a
philosophy that maintains that our disciplined speculation about God is the
source of truth. God, therefore, can
be known with pure reason. This means,
since we cannot achieve pure reason outside of our experience, we cannot
prove or disprove the existence of God.
According to Immanuel Kant,
“Concepts without intuitions are empty, intuitions without concepts are
blind.” In other words, truth is in
the eye of the beholder, our perceptions drive our beliefs, and our beliefs
drive our knowledge. From this
philosophy, all self-deterministic doctrines are derived, which includes all
the world’s religions and a very large part of, so called, Christian
theology.
This 4:8 verse in
Galatians is in stark contrast to this world’s philosophy. God knows first then we are known from this
first knowledge. Before this first
knowledge, we did not know nor could we know God. The Scriptures applies this first knowledge
concept throughout all the lessons God gives us. From the beginning, we are taught that
learning comes from God’s designed ability to compare and not from cognitive
transcendentalism. Adam was taught to
compare the things he saw with other things he saw. This is illustrated in the animal naming
exercise and the command regarding the difference in the trees [Genesis 1:19,
29, 2:9, 17]. These observation exercises
are not about intuition, but are about comparisons. Also, implied in all comparisons is the
ability to measure. We measure the
differences between our observations and deduce rules, names, and
numbers. From this comparison and
measurement routine we learn about our environment. This compare and measure ability is a fundamental
difference between the animal world and us.
From this ability, we form our language and construct our
thoughts. All of our learning is built
upon this fundamental inherent comparison ability.
God teaches us
His ways by showing us His grace and contrasting it with the evil all around
us. We could not begin to understand
what He is doing without His gift of grace and our view of the world in its
evil environment. Always, God acts
first and then we react. Think about
the Shepherd and the sheep as a comparison.
The only things worth remembering, in all this philosophy, are that Jesus is The Truth [John 14:6] and --- “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.