occasioned great contentions, and threatened them with divisions, Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. He was legitimately angry at self-proclaimed followers of God who abused followers of God -- just as Jesus was. The apostle expressly reasons on Abraham, as they were always anxious to cite Abraham, the father of circumcision. It means unrestrained revelry. By the Spirit here may be meant either the Holy Spirit himself, who condescends to dwell in the hearts of those whom he has renewed and sanctified, to guide and assist them in the way of their duty, or that gracious principle which he implants in the souls of his people and which lusts against the flesh, as that corrupt principle which still remains in them does against it. They thought that Christianity would be all the better for adopting the ancient forms and beautiful figures of the law. Who more zealous of the doctrines of his fathers? There was no insult to him, nor injury done, in saying that he did not acknowledge the law for a Christian. The oneness of the saints with Christ Himself is, as we all familiarly know, clearly intimated. For it is by the Spirit and by faith that we eagerly expect the hope of being right with God. Instead of being under a slave, with rigorous and humiliating discipline, there is now the place of a child before his Father; the Christian stands by faith of Jesus in direct relationship to God. True to the Spirit. (b) Philia ( G5373) is the warm love which we feel for our nearest and our dearest; it is a thing of the heart. And what was the effect of God's giving him to have an application of law in his own conscience? How wholesome is the language here, "Every one shall bear his own burden!" You got to keep the law. Love is the sum of the whole law; as love to God comprises the duties of the first table, so love to our neighbour those of the second. This must be indeed confusion; as it is, there is none. It will stand. Suddenly, I have been born of the Spirit; things suddenly are illuminated. Thus it wrought among the Galatians. Don't seek after it. Christian freedom is not licence, for the simple but tremendous reason that the Christian is not a man who has become free to sin, but a man, who, by the grace of God, has become free not to sin. And mark the difference. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified their own unregenerate selves ;along with all their passions and their desires. That's where God touches me. "Now, a lot of times when people come to me with some weird concept, I'll say, "Where in the world did you get that idea?" She is desolate; she is no longer in the condition of the married wife, but like the fugitive bondwoman. Pungent, abrupt, indignant, he none the less was led of God. In the epistle to the Galatians we have another tone and style, a serious and grieved spirit, with feelings not less deep it may be, even more profoundly moved than in writing to the Corinthians; and for this reason, that the foundations were still more deeply affected by that which was working among the assemblies of Galatia. The Holy Ghost is given as the seal of faith in Christ on the accomplishment of redemption, not before nor otherwise. Paul cautioned both sides to love one another or they would consume each other. He takes the story involving Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac ( Genesis 16:1-16; Genesis 17:1-27, Genesis 21:1-34), which in the Old Testament is a straightforward narrative and he allegorises it to illustrate his point. Christian churches cannot be ruined but by their own hands; but if Christians, who should be helps to one another and a joy one to another, be as brute beasts, biting and devouring each other, what can be expected but that the God of love should deny his grace to them, and the Spirit of love should depart from them, and that the evil spirit, who seeks the destruction of them all, should prevail? He who bites has exhausted his angry passion, but he who devours has given a demonstration of extreme cruelty. Chrysostom. What did hinder you? Take heed that ye be not consumed - As wild beasts contend sometimes until both are slain. "The death of Christ for you isn't sufficient. But when one is miserable, does not every duty, even where it may be as light as a feather, feel as if it were an iron chain on you? The consequence is, that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God; and this he proves, not only from the promise, but from the prophets. "Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and," in order to make it still more evident, "by God the Father, who raised him from the dead." "You don't know how long I've been taking it, Lord. 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. "But there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." It was they who had changed, not he. I'd rather trust and be burned than not to trust. It is past dispute that the things he here speaks of are the works of the flesh, or the product of corrupt and depraved nature; most of them are condemned by the light of nature itself, and all of them by the light of scripture. The rod was the thing the shepherd used to hit the sheep on the flanks when they started getting out, you know, roaming out. Even as in a natural man there is something of this struggle (the convictions of his conscience and the corruption of his own heart strive with one another; his convictions would suppress his corruptions, and his corruptions silence his convictions), so in a renewed man, where there is something of a good principle, there is a struggle between the old nature and the new nature, the remainders of sin and the beginnings of grace; and this Christians must expect will be their exercise as long as they continue in this world. As in the previous verses Paul set out the evil things characteristic of the flesh, so now he sets out the lovely things which are the fruit of the Spirit. It is the quality, not so much of the jealous, but rather of the embittered mind. