Words for The Wise, A People of Purpose, Galatians 6 NIV

 

 Galatians 6 New International Version (NIV)

Doing Good to All

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load. 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Not Circumcision but the New Creation

11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to[b] the Israel of God.

17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

NIV Application Commentary

Galatians 6V7-10

People will have to stand before God. [Paul's] point here is clear: since we will stand before God, we must live now before God, and that means living in the Spirit. Put differently, we must do good to all people, especially to the church, which may well have been neglected by those caught up in the divisions at Galatia.

That the antithesis of flesh and Spirit has been in Paul’s mind since he began these injunctions at verse 1 becomes clear with verse 8. What we envision here is a divisiveness that was leading to shunning sinning brothers and sisters, to arrogant leadership, to comparing one’s righteousness with another’s, and to outright ugly treatment of teachers. Such kinds of behavior are “works of the flesh” (5:19–21).

So Paul enters with the strongest foundation that one can perceive: God is the Judge, and people cannot sneer at him. Paul knows that “moral indifference would be an imperfection in God, not a perfection.” If a person lives to the flesh, that person will “reap destruction” (condemnation); if a person lives “in the Spirit,” that person will “reap eternal life.” What Paul is saying is what I have said on numerous occasions in this book: while works do not save us, no one is saved without works. Why? Very simply, because works are the sure indicators of a person’s heart, orientation, and status before God. Every judgment in the Bible is a judgment according to works (cf. Matt. 7:13–27; 16:27; 22:1–14; 25:1–46; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:11–15). A person’s final standing before God will be determined by that person’s relationship to Jesus Christ as revealed in his or her works. While it is absolutely true that our grounds of acceptance is the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on our behalf, our connection to that sacrifice is by way of a faith that works itself out in the many good works in a person’s life.

So Paul speaks of “doing good,” because doing good is what it means to sow “to please the Spirit.” We should not become weary in doing good because, he repeats, our judgment is based on this (“we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”; v. 9). Paul then argues that the Christian is to do good “to all people,” regardless of their culture, nation, or sex (3:28). But the Christian’s deeds of mercy are especially (though not exclusively) to be directed toward “the family of believers.”

In sum, Paul interweaves two highly fundamental ideas for Christian ethics: mutual accountability and personal responsibility. Indeed, John Barclay sees the alternation between two themes as the structural impulse behind our section. He uses the terms in a reverse direction (personal accountability to God and corporate responsibility to others), and I shall change them to my terms to ease understanding. His structure (changed in terms only) is as follows:

The Bible Panorama

Galatians 6

V 1–5: BEARING BURDENS The outworking of the previous teaching to the Galatians means that the Christian bears the burdens of others. This means a genuine desire to restore those who have gone astray, in a humble and gentle spirit, and a realistic assessment of one’s own ‘nothingness’ apart from Christ. Self-examination is called for.

 V 6–10: SOWING SEED Generosity is a hallmark of a spiritually alive person. He will constantly support those in Christian work, sow generously God’s word in his own life and in others’ lives, and do good to others. He will reap a bountiful harvest and not lose heart. Christians are to be his special target of good works.

V 11–15: CHRIST’S CROSS Paul adds a note in this letter in his own handwriting. Although those who insist on circumcision will continue to persecute Paul, he is determined that his only boasting will be in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That cross not only deals with his sin: it deals with his heart. It crucifies Paul to the world, and the world to Paul. It has become the instrument making him into a new person. Circumcision can never do that.

V 16–18: WISE WALK God’s peace and mercy rest on those who walk with God. The apostle, seeing himself as crucified with Christ, prays for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with the spirit of those who have received his crucial letter.

The reason for your life part 6 Elim Missions

Coming to the end of this year we have examined how Paul defends his purpose for living. 10 points:

1. Living with purpose keeps the important issues important.

2. Living with purpose leaves no concern for popularity.

3. Living with purpose can be taught but also caught from God.

4. Living with purpose is caught in the desert places.

5. Living with purpose builds your testimony.

6. Living with purpose brings confidence.

7. Living with purpose will have to be defended.

8. Living with purpose is a solid foundation.

Galatians 6

9. Living with purpose holds to personal values.

v1 forgiveness and restoration, not judgement and rejection.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

v2 carry problems of others

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

v3 get rid of pride

If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

v4 continually self-assess.

Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else

v5 be personally responsible

for each one should carry his own load.

v6 support someone else

v7-9 Don’t give up – sow well reap well.

v10 Use every opportunity to bless.

