PropositionChrist has set believers permanently and completely free from the Law; to add anything to that finished grace — no matter how small, and no matter how sincere the teacher urging it — is to forfeit its profit, court renewed bondage, and demean the cross that purchased the freedom in the first place.
Introduction
Interesting that at this particular time I should have a building illustration. A man wanted to have something to make him noticed. He wanted people to see him. It reminds me of the snail who went to a used car lot to buy a car, and he said, "I want a big red one." And he said, "I want an S on each side." "An S? Okay, we’ll do it." So he came back the next day, and the guy said, "Well, we got the S on your car, but I don’t understand why you want it that way." And he said, "Well, when I drive down the street, I want them to say, ‘Look at that S car go.’"
Well, this fella wanted to build a boat. He couldn’t let anybody see it, couldn’t build it out in the open — so he built it in his basement. And he built a beautiful boat down there. "Man, when I get this thing out on that lake, they’re going to love it. Everybody’s going to say, ‘Who is that?’ And they’ll say, ‘It’s who? Me.’" Well, he got it all finished. Couldn’t get it out the door. Couldn’t get the boat outside. So the boat remained in his house. Only the people who came to see him ever saw it. His works were kept in one little location.
Hold that thought, because that’s what is happening today with these Judaizers, and we’ll see how it happens at the end.
I. The Request to Stand Fast in Our Liberty – 5:1-2
A. The Positive Command – 5:1a
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty, by which Christ has made us free,”
So Paul is saying to these people, stand in your liberty. That’s what he says in verse 1. It’s a positive command: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free." Stand there — Christ has made you free; now stand in that freedom.
Now it starts off with a "therefore." Therefore — well, you’ve heard the old saying: when you see a "therefore," find out what it’s there for. Well, it’s there to take us back to chapter 4, because the last thing in chapter 4 was, "We are not of the bondwoman, we are of the free." Therefore, stand — stand in the freedom. In fact, verse 1 of chapter 5 belongs back in chapter 4 anyway; it’s a conclusion from chapter 4, not a beginning of chapter 5. In any case, it doesn’t matter — it’s all there. But he says that we are not a part of the bondwoman, we’re of the free woman.
So Paul told Timothy, remember, "Flee youthful lust" — get away from it. And he told the Ephesians, "Stand against the wiles of the devil." James says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But don’t forget what’s before that — don’t resist the devil in your own power, because before that he says, "Submit yourselves to God," and then "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But when it comes to false doctrine, he says stand against it. Stand there. Don’t you run away. Don’t just hit and run. Stand in your freedom, because it’s false doctrine to say you have to have circumcision in order to be saved. So take your stand — it’s a decision we make. It’s not just, "Well, I think I’ll just stand here." No — we make a decision: "I’m going to stand in this liberty. I’m not going to allow anybody to get me back under bondage." We have liberty; now stand in it.
And Paul tells his readers to stand in many other epistles. 1 Corinthians 16:13: "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." Philippians 1:27: "that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 4:1: "so stand fast in the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 3:8: "For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord." 2 Thessalonians 2:15: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." Stand for doctrine. Stand in all power. Stand in the strength of the Lord — but stand.
And then we have to be careful here — some commentaries go off into another area. Let’s not say something unscriptural, like this: "When you believe, God will put a ‘want-to’ in your heart, and you will stay in liberty" — as though it were impossible for you to get out of liberty, and that’s all Paul is saying. Or the old dreaded thing: "If you really are saved, you’ll stand in liberty" — well, if you aren’t standing in liberty, we want to get you saved, that’s the only obvious conclusion, if this is automatic.
Really! If you really are saved, then you will stand in liberty — then why does Paul have to tell them? These are believers. It seems strange to me that people want to help God out here. No — it’s not automatic. Believers must stand. If they don’t stand, they’ll fall aside, and we’ll see what that brings. That’s the positive command.
B. The Negative Command – 5:1b
“and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
Now the negative command: "Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Their previous "yoke of bondage" refers to pagan religion, if they are Gentiles, or to Judaism, if they are Jews. In the pagan religions you did all kinds of strange things to please the god, whoever the god was; or in Judaism you had to keep the law to be accepted by God. Now the issue is going back to the law — whether they be Jews, former Jews in Judaism, or in pagan religions. These Galatians had been taught by the Judaizers to go back to the law: you must be circumcised, you can’t be a believer without being circumcised, you can’t have salvation apart from circumcision. So the issue is bondage — whatever kind of bondage, pagan bondage or the bondage of the law — it does not fit with grace salvation. This is true of any yoke of bondage.
Peter said at the first church council, about a year after Paul wrote Galatians — Acts 15:10 — "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke of bondage on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" They weren’t able to bear it — the Jews weren’t able to do it, all through fifteen hundred years of the law; not one person kept the law. Not one person kept the law until Christ came and did it, only because he’s God.
II. The Results of Submitting to the Law – 5:2-4
A. We Are Denied the Power of Christ – 5:2
“Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.”
So the request is to stand fast in liberty. The result of submitting to the law comes next, in verses 2 through 4. We are denied the power of Christ. If we submit to the law — if we’re getting some kind of rules and regulations that help us please God, that make our approach to God possible — then the result is this: we’re denied the power of Christ. "Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing."
