Sunday, January 16, 2018 - New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA - Pastor Micah Adamson

Title: Galatians 5a: Freedom from the slavery of the LawText: Galatians 5:1-15

Galatians 5:13-14 (NIV84)13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your

freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Leviticus 19:18]

Introduction: Welcome back to Galatians after a month-long break for Christ-

mas and Communion! However, I don’t feel like we’ve strayed very far from Galatians

topically:o Matthew 2 = Gentiles were included in God’s promised

salvation after the exile.o Matthew 3 = John the Baptist told people to repent of their

sin and turn to Jesus Christ as king.o Exodus 12 = God planned for His people to celebrate His

salvation in advance in both the Passover and in the Lord’s Supper. We noticed that even in the OT, Gentiles could be included in God’s people as long as they were circumcised.

Today, in Galatians 5, we pick up on all of these themes:o The Gentiles’ inclusion into God’s people.o The way that God’s people relate to sin once Jesus is our

king.o The question of whether Christians need to follow the OT

law by being circumcised.

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Galatians Review: Paul’s gospel:o According to OT and NT revelation from God… o We are justified/declared righteous by God’s gracious free

gift, through trusting in Christ Jesus’ righteousness alone, apart from our own righteousness earned by works of the law.

o The same Holy Spirit who gives us life as God’s children, enables us to love with God’s love.

Galatians 1-2: Revelation = Paul’s gospel is Jesus’ gospel.o Paul argued for the truth of the gospel from his own personal

experience of receiving the gospel directly from Jesus, then the other apostles confirmed that Paul’s gospel was the same as theirs, and finally Peter even repented when Paul called him to live in the light of their shared gospel. The right gospel is more important than the person you

heard it from. Christians don’t need to be circumcised, since the law

doesn’t save us, trusting in Jesus does. Galatians 3-4: Justification = Paul’s gospel points us to

Jesus’ righteousness.o Paul argued for the truth of the gospel from the Galatians’

own personal experience of receiving the gospel and from the Old Testament stories of Abraham and Moses. The Gentile Galatians received the gospel and got in on

God’s promises to the Jews by faith. Abraham received a promise from God by faith that was

for the whole world way before Moses received the law from God that was only for the Jewish nation.

Abraham’s son Ishmael was a natural born slave, but Isaac was his free born son of promise.

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The OT promised that the whole world would receive God’s righteousness as a gift by faith.

Galatians 5-6: Sanctification = Paul’s gospel has the power to change us by the Holy Spirit.o Paul argues that his gospel doesn’t require us to revert to

obeying God’s law as slaves after we are justified by faith in Christ, instead, it enables us to obey God freely as His sons by the Holy Spirit.

The Galatians temptation:o Before becoming Christians, the Galatians were Pagans who

were slaves to sin, but now that the Galatians are Christians, they are being tempted to become slaves to the law. Galatians 5a: Warns the Galatians not to become slaves to

the law. Galatians 5b: Warns the Galatians not to go back to being

slaves to sin.o I have thought of all of Galatians 5-6 is as the sanctification

portion of Galatians dealing with slavery to sin, but I was surprised that the first half of Galatians 5 still deals with slavery to the law.

Slavery to sin, and slavery to legalism, are more closely connected than they appear.

Running Start: Galatians 4:28-31 (NIV84)28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Paul told the story of Ishmael’s natural birth as a slave from

Genesis 16 and Isaac’s miraculous birth as a free son from Genesis 21.

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o Paul concluded that gentile believers in Jesus are miraculous children of promise like Isaac.

But, the false teachers in Galatia, would probably have no-ticed that Paul skipped the story of God giving Abraham circumcision as the sign of the covenant in Genesis 17.o Paul could have pointed out the interesting detail that Ishmael

was circumcised with Abraham before Isaac was born, but in-stead Paul returns to tackle the issue of circumcision from a different angle.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV84)1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. This verse is both the conclusion of Galatians 4 and the intro-

duction to Galatians 5:o Galatians 5 = Freedom in Christ

Freedom is the reason Christ set us free = A sarcastic state-ment of the obvious for the Galatians who were missing this point.

God didn’t free us from slavery to sin in order to get us into slavery to the law.

Stand Firm = Common military metaphor for maintaining faith in Christ (Eph. 6)

o Galatians 4 = Slavery to the law Yoke = Common metaphor for the law used at the

Jerusalem council on circumcision (Acts 15).

