Our blog today will focus on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. It was one of the first Letters written by Paul, probably around AD 50. The churches in Galatia had been planted by Paul and Barnabas (see Acts 13 & 14). Paul is astonished that the Galatian Christians are turning away from the Lord to a different gospel, so soon (Gal. 1:6-10).

Standing Firm In The Truth Of The Gospel

False teachers had infiltrated the churches and were teaching that the Gentile Christians of Galatia had to believe in Jesus plus obey Mosaic stipulations, in order to be fully accepted in God’s family. These stipulations included eating kosher food and male circumcision (Gal. 2:1-14; 5:2-4). These false teachers are often called “Judaizers”, because they were Jews, who taught that Gentiles had to become like Jews, in order to experience the promised blessings of Abraham’s descendants.

The false teachers had convinced the Galatian believers that they needed to keep the Law of Moses, in order to be fully blessed. But Paul declares that those who believe in Jesus are already in the circle of blessing. And those who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse (Gal. 3:10). If you want to justify yourself before God by means of the Law, then you need to obey it fully, 100 % of the time (Gal. 3:11,12). This is impossible for a human being. Therefore, right standing before God and sharing in the life of God can’t come through the Law (Gal. 3:21,22).

Paul points out that even Abraham was not made right with God through works of the Law. Instead, quoting from Gen. 15:6, Paul says: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Gal. 3:6). It is not by the principle of works, but the principle of faith in the crucified and risen Jesus, that a person receives right standing before God (Gal. 3:11). Jesus became a curse for us on the cross (Gal. 3:13), so “that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit” (Gal. 3:14).

In other words, our redemption and salvation comes through faith in Jesus alone. When we teach its Jesus plus works, we fall away from grace, and become alienated from Christ (Gal. 5:4). When we try to obey the Law apart from faith in Christ, and apart from reliance on the indwelling Holy Spirit, it results in slavery to sin and frustration (Gal. 5:1-3). The only way we can stand in spiritual freedom from the Law and our sinful nature, is by fully yielding to Jesus and His indwelling Spirit.

Living By The Spirit In Victory

Living under grace doesn’t mean disregarding God’s righteous commands for our lives. No! Instead, it means living in freedom in the power of God’s Spirit, which enables us to “Love our neighbor as ourselves” (Gal. 5:13,14). As we yield to live by the indwelling Spirit, we will be enabled to obey God’s righteous commands, and we will have victory over our carnal nature. We will grow in the fruit of God’s Spirit, which is the character of Jesus seen in us (Gal. 5:16-26).

Paul closes with Gal. 6:11-18, which is a summary of what the whole Letter has been about. He concludes by saying that the false teachers want them to be circumcised for self-serving reasons, and to avoid the persecution that comes from the cross. Those who get circumcised don’t even fully obey the Law. They possess a false pride. Paul doesn’t boast in self-accomplishment at all.

Instead, he cries out: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). There is no room for human pride or self-justification in the gospel. Our justification is in Christ alone. This is the offense of the cross and why many people reject the message of the crucified and risen Christ.

QOTD: Do you live by the Apostle Paul’s life commitment written in Gal. 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”?