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Galatians 5:7-15
In this part of his letter, Paul has been addressing the Gentiles in the assembly, for they were considering
becoming circumcised as a means of justifying themselves before God.
Circumcision was a sign of the eternal covenant that God had given to Abraham and his seed, to be used as
a teaching tool from father to son, from generation to generation. It was the means by which Israel was to
keep the eternal covenant, to watch over it carefully, to preserve its truth.
The sign of circumcision reflected the covenant; that the body of flesh must be cut off, crucified with
Christ, in order for new life to issue forth a body of glory. And circumcision was all the Fathers work;
the sons part was to receive it, to be made a member of Gods household.
Now, that sign was given to the nation of Israel, as a means of preserving the truth of the eternal covenant.
When Jesus came and ratified that covenant in His own blood, the substance had fulfilled those shadowed
truths (Col 2:17). The sign of circumcision, and the rest of the ceremonial Law, was no longer needed, for
the reality of Christ had fulfilled them. One who believes into Jesus receives the circumcision of heart, to
become a new creation in Christ Jesus.
But in the assemblies in Galatia, the false teachers held up circumcision as a kind of initiation rite to
becoming one of the covenant people of God; and that one must be counted with Israel, Gods people, in
order to be saved. It was not enough to simply believe into Jesus to be your Savior; you must add your own
good works to that beginning, for the Gentiles, with circumcision.
The gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation, for all who believe (Rm 1:16). The assemblies in
Galatia had heard the gospel of Christ, in its fullness for Paul had preached it to them. Paul made it
absolutely clear in his letter that if the Gentiles in the assemblies got circumcised, thinking that work of
their flesh would complete their salvation, or further it, then the salvation that Jesus wrought would be of
no effect for them.
Paul was indicating that the Gentiles would be making a commitment, to work for their salvation, instead of
receiving the salvation of Jesus; and that those two ways to salvation were mutually exclusive; one could
not be added to the other.
To work for their salvation, they would have to keep the Law, in its entirety; they would turn their back on
having a relationship with Jesus; and they would forfeit the hope of righteousness a glorified body
which only comes by faith. Instead of allowing Christ to make them free, the Galatians would be choosing
to put themselves back under a yoke of bondage.
Paul wrote that circumcision was completely irrelevant now, in Christ Jesus in union with Him. The sign
had value only in its meaning; and its meaning was fulfilled in Christ, when a person was united together
with Christ in the likeness of His death (Rm 6:5).
And how is a person united with Him? By faith. By faith, you have been crucified with Christ; the body of
flesh has been cut away. How can you circumcise a body thats been crucified and buried? And by faith,
you have also been raised with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection. The glorified body is neither male
nor female so how can it be circumcised? No, its the heart that has been circumcised, the work of the
Father by the Spirit, through faith, bringing forth a new life in us Christs.

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In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything; neither have value. In fact, no
work of the flesh has any value; but what does have value? Paul tells us faith working through love has
value.
How does faith do that? How does faith work through love? Well, we need to start with love first; a
good place to start. That love is the Greek agape; and youre all familiar with that, arent you? Thats
Gods love; it gives a man, not what it is that he desires, but what it is that he needs really needs for his
own good.
Now, how does our faith express itself, or operate, by that kind of love Gods love? By submission. The
source of that love is not us its never us. We cannot create that love, reproduce that love, or figure out
how to love that way. God must enlighten us to that love His love.
This means that only a believer one who is in Christ can love that way, for it takes the Holy Spirit to
enlighten a man to this true love. And we must allow God to show us how to love that way, which means
we must get rid of preconceived notions about what it is to be loving.
All must be revealed by God who are the ones that we, specifically, are to love; how we are to love them,
what form that takes; even when we are to love them. All must be shown by God, through the Spirit, and
then all must be submitted to, by the believer; by faith, believing God for what He has shown. Thats how
faith works through love by letting God, who is Love, work; in us, and through us.
Now, because we are in Christ, and have received His Spirit, we are completely equipped for our faith to
operate through love. The potential is there. Theres really only thing that would stop that potential from
being realized do you know what it is? A lack of faith.
Its faith that does the work here; our faith. If we dont have faith, we cannot love. We need to trust God,
for whom He wants to love, and when, and how, through us.
