Galatians
Book Outhne
Key theme: Christian liberty in the grace of God
Key verses:
I. Personal: Grace and the Gospel ()
A. Grace declared in Paul’s message ()
B. Grace demonstrated in Paul’s life ()
C. Grace defended in Paul’s ministry ()
1. Before the church collectively ()
2. Before Peter personally ()
II. Doctrinal: Grace and the Law ()
A. The personal argument ()
B. The scriptural argument ()
C. The logical argument ()
D. The historical argument ()
E. The sentimental argument ()
F. The allegorical argument ()
III. Practical: Grace and the Christian Life ()
A. Liberty, not bondage ()
B. The Spirit, not the flesh ()
C. Others, not self ()
D. God’s glory, not man’s praise ()
Book Overview
In a world filled with trouble, it is becoming more and more difficult to find any good news. To the person who has trusted Christ as Savior, the real “good news” is the gospel: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and . . . He was buried, and . . . He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (, ). It is the good news that sinners can be forgiven and go to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. The good news of salvation through faith in Christ is the most important message in the world.
This message had changed Paul’s life and, through him, the lives of others. But now this message was being attacked, and Paul was out to defend the truth of the gospel. Some false teachers had invaded the churches of Galatia—churches Paul had founded—and were teaching a different message from that which Paul had taught. And he was deeply distressed that his brothers and sisters in Galatia had so easily fallen under the spell of wrong teaching ().
As you begin to read Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians, you can tell immediately that something is radically wrong, because he does not open his letter with his usual praise to God and prayer for the saints. He has no time! Paul is about to engage in a battle for the truth of the gospel and the liberty of the Christian life. False teachers are spreading a false “gospel” which is a mixture of law and grace, and Paul is not going to stand by and do nothing.
“Be Transformed”
Throughout his letter to the Galatians, Paul kept coming back to the cross (, ; ; ; , ; ). “For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (). The wounds of Calvary certainly make Christ a “marked man,” for those wounds mean liberty to those who will trust Him. The Judaizers (those who insisted on making Judaism a prerequisite for Christianity) 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 significance of the cross of Christ and glorying in it.
Paul 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 (, ; ); but after he met Christ, all his self-glory turned to mere refuse. The legalists of his day (and ours) did not glory in the cross of Christ, because they did not glory in Christ. It was Moses (and themselves) who got the glory. Legalists do not really know the Person of the cross.
For Paul, the cross meant liberty: from self (), the sinful nature (), and the world (). 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. Now that’s transformation!
Greeting
To the churches of Galatia:
4who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Only One Gospel
8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
10For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Call to Apostleship
12For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
13For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
14And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
16to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Contacts at Jerusalem
18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.
19But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.
20(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
21Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.
24And they glorified God in me.
Defending the Gospel
2And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
4And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),
7But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter
8(for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles),
9and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
10They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
No Return to the Law
12for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
15“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16“knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
19“For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21“I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Justification by Faith
4Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
7Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
9So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
The Law Brings a Curse
11But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
12Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
The Changeless Promise
16Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
17And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
18For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Purpose of the Law
20Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
22But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
24Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Sons and Heirs
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
2but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
4But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
7Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Fears for the Church
8But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
9But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
11I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
13You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
14And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
16Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
18But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.
19My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,
20I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.
Two Covenants
21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
22For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
23But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
25for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—
26but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
29But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.
Christian Liberty
3And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
5For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Love Fulfills the Law
8This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.
9A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
Walking in the Spirit
17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Bear and Share Burdens
2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
5For each one shall bear his own load.
Be Generous and Do Good
7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
9And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Glory Only in the Cross
13For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Blessing and a Plea
17From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Annotations for Galatians
One of the requirements for an apostle was that he had to have witnessed the resurrection (, ; ; ). Of course, Paul himself was neither a disciple nor an apostle during Christ’s earthly ministry, but he had seen the risen Lord and been commissioned by Him (; ). Paul had a second basis for authority: He had founded the churches in Galatia. He was not writing to them as a stranger, but as the one who had brought them the message of life in the beginning! This letter reveals Paul’s affection for these believers (see ). Unfortunately, this affection was not being returned to him.
Bible students are divided over whether Paul wrote to churches in the country of Galatia or in the province of Galatia. The former view is called the “north Galatian theory” and the latter the “south Galatian theory.” The matter is not finally settled, but the evidence seems to indicate that Paul wrote to churches in the southern part of the province of Galatia—Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe—churches he founded on his first missionary journey ().
