The Epistle to the GALATIANS

Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, Romans, was like a manual on Christian doctrine. Therein, he gave the church an introduction to faith in the Lord Jesus - teaching and upholding biblical values, essentials, and principles in the Christian doctrine. The emphasis there in Romans was on the fundamental aspects of Christian doctrine, covering several imperatives on faith, salvation, justification and sanctification etc.

To the Galatians, however, Paul gave instructions on how to live according to the teachings they have received from him earlier. This was apparently necessary since the Galatians had been erroneous in their approach to the new covenant. Paul had to give them the right approach to embracing the Christian faith. He explained how the new covenant they received was so different from the earlier one that they need to embrace it differently from how their fathers kept the old.

There are altogether six chapters in Galatians, which may be classified into three different pairs covering topics on biographical, doctrinal and practical aspects of the Christian faith. Paul starts by establishing the authenticity of his apostolic call in the Lord Jesus, at the same time gathering the weights on his messages. He also defends the superiority of the gospel against what the Judaizers preached by proclaiming the liberation the gospel brings to us.

Background

At that time, there were people in the church who diligently sought to enforce the law upon the people. They believed that observation of the law that came from Moses is a determinant of a person’s salvation, and so taught such as to subject the church into the tedium of keeping the Jewish laws and customs. These people are commonly referred to as legalists of the church - Judaizers who were adept in the practice of Judaism, who taught that there were certain religious practices and customs still binding upon Christians. They asserted that faith in the Lord Jesus must be accompanied by the observance of those laws.

Though not denying that faith in Jesus was indispensable for salvation, they were, however, of the belief that in order to stand acceptable before God, regular participation and involvement in certain religious practices cannot be avoided. Thus, they began imposing religious and customary requirements on the believers. Circumcision, for instance, was one enormous issue that bothered them immensely. Of course, such doctrine was contrary to what Paul taught the church about the sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus and that salvation was by grace through faith alone. However, the legalists did not give thought to Paul’s teachings as they considered him a second grade apostle, inferior to apostles like Peter, James and the other company of apostles, all of whom had been personally appointed by the Lord Jesus during His physical manifestation on earth. They accused Paul of being one who compromised on doctrinal demands just so that he might make a more appealing presentation of the gospel to the Gentiles. Those were religious men who with their doctrine of legalism, deluded the masses into the fear of losing God’s favour and acceptance if they did not fulfil the same set of laws their fathers kept.

With that doctrine, the religious spirit soon found its way into the church, imposing on men to live by certain conditions if they were to be counted as partakers of the faith in the Lord Jesus. Such errant doctrine is one of the greatest persecutions against the true faith that Paul taught the church. It is also one of the greatest oppositions against the sacrifice Christ made when He died on the cross, for it robs us of the liberty of spirit that will embrace everyone who turns to the cross.

Though in today’s context, we may not grapple with issues such as circumcision and other requirements of the Mosaic Law, the spirit of legalism still binds many, nevertheless. People in this bondage never fail to rely on their own strength and ability to meet the holy demands of God. Therefore, ‘observing the law’ may also refer to people who use their strength and wisdom to accomplish the works of God. That being far from ideal, we must learn to employ spiritual means to meet spiritual ends. Those who look upon the observance of days and religious practices, who regard traditions and customs as essentials to being acceptable before God, are those who have yet to know or perceive the grace and perfection of God. These are people who generally find themselves unable to completely trust in God, who are uncomfortable with the idea of receiving without working for it. Their true devotion is usually not of God or towards Him; more likely, it is to the pursuit of religious customaries and traditions instead of an intimate and active relationship with Him. Faith for them consequently became reduced to a strict regime of adhering to principles and commandments.

The question to these people: “Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3) How oftentimes in our Christian service, we have begun in the Spirit and end up in the flesh. It is so easy for us to obey in the first instance and start out on something He has called us to, then get so absorbed halfway through the work that we forget about the co-labour with God! Like the Galatians, many are prone to wander from our state of liberation to a state of slavery again. It is important however to realise that a close walk with God will incidentally produce quality work while the reverse is not always so. In fact, it is usually not quite the case! Quality work was never and will not be evidence of an intimate relationship with the Lord. If we do not get it to heart, we may end up thinking that our work and service unto the Lord puts us in right standing with Him! This in turn leads and propels us to do even more work just so that we may appear more acceptable to God! Paul must be running this thought in his mind when he put forward his concern to the Corinthians in 2 Cor.11:3: “I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”. If we are not watchful and discerning, we may end up being deceived just as Eve was deceived. We need therefore to constantly remind ourselves we have been made acceptable before God by Jesus’ sacrifice - we only need to remain in Christ in order to remain in that acceptance. We work and serve God not to earn His acceptance (since we already have it), but because of our love for Him. We love Him, so we want to do His heart’s desires. The desire to serve Him will follow from there (Jn.15:5). Loving God and serving God - it is not a matter of having one to the exclusion of the other but having both qualities in the proper order.

