Personal Study

Galatians
This is Paul’s first letter, written shortly after his first missionary journey. He probably wrote
from Antioch, during the time he was reporting to the church there on the work of God on that
journey. Since he dealt with the issue of circumcision and those who taught that to become a
Christian one had to first become circumcised, it must have been written before the Jerusalem
council in AD 49 that dealt with that particular issue. If that council had already occurred he
certainly would have mentioned that council’s decision in his discussion. Thus this letter was
written sometime in AD 47 or 48. His letter to them might have been written as he was dealing
with those who came to Antioch and taught that “Unless you are circumcised according to the
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custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Luke recorded that.

After Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and
Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the
apostles and the elders about this question. Acts 15:2 (ESV)

So I believe that Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians around the same time as his confrontation
with these false teachers. Possibly he heard from them that some of them had already been
among the churches of Galatia with their teaching.
1​
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead— 2​ ​ and all the brothers who are with me, … Galatians 1:1-2
(ESV)

✓ Paul identified himself as an apostle. In that sense he was separating himself from those
whom he would later criticize because of their false teaching regarding circumcision for
they were not apostles. He further made clear that his apostleship came from God
through Jesus Christ. In that he makes clear that the office of apostle was not one to
whom men could aspire or be chosen to by men. It was and is an office assigned by God
and God alone. Along that line, I think that any official position in the church, elder,
deacon, and such should be filled by those called by God, not by those who push
themselves forward for the position. Most churches in our culture see the office of Pastor
as in addition to elder and deacon. That too then should be filled only by those called to
the ministry, not by those who push themselves as forward for the position.

✓ Paul said that Jesus had been raised from the dead. When we consider that this letter was
written fifteen to eighteen years after the events, it is clear that Jesus’ resurrection was
central to the message of the church from the outset. Peter in his sermon at Pentecost, 50
plus days after Jesus rose from the dead said this:

1
Acts 15:1 (ESV)
 2

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,
you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up,
loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held
by it. Acts 2:23-24 (ESV)

Every aspect of the work of the early church makes no sense unless Jesus truly did rise from the
dead. Paul’s statement is simply almost a side statement of identity, not an argument to
support that position. He stated it as a given truth.

✓ Paul added that others too were with him and were in accord with his writing and in
agreement with his apostleship. That supports my thinking that he was writing from
Antioch, the church that originally sent him to these believers.
2 ​
… To the churches of Galatia: 3​ ​ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ, 4​ ​ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to
the will of our God and Father, 5​ ​ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:2-5
(ESV)

✓ This letter was written to the churches of Galatia. Acts does not record any ministry of
Paul in the region of Galatia, though it does record ministry in the adjacent province of
Lycia and in the cities of Perga, Lystra, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, and Derby. From
Antioch of Pisidia Paul could have easily moved into Galatia and had ministry there. We
do not know anything about the church or churches of Galatia. Paul may have created
several copies for the various churches or they may have circulated the one, each local
body of believers making their own copy. Letters were precious. On Paul’s second
missionary journey, Paul passed through Galatia as the Lord led him to Macedonia and
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Europe. He very likely visited believers in that area to encourage them as he had done in
other places he had previously visited. That is the only mention in Acts of Paul
ministering in Galatia.

✓ Paul began with words of blessing. He said grace to them. Grace is the undeserved favor
that one in power, in this case God the Father and Jesus Christ, bestows on someone.
These believers had been the recipients of God’s amazing grace in trusting in Jesus for
salvation. In that then God forgave their sins and brought them into right relationship
with him.

✓ In that salvation then they had genuine peace, peace with God, peace in the turmoil of
life, and peace for all eternity. We crave peace. Isaiah recorded God’s words, “‘There is

2
Acts 16:6
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no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked.’” For them to have peace they no longer
were counted among the wicked because they were redeemed. Such is true for us as well.
If we are truly redeemed, we have an inner peace that is, as Paul later wrote, beyond
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human understanding.

✓ Jesus “gave himself for our sins.” Paul included himself in this as any preacher and
teacher should. He identified himself with those to whom he ministered. While he had
the office of apostle, he was still, like them, a redeemed sinner through the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. In redeeming them, Jesus delivered them from the evil age in which they
lived. Paul’s characterization of his time is really a characterization of every era in
human history. All are evil ages in which sin and corruption run rampant. We too live in
evil times and our relationship with Jesus is all that protects us in this age from following
the evil of our times. May we live as Jesus would have us live.

✓ All the work of Jesus was according to the will of the Father. Apart from God’s will, no
one would be redeemed. God decided we should be redeemed and did all that was
necessary to redeem us. He is our God, our Lord, and our Savior. We have no more
proper response that that which Paul mentioned, to give God the full glory, worship, both
now and on into eternity. We should and will praise his holy name forever.
6​
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and
are turning to a different gospel— 7​ ​ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble
you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8​ ​ But even if we or an angel from heaven should
preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9​ ​ As we have
said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you
received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:6-9 (ESV)

✓ Paul’s expression of astonishment at how “quickly” these believers followed the false
gospel of the legalists supports that this writing occurred quite soon after Paul returned
from the missionary journey. Somehow some of these legalists had come behind Paul,
possibly influencing the new believers as Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch. I
suspect they first worked among the Jewish converts who, of course, were already
circumcised, and then spread their teaching to the gentile believers.

✓ The message they preached was to be saved under the blood of Jesus, one had to first be a
Jew. The Messiah was for Jews only, not the whole world. That was in sharp contrast to
Jesus’ message at his ascension that the believers were to be his witnesses “in Jerusalem,

3
Isaiah 48:22 (ESV)
4
Philippians 4:7
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in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth;” or his earlier command to “make
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disciples of all nations.” These Jewish believers should have known God’s word to
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Abraham, that through him “all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” Thus their
teaching was out of prejudice taught to them from childhood, not out of a sound study of
God’s Word, nor out of prayerful consideration of a call to ministry. We must be careful
that our prejudices do not impact our service for our Lord. He is the one to remove
prejudices.

✓ Paul made clear that the message these false teachers had taught was not a true gospel for
there is only one gospel, the gospel of forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice.
What they were being taught was similar to all other religions, a religion of human effort
to meet the requirements of God. The reoccurring idea is that what we do saves us or
makes us acceptable to the god we envision. Such teaching leads directly to hell for
nothing we can do is enough to make us acceptable to God. Thus the legalists, though
they may not have fully realized it, were preaching and teaching a religion, not the
message from God. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The human
tendency to add some aspect of works to this message is rampant through the ages. That
is what Martin Luther and the other reformers condemned, yet it continues to creep into
churches today. We must guard against that thinking in our own relationship with the
Lord. Jesus warned against that. He said these sobering words in speaking of the end of
the age.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your
name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:22-23 (ESV)

Those Jesus spoke about will think that their service or actions make them acceptable to the
Lord. We must never, ever think that something we do, however honorable we or others
may think it is, in any way makes us acceptable to God. We must remember that we are
sinners just as Paul said of himself, and our salvation is only on the basis of our faith and
trust in Jesus. What we do for the Lord is an evidence of our salvation but it in no way
makes our salvation more secure. When we stand before the Lord, we will be saved only
by the fact that we cling to Jesus, not that we in any way served him.

5
Acts 1:8
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Matthew 28:19
7
Genesis 18:18
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✓ Paul said that no matter who preached this false, legalistic message – even if it were him
or an angel from heaven – the message would still be false and the one teaching it should
be cursed. In that Paul was asking the Lord to be the judge and deal with the false
teacher. He repeated that statement for emphasis. That should be a warning to all of us
to be absolutely certain that we do not raise the standard of salvation that we preach
above that taught in the Scriptures. To do so is worthy of being cursed.
10 ​
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were
still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10 (ESV)

✓ Paul indicated that the tendency to preach a legalistic message is to gain the approval of
men, not God. In what way is that true? The tendency to legalism is everywhere and
those who preach it are feeding into that, seeking followers, seeking accolades of those
followers, and in that way feeding their pride. It is so easy to be a legalist and so
impossible in our own ability to be an instrument of grace and mercy. The legalist does
not need nor does he have the power of God in his teaching or preaching. He is simply
being human. Only if we have the power of the Holy Spirit working in us will we be
instruments of love, mercy and grace to others. Nothing we do, and nothing we avoid
makes us more acceptable to God. We only come to the Father through the blood of
Jesus.

✓ Our relationship with Jesus and living under the power of the Holy Spirit will change
how we live this life, but the Lord does his work in each of us at his priority and on his
timetable. We are not nor will we ever be made more acceptable to God because of his
work in us. His work in us is an extension of his grace in making us holy. But our
eternal destiny is set from the moment we come to Christ “because by one sacrifice he
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has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” We are made perfect forever
at salvation. We are being made holy. The making of us holy is the process of changing
how we live. Both are the work of God in us. We must avoid making the work of
making us holy as we see it a condition for salvation. If we do so, we become a legalist.
11 ​
For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s
​ ​ For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a
gospel. 12
revelation of Jesus Christ. 13​ ​ For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted
the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 ​ ​ And I was advancing in Judaism beyond
many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my
fathers. Galatians 1:11-14 (ESV)

8
Hebrews 10:14 (NIV)
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✓ The gospel does not come from man’s reasoning or thinking. All forms of legalism that
in any way make what we do that which makes us acceptable to God or the gods is a
product of human reasoning promulgated by Satan himself. The whole idea of the Lord
God sacrificing himself for those he created is beyond human reasoning. So Paul stated
that the message he taught came from God.

✓ Further he didn’t learn it from other men. He learned it from Jesus himself who revealed
himself to him. In that Paul pictures something very real. While we may hear the truth
from others, such as Paul, we do not come to faith in Jesus, come to believe the gospel,
without the work of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus for he is the one
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Jesus said would convict us of “sin, righteousness, and judgment.” Paul’s experience
was unusual, though others have had dreams and such as well, none of us come to Christ
because we are so smart as to grasp the truth. We must have our Lord open our eyes to
the truth to be saved.

✓ Paul then details where he was when he came to Jesus. He was steeped in the legalistic
system of Judaism, the very system he was warning them against. Not only was he in
that system, but he set himself out to persecute those who had trusted in Jesus and were
being freed from that system. He attacked the church violently, not simply in words but
in actions. He was zealous for what he believed, even though what he believed was
wrong. That reminds me of a truth: a passion for a position, faith, belief, or idea does
not make that idea, belief, faith, or position any more or less true or false. Our passion
does not confirm the veracity of what we say. We can be extremely passionate about an
idea and still be totally wrong. We cannot let our passions be our guide. We must
measure every idea by the external truth of God’s Word. Any idea that conflicts with
God’s word is false. Any idea that pulls us into something that is less than God’s word,
even if it is true, is dangerous. We must be continually reading and meditating on God’s
words so we can recognize correct teaching and recognize that which deviates from
God’s Word. I am frequently reminded of Luke’s comment on the Bereans.

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they
received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures
every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11 (NIV)

✓ Paul said that he was “advanced” beyond his age meaning that he was considered
something of a prodigy. He was higher in the circles of Jewish leaders than would
normally have been possible for one of his age. He was well learned and was accepted

9
John 16:8
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by the Jewish leadership. His turn to Christ then was a disaster for them. They lost one
of those they thought of as one of their shining stars. God can change the heart of anyone
no matter how hard or determined if they immerse themselves in the Scripture. It will, as
the writer of Hebrews wrote, penetrate the heart of man. Paul was schooled deeply in the
Scripture and that changed him in the end.
15 ​
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16​ ​ was
pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not
immediately consult with anyone; 17​ ​ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles
before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Galatians 1:15-17
(ESV)

✓ When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and then later heard the word of God from
Ananias, it was a moment of truth when what he knew from the Scriptures all came
together. Jesus said to him on the road to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why are you
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persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” The goads were the words
of God in the Scripture that confronted his unbelief and pointed him to the truth. He had
been fighting against that truth and seeking to suppress it to conform to what he wanted
to be the truth, but wasn’t. His whole background and regimented learning was on the
line.

✓ Paul said that when he came to Christ, he didn’t consult with anyone. The picture I get is
that this man, schooled in the Scriptures was shattered by what happened. He went to the
desert areas alone, and for three years studied the Scriptures with open eyes; looked at
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what had happened to Jesus with different eyes; during that time he come to understand
the Scriptures as they truly do, that they pointed to Jesus and all that he did. He had a
three year schooling so to speak. The exact time of this is uncertain but I think this
happened just after Ananias healed his eyes. He then returned to Damascus where Luke
recorded that he taught and then was rescued from those who wanted to kill him by being
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let down over the wall in a basket.
18 ​
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen
​ ​ But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20
days. 19 ​ ​ (In what I am
​ ​ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22
writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 ​
23 ​
And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ​ They only were

10
Acts 26:14 (ESV)
11
Paul certainly heard the words of Stephen for he was present at Stephen’s stoning. He was old enough to have
possibly heard some of Jesus’ words, and may have been present with Gamaliel when he gave his words of wisdom
to the council as recorded in Acts 5.
12
Acts 9:23-25
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hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
24 ​
And they glorified God because of me. Galatians 1:18-24 (ESV)

✓ “After three years …” The chronology of Paul’s early period after his conversion is a bit
muddy. I think that Paul went to the desert then returned to Damascus to preach and
teach, and the total time from his conversion to the moment when he was let down over
the wall was three years. Then he went to Jerusalem. Luke recorded all that in brief in
Acts 9. When Paul came to Jerusalem he was not initially accepted until Barnabas
intervened and brought him to the “apostles” whom Paul here said were Peter and James
only, the others being away at the time. Luke recorded,

And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they
were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But
Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them
how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at
Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and
out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking
to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to
Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Acts 9:26-30 (ESV)

Paul left for Tarsus after that encounter, or as he said, he went to “Syria and Cilicia.” Tarsus was
the capital of Cilicia and his home city, so he was sent there. Later Barnabas went there
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and brought him to Antioch which was in Syria. Paul thus had told the people of Galatia
his early history in brief to make very clear that the message he preached was not of
human origin but was the message of God for them and for us all.