Galatians 5:2-4 (NIV84)2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be

circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I de-clare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obli-gated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by

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law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Three parallel lines:2a If you let yourselves be cir-cumcised…

2b [then] Christ will be of no value to you at all.

3a Every man who lets himself be circumcised…

3b Is obligated to obey the whole law.

4a You who are trying to be jus-tified by law…

4b Have been alienated from Christ; You have fallen away from grace.

Did the false teachers fail to mention this detail or did the Gala-tians just miss it?o Circumcision isn’t just a one-time ceremony; circumcision an

agreement to keep the whole law.o Righteousness either comes from obeying the law, or from

trusting Jesus’s grace: one or the other.o This is why, in this case, circumcision isn’t just spiritually

unnecessary, it’s spiritually dangerous! What does it mean to “fall away from grace”? o Medieval Roman Catholic: State of grace = State of personal

righteousness in God’s favor Fallen from Grace = Commit a mortal sin so that don’t

have God’s favor any more.o Martin Luther: Grace = God’s unmerited favor

Fallen from Grace = No longer accepting God’s favor as a gift in Jesus, but trying to earn it.

The Les Miserables song " Stars " is sung my Inspector Javier, who is the embodiment of the Law.o This song beautifully captures a very different concept of

“falling from grace” than we find in Paul.

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There, out in the darkness, A fugitive running: Fallen from God, Fallen from grace...He knows his way in the dark, Mine is the way of the Lord.Those who follow the path of the righteous, Shall have their reward.And if they fall as Lucifer fell: The flames! The sword!Stars, In your multitudes, Scarce to be counted: Filling the darkness, With order and light,...if you fall as Lucifer fell, You fall in flame!And so it must be, for so it is written, On the doorway to par-adise,That those who falter and those who fall, Must pay the price!

Javier is all law, but he doesn’t understand grace. o In context “falling from grace” in Galatians 5:4, does NOT

mean committing a really bad sin;it means failing to trust Jesus [alone] apart from works of the law to save you when you sin!

As Christians we eagerly await the day when we will finally be like Jesus in full righteousness, but until then, we trust Jesus to save us and ask Him to forgive us when we sin.o If you fall into sin, don’t make matters worse by also falling

from grace.o When you sin, repent and ask Jesus to forgive you! Don’t try

to earn God’s forgiveness by works!

Galatians 5:5-6 (NIV84)5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteous-

ness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Faith, Hope, Love = Common trio in Paul and the NT (1

Cor. 13:13).

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o Faith = Trusting in what Jesus did on the cross to give us His righteousness (Past).

o Hope = Trusting that we will be justified/declared righteous-ness at the final judgment (Future).

o Love = Care for others motivated by the love we trust God in Christ has for us (Present). We are saved by faith alone, but real faith produces hope

and love. Holy Spirit = The One who gives us life in Jesus (which en-

ables us to believe and love).o And the Holy Spirit is the One has begun a good work in us

to make us more holy and loving.o Paul will continue the theme of the Holy Spirit’s role in our

sanctification next week (Gal. 5:16-25). Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value = Don’t

be proud of either circumcision uncircumcision.o Legalists by definition look down on sinners, but sinners of-

ten look down on legalists too.o Don’t think of yourself as holier than legalists, for avoiding

legalism. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through

love.

Galatians 5:7-10 (NIV84)7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you

from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. The Galatians think they’ve found a better leader who is show-

ing them a better way to go,but Paul says someone cut in and led them the wrong way.

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Running a race = Common metaphor for Paul since racing was a common sport (Gal. 2:2).o Cut off = by whom?

Not by a fellow team mate, surely not by the coach. It’s not God who called/chose the Galatians for His team

now leading them the wrong way. It’s an opponent or enemy who is leading them the wrong

way. The Galatians should not be grateful to the false teachers,

but see them as agents of the devil.o Cut off = what does being cut off represent in the metaphor?

Keeping you from obeying the truth = Trusting in Jesus’ righteousness instead of the law.

Persuasion/another view/confusion = Getting lost.o Cut off = what is the result for cutting runners off?

Pay the penalty = eternally cursed at the final judgement (Gal. 1:16-9).

Whoever he may be = angels and apostles will get into just as much trouble as anyone else for preaching a false gospel (Gal. 1:16-9).

Yeast in a batch of dough = Common metaphor in the NT, since people made bread (Matt. 16:5-12).o Jesus warned the 12 disciples to avoid the legalistic teaching

of the Jewish leaders.o A little bit of trusting your own works, eventually ruins your

whole spiritual life!

