Legal activity is but labouring in the fire for vanity; and if, alas! It is an actual result of the cross of Christ. (a) It means being submissive to the will of God ( Matthew 5:5; Matthew 11:29; Matthew 21:5). Ignorant or false men had made them hanker after circumcision. But he proves more when he says that Abraham believed God; it was plainly not a question of law. The "Israel of God," I apprehend, would mean, that the only part of Israel whom God owns now consists of those that really are of faith those that .received Jesus. He wouldn't bother correcting me. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. He shows that God would give us a deliverance from self-importance; and what a mercy it is to be so blessed, that one can afford to forget one's self! To excite Christians hereunto, and to assist them herein, the apostle shows. False doctrine was probably a judgment from heaven upon their ambition, pride, and other offenses. If, when I got on board a 747 at LAX heading for Honolulu, the captain would say, "Now, folks, we're having a little problem here with our navigation instruments. So much the more, then, we find the working of spiritual feeling as expressed by him in the second epistle, where he speaks of God lifting up those that were cast down, as He had delivered himself from the imminent danger to which he had been exposed even as to life. All therefore becomes a matter of the pure grace of God; and He is pleased to bless the Gentiles in the Seed, even Christ dead and risen. Paul has in mind the issue of circumcision. My business is to act consistently with the new place in which grace has put me. He's temperant. It is the law of Christ. Witchcraft; this literally means the use of drugs. another; having reference to their controversies about the law You're talking nonsense. To him a theology was not the slightest use unless it could be lived out. I'd say, "Open the doors and let me off." To be under law was fatal to Jerusalem. And they are quite zealous in their beliefs, very fervent in the proclamations of their beliefs. To depart from this was fatal. What a gross inconsistency! And I'm washed and I'm cleansed and I go on. The liberty we enjoy as Christians is not a licentious liberty: though Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, yet he has not freed us from the obligation of it; the gospel is a doctrine according to godliness (1 Timothy 6:3), and is so far from giving the least countenance to sin that it lays us under the strongest obligations to avoid and subdue it. Galatians 5:1-15 New International Version Freedom in Christ 5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. The promise is therefore entirely distinct from the law, which was not heard of for four hundred and thirty years after. It is Christian ground, certainly, but not the church as such. I am crucified with Christ: consequently all that remains for me is living this new life which Christ is in me. On the contrary, they must think of others and act to please them. Jesus has set us free - free from the slavery of sin, free from slavery to the law. That would not be a good example of Christian love. And who will venture to say that the indwelling Spirit of God fails to supply power to him who submits to the righteousness of God in Christ? This is what is found under it. Gentiles might boast in their freedom. Why can't the Mormons tell you that? Be it so: such was true. So he calls on them to be as free of the law as himself. But it works through love. In our dealings with our fellow men we must reproduce this loving, forbearing, forgiving, patient attitude of God towards ourselves. A final appeal to walk in the liberty of Jesus. I have confidence in you in the Lord; I am sure that you will take no other view. The salutation ( Galatians 1:1-5 ) a. Galatians 5 Galatians 5:7 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. "You've been called unto liberty." Be assured that it is the same simplicity of faith which enters into both these things now. We are crucified unto it by grace, as the world is crucified unto us by judgment. Flesh and blood had not revealed it. The law, accordingly, never was the truth, either on God's side, or man's. That they should not strive with one another, but love one another. The salutation ( Galatians 1:1-5 ) a. You see, if I weren't a child of God, He would just let me go. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. It is not merely to seek in love a fallen brother, but to be the succourer of others in their difficulties. what is today's heat index Paul had written in the earlier part, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me" ( Galatians 2:20 ). By-and-by will be fulfilled the promised earthly blessing, and power, and glory for Israel like the sand and the stars. Thus I am dead through the law. In the case of the twelve, we do find an apostle chosen to supply the gap of Judas chosen, I admit, of God, though after a Jewish sort, as Chrysostom justly remarks, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given. Such is the application. Then the apostle at once explains, as annexed to this, the real state of the case. But when we look toward Jesus we can find freedom. But if you snap at one another, and devour one another, you must watch that you do not end up by wiping each other out. 7) Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart. (b) It means being teachable, being not too proud to learn ( James 1:21). It was not that they communicated to him the gospel they had learned from Jesus here below, but he communicated to them that gospel he was in the habit of preaching among the Gentiles. Thus, whether it be the Gentile without law, or the Jew with it, all are shut up under sin. In Romans he wrote one of the world's great theological treatises, and then, quite suddenly, in Romans 12:1-21 the theology came down to earth and issued in the most practical advice. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5:4-5) And no wonder. We can understand a foolish man making a covenant, and the next day repenting of it, which is never true of the divine purposes. For God does speak elsewhere, and even on this occasion, of a numerous seed. That's the old nature that wants its way, that wants to insist on its own way and all. 1. Christian baptism, contrariwise, supposes man dead; and the only death that can deliver man out of his own death is the death of Christ. Therefore, it came to pass that there was nothing the apostle had not learned of which they boasted. As you know, he had been under law as a Jew. But it was true from the first. . No doubt there was a difference of tone. take heed that ye be not consumed one of another; that is, either beware lest each other's particular peace and comfort be destroyed, which is oftentimes done this way, though a person's state and condition God-ward may be safe; or lest their church state should be destroyed and come to nothing, since love is the cement of it, which being loosened, threatens a dissolution; for as no civil community, either public or private, divided against itself, can stand long, so no religious one; and for want of love the Lord threatens to remove, and sometimes does remove, the candlestick out of its place. it is added, he conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before him; but went into Arabia, and returned again, not to Jerusalem, but to Damascus, the place near which he had been called at first. If ye bite and devour one another These Churches seem to have been in a state of great distraction; there were continual altercations among them. "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And so Paul is standing against this teaching in his letter to the Galatians, and in chapter five, he said. They think that it is quite right, for the church especially, to appoint days for this and that saint; to have certain seasons to remind one of the Lord's incarnation, ministry, and crucifixion, of His resurrection, ascension, and so on. There was no difference in the blessing of Christ: man's guilt and God's grace were alike indiscriminate. 