This is a favorite verse of Wesleyans who teach that a believer can lose salvation — there are three clauses in this passage used to argue that, and "Christ will profit you nothing" is the first. As you know, that’s not possible. But they say, "Look — Christ will profit you nothing, and if you go back under the law, that means you aren’t saved." Well, they’re wrong. That’s not what he’s saying.
The Galatians were in bondage to works in the pagan religions before they heard Paul’s gospel of grace. Over in paganism they were doing all kinds of works — some of them terrible works, sins, awful sins, that they had to do to please their god. Now they came to Christ, believed the gospel, and received eternal life. How long is eternal? Eternal is forever — once they received it, they had it forever. They had been in bondage; Paul gave them the gospel; they believed. Now the Judaizers were coming along, saying, "Now what you have to do is some more works over here." Well, where are they? They were in works over there — now they’re in works over here. Christ has profited them nothing. He’s not saying they lost their salvation — that’s impossible in Scripture. They believed, they received eternal life, and now they were tempted to go back to works, and if they did, Christ would profit them nothing.
But you might say, "Well, they’re only taking one little part of the law — just circumcision. The law has all kinds of things, but they’re only taking this one thing." What’s wrong with that? First of all, it’s a very important point — circumcision was the badge of the law, the one outward sign they really had. So they were trying to take just this one part. Well, now how about the Sabbath — oh, you have to keep the Sabbath, that’s one little part, right? And we’ll add the dietary laws, too. I have had people wanting to rent the church on Saturday because they meet on Saturday — they’re Seventh-day Adventists. They’re doing the same thing as the circumcision issue: take one little part of the law and keep it. Well, they’re adding to their salvation, and if you don’t do that, according to them you’re not pleasing to God — you can’t approach God without it. Same thing — they’re denied the power of Christ. Christ is not in that at all.
B. We Are Indebted to Keep the Whole Law – 5:3
“And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.”
And then, verse 3: we are indebted to keep the whole law. "I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, he is a debtor to keep the whole law." You can’t have just one part of the law — you have to have it all. Paul reminds them they can’t take just one part; they have to take it all. It’s all or nothing. You are a debtor to keep the whole law, and that’s impossible — you can’t do it. James 2:10: "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." So the law was not given for salvation, by the way. Keeping the law never brought salvation — never did, never will.
C. We Are Detached from the Grace of God – 5:4
“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
So they are denied the power of Christ, they are indebted to keep the whole law, and they are detached from the grace of God. "You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace." Here’s another one of those verses — "fallen from grace." Their relationship with God was not affected; their fellowship with God was. None of the blessings of grace is available to one who is not in fellowship with the source of grace, with the Lord himself. By the way, you can look at 1 John — it’s all there about what happens when a person wanders from the truth of the gospel. They have gone from the majestic heights of grace down to the meager existence of a now-nullified law. That’s quite a drop. They have fallen from grace.
After showing them the futility of trying to live under the law, Paul now shows them what the grace life is like. You can’t live the law life — now here’s how you live the grace life.
III. The Reality of the Spirit-Filled Life – 5:5-6
A. We Patiently Hope – 5:5
“For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”
First, verse 5: "For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Instead of trying to become righteous by the law — the fast way (I hadn’t thought of that until I prepared this message — that’s what it was, a fast way: oh, you want to be acceptable to God, you want to be spiritual, you want to be in good fellowship with God — get circumcised. We’ve got a few of those around today: "What do you have to do? Well, you have to do this. If you do this, you will be spiritual." Isn’t that wonderful — you can do one thing and be spiritual? That’s not what it is. That’s instant spirituality.
You know what 2 Corinthians 3:18 says? "We all, with open face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and are changed into that same image, from glory to glory." If you are reading the Word — that’s the mirror — you behold the Lord in it, and you’re changed continually, from image to image, from glory to glory. This is work. This takes time. There’s no instant salvation. There’s no instant spirituality in the Christian life. You can’t be circumcised and be spiritual. You can’t do all these other things and be spiritual — that’s not it.
We wait — oh, we wait. We wait for the righteousness by the Holy Spirit to mature in our lives. We wait, hoping for that righteousness by faith. Remember, we receive the righteousness of God — we are justified. At the cross, when we believe, God puts on Christ our sin, and puts his righteousness on us. I have the righteousness of God. You want to see a perfect person? Look here — I’m it. Don’t be surprised: my position, when I believed in Jesus Christ, is that he took all my sin, it’s paid for on the cross, there’s no more curse for me — I’m perfect in Christ. That’s my position. What surprised me is that that’s not my practical living, because I’m not there yet. I’m going to get there one of these days — when I see the Lord, I’ll be like him, because I’ll see him as he is. Right now I’m seeing the Lord on the pages of Scripture, becoming more like him, hopefully, but one day I’m going to see him face to face, and then I’ll be exactly like him, and my position will be my practical living as well. So I’m going through the process — help me: if you see a place where I’m not living it, let me know, and I’ll try to do the same for you.
So we patiently hope. But there’s one more thing on righteousness — there’s righteousness here and now, which I’m going to attain by looking at him. But there’s another righteousness: the kingdom of righteousness is coming, and we’re going to be part of that as we serve the Lord. We’re moving from glory to glory, and there’s going to be a kingdom of righteousness, and we’ll be part of that kingdom, because we served him here and now — we earn the righteousness of the King. So we’re hoping for that righteousness as well. Now, we patiently wait; we hope.
