Galatians | 5:1-12

Jun 16

About this series:

Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia is a heartfelt defence of the gospel of God's grace; a fervent appeal to keep the gospel front-and-centre and to not allow anything to detract from it.

In this letter Paul sounds exasperated at some points - for example, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all” (1:6) and, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (3:1), which The Message renders as, “You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a spell on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives.”

Paul’s frustration and anger stem from a passionate concern that the churches he planted return to a full confidence that it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that a person is justified by God and is included in God’s family. Nothing else is required. The message he preached to the Galatians, and which they had believed, is not so much a departure from their Jewish heritage, as the fulfilment of it. Thus, in this letter we have a window into life in early Christianity and especially some of the challenges the churches faced from false teachers as the church grew from its Jewish roots.

So in this series we’re going to get a big view of what the life, death and resurrection of Jesus has achieved for mankind. And some very practical help on how we can stay true to Jesus, trusting him alone to put us in a right relationship with God, to keep us in that right relationship and to qualify us for membership among God’s people. ‘The central message of Galatians is that the freeness of God’s grace and love is not only the gateway but also the pathway of the Christian life’ (Dane Ortlund).

About this talk:

Galatians 5 begins with one of Paul’s most famous and most frequently-quoted statements: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” What is often forgotten is the context of this statement - ie. it is Paul’s confident declaration that Christ has come to set his people free from a life of obedience to the Mosaic law that, “was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (3:24-25). Now that the Galatians are “not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman” (4:31), he pleads with his readers, “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened (or entangled) again by a yoke of slavery” (ie. by returning to the burden of law observance). Don’t go back to trying to attain righteousness by the law, but stand firm in the free gift of righteousness apart from the law. This is the freedom Christ has won for you. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law” (3:13) so don’t allow yourselves to go back under that curse / yoke.

The end point, Paul says, of being bound again to the law, and of Gentile converts being required to submit to circumcision (as the definitive male marker of inclusion in the people of God), is that “Christ will be of no value to you at all.” This is just how crucial the matter is, hence he has already said that the message of the Judaizers, “is really no gospel at all” (1:7; see Acts 15:1,5). You cannot add Christ to an existing system or add to Christ other ways of being in a right relationship with God because if you do, “Christ will be of no value to you at all.” (Cf. v 4: “ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated (or severed) from Christ; you have fallen away from grace”). ‘This was tantamount to saying that Moses must be allowed to finish what Christ had begun’ (Stott). Christ-plus-anything means Christ is nothing because it’s an all or nothing situation - Christ is either sufficient (all we need for righteousness, for inclusion in God’s people) or he is insufficient (requiring our law obedience to supplement his sacrifice); and he would then not be much of a Saviour!

And, v 3, the point about it being impossible to please God through obeying the law is made again because as soon as one breaks any part of the law, he is guilty of breaking all of it (cf. Romans 2:25; Galatians 3:10; James 2:10). One black mark on a clean piece of white paper, however small that mark is, still means the whole sheet is blemished and unclean.

The primacy of faith (against works) is emphasised in vs 5-6:

It is by faith (not through our works) that we wait for our eternal hope to be realised.
For those in Christ it is faith (not our works, even circumcision) that counts.
Faith will be expressed in practical acts of love; not as a means of being counted righteous, but as evidence that righteousness has come.

After expressing so much concern about the danger the Galatian churches are in, Paul’s fatherly encouragement comes through: “You were running a good race” (v 7). “Get back on track and keep running that race!” If they don’t resume their ‘race’ they’ll find that the false teaching will continue to spread rapidly and its dangerous impact will only multiply: “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

It appears that the false teachers may have even been claiming Paul as one of their advocates - “if I am still preaching circumcision” (v 11). Which is clearly nonsense as it is those same false teachers who are persecuting him! His comment in v 12 - “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” - is certainly harsh (and perhaps sarcastic) and one of Paul’s most dramatic images: “If they’re so interested in cutting off a small piece of flesh in order to receive God’s blessing, why don’t they go the whole way and remove their genitals entirely! Surely God will be doubly pleased by that!” But Paul’s hyperbole reflects the degree of concern he has for the teaching that has infiltrated the Galatian churches and just how anti-Christ the Judaizers’ message is.