Knowing the teachings of God is not quite the same as knowing God, for one may show remarkable aptitude in the cerebral comprehension of doctrinal matters, at the same time display great zeal in keeping religious customs, yet is without the spiritual union of heart with the Lord. People practice principles and strive to keep the Law to its last demand, yet do not experience wholeness of being because of the absence of a living relationship with God. It might have been there to start with, but if one is not careful and he neglects it, it is easy to lose intimacy with the Lord. For some, or even most of us, regular church attendance and active participation in Christian ministries give a sense of spiritual security and perhaps, even that of maturity. For men are generally more inclined to approve of those who are zealously involved in church activities over those who appear to be passive sitters of the pews. We are by no means trying to suggest or encourage the latter. It is understandable, how involvement in activities within a spiritual framework causes one to feel spiritually well appraised. Being actively, or even excessively, involved in works and projects that appear to come from a spiritual background gives us that feeling of being ‘alive’, and not dead like those who do not seem to be doing anything for the church or community. Of course working for the Lord and serving His creation is not wrong; in fact it should be encouraged, but there is no need for us to stretch their importance and implication beyond what God has intended.

One who loves God will experience the love of God filling his heart so much that it overflows to loving others around him. This takes him further into the Lord’s work, for loving people means we want to meet their basic needs and beyond – we want to do something for them, to add constructively to their lives. This is work driven by love. The motivation here is to see a boost in the lives of the people you love. You can be sure this kind of work will reap great results, for it is work inspired by love, and love never fails. On the other hand, work that is not motivated by love, that is not done in love, avails nothing (1 Cor.13:1-2). Only the Lord gives life. Spiritual work no matter how laudable is incapable of and cannot impart life to us, unless the life of God is in it. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Only in Him will we experience the life of God.

Therefore, fervent as we may be in doing the Lord’s work, we must remember also that the most valuable offering we can give to the Lord is the offering of ourselves. Paul himself was one zealous worker who persevered laboriously in serving God despite persecution and all. Yet, throughout all his epistles, he stresses more on lives rather than work . He was more concerned about how much of Christ he could see in them than how much work they can accomplish. In Galaltians, we see his heartbeat once again “My little children, for whom I labour in birth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal.4:19). Our lives are the work of God, for Christ works in us and moulds us. The world needs to see the beauty of God’s workmanship (they do this by looking at our lives) before they can trust us when we say we want to do the work of God in their lives. Paul was not eager to get the people working. He thought it more important to get them knowing – knowing God. For if we know the Lord, then the Lord will make Himself known to the world through our lives, for we are God’s representatives, His epistles and ambassadors. Such union with God will then produce fruit that will remain when we labour for the Lord, and the labour, we can be sure, will be approved and acceptable unto Him. Those who truly abide will bear fruit (Jn.15:5).

Personal – Paul’s apostolic authority (Chapters 1-2)

Having shown the church the right position of faith, Paul turned to defend his call as an apostle, which he said was divine, “not from men nor through men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.” (Gal. 1:1)

Let us realise that the origin of a call is of utmost importance. If it were not, Paul would not have found it necessary to address it at all. The fact that he did shows that it is important for those who are serving God in full-time to recognise that the call of God must be divine in our lives. For only a true shepherd from God is willing to suffer for His people: “The good shepherd from God is willing to suffer for His people.” The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But he who is a hireling and not the shepherd does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.” (John 10:11-13)

A spiritual hireling is one who sees the Lord’s ministry as a source of livelihood before anything else. Accordingly, we can expect these people are, to a lesser or larger extent, more interested in their own welfare than that of others. They are those who choose to work for the Lord because they perceive ministry work to be a noble and comfortable occupation.

From time to time, let us check our motives as we serve the Lord. We should not seek to please man, but only those who are called by God will have the boldness and freedom to preach His message without the fear of offending men. Like Paul, they should have the spirit that says “For if I still please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10)

With that authority as an apostle, Paul confronted the Galatians on their apparent readiness to accept the gospel preached differently from that that they originally heard and received. The gospel that they were then receiving was a mixture of the old and the new, of law and grace. So incensed was Paul at the affront that he pronounced a curse over any one who preached a different gospel (Gal.1:8-9) This is a solemn warning to all of us: God sanctions only one gospel – salvation is by grace through faith. Therefore, every teaching or experience should be held against the light of the gospel and tested. Anything that does not conform to the written word should be rejected.

