It is eritheia ( G2052) and originally meant the work of a hired labourer (erithos). But this will be Jerusalem, under not law but promise and liberty, restored by grace after having lost everything by the law, and reduced to utter desolation. That is not the liberty that we have as Christians. As wild beasts contend sometimes until both are slain. That's the position where we stand. It is for this freedom that Christ has set us free. The apostle accordingly now turns to the great argument of his epistle, and the discussion of those grand principles that are characteristic to Christianity, and in full agreement with the facts that have already been brought before you. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another. The brethren with him ( Galatians 1:2a ) b. Whom did their principle make them resemble? 2. This never can bring man to God any more than glory to God. Thus it appears that the Galatians as well as the Corinthians had been similarly affected. "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." Shall we turn now to Galatians chapter five. Not at all, says the apostle, you are returning straight into your old heathenism without knowing it yourselves. [Note: Longenecker, p. Because they were sons, God sent that blessed proof and power of their sonship. We don't understand that word too much. And so in the fullness of time, God sent His Son to die for man's sin, in order that through Him man might be born again by the Spirit of God. The way of law makes salvation dependent on human achievement; the man who takes the way of grace simply casts himself and his sin upon the mercy of God. There are many present privileges and future glories that belong to the Christian; and promise is one of them. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love ( Galatians 5:6 ). He shows that the Spirit of God dwelling in the believer gives no license for the action of the flesh. And this is a universal principle. "If you keep the whole law yet offended in one point, you're guilty of all. And he gives to us here a listing, incomplete to be sure, because he ends it by saying, "And do such things." He went simply to make the acquaintance of Peter, and abode with him how long? Help us to express our faith in love every day by loving our neighbor as ourselves. "Hey, that old nature, that old Chuck is dead. The apostle takes notice of the latter here, because he is speaking of their behaviour towards one another; and, when he makes use of this as an argument to persuade them to mutual love, he intimates both that this would be a good evidence of their sincerity in religion and also the most likely means of rooting out those dissensions and divisions that were among them. His Father had made a revelation to Peter. We shall find he does not forget this elsewhere: he reasons on it in another part of the epistle. You say that the promise is everything, and that the law cannot either set aside the promise or add other clauses to it. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, which answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. Thus, it is seen, the truth was established. The law necessarily makes the man, and the man's doings, to be the prominent object. He visits Arabia and Damascus once more. Nor did they understand the prophets better. 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 then they started to rail on me and prophesy my death and things of this nature. Nothing is so destructive to the peace of man, and to the peace of the soul, as religious disputes; where they prevail, religion in general has little place. Thus the law pulls down what is evil, and the promise gives what is good and builds it up. 2 Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. heard of the law. Had they been occupied with Christ, they would have really loved one another, and in other respects too fulfilled the law, without thinking about themselves or it. If a person is living by right principles, he doesn't need any laws. What then is the end of the law? This is best seen by turning to Genesis 22:1-24, where both facts are found in the same context. I violated. You're talking nonsense. Chrysostom said that it is the grace of the man who could revenge himself and does not, the man who is slow to wrath. It's Jesus only. How blessed, and how all-important for our souls! The apostle shows that, so far from bringing in Christians and putting them on the ground of the Old Testament, God is really leading those who were in that connection out of it all by redemption. Dictionary entry details GALATIANS (noun) Sense 1 Meaning: A New Testament book containing the epistle from Saint Paul to the Galatians Classified under: But in this he could glory. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband." Not all sins are crimes. You who seek to get yourselves right with God by means of legalism have got yourself into a position in which you have rendered ineffective all that Christ did for you. It comes from a root which means to choose, and it was used for a philosopher's school of followers or for any band of people who shared a common belief. 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. Usually in the New Testament eirene ( G1515) stands for the Hebrew shalowm ( H7965) and means not just freedom from trouble but everything that makes for a man's highest good. It is not a question of law at all. For as the first epistle had put down man in every form, and more particularly man as an expression of the world in its pride, so the second epistle breathes the comfort of God's restoring grace, and is characterized therefore by the strongest emotions of the heart; for he ardently loved these saints. In verse 17 it is written, "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore." provoking one another, envying one another ( Galatians 5:26 ). True to the Spirit. 