Only God can love a man to give him what it is that he truly needs. We really dont know what men need,
apart from God; we only think we know. And if we proceed based on what we think they need, instead, we
wont love them; their need will not be met through us; a waste of time, for them, and for us.
The value is in faith working through love. This is how God expresses Himself to others when they see
His love, that is being worked by our faith. No one has seen God at any time (Jn 1:18); but through this
expression of His love, God is seen.
Now, when Paul made this statement to the Galatians in his letter, he was doing so as a contrast to what it
was that they were doing. Members of the Galatian assemblies were attempting to earn their justification;
they were trying to be saved through the works of their flesh. Their whole focus was on themselves and
their doing; figuring out what they needed, then figuring out how they were going to obtain what they
needed.
What Paul is showing them is that their focus needs to be on Christ Jesus, and what He has done for them.
In Christ, their salvation is complete; His Spirit is the guarantee of that (Gal 5:5, Eph 1:13-14). God has
already done all the work; they dont need to do any work at all. And God then continues that good work
that He has begun in those who believe, working through their faith, to express His love to others.

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Where is the focus? On the Galatians, and their doing? No; on God and His doing. Later in this passage,
Paul will pick up this thread again of faith working through love, showing the character of this love, and its
recipients.
Paul then continued in his letter, thinking on those who had misled the Galatians with this false doctrine of
works.
I want to reread from the beginning of chapter 5 to maintain the flow of the letter.
[Read 5:1-15]
Well continue in our study with verse 7.
v. 7 Here, Paul is drawing on a metaphor of a footrace that we find elsewhere in the NT, always spoken of
by Paul (Acts 20:24, 1 Cor 9:24-27, 2 Tim 4:7-8). In Pauls day, there were Olympic games, not unlike our
day, which included footraces. Those who had qualified to run then competed for a prize a stephanos, or
crown in that day, a wreath.
Paul drew on this common knowledge of his day to portray the discipline and effort required to live the life
of the faith to live the life Christ died to give us thats the race for the Faith. In the mind of one who
runs in this race should always be the prize the crown of righteousness; a glorified body which is the
end of everyone who believes.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is using this metaphor in a broader sense to include all of those who had
begun along Grace Way, as we spoke of last week the way of Grace that leads to salvation. In this case,
salvation is the goal. We can envision this as a qualifying race for the main competition the race for the
Faith.
Those who have truly believed have run this qualifying race, taken the truth of the gospel in stride, and
arrived at the finish line, where through Jesus, they pass from death to Life. Were speaking here of the
goal being that initial passing from death to Life; then you are qualified to run for the prize, the crown, in
the race for the Faith.
Paul has been speaking here of those who had professed to believe, but had not really placed their faith into
Jesus to save them. He says to them, You ran well, meaning, you started well. They had been going
along with the other members of the assembly, taking in the truth of the gospel. That was a good start.
But somewhere along the course of this qualifying race, they were hindered from obeying the truth. The
verb for hindered in the Greek is an Olympic racing expression. It means to come across the course
while a person is running in it, in such a manner as to jostle and throw a participant out of the way.
The false teachers had done that to these Galatians; Paul is thinking most specifically of the Gentile
members of the assemblies here, who were being tripped up with the thought that they must be circumcised
in order to be saved, but this applied to the Jewish members of the assembly, as well, who were buying into
the idea of keeping the Law again.
Some of the Galatians had stumbled over this false doctrine, and fallen out of the way of Grace, which led
to salvation. They were being hindered from obeying the truth.

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The word for obey here in the Greek means to be persuaded. The Galatians were no longer persuaded of
the truth of the gospel; they were turning away from Christ, being persuaded to a different gospel a gospel
that was not another, but a perversion of the truth (Gal 1:6-7).
Remember Paul had written previously in this letter, It is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and
not only when I am present with you (Gal 4:18). They had started well zealous for the gospel but after
Paul had left, they became zealous for the doctrine of the false teachers; they were being persuaded in their
direction, at this point.
Paul turned to where this persuasion had come from, and its effect on the assemblies.
v. 8-10 Notice that Paul puts the emphasis, not on where this persuasion came from, but where it did not
come from; it did not come from Him who calls you. Who is Paul referring to? God. It was God who
called the Galatians in the grace of Christ (Gal 1:6).