10. Living with purpose will be attacked, v17, you will be branded for Christ.

Conclusion:

So often we shy aware from self-examination and instead we analyse the circumstances of our life or people in our lives.

However if we become people who simply follow our purpose in life we will be led less by circumstance and people and driven by purpose.

Now is the time to put these principles in place. If we do, we will rise again and again over every opposition that comes our way.

Lets all sign up to be people of purpose.

 Part 1 Words for The Wise, Living the Gospel Empowered Life, Galatians 1

Part 2 Words for The Wise, Living in Purpose, Galatians 2 NIV

Part 3 Words for The Wise, The Fellowship of the Faithful, Galatians 3, English Standard Version (UK)

Part 4 Words for The Wise, From Slavery to Sonship, Our Status in Christ

Part 5 Words for The Wise, Galatians 5, The Fruits of Freedom

Words for The Wise, Galatians 5, The Fruits of Freedom

Galatians 5

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Walk by the Spirit

5 [a]It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who [b]are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we [c]through the Spirit, [d]by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. 10 I have confidence [e]in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. 12 I wish that those who are troubling you would even [f]mutilate themselves.

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh [g]sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you [h]please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: [i]immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, [j]factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who [k]belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also [l]walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

NIV Application Commentary

What Is the Life in the Spirit? (vv. 22–26)

Paul’s listing of the “fruit of the Spirit” does not seem to have any particular order, though some have proposed an order. J. R. W. Stott sees in these nine virtues three groups of three: attitudes to God, others, and self, while J. B. Lightfoot sees dispositions of the mind, qualities governing human relations, and principles of conduct. We do need to comment on the terms fruit and love, but we are not able to spend time with each word.

Paul describes “flesh” under the term works, while he sees the Spirit’s work as “fruit.” The former is plural while the latter is singular. Is there anything significant in the change of terms or the change of number? Above all, it must be observed that works has been a term of negative associations in Galatians and that Paul probably delighted in associating the “works” of the flesh with the “works of the law” (2:16; 3:2, 5, 10). The change of terms to “fruit” evokes a different image: from one of human responsibility to one of divine enablement. The image of fruit has a certain sense of passivity to it; it is the Spirit of God who produces such things, and they grow in the life of the Christian.

However, while this may be one reason for the change of terms, it is also clear that Paul sees evil as having fruit (6:8) and thinks that the Christian is responsible to let the Spirit be operative in his or her life. Note that Paul shoulders the responsibility of the Spirit’s fruit onto the Christian: “have crucified their flesh” (v. 24), “let us keep in step” (v. 25), and “let us not become conceited” (v. 26)—not to mention verses 13, 16, and 18. It is possible that the unity of the fruit is emphasized in the singular while the chaotic multitude of sins of the flesh is represented in a plural noun. On the other hand, “fruit” can be seen as a collective plural; if so, there is nothing significant in the change to a singular.

While “love” is not the only “fruit” of the Spirit, it is the most important to Paul (cf. vv. 6, 13–14; also Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 13; Col. 3:14). It summarizes the demand of God’s law (Gal. 5:14), endures forever (1 Cor 13:13), and unites all the virtues of life (Col. 3:14). Fundamental to Paul’s view, however, is that love comes from God’s Spirit (cf. Rom. 5:5). Moreover, as we look over this list, we observe the reverse of the list of the works of the flesh. Whereas the flesh destroys fellowship; here the Spirit creates fellowship, unity, and holiness.

As if summarizing his whole point, Paul says that (1) those who have surrendered themselves to Jesus Christ “have crucified the flesh” and so should not be involved in the works of the flesh (v. 24); (2) those who have been given God’s life by the Spirit and Christ (cf. 2:20; Rom 8:9–11) should march according to the Spirit’s orders (Gal 5:25); and (3) those who live in the freedom of the Spirit should not be conceited and so fight with one another (v. 26). Once again, we end up with Paul’s emphasis in this context: Galatian factionalism.

From NIVAC: Galatians by Scot McKnight. Published by Zondervan Academic.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

Freedom for Moral Transformation (5:22-26)

The fruit of the Spirit is the moral character developed by the power of the Spirit. The nine character qualities are a unity, a perfectly formed Christlike character. Paul has expressed his desire to see Christ formed in the Galatian believers (4:19). Now he describes what they will be like when that formation is complete. These character qualities are not a new list of laws or moral codes that must be kept; they are the result of living and being led by the Spirit.

