Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
The Marks of Freedom
It was Paul’s custom, after dictating a letter, to take the pen and write his own farewell. His standard signature was “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (1 Thess. 5:28; see 2 Thess. 3:17–18). But so concerned was Paul that the Galatians get the message of this letter that he took the pen and wrote an entire concluding paragraph with his own hand. “Look at the large letters I write with my own hand!”
Why did Paul write this paragraph, and why did he use such large letters? The Holy Spirit inspired him to add these closing words to give one more contrast between the legalists and the Spirit-led Christians, to show that the Spirit-led believer lives for the glory of God, not for the praise of man. And he wrote in large letters for emphasis: “DON’T MISS THIS!”
Some Bible students believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7–10; Gal. 4:14–15) was some kind of eye trouble. This would mean that he would have to write in large letters so that he himself would be able to read what he had written. Whether or not that is true, Paul was making it clear that he had something important to write in conclusion, that he was not simply going to end the letter in some conventional manner. If he did have eye trouble, his willingness to write this closing paragraph with his own hand would certainly appeal to the hearts of the readers.
He has shown them that the believer living under law and the believer living under grace are diametrically opposed to each other. It is not just a matter of “different doctrine,” but a matter of two different ways of life. They had to choose between bondage or liberty (Gal. 5:1–12), the flesh or the Spirit (vv. 13–26), and living for self or living for others (6:1–10).
Now he presented a fourth contrast: living for the praise of men or the glory of God (Gal. 6:11–18). He was dealing with motive, and there is no greater need in our churches today than for an examination of the motives for our ministries. We know what we are doing, but do we know why we are doing it? A good work is spoiled by a bad motive.
Paul approached this delicate subject in an interesting way. The legalists wanted to subject the Galatian believers to circumcision, so Paul took this up and related it to the work of Christ on the cross and also to his own ministry. In this paragraph Paul presented three “marked men”—the legalist (Gal. 6:12–13), the Lord Jesus Christ (vv. 14–16), and the apostle Paul himself (vv. 17–18).
THE LEGALIST (6:12–13)
Paul did not have anything good to say about the legalist. He described him and his kind in four ways.
(1) They are braggarts (vv. 12a, 13b). Their main purpose was not to win people to Christ or even to help the believers grow in grace. Their chief purpose was to win more converts so they could brag about them. They wanted to “make a fine impression outwardly” even though they did no good inwardly. Their work was not done for the good of the church or for the glory of God; it was done for their own glory.
While it is certainly not wrong to want to win people to Christ or to see the work of the Lord increase, it is definitely wrong to want these blessings for the glory of man. We want to see more people sharing in our ministries, not so that we can count people, but because people count. But we must be careful not to use people to further our own selfish programs for our own glorification.
I receive a number of local church newsletters and newspapers. I was shocked to find an article in one of them in which the pastor named several other churches and proceeded to explain how his church was much better. Some of the churches he mentioned were not evangelical in belief, and I wondered what those members would think of Christ and the gospel if they read his boastful critique. No doubt it made it difficult for the believers to witness to these other people once this pastor had condemned their churches.
(2) They are compromisers (v. 12b). Why did they preach and practice circumcision and all that went with it? To escape persecution. Because Paul preached the grace of God and salvation apart from the works of the law, he was persecuted (Gal. 5:11). The Judaizers tried to make the Christians think that they too were Christians, and they tried to make the followers of the Mosaic law think that they too obeyed the law. Consequently, they escaped being persecuted by the legalistic group for their identification with the cross of Christ and its devastating effect on the law.
We are prone to look at the cross (and crucifixion) in a sentimental way. We wear crosses on our lapels or on chains around our necks. But to the first-century citizen, the cross was not a beautiful piece of jewelry; it was the lowest form of death and the ultimate in humiliation. The proper Roman citizen would never mention the cross in polite conversation. It stood for rejection and shame.
When Paul trusted Christ, he identified himself with the cross and took the consequences. To the Jew the cross was a stumbling block, and to the Gentile it was foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18–31). The legalists, emphasizing circumcision rather than crucifixion, won many converts. Theirs was a popular religion because it avoided the shame of the cross.
