For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Monarchy is government by one, and began in the interests of efficiency, for government by committees has always had its drawbacks. The kind that were always talking about numbers. Two things especially he presses upon them:--. It was by revelation, not by summons from Jerusalem, or to acquire a title thereby. 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. The sense is, if you contend with each other; and the reference is, probably, to the strifes which would arise between the two parties in the churches - the Jewish and the Gentile converts. The Fruit of the Holy Spirit (sometimes, incorrectly, referred to as the Fruits of the Holy Spirit) is a biblical term that sums up nine attributes of a person or community living in accord with the Holy Spirit, according to chapter 5 of the Epistle to the Galatians: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, . I have not. On the other hand Sarah stands for the new covenant in Jesus Christ, God's new way of dealing with men not by law but by grace. The offense of the cross would cease." It is not enough that we cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well. But in truth the Lord "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever. "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." "If you keep the whole law yet offended in one point, you're guilty of all. The most illuminating thing about it is that it is commonly used in the New Testament of the attitude of God towards men ( Romans 2:4; Romans 9:22; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 3:20). 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. "I through the law am dead to the law." It was partly directed to the hearts and consciences of the Jews, partly in view of the approaching rupture of all ties with Israel. He who bites has exhausted his angry passion, but he who devours has given a demonstration of extreme cruelty. Chrysostom. Though we ought to stand fast in our Christian liberty, yet we should not insist upon it to the breach of Christian charity; we should not use it as an occasion of strife and contention with our fellow Christians, who may be differently minded from us, but should always maintain such a temper towards each other as may dispose us by love to serve one another. He intimates also how vain a thing is legalism, because those that were pleading for circumcision in no case carried out their own principle. wolves should enter in among you and not spare the flock; but Theirs was the slave's son Ishmael. But, I repeat, this simply was revealed to him. And what was the effect of God's giving him to have an application of law in his own conscience? The "Israel of God," I apprehend, would mean, that the only part of Israel whom God owns now consists of those that really are of faith those that .received Jesus. There was no doubt or difficulty on this head in these early days. Paul went on to argue that if you accepted circumcision, that is to say, if you accepted one part of the law, logically you had to accept the whole law. This shows us the exceeding seriousness of a step apparently so trifling as his abstaining from further intercourse with the Gentiles in mere ordinary life. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law ( Galatians 5:3 ). and devour one another -- As wild beasts do. Carousing; this word (komos) has an interesting history. Pungent, abrupt, indignant, he none the less was led of God. First, we must guard it, especially from those who would pressure us to follow the law. Under which type did they fall Ishmael or Isaac? It was not to keep people under the law, still less could it be to put any under the law, but to bring them clean out if they had been under it before. That it is our duty and interest in this struggle to side with the better part, to side with our convictions against our corruptions and with our graces against our lusts. Paul was preaching that Jesus paid the complete price for your redemption on the cross. "This persuasion, this ideas that you have, they don't really come from God, from the One who called you. It is no question now of being subject to the Jews, who shall never possess the gate of their enemies, but be peeled and scattered and few, while the gospel is going forth. The readers ( Galatians 1:2b ) c. The greeting ( Galatians 1:3-5 ) i. The Galatian Christians should have been the most peaceful people in the province. 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. We find that offensive in our society today, but in those days, the area of Galatia was the center of the worship of Sybil, and the priests of Sybil would castrate themselves. He granted that persons might indulge in some such thoughts about him. You've got to do this, and this, and this, and this, and this. I can't go back to my mother's womb and be born again. For the world there is nothing yet executed, any more than the great results of grace for the saints as yet appear in their fulness. AN OLD STORY AND A NEW MEANING ( Galatians 4:21-31 ; Galatians 5:1 ). Heretical division; this might be described as crystallized dissension. Dissension; literally the word means a standing apart. This he means here by "faith." And they ate, giving over to their fleshly appetites and in so doing, the flesh dominated. That it is His sacrifice for your sins that brings you redemption and the forgiveness of sins. But I have confidence in you that you're not going to be persuaded by this. You never come to believe in what the Mormons believe through reading the Bible. Tender and comprehensive as Christianity is, it is also the most exclusive thing that can be. If any apostleship would have served for the Gentiles, it ought to have been Paul's then; for Paul was the apostle of the uncircumcision. I began to think it through and I thought, "Yes, it is a work of the flesh, because usually a person gets into heresy to attract attention to himself." The brethren with him ( Galatians 1:2a ) b. Practical Godliness Enforced; Works of the Flesh and of the Spirit; The Fruits of the Spirit. "Here we have the Gentiles expressly named, and to this the apostle refers. Laws are necessary to restrain unprincipled people. There was no question of revealing His Son in them then. New American Standard Version He acts on this in faith; he understands it with an energy and a brightness that increased even in his Roman prison. ". 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 ). And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? And, you know, I mean, you're having now go to . He had the faith that could by grace cleave to God if he had not a companion; but God blesses that faith, and acts by it on the conscience of others, even on those that, alas! To make this evident by transgressions was the object of the law. This therefore the apostle would have us by all means to watch against. "The theme of love . 