2022 Galatians Commentary

“Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”
Galatians 1:1-5

We are free when we live in Christ Yeshua, both trusting in Him and being obedient to His will, so help us God.

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:6-10

Paul interjects early in his message to the Galatians with a point of amazed disappointment; he “marvels” that converts are turning aside to a different gospel. The true Gospel is this: Yeshua died for our sins, and it is a gift of God that we should be justified (saved) through His death on the cross. Nothing we do or say can possibly save us. This concept is consistent with our obligation to keep the commandments of God, which we do not for salvation, but for sanctification and because we love Jesus. It is the act of obedience that proves our faith, but such obedience does not establish our faith. The Rabbinical Jews were teaching that circumcision was required for salvation, and this is the contrary Gospel Paul references. Galatians is 100 percent about circumcision, nothing more and nothing less. Circumcision is a mark of the first covenant, which can be seen by going back to its institution; namely, Genesis 17:11, “and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” Gentiles were receiving the Holy Spirit whether they were circumcised or not, and Paul is making it abundantly clear that no one ought to put circumcision as a stumbling block in front of Gentiles who had received the Holy Spirit.

“For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me.”
Galatians 1:11-24

In His book, “The Heavenly Man,” Brother Yun speaks about the awful persecutions in China, the torture & beatings that he received on account of his undying purpose of sharing the Gospel with other Chinese peasants, even though it was against the law. So many miracles of God came out of this experience, but what I find incredibly fascinating is that when Brother Yun moved to Germany and then spent time in Canada and the United States, he considered the persecution of the West even worse than the physical pain he endured. He said the outright institutional lying against his purpose and beliefs & what he was trying to accomplish for Christ was far worse torment than any physical pain he’d endured, and he would take physical persecution any day over the psychological persecution he experienced in the West. I’m not one for pain, and so I’m just communicating what Brother Yun wrote, but I do know what it means to be persecuted for Christ and His Torah, but like Paul, I rejoice in it always.

“Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.”
Galatians 2:1-10

Acts 15 sets the stage for what Paul is writing about in Galatians, and it is actually the very same subject matter of the letter. I’m going to dig in and provide some commentary concerning it, as this will serve as the foundation for the balance of my comments as we study Galatians. Galatians, a book primarily about Gentiles being grafted in to the Olive Tree that is Israel, deals with the mark of the Old Covenant, circumcision, verses the circumcision of the heart that takes place in the New Covenant, the “circumcision made without hands.” The epistle deals quite heavily with the practices of circumcision and the question as to whether Gentiles coming into the faith have to circumcise themselves as adults.

We see in Acts 15:1: “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’.” And in verse 2, Paul and Barnabas had “no small dispute” with them, and went to Jerusalem “to the apostles and elders, about this question.”

First off, we see that they are going to Jerusalem to address the question of adult circumcision, but then in verse 5, we read that the sect of the Pharisees rose up in Jerusalem and expanded the query, by saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” This is important, because the apostles will judge both matters in the upcoming verses. The conjunction “and” separates the two different concepts of the verse and the apostles will handle them separately.

In verses 6-11, Peter explains that these Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit prior to being circumcised, and this phenomenon is verification of the concept that these new believers were circumcised in their hearts, and thus a physical circumcision, which is an outward sign of the first covenant, was not needed for salvation. See again in Genesis 17:11: “You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” The physical circumcision is a sign of the first covenant. Peter continues by asking why such a burden ought to be put on the Gentiles, when their fathers themselves had not kept it and when a dispensation of a second covenant was now taking root.

The next part is an area that trips up many Christians, for Peter then clarifies that salvation does not come through the law of God, either, but it comes by grace through faith in the death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection unto life. This is the truth. For a point of clarification, we must examine this concept spelled out by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” And so these very verses summarize the whole of the faith, which is that we are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus, and no work of the law that we ever do can possibly save us. This is a process called justification, and its work is complete if the faith is real.