By Divine Providence, Paul and Barnabas had come to Galatia remember Pauls illness? That was
allowed by God in Paul, because the Galatians needed to hear the truth of the gospel. Through the
missionaries, God called the Galatians to become His sons, simply by placing their faith into the Lord Jesus
Christ to receive His salvation. That was Gods gracious call.
Some members of the assembly had been fully persuaded of the gospel, and placed their faith in Christ.
But others were not fully persuaded, and were now placing their faith in a doctrine of works. Paul
emphasized this did not come from God; so where did it come from? It came from Satan, and was brought
to Galatia through false apostles, deceitful workers, who transformed themselves into apostles of Christ (2
Cor 11:13).
Paul wanted to make it clear that the doctrine of the false teachers and the gospel of Christ were as different
as darkness and light. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mt
6:23).
Because the doctrine was of the evil one, it had a corrupting influence. The phrase, A little leaven leavens
the whole lump may have been proverbial, in that Paul writes the same phrase in his first retained letter to
the assembly at Corinth (1 Cor 5:6). However, the expression has not been found outside of Scripture. It
may stem back to one of the parables the Jesus told concerning the Kingdom of heaven, which certainly
reflects what Paul is saying here.
Turn to Matthew chapter 13. Jesus spoke seven parables in sequence concerning the kingdom of heaven,
Matthews unique term for the kingdom of God. The parables are prophetic, and chronological, covering
the time between and including the first and second coming of Jesus to the earth.
The first parable spoke of the good seed of the Word of God, being sown in the field of the world, and the
fruit it bore, based upon the soil it was sown in the various hearts of men.
We looked at the second parable when we began our study of this letter the parable of the wheat and the
tares because it perfectly reflected the situation in Galatia. The tares were sown among the wheat,
prophesying of the false teachers with their false doctrine, who would come in attempting to corrupt Gods
work of bringing many sons to glory.

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The third parable, the parable of the mustard seed, took an external view of Christendom, prophesying of
its vast expansion, but also of its corruption. It is the fourth parable that we will be looking at today; the
last Jesus spoke to the multitude. The remaining three parables were spoken to His disciples alone.
[Matthew 13:33] Only one sentence, but there is so much to be seen in it. Remember that the parable
immediately preceding this one is of the great tree that grew from a tiny mustard seed, in whose branches
the birds of the air comfortably nest. This represents Christendom in its external form in the world system,
with all of its divisions and denominations, in which Satans minions, those ministers of unrighteousness,
are readily at home.
The parable of the leaven reflects Christendom in its inner form. In Scripture, leaven is always a type of
evil or sin; and frequently, it pertains to evil doctrine. Jesus said, Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and
the Sadducees (Mt 16:11).
Here, we have a woman who takes leaven, and hides it in three measures of meal. Now, in the OT, the
meal offering represents Christ in his perfect, sinless humanity. That offering, and all meal offerings that
represent Christ, were always of fine flour, and unleavened. This pictured the evenness of Christ, without
any lump of self, without any sin; perfect.
In this parable, there are three measures of meal. What does the number three often point to, in Scripture?
Resurrection; for after three days, Christ rose from the dead. The resurrection, of course, presumes the
death. So the three measures of meal represent the doctrine of Christ; the gospel; that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to
the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3-4).
But here, a woman takes leaven a type for evil doctrine here and hides it in the three measures of meal.
The hiding suggests deception; this is not an act done in the open, in the light, which is how the gospel is
preached; this is a surreptitious act.
Who is this woman? Understanding the parables as a whole, and the place of this one parable in history,
gives us our clue. This woman with hidden motives is Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots,
and of the Abominations of the Earth (Rev 17:5) the religious system of the world. And Jesus showed
that she would successfully introduce the leaven of false doctrine into the gospel.
Now leaven is yeast. Yeast is introduced into dough to cause it to rise. As the yeast grows, it produces gas,
which puffs up the dough, making it more palatable. The natural man finds the perverted gospel more to
his taste than the gospel of Christ. That false version will allow man to come on his own terms to God.
There is only one truth, but many false versions of it, to fit any image that man wishes to make of his
imagined god.
What does yeast do, in the dough? Yeast grows; and it spreads; and it ferments; that is, it corrupts the
dough. Jesus prophesied here that not only would this leaven be successfully introduced, but that it would
spread throughout the meal until all of it was leavened.