B. We Passionately Love – 5:6
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
We also passionately love. Verse 6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love." In the church there were some who were circumcised — Jews who believed — well, they’re no special class. Those who were uncircumcised — no special class either. Circumcision does not mean a thing. There’s neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female — all on one plane. Circumcision, uncircumcision — God doesn’t reckon that at all.
But he brings in works. "Oh, I thought you said there weren’t going to be any works." No works to earn salvation — we are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. Remember, Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Period. But it goes on, verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Why were you saved? Unto good works, to serve the Lord. So we are there to serve him — we work by faith through love.
This phrase, "faith working through love," gets a lot of attention in the commentaries — mostly they say we’re "loving each other as we work." Nothing could be farther from the context. The context here is law and grace: under the law, they worked by fear to keep the law in order to please God; under grace, we have salvation, and we work by love to serve the One who made it all possible — who is that? Jesus. And we work through the love of him. We love, therefore we work; they feared, therefore they worked. That’s the contrast he’s setting up. We love him, therefore we serve him.
That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:14 says: "For the love of Christ [ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ] compels us, because we thus judge that if one died, then all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again." What is the impetus for us to work for the Lord? The love of Christ compels us to do this — and it’s our love for him, I believe, though it could be translated "his love for us." I’m torn between the two, because either is possible — but the love that we have for him, or the love that he had for us, constrains us to work for him. So: by faith, working through love — not fear, but love, and that is much better service.
IV. The Reputation of the Teachers of the Law – 5:7-12
A. They Challenge the Truth – 5:7
“You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”
There’s a request to stand for liberty, a result of submitting to the law, a reality of the Spirit-filled life — and now there’s the reputation of the teachers of the law. They challenge the truth. Verse 7: "You ran well. What hindered you from obeying the truth?" Why did they disobey the truth? Because somebody told them to — somebody told them, "Get circumcised, that’s what you have to do."
Paul reminds them of the time when he and Barnabas came on the first missionary journey — they preached the grace gospel: "If you believe on Jesus, you have eternal life." That’s the gospel, folks — that’s it. "You mean all I have to do is believe?" That’s exactly what it says. If you want to add something to it, look at John — it’s all through his gospel: believe, you have eternal life; if you don’t believe, the wrath of God abides on you. So what he’s saying is, they challenge that truth. "You ran well — but who hindered you?" We gave you the gospel, you believed, you had eternal life, you still have it. Then he asks, "Who hindered you?" — I don’t think he’s after somebody’s name; I think what he’s after is not so much who, but how did you do that — why in the world would you go from grace to works?
Paul loves sports metaphors — this is a race, he’s saying. "You ran well." And the word "hindered" is ἐνέκοψεν (from ἐγκόπτω), to cut in on you — in keeping with the race picture. Ever run a race? I never did — but in a regular race you’re lined up in your own lane, and you stay in that lane, and somebody cuts across in front of you, you fall down, you skin your knee, now you stop. Or you get up, and somebody comes along and says, "Oh, you don’t have to do that, do this." Paul says no — if you fall down, this is not a hundred-yard dash, this is the marathon. Get up, get back on your track, and go some more. He develops this picture further in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
Salvation is not a race — I believe, I have eternal life, what kind of race is that? No, but sanctification is a race. I start out at the finish line when I believe — I have eternal life — and then I move toward sanctification; that’s my race. Sanctification is what he’s after here. "What hindered you? Who hindered you?" He’s not so much concerned with who as with why — he can’t understand it. The Judaizers’ motivation was not to serve the Lord, it was to gain a following. They weren’t saying, "The Lord told me to tell you to do this." They want to get you into their camp — "we want this big church, we’d like to have a few more" — but we’re not going to change the gospel to do it, not going to change Christian living by grace to get a crowd. In chapter 4, verse 17, he said, "They zealously court you, but for no good — yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them." They want to get you away from Paul so you’ll come to them. In verse 12, he’s going to say, "These would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution." They don’t want to come with a straight gospel — the gospel is the grace gospel, by grace plus nothing you’re saved. Well, let’s get some strange people — you know what they call us? "People who like to sin, these are sinning people" — "Oh, you’re saved, do what you want." Well, salvation by grace through faith is the word of the gospel, and for it you get persecution. I’ve seen fine men — Ryrie, Zane Hodges — get this: "Oh, these people, they don’t have any rules, they don’t have any laws." Well, that’s what happens — you get persecuted, and even worse. And they’re still around today, and they’ll multiply all the more as we see the Day approaching. If they take a grace stand and exclude the law, they will be persecuted — but to avoid that, they simply add something to it.
B. They Are Contrary to God – 5:8
“This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.”
"This persuasion" refers to adding works to the work of the cross. "This persuasion does not come from him who calls you." So where did they get this doctrine of adding to the grace gospel? Not from Jerusalem — in less than a year they’re going to have the Jerusalem Council, and they’re going to say, "No, sir — grace through faith, plus not one thing." So if not from Jerusalem, where did they get it? Maybe God gave it to them directly — after all, it’s in the Old Testament, that’s God’s Word. No, that’s not true either, because it says right there in verse 8 that it does not come from him who calls you.