Now, the next verse of Ephesians clarifies that once we are justified by grace, we must repent and walk in the commandments of God, which are the “good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” This is the structure of the faith, which we see spelled out in Revelation 14:12: The saints are those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” And so, we see this same structure being spelled out in Acts and then in Galatians, also. Once we are saved or justified by grace, we are then sanctified by following the law with the help of the Holy Spirit. We literally “go and sin no more,” as Jesus commanded the adulterer to do in John 8:11. You also see in all of James 2 that “faith without works is dead,” meaning that you begin the journey through faith in Jesus, but you walk in endurance toward the prize by following the law (Philippians 3:12-16, Hebrews 12:1-11) with the help of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).

If one does not seek God with all his or her heart (Jeremiah 29:13), he or she risks falling from the grace of Christ and losing the salvation gained. Satan works overtime to accomplish this, as we read in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Be vigilant in what? Well, in keeping the law, of course. We’ve already seen various verses that warn about the risk of not turning toward obedience after salvation. To recap, here are the most relevant: Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-27, Romans 11:22, Philippians 2:12-13, Matthew 7:21-23, and the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23. And so, salvation is the critical first step, and sanctification is the equally important step two, which is required for the believer to receive his or her inheritance when Christ returns. On the testimony of 2 or 3, a thing is established” (2 Corinthians 13:1, Matthew 18:16, Hebrews 10:28, Deuteronomy 19:15).

Moving on in Acts 15, we see James make a judgment that becomes the verdict of the Jerusalem council in verses 13-21. He notes importantly that Gentiles coming into the faith must immediately “abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.” In other words, new baby Christians must make their temple clean immediately upon entering the faith. That is the first step. But after this, they will continue to learn “Moses,” meaning the law of God given to Moses, in the synagogues every Sabbath. This is the same structure of the faith. The Gentiles have been called to “seek the Lord” and they are “called by My name,” says the Lord. In other words, they are saved by grace through faith in the Messiah Jesus. They receive the Holy Spirit. And then they attend church/synagogue every Sabbath and learn the law.

The purpose of God’s law is to convict the believer with Godly sorrow, and that Godly sorrow leads to repentance, and that repentance leads to obedience. Reference the initial sections written above on the purpose of the Word, and you will see 2 Peter 1 describes full well the progression from faith to virtue, which is captured in the immediate commands of James in Acts 15. From virtue, the progression goes on to knowledge, which James also addresses with his comment about attendance in the synagogue to learn the law of God given through Moses. It is only from this knowledge of the law that the Christian can develop self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and sacrificial love, clearly the advanced walk of a mature Christian.

And so we see that the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 addresses both questions asked by the sect of believing Pharisees, and in simple terms, describes the whole Christian walk. In conclusion, adult circumcision, the mark of the first covenant, is unnecessary for new believers who come into the faith as adults because they are under the new covenant. The law of God, on the other hand, will be learned each Sabbath and followed upon conviction by the Holy Spirit—it is written onto our hearts in the New Covenant. The law does not justify us, but it absolutely does work to sanctify us, and outside of the law we are condemned by lawlessness. The law is written on our hearts and works with the Holy Spirit to lead us in endurance to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is our glorification in Christ.

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
Galatians 2:11-16

Chronologically, it appears that Paul would have written his letter to the Galatians after visiting “the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order,” so I think the letter appearing in our study is a bit premature. Nevertheless, Acts 15 was the first instance of Paul’s interaction with the Galatians and it ought to be considered along with the entire epistle. The issue Paul writes about here is something he’s been dealing with a lot; in every region he’s visited. It appears that the Rabbinical Jews who are considering the Gospel are holding on to their First Covenant mark; namely, physical circumcision; while it is clear that the New Covenant comes with a different mark; namely, the receipt of the Holy Spirit, which Paul calls the “circumcision of the heart.” It’s also important to consider that the book of Romans is a far more complete version of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and it includes some of the broader topics that Paul just glosses over in Galatians.