We can certainly attest to the truth of that, in our day. Many churches name the name of Christ so-called
Christian churches but how many could you walk into today and hear the gospel of Christ being
preached? Perhaps you would hear a different gospel which is not another (Gal 1:6-7) but you
wouldnt hear the gospel of Christ. The whole of Christendom is corrupt, inside and out, in both doctrine
and form, and in the end, Jesus will reject it (Rev 3:16).

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[Return to Galatians]
You can see how that parable was indeed prophetic of the lies that have been introduced to the gospel of
Christ, through religion. And we see the situation in Galatia represents one of the earliest attempts of the
enemy to do exactly this.
The false teachers were first able to feed their leavened doctrine to the Jews in the assemblies who were not
convinced that Christ alone could save them. They turned quickly back to Judaisms system of works.
The Gentiles in the assemblies who also had not been persuaded of the truth proceeded to follow these Jews
out of the way of Grace. And we have seen that even those who had really passed from death to Life
everlasting, who had the witness of the Spirit within them, were bewitched by this doctrine, and the
response of their seeming brethren (Gal 3:1-5). A little leaven does indeed leaven the whole lump.
But Paul did not despair. He had a source of confidence; what was it? It was the Lord. The word
confidence in verse 10 also means assurance or persuasion. From the Greek, we can observe that Paul is
making a play on words between verses 7 through 10.
If we translate similarly in the English, it would go something like this: Who hindered you from being
persuaded as to the truth? This persuasion is not from Him who calls you. But I am persuaded concerning
you in the Lord, that you will have no other mind.
On the one hand, it shows the oscillation of the Galatian assemblies; they have certainly been moved from
the truth. But Paul moved his eyes off the alarming circumstances in Galatia and onto His faithful Lord.
Can the Lord compel the Galatians to believe in Him? No more than Paul can; but the Lord insured that the
report of the situation had made its way from the assemblies in Galatia back to Paul in Antioch; and the
Lord inspired Paul by His Spirit to write this very letter, to persuade the vacillating Galatians of the truth of
what they had heard at first from Paul.
Concerning those who had already put their faith in the Lord, Paul knew that no one could snatch them out
of the Lords hand (Jn 10:28-29). And Paul knew that the Lord would do everything in His power to save
those Galatians who did not yet believe had He not sent His own Son to die for them? Because of the
Lord, Paul was able to rest assured.
Paul could be equally confident to trust the Lord with the false teachers. Notice Pauls use of the singular
here; this is the only occasion when he does not refer to the false teachers as a plurality. It is possible that
Paul is singling out one individual perhaps one whom he knows is the leader of these false teachers.
The phrase, whoever he is does not so much denote ignorance, (although Paul probably doesnt know
who he is); it is more of an allusion to this false teachers status or rank. Remember it is likely that these
teachers came cloaked in the authority of Jerusalem, as they had in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:24).
Whoever he is, he and his fellow teachers would be subject to the judgment of God, for their deception of
the assemblies. The word trouble is the same as that used for the false teachers in Galatians 1:7, who
want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Peter will later write that false teachers will come among the brethren who secretly bring in destructive
heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction (2 Pet 2:1).

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Peters second letter that we have is filled with condemnation for false teachers who lead others into the
way of destruction.
As Paul continued in his letter, we have the sense that he is defending himself against a charge.
v. 11 The grammatical form of this first sentence reflects an opponents accusation. It would seem that the
false teachers had told those in Galatia (and elsewhere, no doubt) that Paul still preached circumcision.
Now, what did they mean by still? Well, before Paul became a believer, he was a Pharisee; a Hebrew of
Hebrews (Phil 3:5). The Pharisees were the great advocates of circumcision, and there is no doubt that Paul
was an advocate of it, as well. As a circumcised Jew himself, Paul would have viewed circumcision as the
mark of Gods covenant people, and would have promoted circumcision of Gentile proselytes.
But that was before Paul came to Christ. Soon after his conversion, God revealed His Son in Paul, showing
through the Spirit how Jesus fulfilled all of the OT Scriptures that Paul carried in his heart. Paul
understood from that early time before he preached the gospel that circumcision was generally irrelevant,
as Jesus had ratified the eternal covenant for which it was a sign.
Now, it is true that Paul had Timothy circumcised. But the reason Paul did so had to do with the ministry.