Well then, who’s left? Galatians 1:6: "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel." If that persuasion does not come from God, then from whom does it come? Who’s left? I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count — Satan. Satan is behind this, trying to mess up the gospel, trying to add works to it so that it becomes null and void. Would Satan lie? Paul calls him the father of lies. Remember, back in Genesis 3, God says the day you eat of that tree you shall surely die, and Satan says to Eve, "You will not surely die." They ate of the tree. Guess what — they died. He’s a liar, and he likes to do that.
The false teachers of this world are still here. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a book — it says, "Let God Be True and Every Man a Liar." That statement comes from Romans 3:4, and by using it they condemn themselves — and then they misconstrue the very Scripture they quote. All the false teachers use the Bible to prove their heresy. How can we answer these counterfeits? It doesn’t hurt to know what they believe, but this idea of studying, studying, studying all these false cults — the way to fight that is to know the Word. Know the real thing. Then, once you know the truth about the gospel, when somebody comes along and says, "Oh no, you have to add this to it," it’ll stand out like a sore thumb. If you know the Word, then whenever anybody steps aside from the Word, you’ll know about it.
C. They Contaminate the Church – 5:9
“A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
They challenge the truth, they are contrary to God, and they contaminate the church. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." We can’t allow heretical doctrine to remain in the church — "heretical" is the key word. I don’t mean that everybody who doesn’t dot every i and cross every t the way I do has to leave the church — that’s not it. But if it’s heretical, it has to be dealt with, it has to be taken out; whatever it is must leave the church, because works-salvation is heretical.
Maybe we keep the person in and try to help him — we can help him, but we have to make sure he understands we’re helping him out of what he’s in. It’s like a bad apple in a barrel: if you have a barrel full of good apples except for one, and you leave it in there thinking the good ones will make the bad one good — you know better. That one bad apple will ruin the entire batch if you leave it in there. You can’t do it. Or, how do we heal sick folks — do we put them in a room with a lot of well folks so the well folks will make them well? It doesn’t work that way. Haggai 2:11-13 — there’s a whole section there; I won’t read it, but it’s very interesting.
D. Their Conviction Is Certain – 5:10
“I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.”
They challenge the truth, they are contrary to God, they contaminate the church — and their conviction is certain. Paul has confidence in them, but he quickly adds, "in the Lord" — he believes the Lord is going to take them to the right place, bring them back to the grace way. Then he says these false teachers will be judged, now and in the judgment to come. The key here is to leave the judgment with God — the judging part is his: "Punishment is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30). Having said it can’t stay in the church, we don’t relegate them to never-never land — we still try to help them if they’ll allow themselves to be helped. But we leave the punishment of that to the Lord.
I used to love to get people back when they tried to get me — somebody cuts me off in traffic, oh boy, look out, here I come. Or somebody does something to me, costs me money — well, what am I going to do with that? Leave it to the Lord. I lost my money — what kind of God do you serve? God has money; he can take it away from someone and give it to you if he wants you to have it. Leave it alone — that’s so liberating once you get that in mind. I don’t care if you want to cut in front of me — okay, I’ll back up a little, it doesn’t matter. You want to do this, do that — it doesn’t matter. It’s a liberating thing. Don’t try to do God’s job. Frankly, I think you’d make a bad God — I don’t know you very well, but I know you’d make a bad God, because nobody can take God’s place.
E. They Condemn Teachers of the Truth – 5:11-12
“And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!”
Now they condemn teachers of the truth. "And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased." That’s Paul saying: why am I being persecuted if I still preach circumcision? Because that persecution should go away — the offense of the cross would cease. "I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off."
The Judaizers apparently had been teaching that Paul preached circumcision — is that true? Sure, at one time he did. It’s a half-truth: "Oh yeah, we remember when Paul was preaching circumcision, saying he had to be circumcised." He did, until he met the Lord, and the Lord taught him the grace gospel, and he zealously proclaimed the grace gospel instead. He was being falsely accused of still doing it, and his answer is: why am I being persecuted, because if I preach the grace gospel, I escape the persecution — the offense of the cross would cease when you cease preaching the cross.
Now Paul has his strongest word against the Judaizers. Do you think Paul hated these people? He hated them with a righteous hatred, because he says, "I wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off." Do I have to draw a picture? No. Paul is saying, in effect, why stop at removing a little? Why not cut yourselves all the way off — why don’t you castrate yourselves, as the pagan priests of Cybele did? The circumcision that was once the sign of God’s people is no more than a religious symbol now — a ritual cutting and marking practiced by the ancient pagans. Paul is saying these people deserve the strongest possible rebuke.
Conclusion
The man built the boat — he built it in the basement. These people are doing works here and now, and those works are limited to this life; they’ll never get anywhere outside of this life, because there’s no door to get them out. Only those who do the work of the Lord will have works that follow them and be rewarded by God at the judgment seat of Christ. This is a serious situation. The Lord wants us to see: if you add anything to the salvation of grace, you are demeaning the cross of Christ. Christ died; he did all the work. Anything that people put on you to do is demeaning that — "oh, then you have to do this" — well, then Christ didn’t do it all. He left you nothing to do; there’s nothing you can add to it, nothing you can offer God. It’s all been done. You accept that, or you don’t receive salvation.