, Christ paid the price that He might achieve a purpose—rescuing sinners from bondage. “Liberty in Christ” is the dominant theme of Galatians. (Check the word “slave” or “bondage” in ; , , , ; .) The Judaizers wanted to lead the Christians out of the liberty of grace into the bondage of law. Paul knew that bondage was not a part of the message of the gospel, for Christ had died to set men free.
, The Galatian believers were not simply “changing religions” or “changing churches” but were actually abandoning the very grace of God! To make matters worse, they were deserting the very God of grace! God had called them and saved them; now they were deserting him for human leaders who would bring them into bondage. You cannot mix grace and works, because the one excludes the other. Salvation is the gift of God’s grace, purchased for us by Jesus Christ on the cross. To turn from grace to law is to desert the God who saved us.
When Paul heard that false teachers had begun to capture his converts and lead them astray, he was greatly concerned—and rightly so. After all, teaching new Christians how to live for Christ is as much a part of Christ’s commission as winning them (, ). Sad to say, many of the Galatian Christians had turned away from Paul, their “spiritual father” in the Lord, and were now following legalistic teachers who were mixing Old Testament law with the gospel of God’s grace.
Keep in mind that God’s grace involves something more than man’s salvation. We not only are saved by grace, but we are to live by grace (). We stand in grace; it is the foundation for the Christian life (, ). Grace gives us the strength we need to be victorious soldiers (). Grace enables us to suffer without complaining, and even to use that suffering for God’s glory (). When a Christian turns away from living by God’s grace, he must depend on his own power. This leads to failure and disappointment.
The Judaizers had come along and substituted their false gospel for the true gospel, and for this sin, Paul pronounced them “accursed.” The word he used is anathema, which means “dedicated to destruction.” (Read for a forceful illustration of the meaning of this word.) No matter who the preacher may be—an angel from heaven or even Paul himself—if he preaches any other gospel, he is cursed!
For the Judaizers to deny Paul’s apostleship and gospel was the same as denying his conversion! Certainly Paul was preaching the same message that he himself had believed—the truth that had changed him. But no mere human message could bring about such a change. Paul’s argument was conclusive: His past conduct as a persecutor of the church plus the dramatic change that he experienced proved that his message and ministry were from God.
, The Judaizers were interested in their own glory (). That is why they were stealing Paul’s converts and leading them astray. If Paul had been interested in glorifying himself, he could have remained a Jewish rabbi and perhaps become Gamaliel’s successor. But it was the glory of God that motivated Paul, and this ought to motivate our lives as well.
Some modern critical scholars have accused Paul of “corrupting the simple gospel,” but the evidence is against this accusation. The same Christ who taught on earth also taught through Paul from heaven. Modern-day “Judaizers,” like their ancient counterparts, reject the authority of Paul and try to undermine the gospel that he preached. In Paul’s day, their message was “the gospel plus Moses.” In our day it is “the gospel plus” any number of religious leaders, religious books, or religious organizations. “Unless you are . . . you cannot be saved” is their message (); and that “unless” usually includes joining their group and obeying their rules.
Paul’s first fight for Christian liberty was at the Jerusalem council (see ); his second was at a private meeting with Peter (). Had Paul been unwilling to wage this spiritual warfare, the church in the first century might have become only a Jewish sect, preaching a mixture of law and grace. But because of Paul’s courage, the gospel was kept free from legalism, and it was carried to the Gentiles with great blessing.
The Jewish legalists in Jerusalem came to Antioch and taught, in effect, that a Gentile had to become a Jew before he could become a Christian (). Circumcision, which they demanded of the Gentiles, was an important Jewish rite, handed down from the days of Abraham (). Submitting to circumcision meant accepting and obeying the whole Jewish law. However, the true Christian has experienced an inner circumcision of the heart (, ) and does not need to submit to any physical operation ().
It seems that Titus became a test case at this point. He was a Gentile Christian who had never submitted to circumcision. Yet it was clear to all that he was genuinely saved. Now, if the Judaizers were right (“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved,” ), then Titus was not a saved man. But he was a saved man, and gave evidence of having the Holy Spirit; therefore, the Judaizers were wrong.