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? who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? Thus it wrought among the Galatians. And this is always true in its measure, and shows the exceeding gravity of opposition where God raises up for His own special work in this world; but more particularly where, as in the apostle's case, the mere manner of his conversion, the special form of his separation unto God, bears the impress of the truth he was to preach. So, they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh. Christ never mingles with flesh or law any more than with the world. Rare in N.T. (b) It means being teachable, being not too proud to learn ( James 1:21). 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. 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. That is, the most simple and most obvious truth is just the last thing a man thinks about. And what sort of life can this be? For it is by the Spirit and by faith that we eagerly expect the hope of being right with God. Instead they are unkind and cruel to each other. Thus it appears that the Galatians as well as the Corinthians had been similarly affected. It was from and in connection with Christ in heaven. If we are living in the Spirit let us also keep step with the Spirit. Because you have been born of the Spirit, you can see it, you can understand it; it's as plain as can be. Therefore the apostle adds, ,And as many as walk according to this rule [that is, the rule of the new creation], peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." "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." We must set ourselves in good earnest both to mortify the deeds of the body, and to walk in newness of life. The apostle stands to the truth preached and received. Walk on the spiritual side of your nature. So, Paul here exhorts us to walk in the Spirit and to live after the Spirit or on the spirit side of our lives. It describes not an anger which lasts but anger which flames out and then dies. Again, it is not a liberty to do anything I please. I admit that this was all in place and season then for Jerusalem. Do your souls go along with Paul's decision? Basil called it "grief at your neighbours good fortune." self-seeking, dissension, heretical division, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and all that is like these things, I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who do things like that will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The forgiveness of your sins and your redemption is totally predicated upon the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.These people were adding to it. Galatians 5 - Standing Fast In the Liberty of Jesus A. The law and the promise are both from God, but the law's use is only negative and condemnatory. He is afresh making efforts to improve, yet still in bondage and misery. You got to be circumcised." The flesh will not be ruling over you anymore. He did not forget His people Israel; but He had always the glory of Christ before Him; and the moment we rise up to this blessed Seed of all blessing (the true Isaac, dead and risen really, as the son of Abraham was then in figure), the blessing of the Gentiles is secured in that one sole person, before the Jews are multiplied in their land under the new covenant, and possess the gate of their enemies. He is governed by principles by which he lives. How distressing, how mad is it, that we, who are members of the same body, should be leagued together, of our own accord, for mutual destruction! Hereon the apostle puts before them another expostulation: "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." 1. Galatians 5:1-15 focuses on what those in Christ should do with our freedom in Christ. Legal activity is but labouring in the fire for vanity; and if, alas! Get Access To 3 Exclusive Articles (for FREE) Want articles like this one delivered straight to your email? Now the Galatians were unwittingly in danger of giving up the truth. To be under law was fatal to Jerusalem. Grace alone in such a case brings glory to God. Nothing more in keeping with the wants of those addressed, who had so soon turned aside from the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Did they know that for a Gentile Christian to take up Judaistic elements is in principle to go back to heathenism? You can see the Santa Rosa and San Miguel and San Nicolas and say, "Hey, hey, all right, we're right on course." Not so; it is exclusively of grace by Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Leave room for God, and for God alone. After one of his great victories Nelson attributed it to the fact that he had the happiness to command a band of brothers. That they should all strive against sin; and happy would it be for the church if Christians would let all their quarrels be swallowed up of this, even a quarrel against sin--if, instead of biting and devouring one another on account of their different opinions, they would all set themselves against sin in themselves and the places where they live. Salem Media Group. And you can't do this, and this, and this, and this, and this." Ritualism is the present most patent comment on the apostle's statement. And the mind of the flesh is alienated from God; it cannot know God. It is all devoted to the deliverance of the saint from this present evil age by the cross of Christ, and his consistent maintenance of the new nature and position of grace of the new creation in Christ Jesus. What the Jews would have liked, no doubt, was power (and the Galatians, after all, were in danger of slipping into the same snare; for the law suits the world, as grace does not), and in the world present power and honour. My responsibility is defined by the place in which I am found. How precious to have done with one's sinful self and to begin a life so perfect as Christ's! at least as zealous for the Jews' religion as any Jew of the straitest sect. For Peter is not said to have withdrawn from the Lord's table where the uncircumcised met, but from the simple matter of eating with the Gentiles. God himself.". That is to say, after his flights of thought can he reduce it all to something that the ordinary man can understand and do? In my spirit, in the realm of the Spirit. The very defence set up, and the meanings which these men put on the forms and ceremonies of which they make Christianity so largely to consist, demonstrate their most barefaced turning back to idolatry. I don't think you need anything more than the Bible to really know the truth of God. Makrothumia ( G3115) ; this is a great word. Then he gives a closing blow to those who doted about the law. Further, it is laid down, if there had been a law capable of giving life, righteousness would be by the law. What Does Galatians 5:13 Mean? Was this then a reproach? Vincent Taylor once said, "The test of a good theologian is, can he write a tract?" In Greek there are four words for love. Forgive me, Lord. Men were not his source, nor was man even a medium to him. "Bite" refers to the sudden action brought on by uncontrolled emotions that hurt other members of the church. 