✓ The change in him was profound. He who used to persecute believers now preached the
“faith he tried to destroy.” He had come to Christ and that changed everything. Such a
change cannot be explained by human reasoning. God changed him. That is true for us
as well. We are completely changed by the power of God in us when we come to trust in
Jesus alone for our redemption. If we are not changed, have we truly come to faith and
trust in Jesus? The danger for us is not unbelief in a sense, but a superficial adherence to
Christian teaching without genuine faith. Only genuine faith in Jesus saves us and such
faith will absolutely change us as well, change us for all time and all eternity.

Chapter 2

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Acts 11:22-26
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1​
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with
me. 2​ ​ I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who
seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was
not running or had not run in vain. 3​ ​ But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be
circumcised, though he was a Greek. Galatians 2:1-3 (ESV)

✓ Fourteen years later Paul returned to Jerusalem and met privately with Jesus’ brother
James, Peter, and John, to share with them his call to proclaim the gospel among the
Gentiles. I suspect, though I cannot know for sure that this occurred just before his first
14
missionary journey for which he was commissioned by the church at Antioch. Paul and
Barnabas were sent by the church at Antioch to carry some relief to the believers in
15
Jerusalem as a famine was in that area. I suspect then this encounter had a dual
purpose, relieving the needs in Jerusalem and receiving the blessing of these leaders for
the Gentile ministry. It seems reasonable to me that having been commissioned by
Antioch that he and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to see the leaders of the church as a
whole before setting out. Paul in this letter seems to say that he came there to be sure he
and Barnabas wanted to make sure their call was in accord with these leaders, and a
fulfillment of Jesus’ commission to them.

By this time Peter had carried the message to Cornelius, the Roman believer. After Peter shared
with the church what had happened, “When they heard these things they fell silent. And
they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that
16
leads to life.’” So the church in Jerusalem had already accepted that the message of God
was for the Gentiles. It was after that that the church at Antioch came into prominence.
So it seems clear that Paul and Barnabas received approval and blessing for their call to
spread the gospel further among the Gentiles.

As I reconstruct the timetable that coincides with Paul’s account here:

Jesus was crucified and rose again in the spring of AD 30.
Stephen stoned, Paul converted – AD 33?
Paul came to Jerusalem and was then sent to Tarsus – AD 35?
Paul & Barnabas take relief to Jerusalem/receive Gentile commission – AD 47
Paul’s first Missionary Journey – AD 47 to 48 or so
Paul’s letter to the Galatians – AD 48 or 49 – before council
First Jerusalem Council regarding circumcision AD 49

14
See Acts. 13
15
Acts 11:27-30
16
Acts 11:18 (ESV)
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✓ Paul said that when he met with these leaders (in AD 47) he had brought Titus with him
who was a Greek and uncircumcised. I suspect he was brought along as an example of
one who had come to Christ among the Gentiles at Antioch. Circumcision did not come
up in those discussions and these leaders of the church made no such demand on Titus as
Peter had not done for Cornelius. At no time in any of the encounters with the Gentiles
had the Holy Spirit indicated that circumcision was a necessary component of salvation.
4​
Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that
we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5​ ​ to them we did not yield in
submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6​ ​ And
from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows
no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. Galatians 2:4-6 (ESV)

✓ It would appear that during that encounter, some tried to force the issue. Some “secretly”
were brought in and spied out what was going on. They had the purpose of imposing
Jewish practices on these gentile believers. In a sense they represent all those who would
impose their personal convictions – as opposed to clear Biblical mandates – on others.
We may have a conviction that for us certain behaviors or actions are not for us so that
we can honor God in our lives. For example, we may have a sense that the use of alcohol
is dangerous for us because of a history of alcoholism in our family. We choose total
abstinence before our Lord. If, however, we then seek to impose that standard on others,
even though Jesus turned the water to wine at a wedding and used wine as a symbol of
his blood shed for our sins, we have moved from personal conviction to legalism. Any
legalistic teaching – that our behavior and actions determine our acceptability to God – is
a path to slavery. That is how Paul saw the Jewish system, a system of spiritual slavery
instead of spiritual freedom. Paul later wrote these words to the Romans.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the
law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin
and death. Romans 8:1-2 (ESV)

Jesus himself spoke of the freedom he would bring from sin and all the accoutrements of sin. “​​ So
17
if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

✓ Paul pictured a real confrontation between him and these who would impose Jewish
legalism on the church to preserve “the truth of the Gospel.” The truth of the gospel is
worth the cost of any confrontation. While we confront in gentleness and love, we also
confront in firmness and determination. We should never yield to untruth for the sake of

17
John 8:36 (ESV)
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peace. However, we must be certain that we are holding onto the truth of Scripture, not
to our own prejudices. In that he said that regardless of the influential position these
people held, they did not influence him to turn away from the gospel of freedom.
7​
On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised,
just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8​ ​ (for he who worked through
Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the
Gentiles), 9​ ​ and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace
that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should
​ ​ Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the
go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10
very thing I was eager to do. Galatians 2:7-10 (ESV)

✓ Some of those who came with the idea of adding the legalism of the Jews to the message
of Christ apparently changed their minds as they interacted with Paul and the gentile
believers represented by Titus. They came to see that Paul had been called to minister to
the uncircumcised and Peter to the circumcised. They saw the work of God in the
ministry of both. Apparently James, Peter, and John all understood that God had called
Paul to that ministry, and they put to silence the legalists in their midst. Their one
concern was a ministry to the poor, which the church at Antioch had already
demonstrated in sending their gifts to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas.
11 ​
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 ​
For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came
he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 ​ ​ And the rest of the Jews
acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 ​
But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas
before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force
the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Galatians 2:11-14 (ESV)

✓ At some point Peter came to Antioch and shared meals with the Gentile believers but
then some legalists came along, as if from James, and Peter and even Barnabas began to
yield to their legalism. When this happened we do not know – and it is somewhat
difficult to put the timeline of all this together in conjunction with Paul’s missionary
journey but I suspect this happened after Paul and Barnabas had returned from it.
Possibly Paul and Barnabas returned as Peter was visiting, and then the legalists showed
up as well. Paul wrote that he stood up to Peter publicly. He confronted the legalism as
hypocrisy, meaning that Peter had not lived one way when these legalist hadn’t been
present, but altered his behavior in their presence. The change therefore was only to
satisfy men, not to honor God. If we act in a certain way for one group of people and a
different way for another, we are a hypocrite. That is true whatever the issue is. In this
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case the hypocrisy was so dangerous to the central truth of the Gospel that Paul made it a
public issue. Most of the time we should confront an issue privately with another
believer, but the more public the issue, the more public the response. In this case Peter,
both because of his standing in the church and the very public way he changed his
behavior, needed to be confronted publicly. I would however remind myself that any
confrontation, however private or public, should be done in love and grace, not in anger
or vindictiveness. As Paul later wrote in this letter, any confrontation should be done “in
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a spirit of gentleness.” We never confront to raise ourselves up or to tear another
down. We only confront to magnify our Lord, adhere to the truth of his gospel, and
spread his truth to others.
15 ​
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 ​ ​ yet we know that a person is not
justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ
Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of
the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:15-16 (ESV)

✓ In what may be the words Paul used in confronting Peter, he spoke about how, having
been reared in the Jewish legal system, they understood that they were saved by faith
alone in Jesus. How could they then impose their old legalism on the Gentiles? They
fully understood that no work justified them before the Lord God. They were saved by
faith in Jesus alone. So then by both logic and theology were the Gentiles saved by faith
alone. Therefore any imposition of Jewish legalism was then both unnecessary and a
corruption of the gospel. That is the sense of Paul’s argument.
17 ​
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then
a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 ​ ​ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a
​ ​ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20
transgressor. 19 ​ ​ I have been
crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 ​ ​ I do
not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no
purpose. Galatians 2:17-21 (ESV)

✓ Paul then further expands his words. If he fell into a pattern of trying to be acceptable to
Christ, or be justified in Jesus, that pattern actually would be a sinful pattern. Would that
make Jesus and his message tainted by sin? The answer is certainly not. We as humans
have a tendency to add our own conditions to salvation because we have dealt with a
certain sin in our own lives. We want to think that in some way we can be at least
partially responsible for our own justification before God. We want to see ourselves as
worthy. No matter what we think makes us worthy however, it is a false belief and when

18
Galatians 6:1
 13

foisted on others, a matter of a false gospel and a false religion. Much of Christian
patterns are that way. We must, when we communicate the truth of God’s love, mercy,
and grace, leave out the trappings of religiosity, and keep to the simple truth of the
gospel.

✓ Paul said that if he in some way sought to impose legalism on these believers, coming out
of his own legalistic background, he would be sinning. He had been freed from that life
of human works, how could he then impose that on others? He could not for to do so is
sin. We need to be so very careful not to impose on others our own prejudices nor
impose our own deeply held personal convictions that arise out of our own experience,
but are not mandated by Scripture. To sin in such a way is devastating to the mission to
which we are called, to carry the message of Christ to the world.

✓ Paul then expressed the truth about him, and what should be the truth about all believers
as well. We have been crucified with Christ; our sinful personhood that would lead us to
hell died on the cross when we came to faith in Jesus. We live, no longer for our own
benefit, but for the work and benefit of Jesus. We live, not in our own power and
strength, but in the power and strength of Jesus. We live, not by our own wisdom and
purpose, but by the wisdom and for the purpose of our Savior. We live, not by what we
see around us, but by our faith and trust in Jesus who sees and knows the truth, the now,
and the future. We live because of Christ’s love for us, because Christ gave himself for
us, not because of anything we do or can do. Our lives are fully and completely in his
hand.

✓ If, in some way, I could by my own actions save myself, make myself acceptable to God,
or fulfill all the requirements of righteousness, then Jesus’ suffering and death would be
totally unnecessary. That is the idea of every human religion. We can, through our own
actions, decisions, life choices, and or beliefs make ourselves worthy to God, acceptable
to God, or, in some way, united with god, with the force, or with whatever other power
we think exists. The foolishness of mankind, in the face of his or her own selfishness, to
think that in some way his or her actions atone for that selfishness, is a deadly, eternal lie.
The only truth we need to know is that we cannot in any way make ourselves acceptable
to God. That is the reason Jesus came, suffered, died, and rose again. There is no other
way. If we are to be acceptable to God, God had to do it for we could not. I am
redeemed by God because I trust him and not myself. He alone is worthy of my trust; I
most definitely am not worthy of mine or anyone else’s trust. Jesus suffered and died
because he had to if we are to be saved from our sin. He did this because of his eternal
love for us. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “but God shows his love for us in that while
 14

19
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God’s love for us is so beyond our human
understanding that we come up with all sorts of human paths to acceptability to God,
none of which work. Any love we have is selfish. We cannot conceive of a love that has
no ulterior motive but the needs of others. Only in the power of the Lord Jesus can we
know and express such sacrificial love. Jesus’ suffering and death paid for our sin
because that was the only way our sin could be paid for. It was necessary and essential
for us. God did not have to do it, but he did it because he loves us eternally.

Chapter 3
1 ​
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was
publicly portrayed as crucified. 2​ ​ Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works
of the law or by hearing with faith? 3​ ​ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you
now being perfected by the flesh? 4​ ​ Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in
vain? 5​ ​ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of
the law, or by hearing with faith— 6​ ​ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him
as righteousness”? Galatians 3:1-6 (ESV)

✓ Paul told these believers that to follow a pattern of legalism made the foolish. Certainly
they should understand their total inability to atone for their own sins. They were taught
that Jesus was crucified to pay for their sins thus nothing else needed to be done. How
could they then turn to a system of thinking that made them in some way responsible for
their salvation? We endanger our own relationship with the Lord when we ever think we
did something which makes us acceptable to God. To ever think along those lines is
foolish. In fact, in one sense, such foolishness is similar to the foolishness of saying there
20
is no god at all. The legalist says effectively, “I am good enough on my own, I don’t
need God.” One says “There is no God” and the other says “I don’t need God.” From a
practical point of view, both ideas are the same and both are called foolish in the
Scriptures. None of us can do any good apart from the work of the Lord in us because we
are suffused with sin. Our actions cannot make us acceptable to God. The legalist has
the wrong view of himself and of God. The legalist joins the atheist in foolish thinking
and both stand condemned for that foolishness.