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Galatians 5:11 (NIV84)11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still

being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. The false teachers seem to be accusing Paul of sometimes

preaching circumcision.o Most of the time the false teachers argue against Paul’s

gospel, but sometimes the false teachers claim that Paul agreed with their false gospel.

The Smother’s Brothers were a comedy duo in the 1960’s. Their schtick was singing folk songs and pausing to have argu-ments containing witty banter. At a reunion show in the 1980s, they interrupted a song and their dialogue included these lines:o Dicky Smothers: “People did not come here, to hear us ar-

gue!”o Tommy Smothers: [Pauses and slyly glances at the crowd.]

“S-s-some of them did”.o Dicky Smothers: [Shrugging and chuckling.] “Yeah. Maybe

some of them did.” Paul is saying the he didn’t even sometimes preach circumci-

sion. o Acts 15/Gal. 2 = Paul refused to circumcise the gentile con-

vert Titus (for salvation).o Acts 16 = Paul circumcised the Jewish convert Timothy (for

ministry). Remember that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision

really matter for salvation, but if you are putting your faith in the law, then Paul says your attempt to obey will backfire.

Persecution is the evidence to clear Paul of the charge that he sometimes preached circumcision.

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o If Paul was only preaching Jesus + Law, it wouldn’t have gotten him in trouble with the Jews.

o Paul is getting in trouble for preaching the message that we are justified/declared righteous by God’s grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, apart from works of the law (including circumcision).

Offence of the cross = A Messiah who died… to save sinners.o Not only is this kind of Messiah too weak, He’s also too for-

giving.o Jesus gracious death in our place is an insult to the strong and

the righteous. Are you offended that Jesus freely gives His righteousness

as a gift to those he calls who come to Him in faith, not be-cause of anything good in them? o But, that Jesus doesn’t give His righteousness to everyone,

especially those who are trying their best (and doing well)? This gospel can still get you in trouble today.

Galatians 5:11 (NIV84)12 As for those agitators [who advocate circumcision], I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! Some, polite commentators can’t believe that Paul really

said this (I found 2 between 1850-1900).o They think Paul must have just meant by this phrase that he

wished the false teachers would “completely cut themselves off” from the church.

o But, the early church fathers who spoke Greek and wrote commentaries on Galatians, confirmed that they understood Paul’s to be comparing circumcision to castration, just like it sounds in English.

So, what did Paul mean by this rude comment he made, not just in church, but right in the Bible?

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o Castration did make you unclean in the OT and so ineligible to be a priest (Deut. 23:1-2). So, this would be a way to say that Paul wished the false teachers would make themselves ineligible to teach.

o Castration also makes it impossible to reproduce. So, Paul may be saying that he wishes the false teachers would make it impossible for themselves to reproduce their teaching.

o Ceremonial Castration was also a pagan ritual practiced in Galatia to impress a goddess. So, Paul may be drawing an-other parallel between Jewish legalism and Pagan worship (Gal. 4:8-11).

But, the way that Paul connects circumcision and castration is with the words “the whole way”.o Castration is cutting in the same place you perform a circum-

cising, but not stopping. So, Paul is saying that once you start relying on a little bit of your own ability to cut off your own flesh, then logically you end up having to be fully responsible to save yourself.

o A little yeast works through the whole lump = a little reliance on works righteousness will lead you to fully rely on your own ability to keep the law instead of trusting Jesus’ right-eousness to save you.

Are you ever tempted to rely on a little bit of your own righteousness before God to save you? o Be careful! The logical conclusion to this line of thinking is

painful!

Galatians 5:13-14 (NIV84)13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Leviticus 19:18]

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Paul returns to his sarcastically simple statement from Galatians 5:1 = “You are called to be free!”o But, Paul starts to transition from the topic of freedom from

slavery to the law to freedom from sin. Sinful nature = flesh (the part you cut off in circumcision and

the part that’s in conflict with the Spirit)o Making our own sinful fleshly desires our masters is a terri-

ble kind of slavery.o This double entendre about the flesh related to circumcision

may even be specifically related to the danger of making our sinful fleshly sexual desires our new masters.

o Circumcision has to be done to our hearts by God’s spirit (Deut. 10:16, 30:6, Jer. 31:31-34, Col. 2:11-12). We’ll dis-cuss this aspect of circumcision more next week.