Ever since Paul’s time, the enemies of grace have been trying to add something to the simple gospel of the grace of God. They tell us that a man is saved by faith in Christ plus something—good works, the Ten Commandments, baptism, church membership, religious ritual—and Paul made it clear that these teachers are wrong. In fact, Paul pronounced a curse on any person (man or angel) who preaches any other gospel than the gospel of the grace of God, centered in Jesus Christ.
The Jerusalem conference began with a real possibility for division and dissension; yet it ended with cooperation and agreement. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (). Perhaps we need to practice some of this same cooperation today. We need to recognize the fact that God calls people to different ministries in different places; yet we all preach the same gospel and are seeking to work together to build His church. Among those who know and love Christ, there can be no such thing as “competition.”
Some time after the important conference described in , Peter came from Jerusalem to Antioch. The thing to note is Peter’s freedom “when he had come.” He enjoyed fellowship with all the believers, Jews and Gentiles alike. To “eat with the Gentiles” meant to accept them, to put Jews and Gentiles on the same level in the one family of Christ. Raised as an orthodox Jew, Peter had a difficult time learning this lesson. Peter’s freedom was threatened when he became afraid to speak the freedom of the gospel openly and courageously.
Catalyst
We will assume that all of represents Paul’s rebuke of Peter. It is interesting to note that Paul builds the entire rebuke on doctrine. There are five basic Christian doctrines that were being denied by Peter because of his separation from the Gentiles:
The unity of the church (v. ). Peter was a Jew, but through his faith in Christ he had become a Christian. Because he was a Christian, he was part of the church, and in the church there are no racial distinctions ().
Justification by faith (vv. , ). This is the first appearance of the important concept of justification in this letter, and probably in Paul’s writings (if, as we believe, Galatians was the first letter he wrote). Justification is the act of God whereby he declares the believing sinner righteous in Jesus Christ. When Peter separated himself from the Gentiles, he was denying the truth of justification by faith, because he was saying, “We Jews are different from—and better than—the Gentiles.”
Freedom from the law (vv. , ). At the Jerusalem conference, Peter had compared the Mosaic law to a burdensome yoke (see ; ). Now he had put himself under that impossible yoke.
The very gospel itself (vv. , ). If a person is justified by the works of the law, then why did Jesus Christ die? His death, burial, and resurrection are the key truths of the gospel (). We are saved by faith in Christ (He died for us), and we live by faith in Christ (He lives in us). Furthermore, we are so identified with Christ by the Spirit that we died with Him (see ). This means that we are dead to the law.
The grace of God (v. ). The Judaizers wanted to mix law and grace, but Paul told us that this is impossible. To go back to the law means to “set aside” the grace of God. Peter had experienced God’s grace in his own salvation, and he had proclaimed God’s grace in his own ministry. But when he withdrew from the Gentile Christian fellowship, he openly denied the grace of God.
Go to the
Living by the law means I must do something to please God, while grace means that God has finished the work for me and all I need do is believe on Christ. Salvation is not by faith in Christ plus something; it is by faith in Christ alone. While church membership and religious activities are good in their place as expressions of faith in Christ, they can never be added to faith in Christ in order to secure eternal life.
, Liberty does not mean license; rather, it means the freedom in Christ to enjoy Him and to be “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand” (). It is not only “freedom to do” but also “freedom not to do.” We are no longer in bondage to sin and the law. As Paul will explain in the practical section of this letter (), we obey God because of love and not because of the law. Christians enjoy a wonderful liberty in Christ.
The sixty verses that make up and are some of the strongest writing that Paul ever penned. But, after all, he was in a battle! He was out to prove that salvation is by grace alone, and not by the works of the law. His opponents had used every possible means to try to capture the churches of Galatia, and Paul was not going to fight them halfheartedly. The apostle was no amateur when it came to debate, and in these two chapters he certainly proves his abilities. His logic is unassailable.
It was obvious that these people had experienced something in their lives when Paul had first visited them; but the Judaizers had come along and convinced them that their experience was not complete. They needed something else, and that “something else” was obedience to the Law of Moses. These false teachers had bewitched them and turned them into fools.
The Holy Spirit is mentioned eighteen times in this epistle and plays an important part in Paul’s defense of the gospel of the grace of God. The only real evidence of conversion is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (see ). Paul asked an important question: Did they receive the Spirit by faith in the Word of God, or by doing the works of the law? Of course, there could be but one answer: The Spirit came into their lives because they trusted Jesus Christ.