Paul's image of the fruit of the Spirit is probably drawn from the imagery of the Old Testament and the teaching of Jesus. The promise of the Spirit and the promise of moral fruitfulness in God's people are connected in the Old Testament:

Until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,

and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

The effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

(Is 32:15-17 NRSV; see also Joel 2:18-32)

Jesus also taught that the genuineness of his followers would be demonstrated by good fruit from their lives (Mt 7:16-20; Lk 13:6-9), and he promised that the presence of the Spirit and communion with him would produce the fruit of love and obedience (Jn 14—16). These promises of righteousness by the Spirit are the background for Paul's description of the believers' eager expectation of righteousness (5:5); now in verses 22-23 he focuses on the believers' expression of righteousness, which fulfills God's promises for his people.

Paul's list of moral qualities produced by the Spirit provides assurance that those who "live by the Spirit" will actually fulfill God's requirements for his people. There is no need to worry that following Paul's ethical appeal to live by the Spirit will lead to moral license and sin. Just the opposite will be the case. The Spirit will produce those moral qualities that God requires.

The first place in the list, the place of emphasis, is given to love. Love is the focus of the entire ethical appeal: "serve one another in love" (v. 13). Love fulfills the law (v. 14); love is the expression of faith (v. 6). Love is demonstrated in a tangible way in the sacrificial love of Christ (2:20) and the service of Christians (5:13). All the other moral qualities in the list define and flow from love.

Joy is the result of healthy relationships. When relationships fall apart because of broken commitments, there is a loss of joy (see 4:15). When there is conflict and bitterness, as there was in the Galatian churches, there is no joy. But the first result of true love in relationships is the renewal of joy.

Peace is also the result of relationships built by loving service. Instead of "hatred, discord, . . . dissensions, factions" there is harmony and order in relationships.

Patience is the opposite of "fits of rage" or short temper. It is the quality of staying with people even when constantly wronged and irritated by them.

Kindness and goodness are joined with patience to teach that a sweet disposition and doing good toward people (see v. 10) is the way to stay with them in love.

Faithfulness is the quality of keeping commitments in relationships. The Galatians had proved to be fickle in their attitude toward Paul (4:13-16). Only the Spirit can produce the quality of loyalty no matter the cost.

Gentleness is the opposite of "selfish ambition." Gentle people are not "conceited, provoking and envying each other" (v. 26). Gentleness is an expression of humility, considering the needs and hurts of others before one's personal goals.

Self-control is the opposite of self-indulgence. Those who are Spirit-led will not indulge the sinful nature (v. 13). They are not characterized by "sexual immorality, . . . drunkenness, orgies." They do not use other people to gratify their own appetites. They have the strength to say no to themselves, to the desires of their sinful nature.

In Paul's ethical appeal this list of qualities paints a picture of relationships that are built and nourished by the presence of the Spirit. No wonder Paul says, Against such things there is no law. Here again we see that Paul is directing his comments to people who want to be under the supervision of law. Paul assures them that if they are led by the Spirit, they are not under law (v. 18) because the Spirit produces all the qualities that fulfill the requirements of the law (vv. 14, 23). There is no rule in the Mosaic lawbook which can be cited against such character qualities. The Spirit-led life is not a life against the law; it is a life that fulfills the law. The way to the fulfillment of the law is not to live under the law like slaves, but to live by the Spirit as children of God.

Paul concludes his two lists of the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit with a summary statement about putting to death the sinful nature (v. 24) and living by the Spirit (v. 25). The death of the sinful nature opens the way for the life of the Spirit. This movement from death to life is parallel to 2:19-20 and 6:14-15, where death is also followed by new life.

The remarkable feature of Paul's statement about the crucifixion of the sinful nature in verse 24 is the use of the active voice: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Galatians 2:19 and 6:14 say that Christians have been crucified with Christ, but 5:24 says that they themselves have acted to put to death their sinful nature. Believers are responsible to crucify their sinful nature. Since Roman crucifixion was a merciless, painful means of execution, Paul's statement describes an absolute and irreversible renunciation of evil. The past tense may point to the time of baptism, when the Christian publicly identified with Christ. A common liturgy of baptism expresses it this way:

Do you turn to Christ?

I turn to Christ.

Do you repent of your sins?

I repent of my sins.

Do you renounce evil?

I renounce evil.