(3) They are persuaders (v. 12a). The word constrain carries with it the idea of strong persuasion and even force. It is translated “compel” in Galatians 2:14. While it does not mean “to force against one’s will,” it is still a strong word. It indicates that the Judaizers were great persuaders; they had a “sales talk” that convinced the Galatian believers that legalism was the way for them. Whenever Paul presented the Word, it was in truth and sincerity, and he used no oratorical tricks or debater’s skills. (See 1 Cor. 2:1–5 and 2 Cor. 4:1–5 to see how Paul presented the Word to his listeners. Paul was not a politician; he was an ambassador.)
(4) They are hypocrites (v. 13). “They want you to submit to the law, but they themselves do not obey the law.” The legalists belonged to the same group as the Pharisees about whom Jesus said, “They say and do not” (Matt. 23:3). Of course, Paul was not suggesting that the Judaizers should keep the law, because keeping the law is neither possible nor necessary. Rather, he was condemning them for their dishonesty; they had no intention of keeping the law, even if they could. Their reverence for the law was only a mask to cover their real goal: winning more converts to their cause. They wanted to report more statistics and get more glory.
Yes, the legalist is a marked man; so when you detect him, avoid him.
JESUS CHRIST (6:14–16)
Paul kept coming back to the cross (Gal. 2:20–21; 3:13; 4:5; 5:11, 24; 6:12). “If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (2:21). The wounds of Calvary certainly make Christ a “marked Man,” for those wounds mean liberty to those who will trust Him. The Judaizers boasted in circumcision, but Paul boasted in a crucified and risen Savior. He gloried in the cross. Certainly this does not mean that he gloried in the brutality or suffering of the cross. He was not looking at the cross as a piece of wood on which a criminal died. He was looking at the cross of Christ and glorying in it. Why would Paul glory in the cross?
He knew the Person of the cross. Jesus Christ is mentioned at least forty-five times in the Galatian letter, which means that one third of the verses contain some reference to Him. The person of Jesus Christ captivated Paul, and it was Christ who made the cross glorious to him. In his early years as a Jewish rabbi, Paul had much to glory in (Gal. 1:13–14; Phil. 3:1–10); but after he met Christ, all his self-glory turned to mere refuse. The legalists did not glory in the cross of Christ because they did not glory in Christ. It was Moses—and themselves—who got the glory. They did not really know the Person of the cross.
He knew the power of the cross. To Saul, the learned Jewish rabbi, a doctrine of sacrifice on a cross was utterly preposterous. That the Messiah would come, he had no doubt, but that He would come to die—and to die on a cursed cross—well, there was no place for this in Saul’s theology. The cross in that day was the ultimate example of weakness and shame. Yet Saul of Tarsus experienced the power of the cross and became Paul the apostle. The cross ceased to be a stumbling block to him and became, instead, the very foundation stone of his message: “Christ died for our sins.”
For Paul, the cross meant liberty: from self (Gal. 2:20), the flesh (5:24), and the world (6:14). In the death and resurrection of Christ, the power of God is released to give believers deliverance and victory. It is no longer we who live; it is Christ who lives in us and through us. As we yield to Him, we have victory over the world and the flesh. There is certainly no power in the law to give a man victory over self, the flesh, and the world. Quite the contrary, the law appeals to the human ego (“I can do something to please God”) and encourages the flesh to work. And the world does not care if we are “religious” just so long as the cross is left out. In fact, the world approves of religion—apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, the legalist inflates the ego, flatters the flesh, and pleases the world; the true Christian crucifies all three.
He knew the purpose of the cross. It was to bring into the world a new “people of God.” For centuries, the nation of Israel had been the people of God, and the law had been their way of life. All of this was preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:1–7). Now that Christ had come and finished His great work of redemption, God had set aside the nation of Israel and brought into the world a “new creation” and a new nation, “the Israel of God.” This does not mean that God is finished with the nation of Israel. Today, God is calling out from both Jews and Gentiles “a people for his name” (Acts 15:14), and in Christ there are no racial or national distinctions (Gal. 3:27–29). Paul clearly taught, however, that there is a future in God’s plan for the Jewish nation (Rom. 11).
One purpose of the cross was to bring in a new creation (Gal. 6:15 NIV). This “new creation” is the church, the body of Christ. The “old creation” was headed by Adam, and it ended in failure. The new creation is headed by Christ, and it is going to succeed.