Lord, thank You.
Introduction
Interesting that at this particular time I should have a building illustration. A man wanted to have something to make him noticed. He wanted people to see him. It reminds me of the snail who went to a used car lot to buy a car, and he said, "I want a big red one." And he said, "I want an S on each side." "An S? Okay, we’ll do it." So he came back the next day, and the guy said, "Well, we got the S on your car, but I don’t understand why you want it that way." And he said, "Well, when I drive down the street, I want them to say, ‘Look at that S car go.’"
Well, this fella wanted to build a boat. He couldn’t let anybody see it, couldn’t build it out in the open — so he built it in his basement. And he built a beautiful boat down there. "Man, when I get this thing out on that lake, they’re going to love it. Everybody’s going to say, ‘Who is that?’ And they’ll say, ‘It’s who? Me.’" Well, he got it all finished. Couldn’t get it out the door. Couldn’t get the boat outside. So the boat remained in his house. Only the people who came to see him ever saw it. His works were kept in one little location.
Hold that thought, because that’s what is happening today with these Judaizers, and we’ll see how it happens at the end.
I. The Request to Stand Fast in Our Liberty – 5:1-2
A. The Positive Command – 5:1a
So Paul is saying to these people, stand in your liberty. That’s what he says in verse 1. It’s a positive command: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free." Stand there — Christ has made you free; now stand in that freedom.
Now it starts off with a "therefore." Therefore — well, you’ve heard the old saying: when you see a "therefore," find out what it’s there for. Well, it’s there to take us back to chapter 4, because the last thing in chapter 4 was, "We are not of the bondwoman, we are of the free." Therefore, stand — stand in the freedom. In fact, verse 1 of chapter 5 belongs back in chapter 4 anyway; it’s a conclusion from chapter 4, not a beginning of chapter 5. In any case, it doesn’t matter — it’s all there. But he says that we are not a part of the bondwoman, we’re of the free woman.
So Paul told Timothy, remember, "Flee youthful lust" — get away from it. And he told the Ephesians, "Stand against the wiles of the devil." James says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But don’t forget what’s before that — don’t resist the devil in your own power, because before that he says, "Submit yourselves to God," and then "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But when it comes to false doctrine, he says stand against it. Stand there. Don’t you run away. Don’t just hit and run. Stand in your freedom, because it’s false doctrine to say you have to have circumcision in order to be saved. So take your stand — it’s a decision we make. It’s not just, "Well, I think I’ll just stand here." No — we make a decision: "I’m going to stand in this liberty. I’m not going to allow anybody to get me back under bondage." We have liberty; now stand in it.
And Paul tells his readers to stand in many other epistles. 1 Corinthians 16:13: "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." Philippians 1:27: "that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 4:1: "so stand fast in the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 3:8: "For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord." 2 Thessalonians 2:15: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." Stand for doctrine. Stand in all power. Stand in the strength of the Lord — but stand.
And then we have to be careful here — some commentaries go off into another area. Let’s not say something unscriptural, like this: "When you believe, God will put a ‘want-to’ in your heart, and you will stay in liberty" — as though it were impossible for you to get out of liberty, and that’s all Paul is saying. Or the old dreaded thing: "If you really are saved, you’ll stand in liberty" — well, if you aren’t standing in liberty, we want to get you saved, that’s the only obvious conclusion, if this is automatic.
Really! If you really are saved, then you will stand in liberty — then why does Paul have to tell them? These are believers. It seems strange to me that people want to help God out here. No — it’s not automatic. Believers must stand. If they don’t stand, they’ll fall aside, and we’ll see what that brings. That’s the positive command.
B. The Negative Command – 5:1b
Now the negative command: "Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Their previous "yoke of bondage" refers to pagan religion, if they are Gentiles, or to Judaism, if they are Jews. In the pagan religions you did all kinds of strange things to please the god, whoever the god was; or in Judaism you had to keep the law to be accepted by God. Now the issue is going back to the law — whether they be Jews, former Jews in Judaism, or in pagan religions. These Galatians had been taught by the Judaizers to go back to the law: you must be circumcised, you can’t be a believer without being circumcised, you can’t have salvation apart from circumcision. So the issue is bondage — whatever kind of bondage, pagan bondage or the bondage of the law — it does not fit with grace salvation. This is true of any yoke of bondage.
Peter said at the first church council, about a year after Paul wrote Galatians — Acts 15:10 — "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke of bondage on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" They weren’t able to bear it — the Jews weren’t able to do it, all through fifteen hundred years of the law; not one person kept the law. Not one person kept the law until Christ came and did it, only because he’s God.
II. The Results of Submitting to the Law – 5:2-4
A. We Are Denied the Power of Christ – 5:2
So the request is to stand fast in liberty. The result of submitting to the law comes next, in verses 2 through 4. We are denied the power of Christ. If we submit to the law — if we’re getting some kind of rules and regulations that help us please God, that make our approach to God possible — then the result is this: we’re denied the power of Christ. "Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing."