If this repentance and renunciation of evil is as decisive as crucifixion, it means that Christians have said an absolute, unconditional no to all of their sinful desires and passions. Renunciation of evil is not only a baptismal vow, it is a practical everyday discipline. When my sinful nature subtly suggests paging through a pornographic magazine, I shout a defiant no to my sinful nature. When I hear a juicy bit of gossip and start to repeat it, I close my mouth and say "no way" to my sinful desire. When another Christian criticizes me unfairly and my flesh screams for revenge, I say "absolutely not" to my sinful passion.

The fact of warfare against the sinful nature, described in verse 17, indicates that the sinful nature is never fully eradicated in this life and therefore this no must be continually renewed. But the fact of the execution of the sinful nature described in verse 24 shows that goal of the war against the sinful nature is not a negotiated peace but final execution.

Both the continuous war against the sinful nature and the absolute execution of the sinful nature must be kept in mind if we are to have the full picture. The perfectionists who talk as if the sinful nature has been or can be totally conquered in this life have lost sight of the need to fight the war every day. The pessimists who are halfhearted in battling the flesh because they never expect victory have lost sight of the victory that is ours through active identification with Christ on the cross.

The active execution of the sinful nature is followed by an active expression of new life in the Spirit: Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (v. 25). Paul's combination of an indicative (we live) with an imperative (let us keep in step) is parallel to the same combination of indicative and imperative in verses 1 and 13. The indicative describes God's gift to us: freedom in Christ and life in the Spirit. The imperative expresses our responsibility: to protect our freedom from slavery under the law, to use our freedom to serve one another in love and to keep in step with the Spirit. Keep in step is a military command to make a straight line or to march in ordered rows. The Spirit sets the line and the pace for us to follow. Keeping in step with the Spirit takes active concentration and discipline of the whole person. We constantly see many alternative paths to follow; we reject them to follow the Spirit. We constantly hear other drummers who want to quicken or slow down our pace; we tune them out to listen only to the Spirit.

What does this mean in practice? Paul gives a general but practical application to the Galatian churches: Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (v. 26). This verse and verse 15 clearly indicate that the community life of the Galatian churches had been torn apart by pride, which caused provoking and envying. In their concentration on keeping the law, the Galatian believers had become very competitive in their spiritual life, attempting to outdo each other. To provoke means to challenge to a contest. Some were so sure of their spiritual superiority that they wanted to prove it in a contest. Others felt spiritually inferior and resented those who made them feel that way. Both attitudes were caused by pride that could not tolerate rivals.

C. S. Lewis says that the devil laughs when he sees us overcome by pride: "He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride—just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense" (Lewis 1943:45).

The only treatment for the cancer of pride is radical surgery: we must crucify the pride of sinful nature and be led by the Spirit, who alone has the power to overthrow the dictatorship of pride.

IVP New Testament Commentaries

Part 4 Words for The Wise, From Slavery to Sonship, Our Status in Christ

Part 6 Words for The Wise, A People of Purpose, Galatians 6 NIV

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport,  Merseyside

Words for The Wise, The Fellowship of the Faithful, Galatians 3, English Standard Version (UK)

Galatians 3 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. ² Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by^[a] the flesh? ⁴ Did you suffer^[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

⁷ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify^[c] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”^[d] 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit^[e] through faith.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵ To give a human example, brothers:^[f] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. ¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings”, referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring”, who is Christ.¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterwards, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. ²⁰ Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

²¹ Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²² But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave^[g]nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

New Spiritual Relationships in Christ (3:26-27)

In the old set of relationships under the law, Jews were the children of God and Gentiles were sinners (see 2:15). But now Gentile Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. This must have been a shocking declaration for a Jew to hear. In Jewish literature, sons of God was a title of highest honour, used only for "the members of righteous Israel, destined to inherit the eschatological blessings" (Byrne 1979:174). But now Gentiles—the rejected, the outsiders, the sinners, those who do not observe the law—are called sons of God. Indeed this is a "new creation" (6:15).

How could a Gentile ever be called a child of God? Paul's answer is clear—through faith in Christ Jesus (v. 26). Since Christ Jesus is the "Son of God" (2:20), all who by faith are in Christ are also sons of God.

The next verse points to the basis for the new spiritual relationship depicted by this title, sons of God: they are children of God because they have been united with Christ in baptism and, as a result, clothed with Christ. In the light of his repeated emphasis on faith in this context, Paul cannot possibly mean that the ritual of baptism by itself, apart from faith, would accomplish union with Christ. Only when there is genuine faith in Christ is baptism a sign of union with Christ.