Ultimately, we must consider Peter’s warning concerning Paul’s writing before we dig and and study the Apostle’s epistle to the Galatians. 2 Peter 3:14-18 contains the entire message, but verses 15-16 contain the most pertinent point, which is “Paul … in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things [the Gospel of Yeshua], in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” In other words, he says that Paul’s writing can be confusing and taken out of context, so beware and make sure you line up what he writes with the rest of Scripture so that it does not contradict. Paul was a Jewish scholar, trained by Gamaliel, one of the most astute Rabbis of the day, and He knew the Scriptures like the back of his hand. Jesus chose Paul to teach the Gentiles, because of this knowledge, and He chose Peter to teach the Jews, because Peter taught more from the authority of the Holy Spirit and was not learned of the Scriptures to the same extent. But this wasn’t the piece needed for the Jews, they just needed faith in Yeshua HaMashiach. Most Jews already obeyed the commandments. The Gentiles needed to learn the commandments, and so Paul attempts to teach them this while drawing the distinction between faith in Yeshua and obedience to the commandments; the first is needed for justification, also called salvation, and the second is needed for sanctification. What isn’t needed is obedience to the Rabbinical laws, which Jesus and Paul both make clear in their teaching. Also inherent in understanding Paul’s teaching is an appreciation for the requirements of the First Covenant and the New Covenant. In the first, Aaron is the High Priest; Jesus is the mediator in the New. In the first, Moses is the mediator, while Jesus fills that role in the Second. In the first, the Temple is in Jerusalem, while the Temple is in our bodies in the second. In the first, the sacrifices of bulls and goats and other animals serve as a propitiation for sin, while in the second, Jesus is the one-time sacrifice for sin. Finally, in the first, the law is written on tablets of stone, while in the second, it is written on the tablets of our heart.

In the beginning of Galatians 2, Paul is recalling his visit to the Jerusalem counsel in Acts 15. He notes that the same type of men who Jesus criticized—those who wore their tzit-tzit long or who held the best seats at dinner parties or etc.—these are the same ones who are demanding Gentiles who come into the faith receive physical circumcision. These are “false brethren secretly brought in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,” and to demand circumcision (bondage). He then explains that he has been called to preach the Gospel “for the uncircumcised,” while Peter was preaching the Gospel “for the circumcised.” This is not to say that there is a different Gospel for Gentiles and Jews—this would be anathema to Christ’s mission to create One Body of believers. It is to say that circumcision is not part of the Second Covenant, or New Covenant.

Paul & Peter seem to be throwing light barbs back at each other in their writing. While Peter criticizes Paul for writing with confusing phraseology that could be read the wrong way and lead people astray, a true statement, Paul criticizes Peter for shunning the uncircumcised brethren when circumcised brethren were also present. This was also a proper criticism. As we read in Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Peter had extended “the right hand of fellowship” to Paul, & so these two apostles are brothers who love one another. They are simply calling attention (quite publicly, as the criticism persists to the present day) to each other’s very real faults, calling on each other to be better Christians, but also to each of us today to not miss the faults that Christians can sometimes have so that we can call each other on them & build each other up; “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Mt 5:48).

In specific example, Paul writes: “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Again, to be justified is to be saved, and no one can be saved by their own efforts. Salvation is a gift from God through Jesus Christ, and no other act but Yeshua’s crucifixion and resurrection can save us.

DO NOT MISS the salient point that Paul adds directly after this (conveniently left off of today’s devotional): “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Sin is violation of the law. We cannot say we are saved and violate the Law of God. If we do this, we lose our salvation. Thus, Paul is telling the Jewish brothers to lay off the new believers and let them grow in the faith. We are to be patient with our fellow believers as the learn and adopt the law of Moses.

“But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.””
Galatians 2:17-21

DO NOT MISS the salient point that Paul uses as an anchor statement, repeated from yesterday: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Sin is violation of the law. We cannot say we are saved and violate the Law of God. If we do this, we lose our salvation. Thus, Paul is telling the Jewish brothers to lay off the new believers and let them grow in the faith. We are to be patient with our fellow believers as they learn and adopt the law of Moses. It’s not the law that imparts righteousness, for only Christ can do that through His blood, as we are all sinners worthy of death. However, the law does indeed define righteousness, and this is what we—in Christ—must walk in. Thank God for Christ that we have the propitiation of His blood for righteousness, but DO NOT insult the spirit of grace and forsake the law.

And so as Paul concludes this section, he writes “for I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In other words, it is impossible for man to follow the law perfectly, and violation of the law brings about death. Thus, Christ is required to bring salvation through His blood on the cross. Without this grace, we have no righteousness, because just one violation of the law brings death. It is Christ’s death that restores us to a state of righteousness through faith so that we can then walk in righteousness from that point forward. Don’t be mistaken and take this as a “liberty to sin,” for Paul has made clear that Christ is “certainly not” a minister of sin. You will die in your sin if you do not repent from it and walk away from it in Christ, who has forgiven.