Paul says two surprising things after saying that in Christ we aren’t slaves nor are we under law: o There IS a way that we should use your freedom to act like a

slave: Serve each one another in love.o There IS a way that we should use your freedom to keep the

law: Love our neighbor as ourselves. Both commands are loving people:

Love one another [fellow Christians] (John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:7-12).

Love your neighbor [everyone even our enemies] (Luke 10:25-37).

Martin Luther stated the dual truths of Galatians as a paradox in “The Freedom of the Christian”:“A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.”

Is the law “summed up in a single command” (NIV84) or “fulfilled in one word” (ESV)?

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Galatians 5:13-15 (NIV84)14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”o Jesus summarized the law as love God and love people (Matt.

7:12 and 22:35-40).

Galatians 5:14 (ESV)14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”o Jesus also fulfilled the law by loving us and dying in our

place (Matt. 5:17). Galatians 2:20-21 (NIV84)20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!o Trying to keep the whole law to gain life will fail (Leviticus

18:5 in Galatians 3:12).o Loving people, while trusting in God’s grace to save us in

Christ, ends up keeping the whole law (Leviticus 19:18 in Galatians 5:14).

Galatians 5:15 (NIV84)15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. This is the frustrating conclusion Paul leaves us with at the end

of this paragraph.o The Galatian church for all its struggles with legalism,

isn’t obeying the law to love each other.o In general, I’d rather live near neighbors who are trying to

obey God’s law even in a legalistic way.

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o But, obeying God to earn His favor by our own goodness, of-ten leads to not obeying God at all.

We’ll look more at Paul’s advice for living in freedom from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit next week in the second half of Galatians 5.

Conclusion: Other historical examples of groups teaching salvation by

works helps me understand Galatians.o There is always the danger of misrepresenting the theology of

other groups, and I don’t want to bear false witness even about a non-Christian neighbor, but I’m confident I’ve done my homework here.

o I also want to be clear that there is the real possibility of acci-dentally trusting in Jesus alone for salvation even as the member of a religious group that actively discourages it.

o It’s equally possible to be a part of a church that points you to Christ alone for salvation and miss it. (Paul was addressing people in a church he planted in Galatia after all.)

With these disclaimers, I want to give two examples of how we can fall always from Jesus in ways that are similar to the temp-tation the Galatians faced.

Mormonism 1830s: Legalism and license aren’t always opposites, they often go

together. o Here’s a simple recipe for turning legalism into license:

Start by trying to obey biblical rules, in order to earn God’s favor and be declare righteous.

Add some extra-biblical rules for bonus holiness points. Switch to focusing more on your extra-biblical rules than

God’s actual rules.

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Stop obeying God’s rules in the Bible and only obey your extra-biblical rules instead.

End up enslaved in an unloving/unholy life, while boasting about how well you keep your rules.

Joseph Smith left a legacy of legalism for his followers, but was personally married to 40 different wives, 20 of whom were still married to other men.

Martin Luther and the Indulgence Controversy 1510s: In a two step process, the guilt of sin becomes a temptation

to turn away from Jesus’ for salvation.o First you sin.o Then, you go looking somewhere other than to Jesus’ fin-

ished work on the cross for forgiveness. People mixed legalism and license here too.o They started with the legalism of trying to work off their sin.o They often ended with literally purchasing a license for sin,

sometimes even in advance.

But, is Paul warning real Christians about falling from grace? William Hendriksen (who like me believes that eternal security

is not only the Biblical position, but is also easy to show that it is Paul’s position) notes in his commentary on Galatians that pastorally Paul… o Never tells Christians considering leaving the gospel behind,

“Don’t worry, as long as you used to believe in Jesus, you’ll be fine”.

o Instead, always says, “If you move on from Jesus to law keeping, Jesus won’t do you any good!”

About false teachers Paul says: Galatians 1:6-9 (NIV84)

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6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

About those tempted by false teachers Paul says: Galatians 5:2-4 (NIV84)

2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I de-clare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obli-gated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

About believers in Jesus Paul says: Galatians 2:20-21 (NIV84)20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Following the words of scripture: Put your faith in Christ

alone to save you by His grace!o This is how God has promised to save you from your sin and

give you His righteousness.o If you have fallen from grace into legalism or sin, come back

and ask Jesus to forgive you. He will. Freedom from slavery to sin and the law is only found in

Christ!o Anything else is a false hope that will leave you enslaved.

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o But, freedom is freely available in Jesus to make you free and keep you free. Come to Him!

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