Paul’s defence of His message and ministry

Next, we see Paul defending his message and ministry. It was then necessary for Paul to defend his calling and his ministry because there had been a challenge against his authority as an apostle, and what he preached immediately became questionable as to whether it should hold as much weight as that of the other apostles. Paul explained that he received the gospel from neither men nor manuscript, except by a divine revelation in which it arrived. It was a clean, clear revelation that was given by the Lord Jesus Himself (Gal. 1:11-12). Besides, the labour generated during the initial years of Paul’s ministry was done independently of the other apostles. After all, since the time when Paul received his call, he had not gone to join the other apostles until after he had spent a period of time in Arabia before he returned to Damascus (Gal. 1:15-17). Paul was in complete seclusion in the deserts and it was only after this isolation that Paul went up to Jerusalem where he met Peter and James and stayed with them for fifteen days. From there, Paul later departed for Syria and Cilicia (Gal. 1:18-21). About fourteen years after that, Paul made his return to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus where the apostles affirmed the divinity of his gospel (Gal. 2:1-10).

We believe that a time of seclusion with God is most necessary, and very precious indeed. In November 1996, the Spirit of the Lord impressed the word “Arabian Desert” very strongly in my heart. With that the Spirit led me into a time of waiting and meditating on Him. In fact, it was after two years of waiting that the Sower’s Wheat ministry was birthed forth. In retrospection, I fondly appreciate those times. Though we were met with discouragement and misunderstanding from people around us it was nevertheless during those times that our faith and love of the Lord was refined as it was also being tested. All of us need teachers and spiritual mentors to guide us, but more importantly we need to learn from the Lord directly. Moses had his forty years in the wilderness while God dealt with David and trained him while the boy tended the sheep on the hillside. Moses was known as man of meekness and David because of his training in killing wild beasts was able to face and defeat his enemy Goliath.

Until he met Peter and James, Paul had been independent of the other apostles. Yet, when he met with them more than fourteen years after his conversion, those who were apostles before him saw that he was preaching the same gospel as theirs without having been previously mentored by any one of them. Having been thus convinced that Paul received the revelation of the gospel through divine intervention, and acknowledging also that he was commissioned to be the apostle to the Gentiles just as Peter was to the Jews, Peter and John (both pillars of the early church) gave him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship to minister to the Gentiles while they continue with their ministry among the Jews. How very precious and remarkable when a senior leader is able to correctly appraise the grace and call of God upon the lives of the people to release them to fulfill their destiny. Like how Peter and John’s supported Paul and sent him to the Gentile community, a work different from theirs. Selfishness and insecurity on the part of men can sometimes be a stumbling block in the move of God. With the apostle’s blessings, Paul went to the Gentiles with the sanction conferred by God and affirmed by men.

Doctrinal – Superiority of the Gospel

Because the Galatians had begun to believe and expect to be perfected through their own righteous deeds, Paul found it necessary to re-establish the superiority of the gospel though they should really be aware of that already. For if righteousness could be perfected through observing the law, then the death of Jesus on the cross must mean that God had committed the most extravagant vanity the world has ever known (Gal.2:21). Yet it is precisely because it is absolutely impossible for men to be reconciled with righteousness in any other way apart from the Lord’s sacrifice that Jesus had to die in our place. Grace and salvation occurs as a cause and effect existence. The pardon of sin is found solely in God’s grace. No amount of men’s righteousness or good works would be worth enough to earn that pardon for him. If God found it necessary to put His Son to death so as to release the pardon of sin, pave the road of reconciliation and, open the channel of communication to us, then it surely means there is no other way to go about it. As the Lord Jesus once disclosed, He is “the way, the truth and the life, and no one goes to the Father except through (Him).” (John 14:6)

That alone would have been reason enough for the Galatians to repent and realign themselves to the right path, but Paul went on to articulate why the gospel should be given priority over any other way or doctrine that might possibly direct men to God. Paul took pains in stating them out so that we might rely only on the power of the gospel for salvation and not on anything else.

We would remember, that at the time of conversion, we received the Lord by the simple act of belief. Purely that, for there was no work involved, and certainly no other human contribution to our salvation except the willingness to believe and receive. Indisputably so, since by the law one cannot achieve righteousness.

In defending their claims that people must observe the law in order to gain salvation, the Judaizers made a case saying that although the promises were originally made to Abraham and to his seed by faith, yet these same people later came under the law (Gen. 22:18). Therefore the Galatians though originally saved by faith now too must observe the law. However, Paul pointed out that the word “seed” was presented to us, not in the plural but in the singular of tenses, so that it is without doubt that this “seed” referred to Jesus Christ. And since Christ was promised to Abraham 430 years before the institution of the law, the latter could not precede the promise of salvation in any way. The Gospel was in fact before the law; thus the law can neither revoke nor nullify the promise nor attach any conditions to it (Gal. 3:16-17).

Purpose of the Law

What purpose then does the law serve? If, as Paul had correctly contended, the law did not annul or add conditions to the promises of God made to Abraham, what then is the purpose of having it in the first place?