“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
Galatians 3:1-9

As with the rest of this study, Galatians 3 cannot be taken out of context, but must be put up against the rest of the epistle to the Galatians, Paul’s longer and more complete companion epistle to the Romans, and the context of the Jerusalem Council from Acts 15. Galatians is actually a second letter to the Galatians, following the ruling from the Jerusalem Council. The question of whether adults converting to the faith should be circumcised has already been addressed, and now Paul is writing to address the same topic again. This is perhaps why he takes a stronger tone, and even writes with big letters (Galatians 6:11) to make his point clear: “As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh” (Galatians 6:12-13). We’ve been over this. These law enforcers keep the commandments of men, but they do not keep the law of God. Paul is saying the same thing here. Adult circumcision was the sign of the first covenant, but the dispensation of the second covenant is here (Galatians 4:21-31). Making a deep spiritual connection to the stories of Ishmael and Isaac, one born from fleshly desire and the other from miraculous promise, Paul shows how the first covenant is likewise marked by a fleshly observance, but the second covenant is marked by a circumcision of the heart, or more specifically, baptism by the Holy Spirit. These circumcision-party fellows are missing it. In Galatians 5:12, Paul uses a double entendre, stating that he wishes these men advocating for circumcision would castrate themselves, noting that such blind adherence to a fleshly observance of the first covenant could detach them from the love of Christ by creating undue division in the Church. He quotes Jesus from Matthew 22:35-40 and Luke 10:25-28, who quoted Leviticus 19:18, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” Paul’s foray into summarizing the whole law of God in one basic concept is not new, and nor does it discount the rest of the law of God. His point is that the believers in the circumcision party are violating the law of God by attempting to promote circumcision as a requirement for salvation. Didn’t we read that in Acts 15:1? We did.

So when we read in Galatians 1:6, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ,” we should know through context exactly who Paul is talking about. To be clear: He’s talking about the circumcision party, who is claiming that circumcision is needed for salvation. It is not. “We are saved through grace by faith.” That’s the grace of Christ. And we know that believers are receiving the Holy Spirit before they are even baptized. Look at the story of Cornelius for an example in Acts 10. That’s not to say that baptism is not needed, for even Jesus said “baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), but it is to say that the New Covenant is established supernaturally, just like Isaac was conceived supernaturally.

In further making the case that all of Galatians is about circumcision, I present Galatians 2:3: “not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.” And then in Galatians 2:6-10, Paul relates how his mission was to preach to the uncircumcised, while Peter and James were sent to preach to the circumcised, but it was the same Gospel, and the only request was that Paul remember the poor. And then in Galatians 2:11-16, Paul gets into Rabbinical customs that prevent Jews from eating with Gentiles and how some of the apostles got caught up in the appearances of such nonsense. But importantly, he continues by saying whether Jew or Greek, both are justified (saved) solely by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by works of the law. (See the discussion about Ephesians above). Paul’s anchor statement comes next, and it is of critical importance that we do not miss it: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!” (Galatians 2:17). In other words, Paul is saying that salvation comes through faith alone, but once saved, we cannot continue in sin, because sin is lawlessness. Christ, being not a minister of sin, will not dwell with men who live in violation of God’s law. Paul, being the scholar that he is, writes with such precision that becoming a scholar of the law is necessary to understand his statements. But if we follow the law, and study it day and night, that is what God is asking us to be. By no means does Paul abandon the law in any of these verses or even put it to rest. He simply says, we are saved by grace so that we can continue in the faith through good works of the law; nothing more and nothing less.

And so when we get to Galatians 3:2-3, it is clear that Paul is talking about circumcision when he writes, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” As we’ve discussed, the Holy Spirit coming upon Gentile believers was a miracle of God, a miracle that God prophesied through Joel 2:28-32, with the “Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh.” This is the literal mark of the second covenant. Gentiles coming into the faith are being “circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,” as we read in Acts 15. So why then are these Gentiles being tempted to be “made perfect by the flesh,” or in other words, mark their belief with physical circumcision? The idea is ludicrous to Paul, which is why he writes so emphatically.