Since the Holy Spirit does so much for the believer, this means that the believer has a responsibility to the Holy Spirit, who lives within the Christian’s body (, ). The Christian should live (walk) by the Spirit (, ) by reading the Word, praying, and obeying God’s will. If he disobeys God, then he is grieving the Spirit (), and if he persists in doing this, he may quench (stifle) the Spirit (). This does not mean that the Holy Spirit will leave him, because Jesus has promised that the Spirit abides forever (). But it does mean that the Spirit cannot give him the joy and power that he needs for daily Christian living. Believers should be filled with the Spirit (), which simply means “controlled by the Spirit.” This is a continuous experience, like drinking water from a fresh stream ().
, Abraham was saved by faith. Paul began by quoting Moses to show that God’s righteousness was placed to Abraham’s account only because he believed God’s promise (). The word “accounted” in is also used in and , , and in some translations reads “imputed.” The Greek word means “to assign to one’s account.” When the sinner trusts Christ, God’s righteousness is put to his account.
The salvation offered by Christ is by faith, not the law. Salvation could never come by obedience to the law because the law brings a curse, not a blessing. Nobody could ever live “by the law” because the law kills and shows the sinner he is guilty before God (; ). The Judaizers wanted to seduce the Galatians into a religion of legal works, while Paul wanted them to enjoy a relationship of love and life by faith in Christ. For the Christian to abandon faith and grace for law and works is to lose everything exciting that the Christian can experience in his daily fellowship with the Lord.
Paul’s reference to a “tree” relates to the cross on which Jesus died (; ). By dying on the cross, Jesus Christ bore the curse of the law for us; so that now the believer is no longer under the law and its awful curse.
The blessing of Abraham came upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Justification by faith and the gift of the Spirit are now ours through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Judaizers implied that the giving of the law changed the original covenant of promise that God had made with Abraham. Paul argued that it did not. Note that Abraham did not make a covenant with God; God made a covenant with Abraham! God did not lay down any conditions for Abraham to meet. In fact, when the covenant was ratified Abraham was asleep (see )! It was a covenant of grace: God made promises to Abraham; Abraham did not make promises to God.
The law was temporary, “till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.” The law separated Israel from the Gentile nations (); it governed every aspect of their lives. During the centuries of Jewish history, the law was preparing for the coming of Christ. The demands of the law reminded the people that they needed a Savior. The types and symbols in the law were pictures of the coming Messiah (see ). Now it is obvious that a temporary law cannot be greater than a permanent covenant.
, The law required a mediator. When God gave the law to Israel, He did it by means of angels and through the mediation of Moses. When God made His covenant with Abraham, He did it personally, without a mediator. God was revealing to Abraham all that He would do for him and his descendants. A mediator stands between two parties and helps them to agree; but there was no need for a mediator in Abraham’s case since God was entering into a covenant with him, not Abraham with God.
, A thoughtful person can’t help but ask, “What’s going on here? Is God contradicting Himself?” Paul revealed his deep insight into the ways and purposes of God. He did not say that the law contradicts the promise, but rather that it cooperates with the promise in fulfilling the purposes of God. While law and grace seem to be contrary to one another, if you go deep enough, you will discover that they actually complement one another. The law was not given to provide life (v. ). The law was given to reveal sin (vv. , ). The law was given to prepare the way for Christ (vv. ).
Catalyst
Paul used an illustration in that was familiar to all his readers—the child guardian. In many Roman and Greek households, well-educated slaves took the children to and from school and watched over them during the day. Sometimes they would teach the children, sometimes they would protect and prohibit, and sometimes they would even discipline.
By using this illustration, Paul was saying several things about the Jews and their law. First, he was saying that the Jews were not born through the law, but rather were brought up by the law. The slave was not the child’s father; he was the child’s guardian and disciplinarian. So, the law did not give life to Israel; it regulated life. The Judaizers taught that the law was necessary for life and righteousness, and Paul’s argument shows their error.
The second point Paul made is even more important: The work of the guardian was preparation for the child’s maturity. Once the child came of age, he no longer needed the guardian. So the law was a preparation for the nation of Israel until the coming of the promised Seed, Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal in God’s program was His coming (), but “before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed” ().