✓ Paul asked the Galatians an important question, the one that truly separates the redeemed
from the unredeemed. How did they come to Christ? If they came by faith in Jesus, they
are redeemed. The Spirit indwells them and will do the work of perfecting them. The
writer of Hebrews spoke to that. “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those

19
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
20
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does
good. Psalm 14:1 (ESV)
 15

21
who are being made holy.” Paul wrote similar to the Philippians later in his ministry.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion
22
at the day of Jesus Christ.” Whatever work for good and for God we do is the work of
God himself in us. We are no more acceptable to God because of that work. He does it
all and we receive it all by faith. Thus the answer is that those who come to Jesus by
faith in Jesus alone are redeemed. If through some philosophical, cultural, or social
reason someone claims the name of Jesus, but does so because he or she thinks that his or
her actions save them or perfects them in some way, that person is not saved. People
who think they are good enough for God have no real picture of God nor do they have a
real assessment of themselves and they are living as if there is no God for they have
failed to trust in God or believe his words.

✓ Paul spoke of their suffering. In that he possibly referred to the rejection that they
suffered at the hands of either the Jews who rejected the message of Christ or at the hands
of those who adhered to pagan gods. To come to true faith in Jesus will always cost the
loss of relationship with those who reject Jesus’ gospel. We cannot fellowship any
longer with one who does not come to Jesus in the same way we shared with them prior
to coming to Jesus. For some that cost is severe and it may have been for these Galatian
believers.

✓ The Holy Spirit does the work of redemption in us and any other works in us through
faith. It is our dependence on Jesus that makes us acceptable to God for we then are
covered in his righteousness. It is our reliance on the power of God through the Holy
Spirit that gives us the ability to do anything of eternal significance. The moment we slip
into the thinking that we can be saved or do spiritual good in our own ability, we fail.
We will fail at ministry if we are truly redeemed and we fail at salvation if we never truly
came to Jesus by faith alone.

✓ Abraham is our example. He believed God and “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Nothing Abraham did made him righteous. It was his faith in the words of God, his trust
that what God said was true, that made him righteous. We come to God by believing that
what God said concerning Jesus is true. He paid the penalty for our sins. He “was made
23
sin for us.” Only if we trust that to be true and rely on Jesus alone for our salvation are
we then the redeemed child of God. We too then believe God and God credits it to us as
righteousness.

21
Hebrews 10:14 (NIV)
22
Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
23
2 Corinthians 5:21
 16

7 ​
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8​ ​ And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to
Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9​ ​ So then, those who are of faith are
blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Galatians 3:7-9 (ESV)

✓ If we believe the words of God, the message of the gospel, we come to God by that
belief. Those then who believe God are the true children of Abraham. He is our example
of faith. The Lord told Abraham this when he told him that all the nations of the world
would be blessed through him. That was a look forward to the redemption of all peoples
through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Abraham was the father of Jesus in a genetic,
ancestral sense, but he was Jesus’ child in the sense of his faith. We, who come to Jesus
whether ancestrally related to Abraham by blood or not, are his descendants because we
come to Jesus by the same faith, we believe God’s Word. We are all children of God
who come to him in faith alone.

In one of his conflicts with the Jewish leaders Jesus confronted them on this point. They were
offended by his words. Jesus said to them:

I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my
word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father,
and you do what you have heard from your father. John 8:37-38 (ESV)

Jesus affirmed that they were physically descended from Abraham but that they were doing
24
differently than a true child of Abraham. They reasserted that “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus then made clear that their blood relationship was not the eternal issue. They were
not genuine children of Abraham because they didn’t believe and obey God’s words.
Their actions, trying to kill Jesus, spoke against them. They were the children of Satan,
not Abraham. Jesus told them that with these words.

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He
was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own
character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 (ESV)

Only those who believe God’s Word and trust him completely are the spiritual descendants of
Abraham. The genetics do not matter. Faith in God alone matters.

24
John 8:39
 17

10 ​
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone
who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 ​ ​ Now it is
evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12​
13 ​
But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ​ Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is
everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 ​ ​ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might
come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Galatians
3:10-14 (ESV)

✓ All people who rely on their own works, the works of law, are cursed. In what way
cursed? They are under the curse or condemnation of all sinners. We are all cursed until
and unless we come to faith in Jesus. There is no redemption in the works of mankind.
25
The law demanded perfect obedience to it and failure brought a curse. What the people
of Israel should have done when these words were spoken is fallen on their faces before
the Lord and cried out that in no way could they fulfill that law but instead they said a
hearty “Amen.” In that they took on the same attitude that prevails among mankind
today, that each of us can in some way make ourselves acceptable to God. We cannot.
Thus when we rely on ourselves we are under that curse.

26
✓ The real truth is that righteousness comes by faith. Paul here quoted from Habakkuk.
No amount of work on my part can make me righteous. Only my faith and trust in Jesus
alone makes me righteous. I am not good in myself. God alone makes me good. He
perfects me even as I struggle with my sinfulness. We live, eternally live, because of our
faith in God and his Word – which reveals to us our sinfulness; our need of a redeemer;
and that Jesus is that redeemer. We trust God. We rely on Jesus because he told us to do
so. That is what faith is – to rely on or trust what God said.

As an aside, it is worth noting that two verses of the Old Testament are quoted three times in the
New Testament.

a. Behold, his (​the unrighteous​) soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but ​the
righteous shall live by his faith​. (Habakkuk 2:4 ESV) This verse is quoted here in v.
3:11, in Romans 1:17, and in Hebrews 10:28.
b. Abram believed the LORD, and ​he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis
15:6 NIV) This verse is quoted here in 3:6, in James 2:23, and in Romans 4:3.

25
Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say,
‘Amen.’ Deuteronomy 27:26 (ESV)
26
Habakkuk 2:4
 18

Both of these verses deal with the reality that faith in God alone leads to righteousness. There is
no other way to be right, good, and holy before God. We must trust God, his word, and
his plan of redemption worked out by Jesus on the cross.

✓ As sinners we are cursed. Jesus took that curse on himself for us. I think we need to
understand an important point. We are cursed by our own actions. We curse ourselves as
we sin. We are born to sin; we sin from the moment we act; even in the womb our
sinfulness expresses itself in our vigorous kicking to get our own way. At birth we cry
out in selfishness, demanding attention for feeding, changing, or simply to be held. We
are wrapped up in ourselves from the moment of conception. That sinfulness carries our
curse. When Jesus bore our sins, he bore that curse for us. Thus the outcome we deserve
because of our sin was taken by him so that we do not need to suffer under the curse due
us because of our sin.

What is that curse? It is the eternal separation from God in hell, a place of torment which I
suspect is all brought on by the individual him or herself. On the cross, Jesus, the eternal
Son of God, one person of the triune God, was separated from the Father and the Spirit
for three hours while darkness reigned on the earth. In the agony of that three hours Jesus
paid all that needed to be paid to keep us from that eternal separation from God. He bore
our curse.

✓ The faith of Abraham in believing God passed to the gentiles who also believed in God.
All who believe in God, who trust his word, are redeemed by the suffering of Jesus on the
cross. Abraham and all the faithful from before that suffering and all of us from after that
suffering come to God on the same ultimate basis, the redemption provided by Jesus
Christ.
15 ​
To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds
​ ​ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It
to it once it has been ratified. 16
does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your
offspring,” who is Christ. 17​ ​ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does
not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 ​ ​ For if the
inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a
promise. Galatians 3:15-18 (ESV)

✓ Paul illustrated the promise God made to Abraham that through his offspring (singular)
27
all the peoples of the world would be blessed. That was a covenant between God and

27
and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” Genesis
22:18 (ESV)
 19

Abraham. A human covenant, once ratified, is binding and one side cannot negate it or
annul it by itself. Future circumstances do not change the original covenant. Thus, Paul
said similarly the advent of the Law, which came 450 years later than the covenant with
Abraham, did not alter that covenant at all. Abraham was justified by his faith in God
and his belief in God’s Words. The law therefore did not change the path of justification.
It remained faith and belief in God’s Words.

As an aside, I would suggest that when the Israelites heard the Law, rather than affirm that they
would obey it to the letter, they should have immediately seen that such was absolutely
beyond them. They were sinners and unable to obey the law perfectly. They needed to
cry out to God for mercy. Obeying the law cannot make one righteous. The Law, as Paul
later wrote, revealed sin, made the sinfulness of mankind clear, so that they would see
their helplessness and hopelessness. We all need to see our desperate situation so that we
cry out to God for mercy.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! ​Indeed I would not have
known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have
known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."
Romans 7:7 (NIV)

What the law did, what any rules of law do, is make clear what is right and what is wrong. The
law never provided a means of obedience. That had to come from within. Mankind does
not have that ability within him so obedience is impossible. We need mercy for we
cannot obey. The law made that abundantly clear. Even with human laws, we tend to
skirt around and disobey. The speed limit on roads is seen by most as a law to disobey.
Police tend to grant grace for those who only speed a few miles over but from a legal
point of view, all those who exceed the posted speed limit are guilty. That is just a small
example of the sin nature of man. We cannot obey the law; it is not in our nature to do
so. We will disobey any law we think we can get away with disobeying. Only God’s
mercy, granted to us by faith in Jesus Christ who took on our guilt, atones for our
disobedience. The law reveals the condition of our hearts; that is the purpose of the law.
Only if we know that truth will we turn to God for his mercy.
19 ​
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to
whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20​
Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Galatians 3:19-20 (ESV)

✓ Paul explained the very point above. The law was “added” because of the transgressions
mankind was making. Sin needed to be revealed clearly. The conscience all humanity
had was sullied by the sin nature. As the years passed, that conscience became less and
 20

less useful as a guide to recognizing sin. Therefore God codified sin such that all can
recognize sin when it rises in their souls.

✓ We need a mediator between us and God, yet no person is worthy to be our mediator for
all people are contaminated in the same way. Each person needs his own mediator.
Therefore he cannot mediate for another. The offspring that would be that mediator
needed to come yet, from human reasoning that would mean someone other than God.
But because no man can mediate for himself let alone someone else, God took on the
responsibility of being our mediator. Paul stated that clearly to Timothy. “For there is
28
one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Yet,
as Paul said here, God is one. Thus in Jesus, we have God in all his fullness taking on the
position of our mediator. God mediating with God on our behalf. The triunity of God is
beyond our understanding, but it is fully revealed in this: That Jesus, fully God and fully
man, mediates with the Father, fully God, while the Spirit, fully God, works in us to bring
us to rely on Jesus as our mediator. All three persons are the one true God.
21 ​
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given
that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 ​ ​ But the Scripture
imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to
those who believe. Galatians 3:21-22 (ESV)

✓ Paul then deals with another false idea, that the law and the promises of God are
contradictory. In fact they are complementary. The promises of God would be seen by
us as needless and useless without the law revealing to us our sin. On the other hand, if
obeying the law were possible, then the promises would have been unnecessary. Thus,
the law shows us the need for God’s promise of redemption through faith in Jesus, and
the promises then assure us of redemption through faith in Jesus.

✓ As an aside, mankind has always sought to either see their obedience to rules and law as
good enough or else has denied that the laws and rules had any validity. Our whole
culture today is built on denying the absolute truth of standards of morality such that
what is now seen as moral is what each person thinks in his own mind is moral. The law
is denied thus the need for the promises of God is seen as unnecessary and a myth. Yet
we continue to have civil laws against stealing, murder, and such, laws that are necessary
because of the prevailing evil in mankind’s hearts. Some external standard must motivate
the passing of such laws for all believe such actions are wrong. What has happened then
is that the external standards, though denied as to their existence, show up in practice
though muted and incomplete. We pick and choose what of the external standards we

28
1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV)
 21

will apply in society and never consider the full implication of the need for that
application. If mankind was not suffused with sin, why would we need any laws at all?
No one asks that question. All laws though, even human laws, reveal our sinfulness and
our need of redemption.
23 ​
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith
would be revealed. 24​ ​ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might
​ ​ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26
be justified by faith. 25 ​ ​ for in
Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 ​ ​ For as many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. 28 ​ ​ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there
is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 ​ ​ And if you are Christ’s, then you are
Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:23-29 (ESV)
29
✓ The faith that Abraham had, which was credited to him as righteousness, has always
been the path to redemption. The law served as a guardian so to speak of human
behavior to reveal the need to trust in God and his Word. Those who saw it as a path to
redemption were in prison of their own making, for they missed the need for trust in God
and instead trusted in themselves.

✓ The ritual observances of the law, the sacrifices and such were a picture of the desperate
need humans had for redemption and a statement that redemption could only come
through the shedding of blood. Under the law God spoke these words to the people.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to
make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by
the life. Leviticus 17:11 (ESV)

The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews made this very clear.

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22 (ESV)

The law continually reminded of what sin was; human experience revealed to mankind the
inability of any human to obey the law; and the sacrifices showed mankind what was then
necessary to atone for that inability to obey the law – the shedding of blood. “But in
these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of
30
bulls and goats to take away sins.”

29
Genesis 15:6
30
Hebrews 10:3-4 (ESV)
 22

✓ However, once Jesus shed his blood and endured our sin, the need for the sacrificial
reminders was gone. The principles of the law remain as a continuing reminder of our
sinfulness, but the rituals no longer are needed for the final sacrifice has been made.
31
Faith in Jesus, the living word of God, applies his sacrifice to us and does fully and
completely atone for our sin.