“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Galatians 3:10-14

It grieves me deeply to see such misinterpretation of Paul’s writings, but we can’t say we weren’t warned. Again, Peter in 2 Peter 3:14-16, warns us not to misinterpret the confusing writing of Paul. His letters are especially confusing for people who don’t know the Torah, nor understand that Paul quotes from it extensively. Paul is such an expert of Torah that God chose him to teach it to the Gentiles. Sadly, the ignorance of Torah has won out over time, and it is completely lost on today’s Christians that Paul is teaching the law with precision and perfection, as well as the glory that comes in Christ, who commands all of us to keep the law as He did. Thank God we have the Holy Spirit to help us and Jesus’s blood to atone for us, because we wouldn’t make it to Heaven without that. Jesus said even our hearts must be obedient. DO NOT allow the horrible commentaries of people who are confused by Paul’s writing lead you to dismiss God’s law. Paul himself warns us in Romans 3:31.

So today’s verses, Galatians 3:10-14, are the center of Christian confusion, particularly as it pertains to whether we are still “under the law.” And so I’ll use this opportunity to explain by way of analogy what it means to be “under the law.” If you go 90 mph in a 65 mph zone and are stopped by a police officer, you are now “under the law,” in that the speed limit law has now brought a curse upon you—in this case, a traffic ticket. However, if you travel 65 mph in a 65 mph zone, you are not “under the law,” because you are abiding by it. Thus a police officer on the side of the road will not subject you to the curse of the law, because you are obeying it. In fact, you now have total freedom to travel throughout the land, because you are not under the law any longer—you are following it. So when Paul writes “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’,” this is precisely what Paul is saying. When we violate the law of God, we are under the curse of death. When we follow the law, we are not under the curse of death.

I pray deeply for your eyes to be opened by this and that you can see the beauty and eloquence of Paul’s writing and disregard the false teachers like this devotional writer who have confused Christians for generations.

As the Torah says in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin,” and again the punishment for sin is death, the problem we are facing—and Paul is addressing—is that not one man or woman is worthy of eternal life when we are “under the law.” And this is why “no one is justified by the law in the sight of God.” Paul says this is “evident,” because frankly it is evident. No one can be saved by the law, because the law condemns those who violate it, and everyone violates it. So here is the good news, and also the point that Paul is making: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” In other words, Jesus took upon Himself the curse of the law and hung it on the cross—He died for our sins. So through His sacrifice on our behalf, we can receive the promise of the Spirit through faith in the grace of God. Our slate is wiped clean and in Christ, we can be without sin. Lest we consider this free gift as an eternal get out of jail free card, Paul is very careful to provide those anchor statements that don’t let us follow that line of reasoning. We saw that in Galatians 2:17: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!” We can’t continue to sin once we have been justified (saved) by Christ on the cross. Living in sin leads to death. Always.

To reemphasize, If you are living in Christ, you are correct that you are not under the law. However, even those who have been saved by grace alone are subject to both the allure of the world and the flesh as temptations—granted, temptations that are not too difficult to bear by the power of the Holy Spirit—but nonetheless temptations that as humans we have the free will to fall into. If we fall into them, and continue in them, we fall from grace, and both Jesus and Paul make this clear in their words, which I have pointed out. You are taking each of the verses you quote out of context, and I can show you for each and every one of them how so, and have shown you.

It matters very much what we do once we have been saved & the teaching that it does not matter what we do will lead millions of Christians to Hell. We are saved ALONE by grace. No act of the following the law saves us. In fact, no one in the Old Covenant was saved by the law, either. The law DOES NOT save, & it never did SAVE. Only Jesus, who is one in being with the Father, saves, and in Him alone has any man ever been saved from Adam on. Paul points out that Abraham was saved by his belief, which was accounted to him as righteousness. So Abraham, too, was saved alone by grace through his faith, which was seen in his actions, and not just his heart. Likewise, our faith is expressed by our faithfulness, which means our obedience to the law. If we are found sinners, know that Christ is NOT a minister of sin. You cannot maintain salvation, which absolutely and unequivocally can be lost, if you fall into lawlessness, and Jesus said so Himself. We are saved to fulfill the law, like Christ.