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." As the soldier in Studdert Kennedy's poem said; For Paul it was essential that Christian freedom should mean not freedom to indulge the lower side of human nature, but freedom to walk in the life of the Spirit. When we seek to interpret a passage like this we must remember that for the devout and scholarly Jew, and especially for the Rabbis, scripture had more than one meaning; and the literal meaning was often regarded as the least important. All that the law can do, even when yielded by the might of the Spirit of God, is to force on a soul the consciousness of being dead before God. And I'll argue with Him for a while. Thus, going up with Barnabas, he took Titus, a Gentile, along with him; and even so by revelation. This is best seen by turning to Genesis 22:1-24, where both facts are found in the same context. Paul begins chapter 5 with a bold slogan of spiritual liberty: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.". But the moment you bring in the law, you have two parties; and, strange to say, instead of the greater party being God, it becomes man, whose responsibility is to God. Tender and comprehensive as Christianity is, it is also the most exclusive thing that can be. This the apostle represents as our duty, and directs us to the most effectual means of success in it. Hence, you see, all exactly suits the gospel as Paul insisted on it. It's Jesus only. In the latter part of this chapter the apostle comes to exhort these Christians to serious practical godliness, as the best antidote against the snares of the false teachers. Now, the whole idea is to be righteous before God in order that I might have fellowship with God. Or literally, "I wish they were castrated who trouble you. Now the Galatians were unwittingly in danger of giving up the truth. Second, it means that we are free to follow the Spirit and produce good works that last forever because we have faith in God and obey God's word (Galatians 5:16-26). Of course the same persons who are here in present view belonged to the church of God; but then they are not contemplated in their heavenly relationship, but as the children of promise, as we shall see in the end of this very chapter. This is exceedingly important, and the more as I believe the scope of the allusion to Abraham and to his seed is not often appreciated. But in this he could glory. we know too well the result from sinful man. The very reverse of their system is true. For he is a sinner; and the law called out the sin into articulate transgressions, and made it perfectly plain that the heart is only evil continually, and proves it by plain transgressions; that is all. Paul ends with a very blunt saying. Don't become seekers after empty reputation; don't provoke each other: don't envy each other. Hagar stands for the old covenant of the law, made on Mount Sinai, which is in fact in Arabia, the land of Hagar's descendants. Thus He lived and moved here below. It's sort of comforting, you know. Theirs was the slave's son Ishmael. In my spirit, in the realm of the Spirit. He also warned them against using their liberty as a license to sin to prevent them from overreacting. And so, Rev 21:8 if you want the reference on that. All right, I'm still one of His sheep, you know. They were happy persons while under the ministry of the apostle; as a Gospel ministry is a great happiness to any that enjoy it; for this is the way to find eternal life, to have spiritual peace and pleasure, joy and comfort, light and liberty, whereas a contrary doctrine leads to all the reverse. But if I have a whole page of gold stars but yet there's one little point over here where I blew it and I can't put a gold star, then I'm unrighteous. Fidelity; this word (pistis, G4102) is common in secular Greek for trustworthiness. So, love is the fulfilling of the law. What can you say to a guy? In either case "let him be accursed.". I admit that this was all in place and season then for Jerusalem. Man is only the receiver; and truly, as we know, "it is more blessed to give than to receive." On the contrary, "the Scripture hath concluded all under sin" not under righteousness by law. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. In Paul's case there was nothing of the sort. But the Jerusalem which is above is free and she is our mother. Because they were sons, God sent that blessed proof and power of their sonship. It was really part of God's wondrous ways with him, as indicating the true character of Christianity and of its ministry as contrasted with Judaism. lest ye be consumed one of anotherconsumamini; Ah! "I am crucified with Christ." You cannot lawfully add to it, any more than set aside its provisions. Not all sins are crimes. 4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. These words are used by him emphatically; for he did not merely say Bite, which denotes an angry person, but likewise, Devour, which denotes one who persists in wickedness. Such is the only possible way in which blessing can be brought in, in order that such souls as we are should be blessed and maintained in it. That is just another way of saying that the essence of Christianity is not law but a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. But not from God. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. They had so completely lost sight of the grace of Christ, the sweetness and the bloom of it, that he travailed again for them: his soul once more passed through that which had exercised him when they were converted. He had before told us that the Spirit of Christ is a privilege bestowed on all the children of God, Galatians 4:6; Galatians 4:6. The gospel, not the law, owns its kindred with the promise. For Jew and Gentile were alike guilty of crucifying Him. This is indeed strong language for you who want to live after the flesh. The flesh will not be ruling over you anymore. For He knows our tendency to mingle law with grace in some form or measure, and treats that which was of the fathers and long before Moses, as a foreign ingredient deleterious to Christians. Again, it is not a liberty to do anything I please. He says to those who would be under the law, why do you not listen to the law? To excite Christians hereunto, and to assist them herein, the apostle shows. The law of Christ makes the going out of love towards another, so to speak, to be his joy. The allusion is to beasts of prey falling upon and devouring one another: for wolves or dogs to worry sheep is not strange; but for sheep to distress one another is unnatural. Keeping God's commandments is not bondage. Indeed, there is no soul really above them. Joy; the Greek is chara ( G5479) , and the characteristic of this word is that it most often describes that joy which has a basis in religion (compare Psalms 30:11; Romans 14:17; Romans 15:13; Php_1:4 ; Php_1:25 ). "Paul closes this little section on the idea of circumcision and all and he gets a little testy with those. That they should not strive with one another, but love one another. But it works through love. The organic life of the body will be destroyed by its own members. It also described the bands of the devotees of Bacchus, god of wine. Thus, the idea is, in their contentions they would destroy the spirituality and happiness of each other; their characters would be ruined; and the church be overthrown. Hence in this epistle it is not so much the laying bare the need of man of the sinner, as the vindication of that same grace of God for the saint, with the exhibition of the ruinous results to him who is drawn aside from the deep and broad groundwork that God has laid for souls in Christ. Galatians 5:15 by Grant Richison | Apr 11, 2000 | Galatians | 1 comment Read Introduction to Galatians "But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" The Galatian church entered a stage of conflict because of legalistic thinking. But it degenerated; came to mean the desire to have what someone else has, wrong desire for what is not for us. Immediately, then, as. And this is of immense moment to remember. Successor to Paul there is none; if so, who and where? for want of love the Lord threatens to remove, and sometimes does That's the old nature, reckon that to be dead. There it is not traced to God the Father, that raised Christ from the dead; but it descends from Christ ascended to heaven (which, we shall soon see, perfectly fits in with that epistle). His Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. You cannot be ruled and dominated by your flesh.Now, it is interesting, a list similar to this is given to us in Revelation the twenty-first chapter, as it tells us those who are going to be excluded from heaven and outside were those who were doing these things: "The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and the liars," those who are outside. He does not deny that others preached it; but if so, they preached the same truth. How abortive is man in the things of God! (vss. Galatians 5:1-15 focuses on what those in Christ should do with our freedom in Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Continue to work in me and through me so that I may live a life that is pleasing to You and glorifying to Your holy name, and keep me from falling back under bondage to legalistic practices, knowing that I have been set free by grace through faith in Christ's finished work on Calvary. It might seem entirely despising his brethren. The Lord did stamp the testimony of Peter as being truly the revelation of His Father. Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? Outline of Galatians 5:1-15. It was for the chiefs at Jerusalem to judge for themselves, and they did judge to the confusion of the apostle's adversaries. In the meantime God had come and promised that Sarah would have a child, which was so difficult to believe that it appeared impossible to Abraham and Sarah; but in due time Isaac was born. Of these and such like, says he, I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that those who do such things, how much soever they may flatter themselves with vain hopes, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And the old flesh likes to get people excited and stirred up like that. They think that it is quite right, for the church especially, to appoint days for this and that saint; to have certain seasons to remind one of the Lord's incarnation, ministry, and crucifixion, of His resurrection, ascension, and so on. This kind of love is a trusting love. We're about one degree off, but we hope to correct this in flight or something." Along with the cross goes a new creation. Even so we, when we were children," etc. . To depart from this was fatal. Those in Christ must stand firm against anyone who would try to drag them into slavery under the law (Galatians 5:1). The cross has sentenced the world; and this very sentence of the world is our deliverance from the world. The meaning is that you never can get stability in blessing until you have simply God putting forth His own power according to His own grace. But when we look toward Jesus we can find freedom. Love; the New Testament word for love is agape ( G26) . But if ye bite and devour one another, [you better] take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. And you can't do this, and this, and this, and this, and this." one another is unnatural. And let's go on. You can't be both. The law, accordingly, never was the truth, either on God's side, or man's. "When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed: for before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. The liberty that we have is not to do the things of the flesh. you've taken a position Jesus is the only One. The apostle now demonstrates, from the result, how destructive such proceedings in the church must ultimately prove to be. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Their main support then, as they thought Abraham, had two sons; but they stood, according to Scripture, on wholly different principles. At the same time he insists in the most peremptory manner that our liberty in Christ is to be used for holiness. Merge them, as unbelief does, and all is confusion and ruin. That is to say, Ishmael was born of the ordinary human impulses of the flesh; Isaac was born because of God's promise; and Sarah was a free woman, while Hagar was a slave girl. This terminates all for me as a living man here below. He cannot stop there but is bound to accept all the other rules and regulations as well. Dissension; literally the word means a standing apart. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness [sexual impurities], [wantonness] lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft [drug abuse] ( Galatians 5:19-20 ). And the mind of the flesh is alienated from God; it cannot know God. then is the offense of the cross ceased ( Galatians 5:10-11 ). "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's covenant, yet, if it be confirmed, no man annulleth or addeth thereto." "They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." "Now," says he, "if we profess to be of this number, and as such to have obtained this privilege, let us show it by a temper and behaviour agreeable hereunto; let us evidence our good principles by good practices." "The child of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise." Now you're, you know, chopping Jesus up, and said, "Well, He is God here, and but, for a while He wasn't God and the universe was without God for a little bit here, or whatever. But then there is another point of exhortation too; and surely we ought not to forget that there are not only the common links of love, and the willingness to succour one another, as we see, beginning with a most extreme case and ending with a general one; but still further, "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things;" and not only that, but also the general responsibility of the saint and in a solemn manner. And a little leaven soon leavens the whole lump. I could quickly get in trouble. Christ never mingles with flesh or law any more than with the world. You have fallen from grace. Hagar had a son called Ishmael. dissolution; for as no civil community, either public or private, Nevertheless, there never was one that had a deeper sense of the importance of walking, if need were, alone with God. It can mean the beneficent use of drugs by a doctor; but it can also mean poisoning, and it came to be very specially connected with the use of drugs for sorcery, of which the ancient world was full. He is governed by principles by which he lives. It is the characteristic of the man who is reliable. You can see the Santa Rosa and San Miguel and San Nicolas and say, "Hey, hey, all right, we're right on course." (ii) Remaz, its suggested meaning. In it there is one party, even God Himself, who gave it, and accordingly fulfils it in that Seed to whom the covenant was confirmed. With this paragraph Paul's letter changes its emphasis. "Yet undergirding all of Pauls admonitions regarding love and service is the reality of life lived by the Spirit, with references to the Spirit being more frequent in Galatians 5:13 to Galatians 6:10 than references to either love or service." We are not to suppose that a higher and more heavenly character blots out the lesser place; of this the apostle takes advantage here. I'm still His child. . Thus it was the ardour of love and grief; it was the earnestness of his purpose that could not bear in this instance to employ an intermediary. It was ordained by angels, who had nothing to do with promise, which God gave direct to His friend. I said, "That's a lie." This is the constitution of your priceless liberty. Now when Adam sinned, his spirit died just as God had warned, "In the day that you eat, you will surely die" ( Genesis 2:17 ). This the Jews are destined to have by-and-by; for the promises to Abraham are not exhausted yet. For these two women stand for two covenants. The Stoics defined it as "grief at someone else's good." This never can bring man to God any more than glory to God. But if ye bite and devour one another No, rejoins the apostle; you are going back to heathenism. Thus, the idea is, in their contentions they would destroy the spirituality and happiness of each other; their characters would be ruined; and the church be overthrown. (Romans 3:1-31, Romans 10:1-21) But the act of Peter went to maintain a difference. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:3.). His account proves how independent he was of the very persons whom they would have desired to have seen associated with him. Christian freedom does not mean that believers may do as they like. it is added, he conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before him; but went into Arabia, and returned again, not to Jerusalem, but to Damascus, the place near which he had been called at first. 5:1 Tell me this--you who want to be subject to the law, you listen to it being read to you, don't you? What has He set us free to? 50.]