✓ Every human stands before God on the same basis. No ethnic or racial differences
matter; no gender differences matter; and no social positions matter; all of us are equally
sinners; all of us equally need redeeming; and all of us who come to Jesus are equally
redeemed.

✓ All then who are redeemed, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, or social position, are
equally children of Abraham. We are his descendants because we follow his path of
believing God’s Word regarding our sin, our need of redemption, Jesus’ sacrifice, and his
call to faith in Jesus. If we trust in Jesus as the one who atoned for our sin, we are a child
of Abraham and a child of God. Paul later wrote this truth to the Romans.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have
received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God. Romans 8:15-16 (ESV)

To be a spiritual child of Abraham is to be a genuine child of God. We cannot come to God in

any other way than by faith, faith in God’s word concerning Jesus and his sacrifice.
God’s mercy comes to those who trust him and rely on Jesus. Cling to Jesus, for he is the
only way to have a genuine and open relationship with God. We can walk with God as
Adam did before he sinned if we trust in Jesus and him alone for our salvation.

Chapter 4
1​
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner
of everything, 2​ ​ but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3​ ​ In the
same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the
world. 4​ ​ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born
under the law, 5​ ​ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
sons. 6​ ​ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,

31
See John 1:1-14
 23

“Abba! Father!” 7​ ​ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:1-7 (ESV)

✓ Paul continued his illustration of the law’s rituals as a guardian of the truth that the cost
of redemption lies in the shedding of blood. A child, meaning those who had yet to know
the truth of the Messiah’s sacrifice, were shepherded along under the law to come to God
repeatedly with blood sacrifices for their sins. They did this in faith and trust in the Lord
and the example of the blood sacrifices reminded them of their own hopelessness to atone
for their sins. The writer of Hebrews made that clear when he wrote, “But in these
32
sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.” They, as we all do, needed to know
their sinfulness. David did for he cried out to God, “Behold, I was brought forth in
33
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” He understood his sin nature and his
helplessness to atone for his sin. He cried out then for mercy.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your
abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Psalm 51:1-2 (ESV)

David understood, and so should all those who regularly brought sacrifices, that only God could
truly blot out sins. Christ came to earth to fulfill David’s prayer and the prayers for
mercy of all who genuinely trusted in God. The time set for that deliverance was set by
the Father so until then, those such as David who looked to God for atonement, waited
and waited, continuing the rituals of animal sacrifices to continually remind them to wait
on God.

✓ However, from the time of Jesus forward, those ritual reminders are no longer valid for
we have the vivid sacrifice of Christ himself which fulfilled all those aspects of the law.
There no longer is any reason for the sacrifices for Jesus has been the one true and
necessary sacrifice. Thus, while we still must know we are filled with sin, we look to
Jesus and see in him that sacrifice which atones for our sin. Jesus was born under the
law, involved in the sacrificial system, but he fulfilled the law when he suffered on the
cross. Jesus said just that near the beginning of his ministry.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come
to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17 (ESV)

32
Hebrews 10:3 (ESV)
33
Psalm 51:5 (ESV)
 24

✓ Jesus redeemed all those who were under the law. Whether they knew it or not; whether
they had the teaching or not; all people were under the law in that they were suffused
with sin and could not atone for their sins. In fact, the ritual of sacrifices was pervasive
in most cultures of the day. Some were horrendous human sacrifices such as to Moloch;
some were other forms of animal sacrifices; but the idea that a person or a people needed
to sacrifice to appease their god or gods, or to atone for their wrongs was part of most
religions and present in most cultures. In the depths of the hearts of mankind lay the deep
truth that no one is worthy and all need someone or something else to atone for them.

✓ Those now after Christ who have trusted in him are full-fledged children of God and
heirs of all he promised. We can call God our Father and say to him “Abba” the
equivalent of “daddy.” The barriers of sin are gone. Nothing now stands between those
who trust in Jesus and God. He is our Father as our creator but he is our Father
spiritually as well. We are healed of sin and restored to full health in our spirit. We
come to God our Father with the same confidence a small child comes to his or her
loving daddy. That is the change that comes to those who trust in Jesus for their
atonement, God becomes for them “Dad.”
8​
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
9 ​
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn
back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want
​ ​ You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11
to be once more? 10 ​ ​ I am afraid I may
have labored over you in vain. Galatians 4:8-11 (ESV)

✓ Before any of us know God through faith in Jesus Christ, we were slaves to whatever we
thought of as god. For the pagans of Paul’s day that would be the various gods of the
Greek and Roman pantheon but his words apply to every culture of every era. For us
today the gods of our culture are some of the pagan gods of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
and such but also the gods of naturalism, selfism, materialism, atheism, and the “new
age.” No matter what belief system a person holds to, if it is not faith and trust in Jesus
alone, that person is in slavery to a system designed by Satan. All false systems have this
in common, teaching that a person can, through his own effort be acceptable to his god.
For some that god is themselves. That self-reliance is a lie that comes directly from
Satan. To believe that lie enslaves a person to Satan. Coming to faith in Jesus and thus
knowing the one, true, living God, frees us from the slavery to Satan and his lie. We
know we are unable to be acceptable to God and we cast ourselves on his mercy and love,
shown to us through the suffering and death of Jesus for us. That is true freedom:
 25

freedom from the burden of guilt for our sin; freedom from Satan’s power; freedom from
34
dependence on our inadequate selves; and freedom from the fear of death.

✓ Paul asked them why, having experienced this freedom that Jesus gives us, would anyone
want to go back into some form of legalism. Paul referred specifically to the Jewish rites
of circumcision and by implication the whole sacrificial system that was the law.
However, his question is valid for any of us. To add a level of legalism to the gospel in
any way is a return to slavery. Anytime a person thinks that something he or she does
makes one more acceptable to God than when he or she first trusted in Jesus, that person
has fallen into legalism and slavery again. Of course sin puts a wall between us and our
open fellowship with our Lord, but sins are clearly outlined in Scripture and no one who
sins thinks that his actions make him more acceptable to God. To not sin, to turn from
sin, is done only in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin
and call us to repentance. Legalism lies in the opposite direction, actions that we would
deem as good. The good we do that flows from the work of the Holy Spirit in us are
works of God through us. They do not make us more acceptable to God; they are rather
the work of God in and through us to accomplish his purpose. He, not we, deserves the
praise, honor, and credit for any good we do. If we add an act of supposed piety to our
standards, that too becomes legalistic slavery. Our piety to be genuine flows from a heart
of worship not from a ritualistic pattern. Legalism can be manifest in at least three ways:
one – acts of good that we deem put us in better standing with God; two – acts of piety
that we do to make ourselves acceptable to God or incur his favor; and three - any
standard that we apply to another that flows from our own personal convictions between
us and our Lord, which are not part of the gospel in Scripture, is legalism as well and a
particularly evil form for we communicate a false gospel to them. That third form was
what Paul was arguing against, the false gospel of legalism.

✓ Paul wondered if his work for these believers had been in vain. Of course, if they were
truly saved, his work was not in vain. Further, any work we do for the Lord produces the
fruit that the Lord brings forth, thus we cannot serve him in vain, even if we do not see
abundant fruit. Paul expressed his person frustration with these believers for falling for
Satan’s trap. For a genuine believer to accept any form of legalism, he blunts the
message of the gospel, the clarion call of freedom to the slaves. We must reiterate in our
own minds and in our words this truth: we come to God only through faith in Jesus
Christ and nothing else.
12 ​
Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no
​ ​ You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
wrong. 13

34
See Hebrews 2:14-15
 26

14 ​
and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me
​ ​ What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to
as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15
you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Galatians
4:12-15 (ESV)

✓ Paul clearly knew his work had not been in vain, for he called these people brothers, that
is joint children of God by faith in Jesus. They were genuinely redeemed; they had just
fallen into a trap of Satan to rob them of their freedom, their message, and their joy. He
reminded them of the way they first heard the gospel. Paul had apparently become ill and
was sojourning in their area to recover. While there among them, he taught them the
gospel. They had come to believe his words and trust in Jesus. His illness had been a
trial to them, but they had not treated him with scorn but rather cared for him. They
received him as they would have an angel or as Jesus himself. That indicates the loving
way they had ministered to Paul and had heard and accepted the gospel from him.

✓ Some have wondered what the illness Paul experienced was. Clearly he mentioned his
eyes so many believe Paul experienced some infection that affected his eyesight. On the
35
road to Damascus Paul had been blinded. However, Ananias came to him at the
36
command of the Holy Spirit and prayed for Paul and his eyesight was restored. When
Paul closed this letter, he spoke of the large way in which he wrote, which could indicate
37 38
an eye problem. When Paul spoke of the “thorn in the flesh” that he struggled with,
some think that was his eyesight problems. We do not know this, but what we do know
is that something caused Paul to be ill in Galatia and it was because of that illness which
could be seen a problem or trial that Paul was able to share the gospel with these people
and see many come to Jesus. This reminds us that whatever problems we face, God can
and does use them to accomplish his purpose. He is in control and we need to trust him
at all times.
16 ​
Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 ​ ​ They make much of you, but for
no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 ​ ​ It is always
good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 ​ ​ my
little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 ​ ​I

35
Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and
brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 9:8-9 (ESV)
36
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus
who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled
with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he
rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. Acts 9:17-19 (ESV)
37
See Galatians 6:11
38
See 2 Corinthians 12:7
 27

wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Galatians 4:16-20 (ESV)

✓ Many times people do not want to know the truth. They prefer to believe or hold onto
their cherished lie because the lie is more comfortable to them than the truth. Truth tellers
are also often seen as an enemy to many people because they live a lie or live behind a
façade. They do not want the truth to be known. Paul addressed that tendency in his
question. Does he, because he spoke the truth, then become their enemy? That question
raises a question for us as well. Does the message of the gospel, an uncomfortable
message but the truth, need to be softened or muted in some way to make it more
palatable to others and make us seen less as their enemy? Do we prefer to preach, teach,
or live a muted message that does not convey the real truth about life, death, and eternity,
so that we will be not held in contempt by those around us? If we speak the truth, we will
rarely be seen in a favorable light because mankind loves the lie. Paul loved these
people, but he was willing to incur their displeasure by speaking to them the truth. We, if
we truly love people, will speak to them the truth without regard to the cost to us
personally. The tone of Paul’s letter to this point has been very confrontational. He is
confronting an error and doing so in very strong terms. In that then he is afraid that these
believers will see him as an enemy and he does not want them to think that at all.

✓ Paul referred to those who taught the law among the Galatians. He said that they taught a
falsehood so that the Galatians would think highly of them. They taught for their own
standing and position, not for the benefit of others. As many who seek high positions,
they were all about themselves. They wanted the accolades that can come to those who
speak well and present well. That the message they presented was false was immaterial to
them. They wanted praise, honor, and respect from the Galatians, particularly of the
Jewish Christians among them. Their message was as divisive as it was untrue. Anytime
anyone desires the praise of men, he or she is more likely to speak false words than true
ones. We must guard against speaking or teaching to get the praise of people.

✓ Paul affirmed that to be thought well of is a good thing, if the reason is the proclamation
of truth, of worth, of value. By implication he is saying that when he was there, they
treated him well as one who taught them the truth. Now though, these teachers of the
Law were supplanting Paul in their minds and they were getting the honor. Paul was in
anguish because of this. It was not anguish simply because he was being pushed to a
lesser place in their thinking. In his letter to the Corinthians he spoke of himself,
Apollos, and Peter all as ministers of the gospel. His criticism there was that divisions
were forming around each of them, but he in no way demeaned the others in that
 28

39
discussion. Rather he spoke that the unity should be around Jesus. So his concern here
was not his loss of station as such, but the elevation of false teachers in their minds.
What these teachers taught was completely contrary to what Paul had taught them and
completely contrary to the truth. Paul wished he could be present with them to counteract
this false teaching but he expressed puzzlement that they so readily grabbed onto this
false teaching instead of recognizing it as false. He couldn’t understand why anyone
would want to return to a position of slavery under a legalistic system after having been
freed by the blood of Jesus. We need to be careful that we do not slip into a legalistic
slavery that we apply to ourselves or impose on others. Only the Holy Spirit working in
us can overcome that natural tendency in the human spirit.
21 ​
​ ​ For it is written
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22
that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 ​ ​ But the son of
the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through
​ ​ Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is
promise. 24
from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25​ ​ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in
Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Galatians 4:21-25 (ESV)

✓ Paul then asked these believers if they truly listened or understood the teaching of the
law. Paul illustrated his point by pointing to the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael born of
the slave Hagar, and Isaac born of the free woman Sarah. In other words, the genetic
children of Abraham were thus divided into two groups, the children of slavery and the
children of freedom. Paul considered Ishmael to represent those trapped in the Law
whereas he considered Isaac to represent those redeemed from slavery by Jesus’ sacrifice.
For me the illustration seems a bit forced. However, Paul made clear that he was
speaking allegorically. There were two covenants, the covenant of law which only
revealed sin and the covenant of grace which opened the path to salvation. What Paul
was saying is that the difference between law and grace is as stark as the difference
between Ishmael’s descendants and Isaac’s descendants.
26 ​
​ ​ For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27
one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of
the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” Galatians 4:26-27
(ESV)

✓ Paul quoted from Isaiah 54, a passage that indicates that people of all nations will be
drawn to the Lord and enter the tent of the redeemed. The children of the “desolate one”
will be in God’s kingdom as will those of the married one. All believers, regardless of

39
See 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
 29

their human lineage, will be in the tents of the redeemed together. That again reminds me
that no racial grouping, ethnicity, gender, social position, nor personal attributes should
divide believers in any way. We all who trust in Jesus are one in Christ.
28 ​
​ ​ But just as at that time he who was
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29
born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is
​ ​ But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of
now. 30
the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 ​ ​ So, brothers, we are not
children of the slave but of the free woman. Galatians 4:28-31 (ESV)

✓ The Jews who lived under their legalistic system saw themselves as special because they
were descendants of Abraham through Isaac. However they focused on their physical
line of descent. Paul focused on the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Just as they
were recipients of God’s promise so also are those who trust in Jesus by faith alone
recipients of the Lord’s promise, his promise of redemption through Jesus’ sacrifice.