This is a favorite verse of Wesleyans who teach that a believer can lose salvation — there are three clauses in this passage used to argue that, and "Christ will profit you nothing" is the first. As you know, that’s not possible. But they say, "Look — Christ will profit you nothing, and if you go back under the law, that means you aren’t saved." Well, they’re wrong. That’s not what he’s saying.
The Galatians were in bondage to works in the pagan religions before they heard Paul’s gospel of grace. Over in paganism they were doing all kinds of works — some of them terrible works, sins, awful sins, that they had to do to please their god. Now they came to Christ, believed the gospel, and received eternal life. How long is eternal? Eternal is forever — once they received it, they had it forever. They had been in bondage; Paul gave them the gospel; they believed. Now the Judaizers were coming along, saying, "Now what you have to do is some more works over here." Well, where are they? They were in works over there — now they’re in works over here. Christ has profited them nothing. He’s not saying they lost their salvation — that’s impossible in Scripture. They believed, they received eternal life, and now they were tempted to go back to works, and if they did, Christ would profit them nothing.
But you might say, "Well, they’re only taking one little part of the law — just circumcision. The law has all kinds of things, but they’re only taking this one thing." What’s wrong with that? First of all, it’s a very important point — circumcision was the badge of the law, the one outward sign they really had. So they were trying to take just this one part. Well, now how about the Sabbath — oh, you have to keep the Sabbath, that’s one little part, right? And we’ll add the dietary laws, too. I have had people wanting to rent the church on Saturday because they meet on Saturday — they’re Seventh-day Adventists. They’re doing the same thing as the circumcision issue: take one little part of the law and keep it. Well, they’re adding to their salvation, and if you don’t do that, according to them you’re not pleasing to God — you can’t approach God without it. Same thing — they’re denied the power of Christ. Christ is not in that at all.
B. We Are Indebted to Keep the Whole Law – 5:3
And then, verse 3: we are indebted to keep the whole law. "I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, he is a debtor to keep the whole law." You can’t have just one part of the law — you have to have it all. Paul reminds them they can’t take just one part; they have to take it all. It’s all or nothing. You are a debtor to keep the whole law, and that’s impossible — you can’t do it. James 2:10: "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." So the law was not given for salvation, by the way. Keeping the law never brought salvation — never did, never will.
C. We Are Detached from the Grace of God – 5:4
So they are denied the power of Christ, they are indebted to keep the whole law, and they are detached from the grace of God. "You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace." Here’s another one of those verses — "fallen from grace." Their relationship with God was not affected; their fellowship with God was. None of the blessings of grace is available to one who is not in fellowship with the source of grace, with the Lord himself. By the way, you can look at 1 John — it’s all there about what happens when a person wanders from the truth of the gospel. They have gone from the majestic heights of grace down to the meager existence of a now-nullified law. That’s quite a drop. They have fallen from grace.
After showing them the futility of trying to live under the law, Paul now shows them what the grace life is like. You can’t live the law life — now here’s how you live the grace life.
III. The Reality of the Spirit-Filled Life – 5:5-6
A. We Patiently Hope – 5:5
First, verse 5: "For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Instead of trying to become righteous by the law — the fast way (I hadn’t thought of that until I prepared this message — that’s what it was, a fast way: oh, you want to be acceptable to God, you want to be spiritual, you want to be in good fellowship with God — get circumcised. We’ve got a few of those around today: "What do you have to do? Well, you have to do this. If you do this, you will be spiritual." Isn’t that wonderful — you can do one thing and be spiritual? That’s not what it is. That’s instant spirituality.
You know what 2 Corinthians 3:18 says? "We all, with open face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and are changed into that same image, from glory to glory." If you are reading the Word — that’s the mirror — you behold the Lord in it, and you’re changed continually, from image to image, from glory to glory. This is work. This takes time. There’s no instant salvation. There’s no instant spirituality in the Christian life. You can’t be circumcised and be spiritual. You can’t do all these other things and be spiritual — that’s not it.
We wait — oh, we wait. We wait for the righteousness by the Holy Spirit to mature in our lives. We wait, hoping for that righteousness by faith. Remember, we receive the righteousness of God — we are justified. At the cross, when we believe, God puts on Christ our sin, and puts his righteousness on us. I have the righteousness of God. You want to see a perfect person? Look here — I’m it. Don’t be surprised: my position, when I believed in Jesus Christ, is that he took all my sin, it’s paid for on the cross, there’s no more curse for me — I’m perfect in Christ. That’s my position. What surprised me is that that’s not my practical living, because I’m not there yet. I’m going to get there one of these days — when I see the Lord, I’ll be like him, because I’ll see him as he is. Right now I’m seeing the Lord on the pages of Scripture, becoming more like him, hopefully, but one day I’m going to see him face to face, and then I’ll be exactly like him, and my position will be my practical living as well. So I’m going through the process — help me: if you see a place where I’m not living it, let me know, and I’ll try to do the same for you.
So we patiently hope. But there’s one more thing on righteousness — there’s righteousness here and now, which I’m going to attain by looking at him. But there’s another righteousness: the kingdom of righteousness is coming, and we’re going to be part of that as we serve the Lord. We’re moving from glory to glory, and there’s going to be a kingdom of righteousness, and we’ll be part of that kingdom, because we served him here and now — we earn the righteousness of the King. So we’re hoping for that righteousness as well. Now, we patiently wait; we hope.