. So there's only one real fruit of the Spirit, that is love. To this he gives the most solemn asseveration: "The things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." (a) It means being submissive to the will of God ( Matthew 5:5; Matthew 11:29; Matthew 21:5). You couldn't believe the things the Jehovah Witnesses believe, unless you read their screwy attitudes and ideas in their books. He had been trained up under the most distinguished teacher the great Rabbin Gamaliel; but "when it pleased him, who had separated him from his mother's womb, and called him by his grace, to reveal his Son in him." And of the priest of this pagan god. Do I seek to please men? And God held the reins that the truth might be kept unsullied and pure; and he goes south and north as the Lord guided His servant, but not to Jerusalem to those that were apostles before him. Thus, whether it be the Gentile without law, or the Jew with it, all are shut up under sin. He mentions another fact, and of the greatest gravity, closing this part of his argument that when Peter subsequently came down into the Gentile quarters, he had been himself affected by the subtle spirit of Judaism, i.e., the chief of the twelve! Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do." I am crucified with Christ: consequently all that remains for me is living this new life which Christ is in me. Ignorant or false men had made them hanker after circumcision. Once, the Galatians had known that, but now they were turning back to the law. (14) An exhortation to the duties of charity, by the profit that follows from it, because no men proved worse for themselves than they that hate one another. To Paul all that mattered was faith which works through love. "Now, the other way to be righteous is through faith in Jesus Christ, receiving that grace of God through Him, where God accounts me, as He did Abraham, righteous because I believe. he gives us this one general rule, which, if duly observed, would be the most sovereign remedy against the prevalence of corruption; and that is to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Galatians 5:16): This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. If I am mastered by the flesh, then I have the mind of the flesh. And your spirit being alive, again you can experience fellowship with God, the joy, the blessing of fellowshipping with God.So, "walk in the Spirit." They're contrary, and I do not always walk after the Spirit. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. But this was not all. The law in itself never produces such a result. In this case it was God that gave the promise; it was He that confirmed the covenant to Christ, without saying a word about the law till four hundred and thirty years after. As the child of the slave girl persecuted the child of the free woman, the children of law now persecute the children of grace and promise. Hagar's child was born from merely human impulses; and legalism is the best that man can do. Created by God, in fellowship with God. Concerning these things, or those in whom these fruits of the Spirit are found, the apostle says, There is no law against them, to condemn and punish them. To him a theology was not the slightest use unless it could be lived out. Those that are of faith, not those who pretend to the law and do it not, are blessed with their father. Bring in one part of law, and you fall under the authority of the whole. There was no difference: all had sinned. Every one who went back from such a gospel as this was, as far as it went, frustrating the grace of God. And become again a spiritual being.And so, when Nicodemus came to Jesus, Jesus faced him immediately with this issue. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. It, too, is commonly translated goodness. Up to the destruction of Jerusalem it was law; but now, under Christianity, Jerusalem, being rebellious and scorning promise like Ishmael, is cast out and has nothing. "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." And this leads him to speak of another trial. Not to the place of being ridiculous. Acts 15:1, 5 ). Galatians 5:1-15 Inductive Bible Study Notes - Teaching Guide With Questions Outline I. Christ has set us free (1-6) II. Bite, devour, and consume are used metaphorically by Paul, giving the Galatians a good insight into the wrongfulness of their attitudes and actions toward each other. On the other hand, the spirit (the renewed part of us) strives against the flesh, and opposes the will and desire of it: and hence it comes to pass that we cannot do the things that we would. Or I can walk after the Spirit and say, "Oh Lord, it doesn't matter. And so, they started telling people, "Well, Chuck believes this." Grace brings out the faithful promise of God, and His goodness to him that deserves nothing. It was not a question of man's wit. In this case, happily, the brethren near at hand went along with him in heart. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you ( Galatians 5:7-8 ). He sees the right, feels the good, desires the holy, but never, accomplishes. I violated. Under law all is lost; under grace all is saved. And sometimes they'll lie to me. It was Paul's position that the way of grace and the way of law were mutually exclusive. That would not be a good example of Christian love. When Jerusalem is humbled by the mercy of God, and betakes herself to her Messiah and the new covenant, she will "hear the law," and the prophets will be accomplished in her blessing, and in the largeness of love the present children of promise (even Christians, as being in a certain mystical sense children of Jerusalem) will be her boast.
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