“Like Yeshua, James is against the idea that we can just pick and
choose which commandments are relevant to our lives. We have no
authority to declare some commandments valid and others invalid.
All of the Torah is important.”    
― David Wilber

“Evermore the Law must prepare the way for the gospel. To overlook
this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the
introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the
church with false converts.”  
― Charles Finney

“It is a great mistake to give a man who has not been convicted of
sin, certain passages that were never meant for him. The Law is
what he needs. Do not offer the consolation of the gospel until he
sees and knows he is guilty before God. We must give enough of
the Law to take away all self righteousness. I pity the man who
preaches only one side of the truth, always the gospel and never the
Law.”
― D L Moody

“I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not
preach the Law. Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man
perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather
than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conver-
sion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its
most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have
taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ.
they will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy
Law. Therefore, the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it
must not be removed from its place. The Law cuts into the core of
evil, it reveals the seat of the malady and informs us that the leprosy
lies deep within. They must be slain by the Law before they can be
made alive by the gospel.” ―
Charles Spurgeon

“Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17-18

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? … But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ” James 2:14, 20

“If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15

There’s so many more…. The whole Scripture is full of this message. Revelation 14:12 says, “Here is the patience [endurance] of the Saints; here are they who KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE FAITH OF JESUS.”

You have two choices: Throw out Paul’s writing to the Galatians because his writing contradicts the whole of Scripture as well as the direct Words of Jesus, or, like I do, recognize that his writing does not contradict Scripture and it needs to be interpreted more carefully. Pauls’s writing is beautiful, eloquent and true, but very difficult to understand, and even Peter warned us about this. Don’t let his difficult writing convince you to discard God’s law, because that is lawlessness, and it paves a road to Hell. Love God, Love the Son, and Love the Law, for they lead to life.

By obeying the law, we do not seek God’s love, we show that we love God. God has already shown that He loves us. We ought to want to do what pleases Him, because we love Him, and He has told us what pleases Him: it is obedience to His law and trust in His promises.

“Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.”
Galatians 3:15-20

So now we get to the section that needs the most disambiguation; namely, verses 19-25. “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.” Most important of all: this verse by no means says that the law is done away with because Jesus, the Seed, has come. What it says is that the sacrificial law with a human mediator [Moses] was put in place to temporarily forgive sin during the age of the first covenant, and now we have a more perfect sacrifice and mediator, who sacrificed once for all time in the second covenant.

We read a parallel verse in Hebrews 10:1-4, 12-14: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. … But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Think of the sacrificial system of the law as the EMT showing up on the scene to help someone who has had a heart attack. Now these ambulance riders may be able to stabilize a person on the way to the hospital, but it isn’t until the surgeon inserts stents inside the arterial walls that the person will be healthy again. Jesus is that surgeon, who provides the permanent solution to sin and forgives it once and for all, so long as we no longer live in sin. Jesus was the Seed of promise, the High Priest, the Mediator, the Sacrifice, and when He came the temporary sacrificial system was no longer needed. The New Covenant system replaced that system, and in that system, the Holy Spirit dwells within the new Temple, which is within our body, rather than in a building in Jerusalem (1 Corinth 3:16). And the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is the very mark of our salvation or justification, and that justification comes solely from God’s grace through faith in Jesus. This is what Paul is saying.

“Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Galatians 3:21-29

In yesterday’s reading, I concluded with this quintessential point: Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is the very mark of our salvation or justification, and that justification comes solely from God’s grace through faith in Jesus; there is no salvation through obedience to the law, for the law is simply the baseline expectation of God, and one who is in Christ will strive to follow every bit of it in Spirit and Truth. The salvation comes from Christ. I also spoke about four differences between the Old and New Covenant, of which there are five. The four mentioned were the change from Moses as mediator to Christ, Aaron as High Priest to Christ, the sacrifices of bulls and goats to the one-time sacrifice of Christ, and the Temple in Jerusalem is now the Temple of our bodies, where the Holy Spirit dwells when we accept Christ for our salvation and turn our hearts in repentance from dead works to obedience to the works of God with God’s Holy Spirit as our help.

