Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
Summary: Paul’s discourse on the law and God’s family has opened up a whole new world of understanding for this writer.
While Paul is making his point again about circumcision and the law, I would like to share a personal perspective on this passage and this letter.
“Three Minute Bible” was started almost exactly five years ago. Since then, you and I have explored several books of the Bible, along with occasional side trips to visit Psalms, Proverbs, and some topical studies. My intent in writing this blog is threefold.
First, I have felt led by God to be here. It is a long story about how this blog came to be, but it has served a number of purposes over the years, and I hope it always serves the purposes of God.
Second, I try to provide interesting content about the Bible and a place for people to discuss Scripture. I firmly believe that it is important for every believer to be in the Word of God every day. Three Minute Bible is where people can come and be engaged in the Word for a few minutes each day.
Third, I am personally exploring the Word of God in hopes of finding answers to questions I’ve had and gaining insight into God’s perspective of the Word.
It is this third point that I want to write about today.
During my life journey, I have met many people who have claimed to know what the Bible is all about. They don’t say it in those words exactly, but they usually want to tell people how to think about what the Bible says. These teachings are generally called “doctrines,” and to the extent that they rely on the Bible, I have no problem with them. Unfortunately, most doctrines are not limited to the Bible. People tend to want to mix their ideas in with God’s ideas.*
For many, it is enough to know that sin is bad. I had never really understood the concept of sin until I started working through the Bible with you, the ever-important Reader. Then, after hundreds and now thousands of blog posts, I began to understand how multifaceted the concept of sin is.
Once in a great while, I run across the answer to a question I didn’t even know I had. As it turns out, Paul’s discourse on the law and faith in Galatians 4:21 through the present verse has opened up a new insight for me that has rocked my world.
I’ve always understood that faith in the Old Testament “law” is “bad” and “faith in Jesus Christ” is “good.” But until two days ago, I had never fully understood why. (I realize I am opening myself up to criticism here. My insight might be new to me and “old news” to all of you! If so, I hope you will indulge me and share my joy.)
In “Galatians 5:1b – Standing Firm,” I found myself writing these words:
“Now, having accepted Jesus as Lord, we are reborn spiritually as children of the King. It is not that the law does not apply to us because we can still do right and wrong. Instead, it is that the law has no authority over us.”
It was these words that helped me see my relationship with God and the law in a new light. Now, I understand the importance of being a child of God. Now, suddenly, I understand how the law can define what is right and wrong and yet have no authority over someone.
When Paul writes, “Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law,” he is telling us that we can choose to be children of God, free from the reach of any court or judge or jury, or we can return to being a slave to that system. If we choose to live under that system again, we become accountable for every pen stroke in the law. We will face the heavenly Court and be judged according to how well we kept the law. Because we are flawed humans, the verdict is a foregone conclusion; Guilty!
Some doctrines teach that once we have been saved, there is no going back. I like that teaching, but I find it unsatisfying. Do we really give up free choice after we have been “saved?” As Paul continues expounding on the law and grace, I expect you and I will both discover more about God’s Word that will shed light on this topic. But for now, it sounds like Paul is seriously concerned that the believers in Galatia risk losing their adoption into God’s family.
What a horrible thought!
Application: Hang tight to your relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Food for Thought: Does Paul’s admonition against returning to the “law” apply to other forms of legalism as well, or is it limited to Old Testament law? Explain.
* I am deeply indebted to Pr. Rich and the folks at Bethel Community Church for their commitment to Biblical authority and their fidelity to the Word of God.
Correction Note: In paragraph ten I have added the words “faith in” so that it doesn’t say the law is bad but rather that putting our faith in the law is bad.
While the context is the Law, legalism can also come into play when we make up our own laws to”help God out.” We have all heard of stories of people being ostracized for having hair kept too long, or not wearing the right clothing, or wearing a hat during a service. Those tend to be man made additions to the law that we hold onto legalistically. Jesus dealt with this frequently. One example would be in healing a man with a shriveled hand on the sabbath. He was not breaking God’s law (His own law), but man made additions defining this good deed as a work of the law. The good news was that God was here and had compassion on a man with a shriveled hand. They missed the point. I think we can too.
Matthew 12: 1 – 14: At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ a you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Thank you, Brother!