Timothy was to join the missionary band, preaching the gospel in the cities of Asia Minor and Europe.
Pauls usual approach was to begin preaching to the Jews first in the synagogues, and then branch out to the
Gentiles from there. Timothy had a Jewish mother, and a Gentile father, and was never circumcised,
following the custom of his father.
But the Jews viewed their nationality through the maternal line, and therefore would have considered
Timothy a Jew. Timothy would not have been allowed into the synagogues as an uncircumcised Jew he
would have been considered an apostate, which would impede the ministry of reconciliation. So for the
sake of the gospel, Paul had to circumcise Timothy, so as to remove that stumbling block for the Jews.
More to the point, Paul is writing this letter before his second missionary trip anyway, which is when he
would meet and circumcise Timothy, so this could not have been the basis of the false teachers accusation.
So how could the false teachers level this accusation against Paul, that he really was an advocate of
circumcision, as they were? It may have been out-and-out slander, but they may have based it on what they
had seen or heard about Pauls freedom.
To the Jews, Paul became as a Jew, that he might win Jews to the Lord; to those who were under the Law,
Paul put himself under the Law, to win them to the Lord. He became all things to all men that he might by
all means save some (1 Cor 9:20-22).
Paul exercised his freedom in the Lord in order to eliminate any barriers between himself and other people;
he made himself as alike to them as his freedom in Christ permitted. This he did for the gospels sake (1
Cor 9:23).
But the false teachers might easily have recast Pauls freedom among Jews as his own personal tenacity to
keep the Law of Moses, as a means of righteousness. The teachers could indicate that if Paul found it
necessary to keep the Law, the assemblies should follow in his example; which, for the Gentiles, would
begin with circumcision.

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But Paul pointed out a discrepancy. He was persecuted everywhere he went. Now Paul is not referring to
the slander of the false teachers; later in his letter, he will make it clear that he is speaking of persecution by
the unbelieving Jews concerning the cross of Christ (Gal 6:12).
Paul and Barnabas had been expelled from Pisidian Antioch by the unbelieving Jews; they had been
disparaged in Iconium, and fled when the Jews stirred up violence against them there; and Paul had been
stoned and left for dead after the Jews incited the Gentiles in Lystra to riot. Undoubtedly, these were only
Lukes highlights of that trip.
The unbelieving Jews could have simply rejected Paul for the gospel he preached there were plenty of
false Messiahs but they did much more than reject him. What really caused them to rage was that their
own people both Jews and the Gentiles that adhered to Judaism were being converted to this faith.
And this faith saw their Law as fulfilled in the Messiahs coming; so it was no longer necessary to keep the
Law. In fact, Pauls gospel indicted that a man must come to God on the basis of faith in this Messiah
alone; that there were no righteous works that he could do, for his salvation including the works of the
Law, which included, to them, circumcision.
The Law was everything to a Jew; it was their identity, as Jews. Its what set them apart as a people, and set
them above the Gentiles so the Jews thought. So that was the offense of the cross, to the Jews, of which
Paul was speaking here. It left no room for merit to be earned by righteous acts such as circumcision and
the Law. That was an intolerable offense, to the unbelieving Jews.
Pauls encounters in Galatia proved that the offense of the cross had in no way ceased; he and Barnabas
were persecuted wherever they went. Clearly, Paul did not compromise the gospel of liberty with the
bondage of circumcision and the Law.
Paul then made a dramatic statement concerning the false teachers.
v. 12 the word for cut off carries the meaning of an amputation. In this context, Paul is unquestionably
speaking of his wish that the false teachers would mutilate, or emasculate themselves. He uses similar
language in his letter to the assembly at Philippi, regarding false teachers there, calling them the
mutilation (Phil 3:2).
Now, this is not a fit of anger on Pauls part, nor is it a coarse jest. Remember that it is the Holy Spirit that
inspired these words. What Paul is doing is putting circumcision in its proper light, as a ritual act of
Judaism. As Paul would write later in this letter, circumcision was a good showing in the flesh (Gal 6:12).
Here were these teachers, trying to compel the Gentiles to get circumcised, as an act of religious devotion.
Pauls point is that if these teachers were so very devoted to God, why not just turn the knife on themselves,
and make it a really good showing in the flesh?