4. I don't think you need anything more than the Bible to really know the truth of God. And your spirit being alive, again you can experience fellowship with God, the joy, the blessing of fellowshipping with God.So, "walk in the Spirit." For God considers the poor; He has regard to the simple; He has children in His eye. In either case "let him be accursed.". He had before told us that the Spirit of Christ is a privilege bestowed on all the children of God, Galatians 4:6; Galatians 4:6. But because they are not born of the Spirit and have no understanding of the spiritual dimension of life, you're talking riddles to them. "But of these who seemed to be somewhat." This may be concluded from what frequently happens in the divine dispensations, as well as from an express declaration by the hand of Moses. No person can intelligently read the New Testament without perceiving the utter fallacy of such a system; for Peter was expressly, as the next chapter of this epistle tells us, apostle of the circumcision. consumed, &c.Strength of soul, health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils [Bengel]. Thus it is evident that the legal system is a parenthesis. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 5:13-15 The gospel is a doctrine according to godliness, 1Ti 6:3, and is so far from giving the least countenance to sin, that it lays us under the strongest obligation to avoid and subdue it. And so, it was something that was quite familiar the castration. We invite you to crucify our flesh every day so that we may walk in step with your Spirit. 15.But if ye bite and devour one another. Because we wait to have our baptisms 'til the water gets warmer.It's because baptism doesn't save. And the mind of the flesh is alienated from God; it cannot know God. Nor had he conferred even then with flesh and blood; his mission as well as conversion and call were alike independent of it. His Father had made a revelation to Peter. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" He's just whacked me with the rod. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" It was to demonstrate his sinfulness, not to gain the inheritance. I say something that is not of the Lord. And you can't do this, and this, and this, and this, and this." But the Jerusalem which is above is free and she is our mother. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ( Galatians 5:21 ): So, the such like covers a lot of things. Hence in this epistle it is not so much the laying bare the need of man of the sinner, as the vindication of that same grace of God for the saint, with the exhibition of the ruinous results to him who is drawn aside from the deep and broad groundwork that God has laid for souls in Christ. 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. The truth is the distinctive boon and mark of Christendom. That's my old prideful nature. Because I can't and haven't kept the whole law, I'm thankful that God accounts me righteous and I can have fellowship with the righteous God because of Jesus Christ and my faith in Jesus Christ. Then we come to the closing chapter (Galatians 6:1-18); and here we find the Spirit of God calling for tenderness in dealing with those who are overtaken in a fault. Am I going to yield to my flesh, or am I going to yield to the Spirit? It is for the purpose of bringing in transgression, answers the apostle. The evil that was gaining ground among the Galatian believers legalism links the soul with the world, and indeed proves it to be evil by giving present credit to the flesh, and association with all the system that is around us now. Of these and such like, says he, I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that those who do such things, how much soever they may flatter themselves with vain hopes, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It is evident that the thorn in the flesh was something which left him open to a slight, and made it difficult indeed for any one to understand how a man who was called to be an apostle should find it hard to convey plainly his mind in preaching. (Read Galatians 5:13-15) The gospel is a doctrine according to godliness, 1 Timothy 6:3, and is so far from giving the least countenance to sin, that it lays us under the strongest obligation to avoid and subdue it. . Can I be righteous by keeping the law? salvation; which were managed with great heat and bitterness, Not contention. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith" (not those that cry up the law) "are the children of Abraham. The law necessarily makes the man, and the man's doings, to be the prominent object. Men of, disposition, careless and unthinking, consume othersthose of, But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another, , but if ye be biting and eating up one another. Meanwhile another and a better sort of blessing is given, as a better Seed also is given the true Heir of all the promises of God, even Christ the Lord. When we look elsewhere we end up enslaved. For Christ bought off those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, bringing them by grace into a place of known salvation and intelligent joy in relation with our God and Father, out of that bondage and nonage which the law supposes. Paul was a trained Rabbi; and that is what he is doing here. Heathenism! You weren't persuaded to be circumcised because God was speaking to your heart and convicting you of this. Agathosune ( G19) might, and could, rebuke and discipline; chrestotes ( G5544) can only help. Thank You, Jesus, for Your forgiveness and for Your love and for Your grace to me.". This the Jews are destined to have by-and-by; for the promises to Abraham are not exhausted yet. Therefore, no wonder that he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.". All that I have as a living man in the world is gone, not, of course, as a mere matter of fact, but, what is far more important, as a matter of faith. And, doubtless, God had all this in view when He pledged Himself with an oath to Abraham. Under law all is lost; under grace all is saved. That's where I come in touch with God. But, further, he refers in a very affecting manner to some personal circumstances how in his own body he was a witness of having nothing to do with flesh; for what God had been pleased to put upon him as serving Him in the gospel was not great power of nature, but that which made him contemptible in his preaching. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love ( Galatians 5:6 ). They're covered by the fact that you're walking in love. There was no believer, Jew or Gentile, who had not gladly submitted to that very blessed sign of having part with Christ, and of that which is made good by Christ. The apostle turns this into an admirable piece of divine reasoning in defence of the gospel. When He gave the promise to Abraham, He said, "I will give." But he was not thus disobedient to the heavenly vision. 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