B. We Passionately Love – 5:6
We also passionately love. Verse 6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love." In the church there were some who were circumcised — Jews who believed — well, they’re no special class. Those who were uncircumcised — no special class either. Circumcision does not mean a thing. There’s neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female — all on one plane. Circumcision, uncircumcision — God doesn’t reckon that at all.
But he brings in works. "Oh, I thought you said there weren’t going to be any works." No works to earn salvation — we are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. Remember, Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Period. But it goes on, verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Why were you saved? Unto good works, to serve the Lord. So we are there to serve him — we work by faith through love.
This phrase, "faith working through love," gets a lot of attention in the commentaries — mostly they say we’re "loving each other as we work." Nothing could be farther from the context. The context here is law and grace: under the law, they worked by fear to keep the law in order to please God; under grace, we have salvation, and we work by love to serve the One who made it all possible — who is that? Jesus. And we work through the love of him. We love, therefore we work; they feared, therefore they worked. That’s the contrast he’s setting up. We love him, therefore we serve him.
That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:14 says: "For the love of Christ [ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ] compels us, because we thus judge that if one died, then all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again." What is the impetus for us to work for the Lord? The love of Christ compels us to do this — and it’s our love for him, I believe, though it could be translated "his love for us." I’m torn between the two, because either is possible — but the love that we have for him, or the love that he had for us, constrains us to work for him. So: by faith, working through love — not fear, but love, and that is much better service.
IV. The Reputation of the Teachers of the Law – 5:7-12
A. They Challenge the Truth – 5:7
There’s a request to stand for liberty, a result of submitting to the law, a reality of the Spirit-filled life — and now there’s the reputation of the teachers of the law. They challenge the truth. Verse 7: "You ran well. What hindered you from obeying the truth?" Why did they disobey the truth? Because somebody told them to — somebody told them, "Get circumcised, that’s what you have to do."
Paul reminds them of the time when he and Barnabas came on the first missionary journey — they preached the grace gospel: "If you believe on Jesus, you have eternal life." That’s the gospel, folks — that’s it. "You mean all I have to do is believe?" That’s exactly what it says. If you want to add something to it, look at John — it’s all through his gospel: believe, you have eternal life; if you don’t believe, the wrath of God abides on you. So what he’s saying is, they challenge that truth. "You ran well — but who hindered you?" We gave you the gospel, you believed, you had eternal life, you still have it. Then he asks, "Who hindered you?" — I don’t think he’s after somebody’s name; I think what he’s after is not so much who, but how did you do that — why in the world would you go from grace to works?
Paul loves sports metaphors — this is a race, he’s saying. "You ran well." And the word "hindered" is ἐνέκοψεν (from ἐγκόπτω), to cut in on you — in keeping with the race picture. Ever run a race? I never did — but in a regular race you’re lined up in your own lane, and you stay in that lane, and somebody cuts across in front of you, you fall down, you skin your knee, now you stop. Or you get up, and somebody comes along and says, "Oh, you don’t have to do that, do this." Paul says no — if you fall down, this is not a hundred-yard dash, this is the marathon. Get up, get back on your track, and go some more. He develops this picture further in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
Salvation is not a race — I believe, I have eternal life, what kind of race is that? No, but sanctification is a race. I start out at the finish line when I believe — I have eternal life — and then I move toward sanctification; that’s my race. Sanctification is what he’s after here. "What hindered you? Who hindered you?" He’s not so much concerned with who as with why — he can’t understand it. The Judaizers’ motivation was not to serve the Lord, it was to gain a following. They weren’t saying, "The Lord told me to tell you to do this." They want to get you into their camp — "we want this big church, we’d like to have a few more" — but we’re not going to change the gospel to do it, not going to change Christian living by grace to get a crowd. In chapter 4, verse 17, he said, "They zealously court you, but for no good — yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them." They want to get you away from Paul so you’ll come to them. In verse 12, he’s going to say, "These would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution." They don’t want to come with a straight gospel — the gospel is the grace gospel, by grace plus nothing you’re saved. Well, let’s get some strange people — you know what they call us? "People who like to sin, these are sinning people" — "Oh, you’re saved, do what you want." Well, salvation by grace through faith is the word of the gospel, and for it you get persecution. I’ve seen fine men — Ryrie, Zane Hodges — get this: "Oh, these people, they don’t have any rules, they don’t have any laws." Well, that’s what happens — you get persecuted, and even worse. And they’re still around today, and they’ll multiply all the more as we see the Day approaching. If they take a grace stand and exclude the law, they will be persecuted — but to avoid that, they simply add something to it.
B. They Are Contrary to God – 5:8
"This persuasion" refers to adding works to the work of the cross. "This persuasion does not come from him who calls you." So where did they get this doctrine of adding to the grace gospel? Not from Jerusalem — in less than a year they’re going to have the Jerusalem Council, and they’re going to say, "No, sir — grace through faith, plus not one thing." So if not from Jerusalem, where did they get it? Maybe God gave it to them directly — after all, it’s in the Old Testament, that’s God’s Word. No, that’s not true either, because it says right there in verse 8 that it does not come from him who calls you.