Dealt with in the book of Romans, we now remind ourselves as we take another look at it.

Transgression

“It was added because of transgression ….” (Gal. 3:19). The Law was intended to reveal sin as it is. Sin existed before the law, but men did not recognise it as transgression until they measured it against the standard of the law. With the law, men are without excuse. It was also meant to show men how helpless we are so that we would cry out to God to save when we see that it is beyond our ability to self-survive.

Guard and Tutor

“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law…., therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:23-24).

As a guard, the law preserved Israel as a special nation set apart for the purpose for which God had called them, especially throughout the many centuries of their dispersion. There is a punishment for those who broke the law, and that itself gave the Israelites fear enough to keep them from degenerating to a debased mind like the people of other nations. In a sense, the law served as a restraining vehicle for them. As a tutor, the law taught lessons concerning the holiness of God, the sinfulness of men, and the need for atonement. Christ was foreshadowed through the types and ceremonies of the ordinances of the law. In Exodus 12 the ordinances of the Passover Lamb foreshadowed salvation through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. For this reason, John the Baptist introduced Christ as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). By the comparison of Christ to a sacrificial lamb, the people of Israel were directed to see in Christ the One who had been foreshadowed by all the sacrificial ordinances of the law.

Privilege of sonship and inheritance

The law exacts a price from those who failed to keep its requirements; this was no less than death itself. So the Lord Jesus, in coming to pay the price, had to die to satisfy its stringent condition. As long as men remained under the bondage of the law, they were slaves to law and could therefore not be sons of God. However, by the death of Jesus Christ, we have been delivered from the bondage of law and we are adopted as sons (Gal. 4:3-6). As sons therefore, we are heir also of all the riches and inheritance promised in Christ (Gal. 4:7, 3:29).

Flesh against the Spirit

In Gal. 4:29, Paul in speaking of Ishmael and Israel, gave us a very serious spiritual warning: “He who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.” Some mistakes committed cannot be rectified. As Abraham erred in having Ishmael through Hagar can never be rectified. Because of Ishamel, the Islamic race evolved, and today, several missionaries have identified that the last frontier against the spread of the gospel of Christ would be the Islamic community.

It is vital that we heed this warning. We cannot afford to birth anything in the flesh for what is of the flesh lusts against the spirit (Gal. 5:17). This means that it is directly opposed to the spirit. Its desire is always against that of the spirit’s. This may in turn cause the move of God to be hindered for centuries even. We must therefore yield and obey instead of trying to interfere by our flesh. Remember, some mistakes once committed cannot be made right no matter how hard we try to rectify it later.

Practical – Liberty of the gospel ((Chapters 5-6)

Paul in his closing chapters exhorted the Galatians to live in the liberty, which they received from Christ. At the same time, however, he reminded them that they should not abuse this liberty but that they should observe certain guidelines and wisdom in exercising it. (Gal. 5:1,13).

1. Walk in love

Our liberty should be governed by the parameters of love. A Christian is free from the law, but not from the heart that gave the law. A river finds liberty to flow, but in normal circumstances, only within its banks. Only in chaotic outbreaks like floods that the river overflows and burst through its banks to cause damage to its surroundings. Likewise, the liberty of the Spirit, under control, will bring life to many, but once we lose control of it, the damage done is great. Gal. 5:14, Paul stated that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” The believer’s standard is the life of the Lord Jesus, and the life of Christ in us will compel us to love as He has loved.

1. Walk in the Spirit

God could have removed the fleshly nature from us as easily as He created us, yet He gave us the choice to walk a holy life. Why? It is because He wanted to keep us constantly reminded of our weakness and frailty so as to keep us continually dependent on Him. Instead of removing the old nature, God added His own Holy Spirit to us. Thus, to walk in the Spirit is to continually yield to His Spirit in us and allow Him to have His way in our lives. To remain in communion with Him, to make decisions according to His will and to act in consideration of His holiness. If our lives are guided by the consciousness of God in our lives, we would walk in liberty and not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16,25).

1. Walk a crucified life

“But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal. 6:14). On the cross the world dies to Paul and Paul to the world. His interest in all earthly things died with it. Until and unless we embrace the cross and die to the world, sin will always have a hold on us. We need to reckon ourselves dead and present our bodies alive to God. If we diligently learn to walk in love, deny ourselves and yield ourselves constantly to the Spirit, we would be able to walk in liberty joyfully pleasing the Lord.

Lastly, Paul exhorted us to restore those who have been overtaken in any trespassess. We should not allow others to remain victims of sin, but should help them bear their burdens. Do it in a spirit of gentleness, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted (Gal. 6:1-2). Church history shows us the fall of past spiritual leaders as a warning to us that we ought to remain humble and open to correction. “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls.” (1 Cor. 10:12).