This would certainly have had a particular impact on the Gentile members of the assembly. In that area of
Asia Minor, there were pagan priests who actually castrated themselves as part of a cultic ritual. Until
Pauls statement, the Gentiles may never have considered the Jews circumcision in this same light as a
meaningless religious ritual.
Paul could not help having in mind a particular part of the Law, as he wrote this. Deuteronomy 23:1 says
that he who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD. No doubt
that was Pauls real wish that these false teachers could be kept from entering the assemblies.

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Paul then left that desire of his with the Lord, and proceeded to exhort the brethren in the assemblies.
v. 13-14 In verse 13, we have an emphatic you setting the brethren the believers in the assemblies
apart from the false teachers. Verse 13 brings together two crucial points that Paul has been making.
In 5:1, Paul said Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Through faith, believers have
been made free in Christ speaking specifically of the Law here. Then, in 5:6, Paul said that in Christ
Jesus, only one thing has value: faith working through love. Now Paul is showing in verse 13 how
believers are to use their freedom, which Christ has given them: not as an opportunity for the flesh, but
through love, to serve one another.
It is likely that this was the heart of the problem in the Galatian assemblies. Those who truly believed the
gospel were, by grace, saved through Christ, and received His life. The Holy Spirit had been renewed to
their spirits, and their experience with Him assured them that they had genuinely passed from death to Life
everlasting (Gal 3:2-5).
But eventually, Paul and Barnabas had departed, and the new believers learned that they could still be
overpowered by sin, unless they yielded themselves and their members to God. And they struggled with
sin; and struggled. They had been freed from sin, and death, and the Law, but they were using their
newfound freedom to practice lawlessness, instead of righteousness.
Then the false teachers had come, and the new believers, in their defeat, had bought into the illusion that
the way to have power over sin to live a righteous life was through controlling sinful urges through the
Law. But that, indicated Paul was the way back into bondage. They must not limit their freedom with
legalism. Instead, the Galatians must stand fast in their liberty; they must use it as the Lord intended.
First, Paul speaks in the negative: to what they are not to do. They are not to use their liberty as an
opportunity for the flesh. Here flesh denotes the body as the seat of appetites, passions and desires, as
taken in through its various senses.
Opportunity actually gives the idea of a base of operations. Believers are not to indulge their flesh, to use
their freedom as the base of operations for their sin. This was their experience after Paul had departed, as
well see evidence of, in a moment. The Galatian believers were no longer under the Law, but they were
not to practice lawlessness.
Now, Paul gives the positive sense of what they are to do. Believers are to use their freedom to serve one
another through love. Thats a paradox. The word for serve actually means to be a slave. Having been
set free from the Law, believers are to make slaves of themselves in the service of one another.
Paul is intentionally describing the free exercise of love as a form of mutual enslavement. Why? Because
a slave does not express his own will, but the masters will. As bondslaves of Christ, this enables believers
to freely love one another with the love of God.
In this way, the Lord can minister to the needs of the members of His body and to those on the outside, as
He wills. This is how faith is to work through love in the service of one another.
To add to the paradox, Paul then brings in the Law, but only to show how faith, working through love,
automatically fulfills it.

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10

Jesus had said that all the Law and the Prophets hung on two commandments. What were they? To love the
LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and to love your neighbor as
yourself (Mt 22:37-40).
Paul has summed it up for the believers in just the one commandment. You have to love the Lord first,
before you can love your neighbor; the first is a prerequisite to the second, here.
Pauls point is that when believers are willing to limit their freedom in order to serve one another in love,
they will be fulfilling the Law, in its spirit and intention.
What Paul says next is meant as a contrast to that love.
v. 15 The idea that Paul is conveying here is of wild animals, savagely attacking and killing each other.
They operate out of base instinct; they are entirely selfish. This is how the assembly had been conducting
themselves, apart from love. They were all operating out of self-love; self-interest; either indulging their
flesh, or to legalistically adhering to the Law, but it was all for self, at the expense of others.
What a horrid scene! Could anyone be drawn to Christ, seeing such conduct? Yet that is what the Jew and
the Gentile of the assembly are doing to one another, contending for themselves, striving against one
another, apart from the high calling of Love. But how do they live that life of love? By the Spirit; which
will be the subject of Pauls next lesson.
Continue reading 5 and 6.