A good example of this purpose of the law is in the account of the rich young ruler (.). This young man had everything anybody could desire, but he was not satisfied. He had tried to keep the commandments all his life, but still something was missing. But these commandments brought him to Christ! This is one of the purposes of the law—to create in lost sinners a sense of guilt and need. The sad thing is that the young man was not honest as he looked into the mirror of the law, for the last commandment (“You shall not covet”) escaped him; and he went away without eternal life.
The law has performed its purpose: The Savior has come, and the “guardian” is no longer needed. It is tragic that the nation of Israel did not recognize their Messiah when He appeared. God finally had to destroy the temple and scatter the nation, so that today it is impossible for a devoted Jew to practice the faith of his fathers. He has no altar, no priesthood, no sacrifice, no temple, no king (). All of these have been fulfilled in Christ, so that any man—Jew or Gentile—who trusts Christ becomes a child of God.
The law cannot change the promise, and the law is not greater than the promise. But the law is not contrary to the promise: They work together to bring sinners to the Savior. We experience repentance by the work of the law, which drives us to Christ.
Go to the
This section of Galatians is valuable to us as we read the Old Testament Scriptures. It shows us that the spiritual lessons of the Old Testament are not for the Jews only but have application to Christians today (see ; , ). In the Old Testament we have preparation for Christ; in the Gospels, the presentation of Christ; and in Acts through Revelation, the appropriation of Christ.
The phrase “put on Christ” pictures a change of garments. The believer has laid aside the dirty garments of sin () and, by faith, received the robes of righteousness in Christ (see ). But to the Galatians, this idea of changing clothes would have an additional meaning. When the Roman child came of age, he took off the childhood garments and put on the toga of the adult citizen. The believer in Christ is not just a “child of God”; he is also a “son of God” (see , where “children” has the idea of “adult sons”). The believer has an adult status before God—so why go back into the childhood of the law?
Among the blessings of the Christian experience is adoption (v. ; ). Our adoption into God’s family is different from the way a homeless child would enter a loving family in our own society. The only way to get into God’s family is by regeneration, being “born again” (). The New Testament word for “adoption” means “to place as an adult son.” It has to do with our standing in the family of God: We are not little children but adult sons with all of the privileges of sonship. When a sinner trusts Christ and is saved, as far as his condition is concerned, he is a “spiritual baby” who needs to grow (see , ); but as far as his position is concerned, he is an adult son who can draw on the Father’s wealth and who can exercise all the wonderful privileges of sonship.
Catalyst
In , Paul unfolds several ways in which our relationship with God is truly a father-child connection:
The child has the same nature as the father, but the servant does not (v. ). When we trust Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us; and this means we are “partakers of the divine nature” (). The law could never give a person God’s nature within. All it could do was reveal to the person his desperate need for God’s nature. So, when the believer goes back into law, he is denying the very divine nature within, and he is giving the old nature (the flesh) opportunity to go to work.
The child has a father, while the servant has a master (v. ). No servant could ever say “Father” to his master. When the sinner trusts Christ, he receives the Holy Spirit within, and the Spirit tells him that he is a child of the Father (, ). It is natural for a baby to cry, but not for a baby to talk to his father. When the Spirit enters the heart, he says, “Abba, Father”; and, in response, the believer cries, “Abba, Father” (). The word “abba” is an Aramaic word that is the equivalent of our English word “papa.” This shows the closeness of the child to the Father. No servant has this.
The child obeys out of love, while the servant obeys out of fear (v. ). The Spirit works in the heart of the believer to quicken and increase his love for God. The Holy Spirit produces love (; see ). The Judaizers told the Galatians that they would become better Christians by submitting to the law, but the law can never produce obedience. Only love can do that. “If you love me, keep my commandments” ().
The child is rich, while the servant is poor (v. ). As children, God has made us His heirs. And since we are adopted—placed as adult sons in the family—we may begin drawing on our inheritance right now. God has made available to us the riches of His grace (; ), the riches of His glory (), the riches of His goodness (), and the riches of His wisdom (.)—and all of the riches of God are found in Christ (; ).
The child has a future, while the servant does not (v. ). While many kind masters did provide for their slaves in old age, it was not required of them. The father always provides for the son (). Each of us can experience the profound truth that the apostle John expressed: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” ().