✓ As Isaac was mocked and derided by Ishmael, so also are believers mocked and derided,
and further persecuted by unbelievers. One method of persecution is seeking to force
adherence to the laws of legalism, and that is what was happening in the Galatian church.
The proper response was what happened to Ishmael, the legalizers were to be cast out of
the body of believers. In our era we need to take these words to heart. Anyone who
teaches legalism is to be cast out of the church for the teaching is both destructive and
counter to the word of God. There is no room in the genuine body of Christ for those
who taint the gospel with legalism.

✓ Those who trust in Jesus are not slaves but free, free of guilt, free of condemnation, free
of the necessity to sin, and free of the burden of self-righteousness. Again, as Jesus said,
40
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” We live by that promise, the
promise Jesus made. He alone makes us free and no one can force us into any form of
slavery again unless we foolishly let him. We must trust in the pure gospel, the gospel of
freedom. That was Paul’s message to these struggling believers.

Chapter Five
1​
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of
slavery. Galatians 5:1 (ESV)

✓ Paul reiterates his command. We are to resist all efforts to bring back again any system of
legalism. Jesus set us free; in that freedom then we are to stand. Under no circumstances

40
John 8:36 (ESV)
 30

are we believers to submit to any form of the false gospel of legalism. Our call is to faith
in Jesus alone, in him alone do we have redemption, so in him alone do we find our
standard for living. One who calls us to a “higher standard” than that of the gospel is
spreading legalism. There is no higher standard than falling on our face before our Lord
and crying out to him for mercy. He alone saves us and he alone changes us. No
external pattern of behavior changes us. We must be changed from the heart by the
power of God’s redeeming grace.
2​
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
3 ​
I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole
law. 4​ ​ You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away
from grace. 5​ ​ For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of
righteousness. 6​ ​ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything,
but only faith working through love. Galatians 5:2-6 (ESV)

✓ Paul told these believers that if that saw circumcision as a means of redemption, of
making themselves acceptable to God, then they were no better practically than if they
hadn’t come to faith in Jesus. Paul pointed out a significant discrepancy in the teaching
they had received. If they accepted circumcision, they needed then to accept and obey
the whole law. Of course fulfilling the law was and is impossible. Since we are suffused
with sin, we are unable to keep the law perfectly. As James wrote, probably around the
same time as Paul was writing, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at
41
just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” To accept part of the law, circumcision,
and ignore the rest of it, including all the sacrifices, made no consistent sense, and led
down the same path as any other religious system, the path of self-righteousness, and that
path leads directly to hell. We should take warning from this. Any form of legalism that
we take on ourselves leads us away from the grace of God and straight to the judgment of
God for no one can fulfill any form of righteousness on his own. We fail and fail
completely even in following the dictates of our own consciences, let alone any external
standard that we may create. To ever think that my performance makes me more
acceptable to God puts me on a path the leads away from God. My salvation then is in
question, and I need to turn to God for forgiveness.

✓ Salvation comes through the work of the Holy Spirit in us to give the faith to trust in
Jesus. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, wrote that plainly.

41
James 2:10 (NIV)
 31

For it is by grace you have been saved, ​through faith--and this not from
yourselves​, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

In our faith, our trust, in Jesus for our salvation, we have the sure hope of righteousness before
the Lord God. Nothing we do can make us righteous. God makes us righteous as we
believe his words and promises regarding the work of Christ on the cross. If we trust
God he counts our faith as righteousness as he did to Abraham who received this same
42
grace.

✓ Whether a person was circumcised or not did not matter. As an aside, Paul had Timothy
43
circumcised to avoid controversy with the Jews they were trying to reach. So there are
times when adhering to some people’s ideas, even though unnecessary from an eternal
point of view, is good and reasonable. But that was done to reach the lost, not make
Timothy more righteous or acceptable to God.

✓ To carry Paul’s argument forward to us today, whether we follow a specific pattern of

behavior or not, does not matter. Take the issue of alcohol as an example. Some feel that
for them, total abstinence is the path they should follow. If they come to this through the
leading of the Spirit in their lives, that is fine. Others understand that the Scripture that
only prohibits drunkenness and warns of the danger of alcohol, but also uses alcohol as a
symbol of Christ’s blood on the cross. They therefore do use alcohol though in
obedience to the warnings and prohibitions of Scripture. Neither choice should be taken
as a badge of honor, and neither makes one more righteous. Whether one uses alcohol or
abstains from its use does not matter eternally. Only when one seeks to impose his
thinking on another does legalism come into play.

✓ The only issue that matters in our relationship with the Lord God is our faith and trust in
him. We receive that faith because of his great love for us. Jesus suffered and died for us
because of the Lord’s great love for us. God loved us so he provided salvation through

42
Paul quoted in v. 3:6 from Genesis 15:6. “Abram believed God and he credited it to him as righteousness.” It is
worth noting that James, writing around the same time, quoted that same verse in his letter, James 2:23. The issue
that both of these leaders dealt with was true faith as the way to redemption rather than self-righteousness. In his
letter to the Romans Paul again quoted that verse from Genesis (Romans 4:3). The issue is a major one. Humans
want to see themselves good and righteous according to their own standards. Only faith and trust in God, in his
word, and in his salvation through the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross makes us good and righteous. We
must follow the path that Abraham showed us by his faith.
43
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in
those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Acts 16:3 (ESV)
 32

Jesus. He loved us so he gave us the faith to trust in his provision. We who trust in Jesus
have been covered by the Lord’s love from first to last.
7 ​
You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8​ ​ This persuasion is not
from him who calls you. 9​ ​ A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 ​ ​ I have confidence in the
Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty,
​ ​ But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In
whoever he is. 11
that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 ​ ​ I wish those who unsettle you would
emasculate themselves! Galatians 5:7-12 (ESV)

✓ These believers had initially shown growth toward maturity, but now their growth and
faith had been hindered. They no longer were progressing in their life with the Lord God.
In that we can get a picture that salvation is not the end, but the beginning of a believer’s
walk with God. We come to Christ but then grow in Christ. The writer of Hebrews was
also concerned about believers who were not maturing.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to
learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need
someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an
infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid
food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to
distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 (NIV)

The Galatian believers to whom Paul wrote and those believers to whom Hebrews was addressed
both had stopped maturing. Such is a danger for any believer who follows a false teacher
or who neglects the word of God and prayers to God. The life of a believer who has no
time alone with the Lord is a life of stifled growth.

✓ Paul made clear to these believers that the false teachers they were listening to did not
come from the Lord and the message they were teaching was not from the Holy Spirit.
Just a little false teaching can derail a body of believers just as a little yeast in the dough
spreads through the whole dough. We need to guard ourselves against being a false
teacher and guard against following a false teacher. What any teacher or preacher says
must be measured against the Word of God for the Word of God is the standard, not the
teacher. To be able to guard against false teachers, we ourselves must be constant
students of the Word of God and constantly in prayer before the Lord.

✓ Paul trusted that the Lord would sort the situation in these churches out, revealing in time
that the teachers were false. The Lord, not Paul was the one to whom all of them, both
 33

the Galatians and those false teachers, would be accountable. The Lord is the final judge.
The teacher who teaches false doctrine or false practices will stand before the Lord and
give him a full account. James wrote,

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know
that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many
ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able
to keep his whole body in check. James 3:1-2 (NIV)

Those called to be teachers by our Lord must teach. The fire will burn within them. God said to
Ezekiel, “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they
44
are rebellious.” But in fulfilling their call, these teachers will be accountable to God.
Paul, in this letter, called those teachers to the reality of their accountability to the Lord.

✓ These false teachers not only taught falsely they were attacking Paul and his teaching. I
suspect they somehow were twisting what Paul said to support their teaching but then
also condemning him as a teacher. They lied about what he taught and then condemned
him as a teacher. In that they were being particularly devious. I suspect they picked and
chose what of Paul’s words they quoted. We need to be careful when we quote another
that we do not make the person say something that is overall inconsistent with him. We
must be even more careful with how we use Scripture. To misuse the words of someone
or even more so to misuse the Word of God is a sin, the sin of deceit. Anyone who does
that will stand before the Lord who fully knows all, give him an account, and receive
from him the just reward for the misuse of another’s words.

✓ Paul then expressed his feelings toward these legalists. He wished they would do more
than be circumcised; he wished they would emasculate themselves. In that he is
expressing his personal dislike for them, but he is also symbolically expressing the wish
that they not be able to have children who held to their false teachings. In this Paul
expressed how he felt; his words would not be seen as words of love but words of
condemnation. The danger of false teachers was so apparent, that he wished for them to
die out without seed. To stand against a false teacher is really both an act of love and one
of condemnation. The false teacher is in grave danger and to fail to confront him or her
is to fail to love. We must, in love, confront any believer or reputed believer on a path of
sin and false teaching is a path of sin. The purpose is not true condemnation, for that is
the province of the Lord, but correction and restoration. We love others when we show
them the truth. Paul was showing all who followed the path of legalism the truth.

44
Ezekiel 2:7 (NIV)
 34

13 ​
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for
​ ​ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You
the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14
​ ​ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that
shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15
you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5:13-15 (ESV)

✓ The freedom we as believers have in Christ can be misused. Paul dealt with this in detail
45
in his letter to the Romans. Our freedom is not given to us so that we can indulge our
fleshly desires. We are free of the prison of legalism, free of the burden of guilt, and free
of the necessity to sin. However, we are not free to sin. Sin is still sin. While we do not
have to sin, we can still choose to sin. We have the power in us not to sin, but we must
avail ourselves of that power to not sin. We continue to war against our bent to sin.
Peter wrote, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of
46
the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” Our freedom is not an opportunity for
our flesh for that flesh wars against our souls. We must understand that.

✓ The work of God in us will give us the ability to sacrifice our flesh in serving others in
love. He will change our desires. He will change our passions. He will give us ministry.
He will give us the love we need to serve others. Rather than seek some legalistic acts to
fulfill the Law, Paul called these believers to the central practical application of the law,
to love their neighbors as themselves. Jesus had called this the second part of the greatest
47
commandment. Why did Paul transition to this from the dealing with legalism? What
had apparently happened and what so quickly happens in any body of believers when
legalism comes to the fore, love and care for each other as believers died. The legalist
considers himself above the others who do not conform to their legalistic ways. I suspect
that the division was in a large way between those who came out of Judaism and those
who came out of paganism. The tendency to judge others is a pandering to our flesh for
the flesh by nature seeks to elevate one above another.

✓ The picture Paul painted of their discord is vivid. They were vicious in their interactions
with each other, seeking to hurt rather than love each other. Such behavior was so
destructive that Paul said they were in danger of “consuming” each other. They were like
animals, not loving believers. Their actions had nothing to do with Jesus. Those with
hateful speech are never powered by the Holy Spirit. Our confrontations when necessary
48
must be gentle, loving, and kind. Our confrontations must be fully in accord with the
Scriptures, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our confrontations must be bathed in
prayer. We are never to confront in anger, hate, or vindictiveness. If our confrontation is
45
See Romans 14
46
1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)
47
Matthew 22:37-40
48
See Galatians 6:1-2
 35

to seek to put us higher than another, we have the wrong motive. Any confrontations
God calls us to do are for the purpose of restoration not condemnation. Fighting, taking
sides, bickering, and snarling at one another does not advance the kingdom of God and
comes from the heart of Satan. James wrote about a similar issue.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak,
slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of
God. James 1:19-20 (ESV)

We must not become spiritual piranhas.

16 ​
​ ​ For the desires
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17
of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are
opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 ​ ​ But if you are led by
the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18 (ESV)

✓ Paul gave us the way to avoid such sinful behavior as the vicious infighting of which he
spoke: walk by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells everyone who trusts in Jesus for his
or her redemption. For believers he is always there. He is our guide in all things. All
we need to do is seek his leading in prayer and ask him to open the Scriptures to us as our
pattern and guide for living. If a person is following the Holy Spirit, he will not do the
malignant infighting so often present among those who claim to trust Jesus. In fact, to
live by the Spirit will keep us from all the wicked, sinful passions that plague humanity.
We can actually live the way God wants us to live by and through the power of the Holy
Spirit.