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. That's the old nature that wants its way, that wants to insist on its own way and all. Verse Meaning Apparently the believers who advocated grace and the believers who advocated law bitterly opposed one another in the Galatian churches. Was it possible, then, that any could desire to put the Gentiles under law, when they had been brought out from it themselves by the will of God, the work of Christ, and the witness of the Holy Spirit? The Christian's faith is founded not on a book but on a person; its dynamic is not obedience to any law but love to Jesus Christ. Consequently it is plain from the beginning, that the apostleship of Paul made a demand upon faith which the other apostolate did not. Then I must repeat that God could only make claims; and man had to take the place, if he could, of giving to God of rendering his obedience. If they took that gr. If we are living in the Spirit let us also keep step with the Spirit. So "cursed is the man that continues not in the whole law to do that which is written therein" ( Galatians 3:10 ). And in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, we read how that Peter stood up and told the brethren how that the Lord had called him to go to the Gentiles to the house of Cornelius. One of the most dangerous errors in Christendom is, that these two things are lumped together. We can understand a foolish man making a covenant, and the next day repenting of it, which is never true of the divine purposes. The writer ( Galatians 1:1-2a ) i. Paul, the Apostle ( Galatians 1: 1 ) ii. The writer ( Galatians 1:1-2a ) i. Paul, the Apostle ( Galatians 1: 1 ) ii. 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." It was rather to have Gentile liberty secured by the twelve apostles, and that the Judaizers should be condemned by the church at Jerusalem. Their ears were heavy, and their eyes blinded by their legalism. I don't believe that." The meaning of Galatians 5:1 is an incredible verse that has a powerful lesson for us today. Love finds its activity in caring for those that are cast down, "and so fulfils the law of Christ." suggests if they themselves should act the part of wolves to one Pungent, abrupt, indignant, he none the less was led of God. It meant emulation, the desire to attain to nobility when we see it. That's the old nature, reckon that to be dead. Christ lived, died, and was resurrected so that we might be free. The solemnities of Christ's judgment await men in the day of the Lord. I'm, you know, not stupid. Galatians 5:15. He specifies the works of the flesh, which must be watched against and mortified, and the fruits of the Spirit, which must be brought forth and cherished, and shows of what importance it is that they be so, ver 19-24. He has set you free from the power of the flesh. All of the bases are covered. Greek and Christian alike would have condemned drunkenness as a thing which turned a man into a beast. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 5:13-15 The gospel is a doctrine according to godliness, 1Ti 6:3, and is so far from giving the least countenance to sin, that it lays us under the strongest obligation to avoid and subdue it. THE INTRODUCTION ( Galatians 1:1-10) 1. 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. I don't think you need anything more than the Bible to really know the truth of God. "As we have said before, so I say now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received." The law forbids these things, but the law of love also forbids them. What were they doing? There was no consciousness of the identification of the saint with Christ. So "stand fast in that liberty wherein Christ has made you free." Idolatry; this means the worship of gods which the hands of men have made. But it works through love. Galatians 5:16. Paul takes that old story and allegorises it. For God does speak elsewhere, and even on this occasion, of a numerous seed. They're covered by the fact that you're walking in love. 15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. has an affinity for both. Ignorant or false men had made them hanker after circumcision. "Are ye so foolish? The man who makes law the principle of his life is in the position of a slave; whereas the man who makes grace the principle of his life is free, for, as a great saint put it, the Christian's maxim is, "Love God and do what you like." So, love is the fulfilling of the law. or dogs to worry sheep is not strange; but for sheep to distress Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. We're about one degree off, but we hope to correct this in flight or something." Thus all had been duly prepared of God, with a far-reaching wisdom, to make the call of Paul an evidently and entirely separate thing, to make his apostleship as distinct in fact as in form; to give him fresh communications, even as to the Lord's supper, and to convey anew the very gospel that he preached as the revelation of the Son in him. Thus the apostle had to link together the gospel of grace with his own apostolic dignity; and we do well to take heed to this remarkable fact. It was to demonstrate his sinfulness, not to gain the inheritance. it. The argument is founded upon the unity of the seed of promise in this connection. Which means: Peaceable Christians realize that apart from Jehovah God, they have no lasting peacemaking ability. He was given, whether in power or in person, not by the law, but by the hearing of faith. What! THE INTRODUCTION ( Galatians 1:1-10) 1. Those who lived in Jerusalem were too prone to preserve the clothes and the cradle which had their place and use at first, but had no claim to be kept up among the Gentiles. He through law died to law, that he might live to God! at least as zealous for the Jews' religion as any Jew of the straitest sect. 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. The law came in meanwhile, serving its own object, which was to bring out what was in the heart of man. Galatians 5:16-17 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The world of spirits can never be comfortable to those who plunge themselves in the filth of the flesh; nor will the righteous and holy God ever admit such into his favour and presence, unless they be first washed and sanctified, and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,1 Corinthians 6:11. 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." Hairesis was not originally a bad word at all. Such was the will of God the Father that had raised Christ from the dead. This is shown still more fully in the allusion to baptism: "As many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Such is the secret of true power. So far from this being the smallest allowance of Jewish prejudice, it was itself a powerful blow against it. 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