Go to the
Legalism appeals to the flesh. The flesh loves to be “religious”—to obey laws, to observe holy occasions, even to fast. Certainly there is nothing wrong with obedience, fasting, or solemn times of spiritual worship, provided that the Holy Spirit does the motivating and the empowering. The legalist invents his own system that satisfies his senses. He cannot walk by faith; he has to walk by sight and hearing and tasting and smelling and feeling. External things are but windows through which faith perceives the eternal. They are not ends in themselves.
The person who depends on religion can measure himself and compare himself with others. This is another fascination to legalism. But the true believer measures himself with Christ, not other Christians (.). There is no room for pride in the spiritual walk of the Christian who lives by grace; but the legalist constantly boasts about his achievements and his converts (, ). Yes, there is a fascination to the law, but it is only bait that leads to a trap; and once the believer takes the bait, he finds himself in bondage. Far better to take God at His Word and rest on His grace.
Legalism, then, is not a step toward maturity; it is a step back into childhood. The law was not God’s final revelation; it was but the preparation for that final revelation in Christ. It is important that a person know his ABCs, because they are the foundation for understanding all of the language. But the man who sits in a library and recites the ABCs, instead of reading the great literature that is around him, is showing that he is immature and ignorant, not mature and wise. Under the law, the Jews were children in bondage, not sons enjoying liberty.
A true servant of God does not “use people” to build up himself or his work; he ministers in love to help people know Christ better and glorify Him. Beware of that religious worker who wants your exclusive allegiance because he is the only one who is right. He will use you as long as he can and then drop you for somebody else—and your fall will be a painful one. The task of the spiritual leader is to get people to love and follow Christ, not to promote himself and his ministry.
Paul now explained the meanings that lie behind these historical events. Paul began with the two sons, Ishmael and Isaac (vv. , ), and explained that they illustrate our two births: the physical birth that makes us sinners and the spiritual birth that makes us the children of God. As you think about this and read , you discover some wonderful spiritual truths about your salvation.
, We Christians, like Isaac, are the children of promise by grace. The covenant of grace, pictured by Sarah, is our spiritual mother. The law and the old nature (Hagar and Ishmael) want to persecute us and bring us into bondage. The nation of Israel had been in bondage under the law, but this was a temporary thing, preparing them for the coming of Christ. Jesus Christ, like Isaac, was a child of promise, born by the miraculous power of God. Once He had come and died for the people, the law had to go.
It is impossible for law and grace, the flesh and the Spirit, to compromise and stay together. God did not ask Hagar and Ishmael to make occasional visits to the home; the break was permanent. The Judaizers in Paul’s day—and in our own day—were trying to reconcile Sarah and Hagar, and Isaac and Ishmael; such reconciliation is contrary to the Word of God. It is impossible to mix law and grace, faith and works, God’s gift of righteousness and man’s attempts to earn righteousness.
Legalism is one of the major problems among Christians today. We must keep in mind that legalism does not mean the setting of spiritual standards; it means worshiping these standards and thinking that we are spiritual because we obey them. It also means judging other believers on the basis of these standards. A person can refrain from smoking, drinking, and gambling, for example, and still not be spiritual. The Pharisees had high standards; yet they crucified Jesus. Thank God, the Christian is set free from the curse of the law and the control of the law. To attempt to mix law and grace is to attempt the impossible. It makes for a frustrated, barren Christian life. But to live by grace, through faith, gives one a free and fulfilling Christian life.
Paul turned now from argument to application, from the doctrinal to the practical. The Christian who lives by faith is not going to become a rebel. Quite the contrary, he is going to experience the inner discipline of God that is far better than the outer discipline of man-made rules. No man could become a rebel who depends on God’s grace, yields to God’s Spirit, lives for others, and seeks to glorify God. The legalist is the one who eventually rebels, because he is living in bondage, depending on the flesh, living for self, and seeking the praise of men and not the glory of God.
The surrendered Christian who depends on the power of the Spirit is not denying the law of God or rebelling against it. Rather, that law is being fulfilled in him through the Spirit (). It is easy to see the sequence of thought in these closing chapters of Galatians:
I have been set free by Christ. I am no longer under bondage to the law ().
But I need something—Someone—to control my life from within. That Someone is the Holy Spirit ().
Through the Spirit’s love, I have a desire to live for others, not for self ().
This life of liberty is so wonderful, I want to live it to the glory of God; for He is the One making it possible ().