✓ The Holy Spirit will lead us continually away from the desires of the flesh. Since we are
suffused with sin, our natural tendencies is always to sin. When Jesus redeems us
because of our faith in him, we have a new spirit within. God promised this through
Ezekiel.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will
remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)

We have a war, so to speak, within us. Our natural tendencies to sin fights against our new
spiritual leading to righteousness. Paul himself dealt personally with this struggle. To
the Romans he wrote, “For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law
at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making
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49
me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” To follow the Spirit, we
must be fully aware of the dangers of our natural bent. The unredeemed cannot do
anything but follow his or her bent to sinning but the one redeemed can live by the Spirit
and not follow the path to sin. In my mind there is no middle ground. Either I am
following the lead to sin or the leading of the Spirit. Anytime I yield to self I have ceased
to listen to the Holy Spirit. The issue is far bigger than just infighting with other
believers, it encompasses every aspect of our lives, how we live and act in our marriage,
our family relationships, our work relationships, our social interactions, and of course our
church relationships. We are called to love others in every situation but we cannot do
that in the flesh, we must be living by the Spirit. Our wanter is corrupted. The Holy
Spirit will lead us away from that sinful want or bent to sin.

✓ Believers, those who truly have trusted in Jesus, are led by the Spirit. We always have
the Spirit’s leading in our minds and hearts. The issue is never his absence. The issue is
our resistance to him. If we submit to a legalistic system, we have chosen to ignore the
Holy Spirit and turn back to the flesh. That choice will lead us down a path to a
multitude of other sins and destructive behavior. Sin begets sin. Since legalism is sin, it
leads to more and more sins, a path we avoid only in the power of the Holy Spirit.
19 ​
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 ​ ​ idolatry,
sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 ​ ​ envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)

✓ Paul laid out for us the evidence that we are walking on the path of sin: the works of the
flesh. Legalism will lead to all of these sinful behaviors becoming part of our lives in one
way or another. While they may not be overtly manifested they will be there because we
have walked away from the following the Holy Spirit. This list is sobering.

1. Sexual immorality – God laid out for us the standard of sexual behavior. Anything
50 51
outside that standard is sexual immorality. Jesus spoke of adultery, divorce, and of
52
marriage in this life. He reiterated the standards set at the beginning when God
created marriage before the fall. Sexuality was his idea but within the bounds of a
committed marriage. Anything outside those bounds is sexual immorality and is the
path of the flesh not the Holy Spirit.

49
Romans 7:22-23 (NIV)
50
Matthew 5:27-30
51
Matthew 5:31-32
52
Luke 20:24-28
 37

2. Impurity – What is impure? Impurity begins in the mind. While we may avoid the
external expressions of sexual immorality, if we dwell or dream on the ideas of sexual
immorality we are impure. Pornography is the most prominent form of impurity. A
person who looks at another with sexual thoughts, who panders to his sexual lusts, is
impure. We must ask our Lord to keep our minds pure for we cannot be pure in our
own strength.
3. Sensuality – we are being sensual when we focus on sex or image sex in our language
and behavior. The clothing we wear, if it focuses our sexuality, is being sensual. If
we are trying to be alluring to someone to whom we are not married, we are being
sensual. Our attire should not call attention to our sexual charms, for to do so is the
way of the flesh, not of the spirit. Our language too can be sensual. The way we
speak of others that focuses on their sexuality is sensual. All of that is the natural
expression of our flesh. Only in the Holy Spirit can we turn away from that and think
pure, loving, and uplifting thoughts and words about others.
4. Idolatry – Paul lived in a culture filled with idols and false gods. We do not live in
such a culture in the West though Islam preaches a false god, Hinduism has a
pantheon of gods, and Buddhism espouses a false god of sorts and all are making
inroads in the West. In the West the main idol seems to be self: self-fulfillment,
self-determination, self-actualization, and such. We also have the idols of wealth,
materialism, naturalism, and atheism. An idol is anything or anyone that we hold as
our god or put before the one true God. Having anything or anyone as more
important to us that the Lord God is a work of the flesh and will lead us to the edge of
hell. We cannot live in the power of the Holy Spirit and have anything that we hold
onto as more valuable to us than the Lord God.
5. Sorcery – One would think in this educated, scientific age, that sorcery would be
passé. However the New Age movement and other forms of mysticism have the
trappings of sorcery. The Star Wars Force is a cultural expression of this mythic idea
of something supernatural out there, but not the God of Scripture, a personal God
whom we can know and love. To hold to any belief system such as that is a work of
the flesh and will lead us away from the one true, holy, loving, righteous, just, and
pure God.
6. Enmity – The command from the Lord is to love our neighbor. The next eight
expressions of the flesh deal with our broken relationships with people. Those broken
relationships are a manifestation of the sinful flesh ruling our lives. Enmity is a
malicious hate that one has for another. It is the plan to do harm to another. Is it the
seething, bitter, hatred toward another that dreams of and plans evil for that other.
Enmity is deep, personal, and long-lasting. We cannot be in right relationship with
our Lord and have enmity toward anyone, no matter how badly they have treated us
or one whom we love.
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7. Strife – Conflict between people is so natural as to be assumed in so many venues.

We compete and when the competition becomes personal, it becomes strife. Homes
torn by strife damage all within that home. Churches torn by strife are ineffective in
the mission God has called us to, and actually are damaging to the work of God in the
world. Strife is rampant in our world. Wars, sabotage, violence, vituperative politics,
and such fill our news feeds. All are works of the flesh. None flow from a heart in
right relationship with the Lord God.
8. Jealousy – When we look at what another has or has done with a negative attitude
toward them, we are jealous. Our eyes are on them and we hate that they have
achieved success or have something of value. Our malignant eyes are on them. The
Greek word here is ​zelos from which we get our word “zeal.” In a positive context the
word means “ardor.” But in this negative context, it means “jealousy.” It is an
ardent, deep, determined, negative attitude and action toward another because of his
or her attributes, success, possessions, or personal relationships. It can be very
specific, such as a personal jealousy because of a relationship between two other
people, such as may occur between a spouse and someone else. Jealousy turns to
hatred, bitterness, vengeance, and can turn to violence. Any jealousy focuses on self,
comes from the flesh, and will lead us away from God.
9. Fits of anger – outbursts of temper both verbal and physical come from a heart that is
not at peace with God, has turned away from trust in the Lord God, and in reality
screams against God for what has occurred. While a person may be the immediate
object of anger, ultimately it is against God whom the angry person rails. The
Scripture warns against an angry person.
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest
you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Proverbs 22:24-25
(ESV) A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes
much transgression. Proverbs 29:22 (ESV) My dear brothers, take note
of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to
become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life
that God desires. James 1:19-20 (NIV)
When we are angry, we are in the control of our flesh, not the Holy Spirit. We cannot do the
work of God in anger. We cannot even do good of any sort in anger. Our self alone
is in full expression when we are angry and we are likely to do other evils when angry
that we will regret deeply later. We must ask the Lord to keep control of our angry,
selfish tendencies and turn our hearts to him in faith regardless of the evil or
unfairness that befalls us. Ultimately anger leads us away from God unless we let go
of our anger and turn our hearts back to the Lord.
10. Rivalries – The competitive nature of mankind rises in so many situations. We have
games that foster that competitiveness. However it overflows in school, business,
 39

politics, churches, ministries, and even in social relationships. We measure our

achievements by the achievements of others. In rivalry our eyes are always on the
other. We are not seeking to do our best in an honest and honorable fashion, but are
seeking to be better or to best someone else. The motive is to put the other down by
surpassing him or her in whatever we are seeking to achieve.
11. Dissensions – This implies an undercurrent of disagreement, the behind the scenes
backbiting, bickering, and negativity that comes from a disagreeable soul. If a
believer has a genuine disagreement with a leader or has a spiritual or moral concern
about a leader the Biblical approach is to first come to that individual with it. If that
doesn’t bring some resolution, to then bring along a couple of other respected people
to meet with the individual in the pattern outlined by Jesus in Matthew 18. The
human sinful response is quite different and involves a lot of behind the scenes
building of opposition and then using a power play to deal with an issue.
Alternatively the dissenter simply continues to talk, imply, impugn, and otherwise
create discord. Anyone who takes that approach to divisive issues is not under the
control of the Holy Spirit but of his own flesh or else Satan himself.
12. Divisions – The Lord calls us to unity in the Holy Spirit. That is not organizational
unity particularly but a unity of love; a unity of purpose; a unity of faith; a unity of
obedience to the Word of God. We are called to love the Lord above all and love
other people as much as we love ourselves. Love is the defining characteristic of the
true believer controlled by the Holy Spirit. We are called to be Jesus’ witnesses in this
world. That purpose is the guiding principle of all believers controlled by the Holy
Spirit. We are called to trust the Lord God in all circumstances, first for our
salvation, then for our life as a believer, and finally for our eternal destiny with Jesus
forever. All believers controlled by the Holy Spirit have come to faith in Jesus for
salvation, for living regardless of the circumstances, and for life eternally. We are
called to know God’s Word, to apply it obediently in our lives, to meditate on it
regularly, and to use it as the guiding light of our lives. Only those controlled by the
Holy Spirit see God’s Word as central. If we are divisive, antagonistic, and
combative toward other believers such that we create divisions in the church that
swirl around people instead of Jesus, we are not living under the power of the Holy
Spirit. Disagreements are always to be handled with love, gentleness, humility and
grace.
13. Envy – Jealousy and envy are intertwined. Jealousy is very personal. Envy can be
impersonal. We may envy someone else’s possessions, attributes, or positions
without any personal animosity toward the person who has them. However, envy is
insidious, and can lead to that personal animosity, can lead to hatred, and all sorts of
other sins. Envy is the opposite of contentment. Solomon wrote, “The fear of the
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53
LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” The writer of
Hebrews reminds us of our need to be content.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have,
for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews
13:5 (ESV)
54
Paul in his letter to Timothy wrote, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” The
person who is envious of something or someone cannot be under the control of the
Holy Spirit at that moment. The Holy Spirit will give us contentment, not resignation
but contentment.
14. Drunkenness – Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that
55
is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” Drunkenness is the opposite of being
filled with the Holy Spirit. The drunk is in the control of his sinful self, following his
flesh, and cannot be in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul clearly shows that the two
conditions are diametrically opposed. The warnings about drunkenness permeate
Scripture. One of the most vivid is in Proverbs 23:29-35. All believers who use
alcohol at all need to read that passage again and again to remind them to limit
alcohol and never become drunk, never.
15. Orgies – Orgies are a celebration of evil. Sexual exploitation, lasciviousness,
drunkenness, and a host of other evil passions flow in orgies. An orgy is unrestrained
evil, a person or group given over completely to evil. An orgy can be violent as well,
an orgy of murder and mayhem. An orgy is the full outward expression of a sinful,
unredeemed heart. The Holy Spirit is completely absent in one who gives so
complexly over to his or her sinful nature. This is the fullest expression of the flesh
and is the furthest away from the Spirit one can get. Every evil behavior can be
expressed in an orgy of that evil. The Holy Spirit is absent, the flesh is fully manifest.
An orgy is in a way the summation of all these works of the flesh. In an orgy, a
person or group has given in to evil and is relishing it, enjoying it, and applauding it.
16. Things like these – this is not a complete list of sinful behaviors. All behavior that
arises out of my flesh, even if that behavior seems good from an external point of
view, is sin. Isaiah made that clear. He wrote.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are
like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like
the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

53
Proverbs 19:23 (NIV)
54
1 Timothy 6:6 (ESV)
55
Ephesians 5:18 (ESV)
 41

If we are not under the Holy Spirit’s control, we will sin, we cannot avoid it, and the longer
we hold the Holy Spirit at arm’s length, the deeper into sin we can go. Only the Lord
living in us can keep us from the rule of our flesh.
22 ​
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 ​
24 ​
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ​ And those who belong to Christ
​ ​ If we live by the Spirit, let us also
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25
​ ​ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one
keep in step with the Spirit. 26
another. Galatians 5:22-26 (ESV)

✓ A fruit is the natural byproduct of a healthy growing plant or in this case of a healthy
growing believer in Jesus Christ. We can see the health of a plant by looking at the
condition of the fruit. So also we can see the health of a believer by seeing these
expressions of the fruit of the Spirit in the person’s life. More importantly though, we
can see our own health in Jesus by how the Lord works in us to bring these fruits out in
our lives. We need this reminder of how the Lord works in a believer to measure our
own attitudes and actions. This list is meant more for us to look at ourselves than to use
as a measure for others. As I consider each one, I look for the Lord to further convict me
to yield more and more to the Holy Spirit for I cannot live this way on my own. The
fruits of the Holy Spirit are these.