 Paul is reminding the Galatian Christians of their baptism in order to renew their sense of belonging to Christ. That ceremony of initiation into Christ and the Christian community points to the solid foundation for their new relationship as children of God. Moreover, their baptism has led to being clothed . . . with Christ. This metaphor, probably drawn from the ceremony of rerobing after baptism, pictures the reality of complete identification with Christ. In the Old Testament there are frequent references to being clothed with righteousness, salvation, strength and glory (2 Chron 6:41; Job 29:14; Ps 132:9, 16, 18; Prov 31:25; Is 51:9; 52:1; 61:10; Zech 3:3-5). And in other letters Paul uses this metaphor of putting on clothing to mean taking on the virtues of Christ (Col 3:12; 1 Thess 5:8).

 As baptism pictures the initial union with Christ by faith, being clothed with Christ portrays our participation in the moral perfection of Christ by faith. As the hymnwriter put it, Christians are "dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne." That is why Christians can be called the children of God: in Christ they truly are the members of righteous Israel.

The title sons of God and the two ceremonies of baptism and being clothed with Christ point to the reality of our new relationship with God in Christ.

The Bible Panorama

Galatians 3

V 1–9: FOOLISHNESS AND FAITH Paul now tells the Galatians that it is foolish to seek to be perfected in Christ by keeping Jewish legal observances. We are saved by faith and indwelt by the Holy Spirit because, like Abraham, we believe and trust in the promise of God. 

V 10–14: CHRIST WAS CURSED To attempt to be saved by keeping God’s law and then to fail would mean coming under the curse of God’s judgement on sin. But Christ has taken our sin and our curse when He died on the cross in our place. When we trust Him, we are forgiven, cleansed, and counted as righteous because He has been cursed in our place. God gives us His Spirit to confirm this. The principle is the same as that through which Abraham was blessed, namely receiving God’s promise through faith.

 V 15–18: PERMANENCE OF PROMISE Paul stresses that there is only one spiritual seed of Abraham. It is not to do with Jewish nationality or race, but with trusting God’s promise. In that sense, Abraham is the father of all who are justified by faith in God’s promise, whether Jew or Gentile. The arrival of the law, 430 years after the promise to Abraham, cannot annul that fact. In Christ we are saved through trusting God’s promise. 

V 19–25: LAW IS LEGITIMATE The law is not intended to make us righteous before God and cannot do so. It is not against the promises of God, but shows us our sin, so that it leads us to faith in Christ alone. Righteousness and salvation become ours only in Christ, as we trust Him, realising that we can do nothing to save ourselves. The law imprisons us, but faith in Christ sets us free. Just as a tutor would lead an infant to school for education, the law leads us to Christ for salvation. He is our mediator.

  V 26–29: SONS IN SALVATION Faith in Christ makes us sons of God and, as those who have believed Him, also Abraham’s spiritual seed. We inherit that ancient promise in our crucified and living Saviour. So does every other Christian, irrespective of background, social status or gender.

 The Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.

Part 2 Words for The Wise, Living in Purpose, Galatians 2 NIV

Part 4 Words for The Wise, From Slavery to Sonship, Our Status in Christ

Yours because of His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport,  Merseyside, England

Words for The Wise, Living in Purpose, Galatians 2 NIV

 

Galatians 2 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Paul accepted by the apostles

2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

6 As for those who were held in high esteem – whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favouritism – they added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they recognised that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,[a] just as Peter had been to the circumcised.[b] 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Cephas[c] and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

Paul opposes Cephas

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

15 ‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[d] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

17 ‘But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a law-breaker.

19 ‘For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, 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 could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’[e]

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

A Personal Confession of Faith (2:19-21)

The points of agreement and disagreement that Paul sets forth in response to the crisis in Antioch (and Galatia) are founded upon his own personal confession of faith in Christ (vv. 19-20). His faith in Christ involved both a death and a new life. When Paul says Through the law I died to the law, he is not speaking of physical death. In his vocabulary, to die to something means to have no further relation to it (see Rom 6:2, 10-11). So to die to the law means, in this context, to cease to be under the supervision of the law.