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. Their lives should demonstrate the truth that their sinful nature has been crucified with Christ and has no further power over them. Naughty Paul. He gives us a catalogue of evil things. The context behind the Galatians church We have been crucified to the requirements of the law Kill our desire or need to keep the law as a means of gaining justification Galatians 2:15-16 Being crucified to self Matthew 16:24 There is only one throne in our hearts and life, and only one person can sit on it Galatians 5:24 Ye did run well." Stand, therefore, in it and do not get yourselves involved all over again in a slavish yoke. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai, which is in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem; for she is a slave and so are her children. This kind of love is a trusting love. Still less is it possible to let the law set its force aside. They were grieved to think that the Jewish church, with its twelve apostles and its elders, with its manifold links with antiquity and God's past testimony on earth, should seem separated in any measure from the apostle and his work. But we, brothers, are in the same position as Isaac; we are children of promise. You ever seen a person in love and all of the joy that they have? Having brought in the true character of the Christian's life as flowing simply and solely from Christ, and from Christ crucified too, so here he takes up the Holy Ghost. the Christian dooms himself to such hard labour instead of resting in the faith of Christ, whom has he to blame? That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It can be used for the pus of an unclean wound, for a tree that has never been pruned, for material which has never been sifted. The goal that the law aims at is not reached by trying to keep the law, but by acting with true Christian liberty (13-15).Sooner or later Christians find that they do not always do the good that their consciences tell them to do, because the sinful human nature fights against Gods Spirit within them. 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. One degree, and you've only gone hundred miles, you don't even notice. Observe the place the cross has here, not merely Christ's blood, but His death on the cross. By biting and devouring (89) he means, I think, slanders, accusations, reproaches, and every other kind of offensive language, as well as acts of injustice arising either from fraud or violence. And this I say, that the covenant confirmed before by God unto Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, can not annul so that it should make the promise of none effect." Galatians 1:1-24. And he justifies this strength of warning: "For do I now persuade men or God? Matthew 23:13; 2 Corinthians 11:20; Revelation 11:5. He through law died to law, that he might live to God! If ye bite and devour one another These Churches seem to have been in a state of great distraction; there were continual altercations among them. In lxx metaphorically, Micah 3:5; Habakkuk 2:7. Further. But what does the scripture say? And so, I would listen to these fellows, and I listened, you know, and just said, "Well, you know, that's what the scripture says, you know," when they would quote scriptures. It has been defined as "readiness for any pleasure." consumed, &c.Strength of soul, health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils [Bengel]. He gives freely the Holy Ghost on their acceptance of Christ's name; or, as it is here written, "He sent forth the Spirit of his Son in your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." This closes the course of the apostle's argument. The apostle does not say, if grievous wolves should enter in among you and not spare the flock; but suggests if they themselves should act the part of wolves to one another; having reference to their controversies about the law and circumcision, and the necessity thereof to justification and salvation; which were managed with great heat and bitterness, occasioned great contentions, and threatened them with divisions, parties, and factions; and were attended with envy and malice, with reproachful words, biting sarcasms, scandalous invectives, and injurious actions, which must be of bad consequence: hence he adds. "For I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all." The apostle specifies the works of the flesh, which must be watched against and mortified, and the fruits of the Spirit, which must be cherished and brought forth (Galatians 5:19; Galatians 5:19, c.) and by specifying particulars he further illustrates what he is here upon. "I am crucified with Christ." (2.) Because I can't and haven't kept the whole law, I'm thankful that God accounts me righteous and I can have fellowship with the righteous God because of Jesus Christ and my faith in Jesus Christ. At the same time he insists in the most peremptory manner that our liberty in Christ is to be used for holiness. He said, "You've got to be born again." How impossible, therefore, to add the law to the promise! Here one may be very brief: "The heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father. You're talking nonsense. They thus acted and pronounced according to the evident intention of God conveyed in the character of their apostolates respectively. What does Galatians 5:15 Mean? They're contrary, and I do not always walk after the Spirit. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Created by God, in fellowship with God. An undue regard to the approbation and applause of men is one great ground of the unhappy strifes and contentions that exist among Christians. But not from God. Immediately, then, as. But God took care that the call of Paul should be delayed till the whole order of the Jewish apostleship should be complete. Principles by which he lives in heaven an application of law in his own conscience ; it not! Admit that this was all in place and season then for Jerusalem received it man. You and not spare the flock ; but Theirs was the slave son. To mortify the deeds of the Spirit need anything more than the Bible ; we are of... 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