We can “miss the point,” but thanks to people like you and Paul, we have shepherds who keep pointing us in the right direction. : -)
Thank you for sharing this morning; I read the meditation a few times. I would like to share that this forum has become for me an additional place where the Holy Spirit defines and refines in my mind core beliefs, and fortifies in my mind His direction for my walk and life.
I once attended a church where I met a man who insisted that people had to wear a suit or “dress clothing” to church for Sunday morning service. The idea was in “showing reverence before God.” In his ideology, he cited scripture from the Old Testament on how the priests were instructed to dress in the tabernacle when they went before the Lord. This idea had grown in him to the point that he said it would be better to not attend, than to attend dressed “inappropriately.” I remember asking him what “appropriately” meant, and what about someone who couldn’t afford “nice” clothing. His answer was “you have to wear your best.” It was an interesting conversation, and it has always stuck out in my mind because, to me, in incapsulates how the law, or legalism, can twist the Word of God, and His intent, into a measuring stick of worthiness. That somehow we can “do” something that will make us worthy before God, or dare I say, “more worthy” than our neighbor. It definitely placed a dividing line between “those that do” and “those that don’t.” That is counter to what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us that all who place their faith in Christ, believe in Him and His sacrifice, confess Him as Lord, and make Him Lord of their life become children of God. There is no sprinkling of human worthiness in there. We come to Him as we are, place our faith in Him as we are, are forgiven of our sins as we are, made a new creation, freed from the slavery of sin and the law, and walk in the freedom of faith in Him, and that the guidance of His Word and His Spirit will bring us closer to Him and God. Obeying Christ is a matter of the heart. In obeying Him in gratitude, love for God first and our neighbor as ourselves, and seeking His Word and His presence, we obey the law. Under just the law, or legalism, we place ourselves under the danger of mindless obedience. An obedience that is more “compliance”, an exercise to show God we are worthy. Also, that type of obedience lends itself to expansion, as humans begin to try and “one up” each other. Also, that type of obedience become splintered, as humans will fixate on “the rules” they feel they can follow easily, and minimizing the ones they can’t.
I think that in Paul’s writing he was indeed speaking about the Old Testament law. But we can also understand how God’s original commands were expanded by man. Legalism today is akin to that expansion. It is a similar pattern of what took place in the Old Testament. The problem with that expansion is that it will never stop, and it will take us further and further away from God’s intent, which is to bring us back into His presence and redeem us to His intent for our very existence. Faith in Christ, and the growing of faith will also never stop, but the difference is Christ becomes a part of who we are, the law will never become a part of who we are. In Christ, we can become like Him. In the law, and legalism, in it’s entirety, we can never become like it, a life that obeys it, we are forever indebted to it.
Thank you, Chris!
I really like your point that “the law will never become a part of who we are.” That is profound, and in its own way, terrifying. We should be very wary of the isolation that comes with relying on the law as opposed to the joy and inclusion of being with God.
Galatians 5:3, Does Paul’s admonition against returning to the “law” apply to other forms of legalism as well, or is it limited to Old Testament law? Explain.
Romans 7:12 Tells us, the Law itself is good, and in Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18-19 we are taught, the word of God is complete and we are not to add to or remove from what is written and preserved by God.
At the same time the demands for our “SELF observation/application of the Law” will block the Holy power of God through Christ. True Holy living cannot come, the Law cannot, is not capable of giving full life in God, when any authority, independent of His divine empowerment that comes from the Holy Spirit of Christ is being exercised through us.
The law may restrain the outward expression of sin, however the fact that we do not give full physical expression to our depravity does not make us righteous.
Romans 10:3, For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Jeremiah 17:10, I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
All believers are called to humbly submit themselves to the will of God, to live in His Spirit and allow His will to be done in all we do. Anything, everything that would, will give room for selfish pride is to be avoided. God’s will being done is our priority, and Jesus Christ is our power as He resides in our hearts and we submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Matthew 6:33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
James 4:14-15, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’’
Ron,
Thank you! I noted that you pointed out the law is “good” and I realized I had said just the opposite. I have corrected the post to read “faith in the law is bad,” rather than the “law is bad.”
Thank you, too, for pointing out that the law — any law — cannot make us righteous. So true!
Thank Youuu Jeff!
Great very thought provoking meditation.
Ron