1. Love – Love is the primary attribute of God. “So we have come to know and to
believe the love that God has for us. ​God is love​, and whoever abides in love abides
56
in God, and God abides in him.” This love is the sacrificial love, ​agape. Only
through the work of the Holy Spirit in us will be ever truly express love of this depth
for this love flows from God alone. All the other fruits of the Holy Spirit flow from
this fruit. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians a few years after he wrote these words:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy
gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as
to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all
I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I
gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV)
Love is central to the character of God and will become central to the character of believers
who are led by the Holy Spirit. Hatred, meanness, cruelty, abuse, and a host of other
sins are incompatible with the work of the Holy Spirit for they are incompatible with
love. To truly love others regardless of their personal attributes or responses gives us
a picture of God’s love for us. We only do this because of him. That is a supreme

56
1 John 4:16 (ESV)
 42

evidence of our redemption, that we love others with ​agape –t​ hat is unconditional
love.
2. Joy – Real joy comes to us because of our love for and faith in Jesus. Peter expressed
it this way. “Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love him. Though you do not
now see him, you believe in him and ​rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and
57
filled with glory​, ​obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
When we fully grasp the significance of our redemption, we will be overwhelmed
with Joy. Nothing else can take that away; no sorrow, no disease, no troubles, no
calamity can dampen our joy in the Lord for whatever they may be, they are
temporary; our salvation is eternal and so is our joy.
58
3. Peace – Isaiah recorded, “‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked.’”
Jeremiah condemned the false teachers of Israel who cried out “Peace, peace, when
59
there is no peace.” Humanity craves peace yet no one can have genuine peace
amidst the turmoil of life apart from faith and trust in the Lord God who controls all.
The peace we have if we truly trust in Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit “passes
60
all understanding.” Our peace comes from God, flows from our trust in God, and
overflows in our responses to all that is around us. As the Holy Spirit works in us, we
will have genuine, eternal, inner peace.
4. Patience – Two Greek words give contrasting perspectives on patience. Paul used the
word for one aspect of patience in Romans 5:3. He wrote “suffering produces
61
endurance.” The word there indicates endurance or long-suffering or patience under
trying circumstances. James used the same word when he wrote, “the testing of your
62
faith produces steadfastness.” The word Paul used here has a different implication.
It means long-suffering or patience towards people, enduring their frailties, their
attacks, their wrongs, particularly when the avenue of repairing the damage to us is
open but we refuse to take it. It is the attribute of the Lord toward us. As Peter
wrote, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is
patient toward you​, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach
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repentance.” So, if we cannot tolerate people, cannot endure their foibles, frailties,
blundering, and burdensomeness, we are not controlled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit gives us the gentle patience to endure people and love them despite their
failures. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t correct them if we are responsible
57
1 Peter 1:8, 9 (ESV)
58
Isaiah 48:22 (ESV)
59
Jeremiah 6:14
60
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 (ESV)
61
The KJV translated that word in Romans and in James as “patience.” Paul used a root of that word again in
Romans. “Rejoice in hope, be ​patient​ in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12 ESV)
62
James 1:3
63
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) The same word as a verb.
 43

for them, such as a parent, employer, supervisor, etc. However, we do so in such a

way that we still love them and communicate that love to them. We endure people,
not as a martyr but as a loving friend, and with fellow believers, as a brother and
sister in Jesus. It also doesn’t mean we must take abuse defenselessly. Paul defended
64
himself from abuse by his Roman citizenship on occasion. If we always seek the
leading of the Holy Spirit in any adverse circumstance, he will lead us the right way.
However, even in defending ourselves, we do so calmly and patiently if we are doing
so in the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.
5. Kindness – Perhaps kindness is the most often recognized spiritual attribute for it
flows to others in so many ways. Paul wrote later, “Be kind to one another,
65
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Being kind
means using soft voices, gentle touches, warm facial expressions and body language,
sympathetic words, and ministering actions. Kindness is the face of putting another
66
before ourselves. Any attitude that demeans another person, looks down on another
person, or shows contempt toward another person does not come from the Holy
Spirit. We have yielded to the flesh. The Holy Spirit gives us a different heart toward
others, a different view of ourselves, and a loving, kind, and merciful heart that
communicates that love in a caring way. Kindness comes from God and is the work
of God in us for it is totally unnatural to us apart from Jesus.
6. Goodness – This means virtuous in behavior. Doing and being genuinely good. This
is the opposite of selfishness and the opposite of sinfulness. This means doing the
right thing even when no one is looking. We are not good only when others are
looking. That is not genuine goodness. Genuine morality, genuine goodness, genuine
rightness is there whether others know it and witness it or not. We are what we are
when we are alone and that particularly applies to goodness. Only the work of the
Holy Spirit in us can make us good. We pray to him for his goodness to work in us to
make us righteous, pure, moral, and honest. If we are good, we know the Holy Spirit
is working in us bearing his fruit in our lives.
7. Faithfulness – The Lord God is faithful. Moses spoke these words to the people if
Israel in the weeks before he died.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps
covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his
commandments, to a thousand generations. Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV)

64
See Acts 22:25-26, also 16:37
65
Ephesians 4:32 (ESV)
66
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Philippians 2:3 (ESV)
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67
David wrote, “The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.”
Paul added, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son,
68
Jesus Christ our Lord.” Faithfulness is a character quality of our Lord. Thus as we
are faithful we reflect God’s character through the power of the Holy Spirit. So then,
what is this faithfulness? To be faithful is to keep our word, our promises, our
commitments, even to our hurt. Nothing requires us to make many of the
commitments we make in life, a commitment to pay back a loan, a commitment to
give a certain amount to church, a commitment before men or a commitment before
God, but once a commitment is made, we are unfaithful and driven by our flesh if we
fail to keep that commitment. The most important commitment we make apart from
trust in the Lord for salvation is our commitment in our marriages. Faithfulness in
marriage is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit. A well-known
Christian leader once told me, “If it weren’t for being a Christian and the power of the
Holy Spirit, I would not be monogamous.” Our natural tendency is to sexual
unfaithfulness. The Holy Spirit keeps us faithful. Chuck Swindol once wrote that the
69
downfall of Christian leaders can be found in four areas, sex, silver, sloth, or self.
He mentioned sex first because of the frequency with which sexual sins bring down
those called to serve the Lord. Faithfulness to our marriage commitment, or to any
other commitment we make, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, for it reflects the character of
God.
8. Gentleness – When we pick of our baby or grandbaby, we gently hold it, gently touch
it, and gently kiss it. We hold the child as one who is fragile, easily hurt, and unable
to defend him or herself. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Let your gentleness be
70
evident to all. The Lord is near.” The same sense of protectiveness that we have
toward the baby we love, we should have toward others, gentleness in care,
gentleness in speech, gentleness in every way so that we do not harm another with
sinful, selfish, or hash behavior. When we hurt others, we give in to our flesh. Even
71
when we must confront someone in their sinfulness, we confront with gentleness.
Jesus told his disciples that he was gentle.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for ​I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30 (ESV)
Gentleness is another character quality of our Lord and when we are gentle with others we
express the character of our Lord. That is a fruit the Lord God does in us for by

67
Psalm 145:13b (NIV)
68
1 Corinthians 1:9 (ESV)
69
I heard this in one of his sermons on the radio, but that sermon was then put in book form which I subsequently
read. Unfortunately, I can’t find which one now.
70
Philippians 4:5 (NIV)
71
A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1 (NASB77)
 45

nature we are harsh, angry, and judgmental. God works gentleness into our character
if we allow the Holy Spirit to do his work in us. When we respond gently when
provoked, we reveal the truth that God is working in us to produce his fruit for others
to see. We only will do so if we yield to the Spirit and seek his leading through
prayer.
9. Self-control – The character qualities Paul listed here can be divided into two groups
with a leading quality, love, and a final summary quality, self-control. Love, in a
sense, is the primary quality that is expressed in all the others. Joy and peace are
inner qualities that work in us so that we can then express the outward qualities. If we
do not have love, joy, and peace, we will never have any of the rest of these qualities.
The rest of the qualities are outward expressions of God’s love and the inner qualities
he works in our lives. Self-control is the summary quality of these outward qualities.
I am in control of myself when I make choices, use words, and act in a Godly, holy,
Spirit controlled manner. I have not given into my passions, my hostilities, my
selfishness, or my pride. In our humanity, we see self-control as determined actions,
regardless of what they are or why they were done. We see it more as not responding
emotionally but deliberately. However, a vengeful response, however deliberate, is
not self-controlled from God’s point of view because one who seeks revenge is still
full of self. Spiritual self-control means putting self on the shelf so to speak. One
who has self under control is not focused on self. Self is the flesh. The fruit of the
Spirit, that is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, takes us away from our self and
towards God first and then towards others. When we are focused on fulfilling the
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greatest commandment as Jesus said, we are self-controlled and that is the fruit of
the Holy Spirit in us.

✓ Even in the world, there are laws against many sins but in legal system is there no law
against these virtues. Even the most sinful person cannot see to outlaw the fruit of the
Spirit. We will break no law as we manifest the Spirit. When we fulfill God’s purpose
for us, in sharing the truth of Jesus Christ, we will, in many places, conflict with the Law.
However, even then, if we do so with the attributes of the Holy Spirit, we will confront
evil people with the difference between themselves and their evil hearts and the heart of
one in God’s control.

✓ Those who trust in Jesus live by the Holy Spirit. We are redeemed, purified, and made
holy by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. If we then are saved and held secure in our
salvation by the Holy Spirit, we should also then live according to the power, leading,

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Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is
the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Matthew 22:37-39
(NIV)
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and attributes of the Holy Spirit. What Paul reminds us is that we believers in Jesus have
a choice – the Spirit filled life is not automatic when we trust in Jesus. The power is there
but our will must yield to his power. We cannot reveal the attributes of the Spirit on our
flesh. We must have the Holy Spirit work them out in us. We must choose to listen to
and give in to the Holy Spirit and do so on a day by day, moment by moment basis.
Every sinful action by a believer is a determined disregard for the prompting of the Holy
Spirit. Every good, loving, act comes only as we yield to the Holy Spirit and follow his
lead and refuse to follow our own inclinations. The Spirit filled life is a life filled with
the fruit of the Spirit both in us and flowing through us to others.

✓ When we see the work of God in us, we can fall into a dangerous sin, one that may not be
obvious, we can become conceited, thinking more highly of ourselves because of how the
Holy Spirit has worked in us and through us. We can suddenly be back to pride and in
that restore the flesh, our self, to prominence in our thinking. We are never “someone
special” spiritually. We are never to bask in the glory that belongs to God. Whenever we
think we have become something we are in grave danger of a great fall spiritually. When
we become conceited in ourselves, we break the spiritual bond among believers. That is
what Paul meant by provoking others. We are sinful, selfish, and self-filled when we
think of ourselves as somehow better than others. The others will quickly see through
that to our deep abiding sinfulness and a broken relationship occurs.

✓ An alternative sin that can occur is for us to look at another who has expressed well
through his or her life genuine spirit-filled fruit. We can become envious and jealous of
them and their success in the Spirit. Again, in that instance, we are all about ourselves.
We need to allow the Holy Spirit to control us as he does others in his way and in his
sovereign purpose and will. We are foolish if we allow the work of God in another to
make us jealous of that person or angry with our Lord. We need to look inside us for our
sin that inhibits the work of God, not look at another and be jealous of how God has used
that person. Both conceit and envy are fruits of the flesh that will prevent the fruit of the
Holy Spirit from becoming real and evident in our lives.

Chapter 6
1​
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a
spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2​ ​ Bear one another’s
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3​ ​ For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is
nothing, he deceives himself. 4​ ​ But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast
will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5​ ​ For each will have to bear his own load.
Galatians 6:1-5 (ESV)
 47

✓ Paul again called them “brothers.” He was writing to fellow believers in Christ, not to
the unredeemed. The danger of legalism in the believer’s life is the focus of this letter,
not the danger of self-righteous thinking in an unbeliever. Both systems of legalism put a
barrier between the individual and God, but for the unbeliever who dies in his
self-righteousness, that barrier is permanent. For the believer, the barrier inhibits the
Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification, but does not take away a person’s salvation. The
grave difficulty is in knowing the difference in an individual’s life. Without the fruit of
the Spirit, one cannot with any confidence be certain of his or her salvation.
Self-righteousness and legalism are two faces of the same sin and anyone who gives in to
sin destroys the evidence of salvation in his or her life.

✓ Paul addressed one of the responsibilities a believer has for other believers. Since the
primary issue of Galatians is legalism, I suspect Paul had that sin or transgression in
mind. However, his words apply to any sin one Christian sees clearly in the life of
another Christian. If we know a fellow believer is caught up in sinful behavior, we have
a biblical responsibility to confront that person. However, to do that, we must be
“spiritual.” In that Paul meant that we must have the work of the Holy Spirit bearing
fruit, the fruit he just outlined, in our lives. We must be filled with love and have inner
joy and peace. We must be patient with others, kindly, good, faithful, and gentle in our
words and actions. We must have yielded the control of our self to the Holy Spirit. Then
we are in a position to confront the sins of another.

✓ We confront with a clear purpose: to restore that person to right relationship with the
Lord. We are not judges; we are ministers of spiritual healing. Our purpose is not
condemnation but restoration. Just as a physician provides healing care for the injured,
regardless of the reason for the injury, so we reach out to another with the healing words
of God: confession, repentance, and forgiveness, regardless of the sin involved. In that
we act in the power and control of the Holy Spirit. If we confront with any ulterior
motive or hidden agenda, we operate in the flesh not the Spirit and no good eternal work
will be accomplished. We must confront in the power of the Holy Spirit with the purpose
of the Holy Spirit if we are to see the other believer restored to right relationship with the
Lord.