Paul's death to the law was accomplished through the law (v. 19). The phrase through the law is taken by some interpreters as a reference to Paul's own subjective experience under the law. The law led him to discover his inability to keep the law and its inability to make him righteous. Thus it was through the law that Paul was finally led to abandon the law as the means to righteousness and to seek salvation in Christ. But this interpretation is not warranted by the immediate context. Paul does not say in this context that he died to the law because of his terrible sense of guilt and frustration under the law. Instead he declares that his death was accomplished by identification with the cross of Christ—I have been crucified with Christ (v. 20). When we interpret through the law in light of this declaration, I have been crucified with Christ, then we can see that death to the law through the law is accomplished by identification with the death of Christ. Paul explains in the next chapter that the law pronounced a curse on Christ as he hung on the cross (3:13). In this sense Christ died through the law. By crucifixion with Christ, believers also die because of the curse of the law on the one who hangs on the cross—and so, in this sense, they also die through the law. The perfect tense of the verb have been crucified points to the permanent condition of Christians in relation to the law: we remain dead and fully punished. Therefore the law can no longer condemn us.

When we make Paul's confession of faith in Christ our own, we must keep in mind both the spiritual and social dimensions of our union with Christ. Without the social dimension, our faith in Christ degenerates into individualism. We then become interested only in our personal faith and neglect to maintain and express our union with all believers in Christ. Such individualism has been a root cause of constant division in the church. But without the spiritual dimension, all efforts to maintain unity in the church are fruitless. Not until we can truly know and experience the reality of Paul's affirmation—I no longer live, but Christ lives in me—will we be able to live in true harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ. For until then we will be ego-centered, not Christ-centered.

"Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point--a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go more and more toward a slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest--our best for His glory." --Oswald Chambers, from the My Utmost for His Highest

The Bible Panorama

Galatians 2

V 1–5: CONFIRMATION Fourteen years later, Paul, along with Barnabas and Titus, went to Jerusalem to meet the other apostles. He confirmed that the truth that he preached was given to him directly by God. It was the same truth that God had given to the other apostles. There was, right from the start, a real concern that no falseness, especially legalism, should creep into the doctrine and spoil the truth ‘even for an hour’. Titus, a Greek, was not compelled to undergo circumcision. That Jewish rite could never bestow salvation.

 V 6–10: COMMISSION God confirmed to Peter, James and John that Paul was His apostle. Accordingly they commissioned him, along with Barnabas, to take the gospel to the Gentiles. They also were asked to remember the poor.

 V 11–15: CONFRONTATION Later, when Peter came to Antioch, Paul confronted him openly because Peter’s correct practice of eating with the Gentiles was suspended when Jews came along. Paul saw this as a hypocritical undermining of the gospel, which adversely affected the Jews and even his companion Barnabas.

V 16–21: CORRECTION Paul insisted to them that it was only by grace in Christ that anyone could be saved, and that salvation could only come by personal faith in Him. In dying to justification by the works of the law, and living by faith in the Son of God, Paul taught that Christians should reflect the fact that salvation is by grace and not by the works of the law. The death of Christ and His risen life are fundamental to this. The false teaching of salvation by works empties the cross of Christ of its real meaning and purpose.

The reason for your life part 2 (Elim Missions)

Galatians 2

We continue to examine how Paul's purpose (the gospel of grace) shaped his life.

6. Purpose brings confidence, v6-10.

v6, The "seemed to be important” is v2 “those who seemed to be leaders” is

v9 “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars”.

Who were they?

James (not the apostle) – brother of Jesus, leader of the council of Jerusalem

(Acts 15), leader of the elders in Jerusalem Church.

Peter – leading apostle, fantastic Jewish ministry.

John – disciple whom Jesus loved, son of Zebedee, brother of James, one of the Twelve. Later wrote Gospel, 3 letters and Revelation.

Paul lived with purpose and in so doing he was not intimidated by: reputation (v6) or appearance (v6).

What Paul was saying was that he was equal in ministry, God was at work in Paul just as much as them.

Leaders can get things wrong just like any other human being and if you spot this, it doesn't mean you are a Jezebel or that you are touching the anointing, you are as anointed as anyone, v11-14.

Just because man puts man on a pedestal and because man likes being up there is not the sign they are above you.

Experience tells you what to do; confidence allows you to do it.

In his inaugural speech, Nelson Mandela in 1994 said this:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us...

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

Without being rude and above reproach we do need to break free from the intimidation of the reputation and appearance of man and let others copy the beauty of living with purpose.

 Part 1 Words for The Wise, Living the Gospel Empowered Life, Galatians 1

Part 3 Words for The Wise, The Fellowship of the Faithful, Galatians 3, English Standard Version (UK)