To the Romans, Paul explained the doctrine of the two Adams—Adam and Christ (Rom. 5:12–21). The first Adam disobeyed God and brought into the world sin, death, and judgment. The last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) obeyed God and brought life, righteousness, and salvation. Adam committed one sin and plunged all of creation into judgment. Christ performed one act of obedience in His death on the cross and paid for all the sins of the world. Because of Adam’s sin, death reigns in this world. Because of Christ’s victory, we can “reign in life” through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17). In other words, the believer belongs to a “new creation,” a spiritual creation, that knows nothing of the defects and limitations of the “old creation” (see 2 Cor. 5:17).
Another purpose of the cross was to create a new nation, “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). This is one of many names for the church found in the New Testament. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:43). Peter identified that nation as the family of God: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).
As mentioned previously, this does not mean that the church has permanently replaced the nation of Israel in the program of God, but only that the church is “the people of God” on earth today just as Israel was in centuries past.
What a rebuke to the Judaizers. They wanted to take the church back into Old Testament law, when that law could not even be kept by the nation of Israel! That nation was set aside to make way for God’s new people, the church!
Believers today may not be “Abraham’s children” in the flesh, but they are “Abraham’s seed” through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:28–29). They have experienced a circumcision of the heart that is far more effective than physical circumcision (Rom. 2:29; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11). For this reason, neither circumcision nor the lack of it is of any consequence to God (Gal. 6:15; see also Gal. 5:6).
THE APOSTLE PAUL (6:17–18)
There was a time when Paul was proud of his mark of circumcision (Phil. 3:4–6), but after he became a believer, he became a “marked man” in a different way. He now gloried in the scars he had received and in the suffering he had endured in the service of Jesus Christ.
The contrast with the legalists is plain to see: “The Judaizers want to mark your flesh and brag about you, but I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus Christ—for His glory.” What a rebuke! “If your religious celebrities have any scars to show for the glory of Christ, then let them be shown. Otherwise—stop bothering me!”
Paul was not claiming that he bore the five wounds of Calvary on his body. Rather he was affirming that he had suffered for Christ’s sake (something the legalists never did), and he had on his body the scars to prove it. When you read 2 Corinthians 11:18–33, you have no difficulty understanding this claim of his, for in many ways and in many places Paul suffered physically for Christ.
In Paul’s day, it was not unusual for the follower of some heathen god or goddess to be branded with the mark of that idol. He was proud of his god and wanted others to know it. In the same way, Paul was “branded” for Jesus Christ. It was not a temporary mark that could be removed, but a permanent mark that he would take to his grave. Nor did he receive his brands in an easy way: He had to suffer repeatedly to become a marked man for Christ.
It was also the practice in that day to brand slaves so that everyone would know who the owner was. Paul was the slave of Jesus Christ, and he wore His mark to prove it.
It is worth noting that sin brands a person. It may mark his mind, his personality, even his body. Few people are proud of the sin marks they bear, and conversion does not change them. (Thank God, those changes will come when Jesus returns!) How much better it is to love Christ and live for Him and be “branded” for His glory.
Believers today need to remember that it is the Christian leader who has suffered for Christ who has something to offer. The Judaizers in Paul’s day knew nothing of suffering. They may have been persecuted in some small way for belonging to a religious group, but this is far different from “the fellowship of his [Christ’s] sufferings” (Phil. 3:10).
Beware of that religious leader who lives in his ivory tower and knows nothing of batthng against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, who has no “marks” to show for his obedience to Christ. Paul was no armchair general; he was out in the front lines, waging war against sin, and taking his share of suffering.
So, Paul comes to the end of his letter; and he closes just the way he began: GRACE! Not “the law of Moses,” but THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!
No more need be said, because that says it all.
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION OR GROUP DISCUSSION
1. “A good work is spoiled by a bad motive.” Do you agree? Can you think of a specific example?
2. “We want to see more people sharing in our ministries, not so we can count people, but because people count.” How can your church better treat people as if they count? How can you contribute?
3. What does it mean to “glory in the cross”?
4. Do you think it’s true that the world approves of religion apart from the gospel of Christ? Explain.
5. What is the “new creation” Paul referred to in Galatians 6:15 (NIV)?
6. How can you live as if what counts is the new creation?
7. How was Paul “branded” for Jesus Christ? Give specific examples.
8. “It is the Christian leader who has suffered for Christ who has something to offer.” Why do you suppose suffering is often so valuable?
9. In Paul’s suffering, what sustained him?
10. Now that you have finished this study, describe what stands out to you about grace. How can you live by grace through the Spirit?