✓ Paul warned of the danger of sin in our own lives preventing genuine, Biblical
confrontation. We must be careful confront only as the Holy Spirit leads, to do so in
humility as a fellow sinner confronting another sinner, and to leave the results in the life
of the other to the work of the Holy Spirit. The temptation to be judge rather than
minister is very real. We must never see another caught in sin as somehow less important
or less worthy than we are. All of us are sinners; all of us are saved only by the grace of
 48

the Lord God; and all of us are in danger of the sin nature in us still working havoc in our
lives. The nature of the sin danger for one is quite different from the sin that is a danger
to another, but all of us, but for the grace of God, can be caught up in sin. We confront as
a fellow sinner, not as a “holier than you” saint.

✓ We are commended to bear the burdens of others. In the context, I think Paul had in
mind the issues that led another into transgressions, but I think it is applicable to anything
that hinders another’s walk with Jesus. As we consider our fellow believer whom we see
is caught up in a pattern of sin, we need to ask the Lord to give us real insight into the
other’s problems and troubles. We need to approach that person with understanding,
with kindness, and, as the Lord leads, with help in those areas of concern. We do so in a
way that fulfills the “law of Christ.” What is the law of Christ? Jesus said, “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also
are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you
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have love for one another.” As we look at the burdens others carry, particularly but not
exclusively those that led them into sin, we look at them with love, seeking to show them
love in a way they can receive as love. We confront the sin with gentleness, kindness,
love, and grace, but we also look to the issues that led them down that path of sin, and
seek to change those issues as much as the Lord leads. That is, to me, the law of Christ.

✓ None of us should think we are something special. One grave danger that anyone who
has a leadership position in the church, anyone who receives any sort of recognition or
commendation for his Spirit-filled actions, and anyone to whom others look to as a
mentor or example; is pride. We are so prone to think highly of ourselves. The danger is
very real and we must confront that in ourselves vigorously. We must ask the Lord God
to give us a continuing vision of our real selves, our real, sinful selves so that we see that
whatever spiritual good we do comes from the Lord in us, not from ourselves. We reflect
all praise, honor, and glory to the Lord God. The greatest preacher, the best teacher, the
most successful missionary, and the most dedicated care giver, all are who they are
because of the power of the Holy Spirit in them. Apart from God, we can do nothing of
any eternal merit. Jesus said that exactly. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever
abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for ​apart from me you can do
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nothing.​” As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, we are to “Be completely humble and gentle;
75
be patient, bearing with one another in love.” If we think we are something, we are
deceived. Ask the Lord to keep us from that self-deception.

73
John 13:34-35 (ESV)
74
John 15:5 (ESV)
75
Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
 49

✓ Some have said that we are fruit inspectors. In that the idea is that we are to inspect the
fruit of others. In one sense that is true, for we are to recognize the false teacher by the
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fruit of his or her life. However, in the general walk among believers, we are to focus
much more on how we are living and reflecting the work of the Holy Spirit than we are to
have our eyes on others. We each answer to the Lord for ourselves. We carry our own
load. We do not look to another to carry it for us. As I see it, we are not to be looking
for someone else to intervene to carry our burden. On the other hand, we are to be
sensitive to the Lord’s call to carry the burdens of others. If we receive aid in carrying
our burden, we are grateful to the Lord and to the person, but we never think we are
entitled to their help or aid. If God leads us to aid another, we become the expression of
God’s love to them. No one is entitled to help. Everyone is to look to the Lord for his
direction, both in carrying his or her own burdens, and in his leading to aid another with
his or her burdens. We each answer to the Lord for our own actions and responses to life
situations. Our own lives are load enough for us to carry.
6​
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7​ ​ Do not be
deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8​ ​ For the one who
sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will
from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9​ ​ And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we
will reap, if we do not give up. 10 ​ ​ So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone,
and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:6-10 (ESV)

✓ We have a responsibility to care for those whose primary calling is teaching the Word of
God. This is almost a parenthetical thought in his words regarding the issue works of the
flesh and the work of the Holy Spirit. The one who learns the truth of God’s Word from
one who is called to teach is to share “all good things” with the teacher. One of those
good things is material. We are to attend to the material needs of our teachers. That is a
normal pattern of life. Teachers are paid, and the students or the families do contribute,
through taxes in some cases, through tuition in others, or through giving in the church.
Paul in his letter to the Corinthians wrote about this responsibility in the church. While
he did not avail himself of the right to support from them, he affirmed that it is the
teachers right. He wrote,

Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food
from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial
offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim

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Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By
their fruit you will recognize them. … Matthew 7:15-16 (NIV)
 50

the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:13-14
(ESV)

Possibly the legalists who came to Galatia had caused these believers to slack off in their support
of the genuine teachers of God’s Word. If so they were like those who withhold their
tithes and offerings to the church to try and force a minister out. Any time someone tries
to use his or her money to control the church, he is doing a work of the flesh. We can
move on from a body of believers if we believe the leadership is not following Jesus.
However, as long as we are part of a body of believers, we have a responsibility to give
our tithes and offerings to the Lord God through that body of believers. Our giving is to
the Lord, not to the specific leadership.

✓ I would add that “all good things” should include much more than material support. We
should share the good of life, times of rest, times of fellowship, times of spiritual support,
and times of prayer with our leaders. As the writer of Hebrews wrote, “Pray for us, for
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we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.”

✓ God fully understands our hearts. He cannot be fooled by any financial subterfuge on our
parts. What we sow, we will reap. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with
78
the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” We will receive back what we
have given in many ways. God is our Lord. He is our sustenance. If we are
parsimonious, we reap that in our lives. If we are generous, we will reap generosity in
our lives. We can trust the Lord for he knows the reality of our hearts.

✓ How we respond financially reflects the condition of our heart. If how we use our
resources is selfish or to selfish ends, we sow to our flesh. We are bearing the fruit of our
flesh, and we will receive the results of the corruption of our flesh. Sowing to our sinful
attitudes and sinful agendas will reap for us sinful corruption. We cannot avoid receiving
back the results of what we sow.

✓ However, if we sow to the Spirit, that is plant the seeds of the fruit of the Holy Spirit at
work in us, we will reap spiritual fruit that will last for all eternity. The evidence that we
have eternal life is in the fruit our life produces. Paul also wrote of this to the
Corinthians.

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Hebrews 13:18 (ESV)
78
Luke 6:38 (ESV)
 51

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood,
hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will
disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what
sort of work each one has done. ​ If the work that anyone has built on the
foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned
up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as
through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (ESV)

We need to continually submit our motives, our plans, our agendas, our attitudes, and our
preferences to the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to do his work in us so that all our
thinking is purified by his work in us. We reap, in this life and in eternity, what we sow
in this life.

✓ One enemy of persevering in good works that flow from the Holy Spirit in us is
weariness. We can become worn down physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually
by the buffeting of this life against our good work. If we rely on the Holy Spirit in doing
good instead of relying on ourselves, we will find ourselves renewed every morning.
Jeremiah wrote of this in his sad Lamentation.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an
end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ​ “The LORD
is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations
3:22-24 (ESV)

Our strength, our endurance, our perseverance comes from the Lord and only from the Lord. He
will overcome the weariness that can come as we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but
they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength​; they shall mount
up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk
and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 (ESV)

✓ Lest we think we have any times when we can shirk off in doing good, Paul reminded
them and us to do good all the time to everyone, but particularly to other believers. Our
priority is other believers, but everyone we come in contact with should receive good
from us, even if it is only a brief good word. Doing good is not for us an episodic thing
but a constant thing, a constancy of good works, done in the power of the Holy Spirit. As
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the writer of Hebrews wrote, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for
79
such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
11 ​
See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 ​ ​ It is those who want to
make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that
​ ​ For even those who are circumcised do not
they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13
themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your
flesh. Galatians 6:11-13 (ESV)

✓ Paul had someone else transcribe his letter to the Galatians and all his other letters as
well. For some reason, and many think it was his eyesight, he did not write well. Here
he mentioned the large letters he used. That was an authentication that he had dictated
this letter and it was really from him and not falsely written. At the very beginning of his
letter writing to the churches he did this so that there was no doubt he wrote the letter.
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Earlier in this letter he spoke of those who came to Antioch “from James.” They
probably used James’ name to give themselves some form of authority when in fact they
had not been sent by James. Paul didn’t want anyone to get a letter purported to be from
him which wasn’t, so he put his characteristic writing at the end of his letters.

✓ The legalists who plagued these believers had their own agenda. They were interested in
themselves, to avoid any persecution by Jewish non-believers. They did not have the
interests of these Galatian gentile believers at heart. They were not doing good. To do
good to others, we must think of them first, not ourselves. In a sense, all legalists are first
all about themselves. They hold their thinking, their “righteousness” as better than that of
other believers. The Lord God does his work in us and through us. He will never lead us
to legalism, never.
14 ​
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world
​ ​ For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor
has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15
​ ​ And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be
uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16
upon them, and upon the Israel of God. Galatians 6:14-16 (ESV)

✓ While the legalists sought to boast in the number of gentiles they were able to convince to
become circumcised, Paul would only boast of the grace of God through the cross of
Jesus. We have no reason to boast in ourselves. We bring nothing to the table.
Whatever good we do does not make us more acceptable to God. Only in Jesus are we
anything and whatever we are is by his grace and power, not ours.

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Hebrews 13:16 (ESV)
80
See 2:12
 53

✓ What counts, and counts for all eternity is whether we are a “new creation” in and
through Jesus Christ. Has he made us new? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
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new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” If we have been
made new, we are changed from the inside out and that makes the eternal difference.
Have we truly trusted in Jesus and him alone for our salvation? Only in Jesus are we
saved and only in him then should we boast. We hold him high; we praise his name; we
credit him for all good. He changed us and that change is eternal. That is what matters.

✓ If our focus is on Jesus, not on others, and certainly not on ourselves, we will have
genuine peace for we are the recipients of our Lord’s eternal mercy. We must keep our
eyes on him. We cannot focus on anything we have done in his power as something that
accrues credit to us. We certainly cannot look at anything we did in our own power as
something that accrues credit to us. All credit belongs to Jesus. He gives us his
righteousness and in his righteousness we stand before the Lord God. We have peace
with God, and that peace is forever.

✓ The Israel of God is an interesting phrase but which, in the context, must refer to genuine
believers, the true children of Abraham. We are children of Abraham if we have faith
and trust in Jesus. Circumcision does not make one a child of Abraham nor does any
other action but faith, believing God’s Word. If we trust Jesus, we believe God’s word,
and the Lord God credits it to us as righteousness. Then we are of the Israel of God.
This in no way changes the promises God made to the nation of Israel, for the nation is
different from individual believers. One can be part of the nation and not be a genuine
believer yet the national promises still will apply. The national promises are for this
world. The Israel of God is for eternity. God is at work both in time and for all eternity.
He is God over all.
17 ​
From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 ​ ​ The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. Galatians 6:17-18 (ESV)

✓ Paul asked these believers not to cause him trouble because he bore the marks of Jesus.
On his first missionary journey when he must have come to these people, though Acts
does not record it, he was stoned at Lystra and left for dead. In what would appear to be
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a miracle, he rose up after being dragged from the city went back into the city. While
he was apparently healed of the injuries, he probably still bore the scars as Jesus still
bears the scars of crucifixion. Paul must have a wealth of scars of the sufferings he bore

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2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
82
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him
out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the
city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. Acts 14:19-20 (ESV)
 54

for Jesus. Later he wrote to the Corinthians “Five times I received at the hands of the
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Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.”
All those scars are the marks in his body for Jesus. I suspect that when we get to heaven,
if we see Paul, he will be recognizable because of his many scars. Ye he, like all of us,
will be there, not because of his scars, but because of our Lord’s scars. His mercy and
grace alone saved Paul and saves us.

✓ Paul prayed for God’s grace to be with them all. He called them brothers. His letter to
them was harsh in many ways, condemning them for falling for the false teachings of the
legalists, yet they were still brothers and sisters in Christ. They were still redeemed. We
can be completely wrong in our theology in some areas and still be saved. While these
believers had come to Jesus by faith, they were adding trappings of legalism. That
legalism would prevent them from preaching the pure message of grace that they had
received so that they would not pass their faith to others, but it did not take away the trust
that they, themselves had first believed. Our salvation is permanent and secure in Jesus
even when we follow some false theology later. That does not excuse the false theology
for it will make us useless to God on this earth. We would be as those who escape as
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through the flames with nothing to show for our life in Jesus. May our Lord keep us
from these false theologies so that we can be useful to him in his work here on earth.

This letter is a hard one in many respects for we so easily fall into some form of legalism, giving
ourselves credit for something we do as evidence that we are more acceptable to God. Nothing
we do makes us more acceptable to God. We are saved by God’s grace. We are sanctified by
his grace. Whatever we do of eternal value is by his grace. He is the one who changes us and
makes us new. Stay away from legalism in any of its manifestations for all paths of legalism
lead to uselessness for believers and eternal damnation for unbelievers. May God’s grace be
with us and keep us off that path.

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2 Corinthians 11:24-25 (ESV)
84
See 1 Corinthians 3:12-15