Well then, who’s left? Galatians 1:6: "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel." If that persuasion does not come from God, then from whom does it come? Who’s left? I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count — Satan. Satan is behind this, trying to mess up the gospel, trying to add works to it so that it becomes null and void. Would Satan lie? Paul calls him the father of lies. Remember, back in Genesis 3, God says the day you eat of that tree you shall surely die, and Satan says to Eve, "You will not surely die." They ate of the tree. Guess what — they died. He’s a liar, and he likes to do that.
The false teachers of this world are still here. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a book — it says, "Let God Be True and Every Man a Liar." That statement comes from Romans 3:4, and by using it they condemn themselves — and then they misconstrue the very Scripture they quote. All the false teachers use the Bible to prove their heresy. How can we answer these counterfeits? It doesn’t hurt to know what they believe, but this idea of studying, studying, studying all these false cults — the way to fight that is to know the Word. Know the real thing. Then, once you know the truth about the gospel, when somebody comes along and says, "Oh no, you have to add this to it," it’ll stand out like a sore thumb. If you know the Word, then whenever anybody steps aside from the Word, you’ll know about it.
C. They Contaminate the Church – 5:9
They challenge the truth, they are contrary to God, and they contaminate the church. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." We can’t allow heretical doctrine to remain in the church — "heretical" is the key word. I don’t mean that everybody who doesn’t dot every i and cross every t the way I do has to leave the church — that’s not it. But if it’s heretical, it has to be dealt with, it has to be taken out; whatever it is must leave the church, because works-salvation is heretical.
Maybe we keep the person in and try to help him — we can help him, but we have to make sure he understands we’re helping him out of what he’s in. It’s like a bad apple in a barrel: if you have a barrel full of good apples except for one, and you leave it in there thinking the good ones will make the bad one good — you know better. That one bad apple will ruin the entire batch if you leave it in there. You can’t do it. Or, how do we heal sick folks — do we put them in a room with a lot of well folks so the well folks will make them well? It doesn’t work that way. Haggai 2:11-13 — there’s a whole section there; I won’t read it, but it’s very interesting.
D. Their Conviction Is Certain – 5:10
They challenge the truth, they are contrary to God, they contaminate the church — and their conviction is certain. Paul has confidence in them, but he quickly adds, "in the Lord" — he believes the Lord is going to take them to the right place, bring them back to the grace way. Then he says these false teachers will be judged, now and in the judgment to come. The key here is to leave the judgment with God — the judging part is his: "Punishment is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30). Having said it can’t stay in the church, we don’t relegate them to never-never land — we still try to help them if they’ll allow themselves to be helped. But we leave the punishment of that to the Lord.
I used to love to get people back when they tried to get me — somebody cuts me off in traffic, oh boy, look out, here I come. Or somebody does something to me, costs me money — well, what am I going to do with that? Leave it to the Lord. I lost my money — what kind of God do you serve? God has money; he can take it away from someone and give it to you if he wants you to have it. Leave it alone — that’s so liberating once you get that in mind. I don’t care if you want to cut in front of me — okay, I’ll back up a little, it doesn’t matter. You want to do this, do that — it doesn’t matter. It’s a liberating thing. Don’t try to do God’s job. Frankly, I think you’d make a bad God — I don’t know you very well, but I know you’d make a bad God, because nobody can take God’s place.
E. They Condemn Teachers of the Truth – 5:11-12
Now they condemn teachers of the truth. "And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased." That’s Paul saying: why am I being persecuted if I still preach circumcision? Because that persecution should go away — the offense of the cross would cease. "I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off."
The Judaizers apparently had been teaching that Paul preached circumcision — is that true? Sure, at one time he did. It’s a half-truth: "Oh yeah, we remember when Paul was preaching circumcision, saying he had to be circumcised." He did, until he met the Lord, and the Lord taught him the grace gospel, and he zealously proclaimed the grace gospel instead. He was being falsely accused of still doing it, and his answer is: why am I being persecuted, because if I preach the grace gospel, I escape the persecution — the offense of the cross would cease when you cease preaching the cross.
Now Paul has his strongest word against the Judaizers. Do you think Paul hated these people? He hated them with a righteous hatred, because he says, "I wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off." Do I have to draw a picture? No. Paul is saying, in effect, why stop at removing a little? Why not cut yourselves all the way off — why don’t you castrate yourselves, as the pagan priests of Cybele did? The circumcision that was once the sign of God’s people is no more than a religious symbol now — a ritual cutting and marking practiced by the ancient pagans. Paul is saying these people deserve the strongest possible rebuke.
Conclusion
The man built the boat — he built it in the basement. These people are doing works here and now, and those works are limited to this life; they’ll never get anywhere outside of this life, because there’s no door to get them out. Only those who do the work of the Lord will have works that follow them and be rewarded by God at the judgment seat of Christ. This is a serious situation. The Lord wants us to see: if you add anything to the salvation of grace, you are demeaning the cross of Christ. Christ died; he did all the work. Anything that people put on you to do is demeaning that — "oh, then you have to do this" — well, then Christ didn’t do it all. He left you nothing to do; there’s nothing you can add to it, nothing you can offer God. It’s all been done. You accept that, or you don’t receive salvation.
Lord, thank You.