Now, contrast this with the experience of the person who chooses to live under law, under the discipline of some religious leader:
If I obey these rules, I will become a more spiritual person. I am a great admirer of this religious leader, so I now submit myself to his system.
I believe I have the strength to obey and improve myself. I do what I am told and measure up to the standards set for me.
I’m making progress. I don’t do some of the things I used to do. Other people compliment me on my obedience and discipline. I can see that I am better than others in my fellowship. How wonderful to be so spiritual.
If only others were like me! God is certainly fortunate that I am His. I have a desire to share this with others so they can be as I am. Our group is growing, and we have a fine reputation. Too bad other groups are not as spiritual as we are.
No matter how you look at it, legalism is an insidious, dangerous enemy. When you abandon grace for law, you always lose. In , Paul emphasized what the believer loses when he turns from God’s grace to man-made rules and regulations.
Go to the
When we trust Christ, we become spiritually rich. We now share in the riches of God’s grace (), the riches of His glory (; ), The Judaizers, however, want us to believe that we are missing something, that we would be more “spiritual” if we practiced the law with its demands and disciplines. But Paul made it clear that the law adds nothing—because nothing can be added! Instead, the law comes in as a thief and robs the believer of the spiritual riches he has in Christ. It puts him back into bankruptcy, responsible for a debt he is unable to pay.
No amount of obedience can make up for one act of disobedience. Obedience isn’t extra credit; it’s the minimum requirement. It is one law, and the same law that protects the obedient person punishes the offender. To boast about keeping part of the law while at the same time breaking another part is to confess that I am worthy of punishment.
It is important to note that Paul never uses the image of the race to tell people how to be saved. He is always talking to Christians about how to live the Christian life. A contestant in the Greek games had to be a citizen before he could compete. We become citizens of heaven through faith in Christ; then the Lord puts us on our course, and we run to win the prize (see ).
In the races, each runner was to stay in his assigned lane, but some runners would cut in on their competitors to try to get them off course. This is what the Judaizers had done to the Galatian believers: They cut in on them and forced them to change direction and go on a “spiritual detour.” It was not God who did this, because He had called them to run faithfully in the lane marked “Grace.”
Since the death and resurrection of Christ, there is no spiritual value to circumcision; it is only a physical operation. Paul wished that the false teachers would castrate themselves so that they could not produce any more “children of slavery.”
This leads to a commandment: “Through love serve one another” (v. ). The key word, of course, is love. The formula looks something like this: liberty + love = service to others; however, liberty–love = license (slavery to sin).
Just as Isaac and Ishmael were unable to get along, so the Spirit and the flesh (the old nature) are at war with each other. By “the flesh,” of course, Paul did not mean “the body.” The human body is not sinful; it is neutral. If the Holy Spirit controls the body, then we walk in the Spirit; but if the flesh controls the body, then we walk in the lusts (desires) of the flesh. The Spirit and the flesh have different appetites, and this is what creates the conflict.
, The contrast between results (works, by products) and fruit is important. A machine in a factory works and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and, in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit (v. ). When you think of “works” you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of “fruit” you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life. Paul began with love because all of the other fruit is really an outgrowth of love.
Fruit grows in a climate blessed with an abundance of the Spirit and the Word. To live in the Spirit means to walk in the Spirit, not running ahead and not lagging behind. This involves the Word, prayer, worship, praise, and fellowship with God’s people. It also means “pulling out the weeds” so that the seed of the Word can take root and bear fruit.
The legalist is not interested in sharing others’ burdens. Instead, he adds to the burdens of others (). The legalist is always harder on other people than he is on himself, but the Spirit-led Christian demands more of himself than he does of others that he might be able to help others.
, The spiritual person would seek to restore another believer in love, while the legalist would exploit and condemn him and then use that person to make himself look good. The legalist rejoices when someone else falls, and often gives the matter wide publicity, because then he can boast about his own goodness and how much better his group is than the group to which the fallen person belongs.
We must realize the spiritual principle that lies behind this precept. God does not command believers to give simply that pastors and teachers (and missionaries, ) might have their material needs met, but that the givers might get a greater blessing. The basic principle of sowing and reaping is found throughout the entire Bible: God has ordained that we reap what we sow. Were it not for this law, the whole principle of cause and effect would fail. The farmer who sows wheat can expect to reap wheat. If it were otherwise, there would be chaos in our world.
Some Bible students believe that Paul’s “trial which was in my flesh” (, ; ) 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.
Because Paul preached the grace of God and salvation apart from the works of the law, he was persecuted (). 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.
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.”
One purpose of the cross was to bring in a “new creation.” 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. 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 the One Jesus Christ” (). In other words, the believer belongs to a “new creation or person,” a spiritual creation, that knows nothing of the defects and limitations of the “old creation” (see ).
Another purpose of the cross 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 corning of Jesus Christ (). 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” (), and in Christ there are no racial or national distinctions (). The church has not permanently replaced the nation of Israel in the program of God, but the church is “the people of God” on earth today just as Israel was in centuries past. Paul clearly taught, however, that there is a future in God’s plan for the Jewish nation ().
Galatians 1
1:1
1:1
1:4 []
1:4
1:6 ;
1:7
1:7 ,
1:7
1:8
1:9
1:10
1:10
1:10
1:11
1:12
1:12 []
1:13
1:13 ; ,
1:14
1:14
1:15 ,
1:16 []
1:16
1:16
1:18
1:18 NU-Text reads Cephas.
1:19
1:19
1:21
1:22
1:23 ,
1:23
1:24
Galatians 2
2:1
2:2
2:2
2:4 ,
2:4 ; ,
2:4 ,
2:5 [; ; ]
2:6 ;
2:6
2:6 ;
2:7 ; ;
2:7
2:8
2:8
2:8 []
2:9
2:9
2:9
2:10
2:11
2:11 NU-Text reads Cephas.
2:12 [; , ]
2:14 ;
2:14
2:14 []
2:14 NU-Text reads how can you.
2:14 Some interpreters stop the quotation here.
2:15 []
2:15
2:16 ,
2:16
2:16
2:17 []
2:19
2:19 [, ; ]
2:19 []
2:20 []
2:20
2:20
2:21
Galatians 3
3:1 NU-Text omits that you should not obey the truth.
3:1 NU-Text omits among you.
3:2 ,
3:3 []
3:3
3:4
3:6
3:6
3:7
3:8
3:8 ; ; ; ;
3:8 ; ; ; ;
3:10
3:10
3:11
3:11
3:12 ,
3:12
3:12
3:13 []
3:13
3:13
3:14 ; ; [, , ]
3:14 ; ,
3:14
3:15
3:16
3:16 , ; ;
3:16 []
3:16 ; ;
3:17
3:17 []
3:17 NU-Text omits in Christ.
3:18 []
3:18
3:19
3:19
3:19
3:19
3:20 []
3:22
3:22
3:24
3:24
3:26
3:27 []
3:27 ;
3:28
3:28 []
3:28 [, ]
3:29
3:29 ;
3:29 ; ;
Galatians 4
4:3 ,
4:4 []
4:4 []
4:4 ; [; ]
4:4 []; ,
4:4 Or made
4:5 []
4:5 []
4:6 [; , , ]
4:7 [, ]
4:7 NU-Text reads through God and omits through Christ.
4:8
4:8
4:9 []
4:9
4:9
4:10
4:11
4:12
4:13
4:14
4:14 []
4:15 NU-Text reads Where.
4:17
4:19
4:22
4:22
4:23 ,
4:23
4:24
4:24 NU-Text and M-Text omit the.
4:26 []
4:27
4:27
4:28
4:28
4:29
4:29
4:30 [, ]
4:30 ,
4:30 []
4:30
Galatians 5
5:1
5:1
5:1 NU-Text reads For freedom Christ has made us free; stand fast therefore.
5:2
5:3 []
5:4 []
5:4
5:5
5:6 []
5:6
5:7
5:9
5:11
5:11 []
5:12
5:12 ,
5:13
5:13
5:13
5:14 ;
5:14
5:14
5:16
5:17 , , ;
5:17
5:18 [; ; ]
5:19 ,
5:19 NU-Text omits adultery.
5:21 ,
5:21 NU-Text omits murders.
5:22 []
5:22 []
5:22
5:22
5:23
5:24
5:25 [, ]
5:26
Galatians 6
6:1
6:2
6:2 []
6:3
6:3 []
6:4
6:4
6:5 []
6:6 ,
6:7 []
6:8 []
6:9
6:9 [, ]
6:10
6:10
6:10
6:12
6:14 []
6:14
6:14 Or by which (the cross)
6:15