The only thing missing in our comparison above between the first and second covenant is the law of God itself, which is now written on the tablets of our heart instead of the tablets of stone, and it is fully upheld and still in force (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 10:16). In a verse mainstream Christian theologians conveniently skip, Paul provides his anchor statement to make this clear: “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.” In other words, if we were capable of following the law perfectly on our own, we could in fact achieve the promises of God through it. But we are not capable of that, and so God provided another way. The law represents the perfect will of God, and it in fact is our tutor on how to obey the Lord when He says, “Be Holy, for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we need our mediator, Jesus Christ, who gives us the promise of faith. Yes, the law kept us under guard before Jesus’s visitation, it showed us how we ought to live, and it still does. We are obligated to keep the law—not the law of sacrifices at a no longer existent temple—but the law of God that He has commanded us to follow in the balance of the Old Testament, to keep our own temple clean. Verse 22-23 in Galatians 3 continues with the theme of the sacrificial system, which was upgraded with the one-time sacrifice of Jesus, the “faith which would afterward be revealed.”

The final verse in the section can be compared to a parallel verse in Romans for clarity. In Galatians 3:24-25: “Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” In Romans 6:14-16, we see the parallel verse: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Isn’t the Romans version so much more clear? Yes, we are not under the law because of Jesus’s sacrifice for our sin, and we no longer suffer the punishment for violating the law, but we are then obligated to “go and sin no more.” If you are a slave to sin, you have nothing to expect but death and Jesus’s blood cannot save you. If you are a slave of obedience to righteousness, on the other hand, you can expect the promises of God. There can be no other obedience leading to righteousness than obedience to the law of God, in Christ, for the law of God defines what righteousness is. This is not for salvation, but because of salvation. If we do not love God’s law, how can we say we know the one who spoke every Word from the Mouth of God?

Acts 15:19-21: James, who made the final call in the Jerusalem Council, said, “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

In brief, the law is a tutor to Gentiles equally, for they will learn it in the synagogue every Sabbath and as they come to understand it in Spirit and Truth, and keep it with love and fervor for the Lord. The first step was for Gentiles to get their temples clean, which is why they needed the four immediate prohibitions, but then they would learn the rest of the law each week as they came into the faith, and they would do it. The Holy Spirit would help them keep the law in their faith, as it helps us obey. Because as we know, faith without works is dead.

To the Jews, we teach Messiah Yeshua and the salvational grace He brings to all, and to the Gentiles, the law is taught, for they are ignorant of it, and with the Holy Spirit, they would learn to live it with love, if they are not rebellious and lawless at heart.

“Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Galatians 4:1-7

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26-31)

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:1-13)

Today’s passage is about being grafted-in to Israel through the blood of our Messiah, Jesus. He came to tear down the middle wall of separation and the enmity that existed between Jews and Gentiles, to make both one in Christ. Today speaks about both the Jews and the Gentiles coming together as one in Christ, through His blood, and through the salvation that He offers. We become adopted sons in Christ, and as adopted sons (and daughters), we will be chastened by the Lord according to His law to test us, to see whether we will obey Him when the rubber meets the road. We’re asked to strengthen our walk (sanctification) by the power of the Holy Spirit, and straighten our paths, which means to walk according to the law, so that we are no longer under the law, but now we fulfill it in Christ, following after our Savior who asked us to follow Him and to love one another AS HE LOVED US. He loved us through His obedience to God, and asked the same of us, as we follow Him.

While in the Old Covenant, the law had been interpreted to separate Jews and Gentiles, we know that in the New Covenant, in Spirit and Truth, the law means to separate the believing from the unbelieving, and the believing obey their Savior and His commandments because they love Him. Those who reject the same are not believing, but unbelieving. Because as we know, faith without works is dead. Only a faith that Loves God, Loves Jesus, possesses His Holy Spirit and therefore obeys the commandments God gave us (the house rules to live in His forever house) with His help, is a living faith that is truly seeking a loving relationship with the Father. These are the works that show we truly possess faith and desire to be with Him and trust in Him and love Him, and do what He told us to do.

Importantly, we are not to do what men tell us to do, and the commandments of men lead people away from the law of God. Only Satan does that.

Consider what Satan did to Eve in the garden: “You will not surely die” if you disobey God’s commandment to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he said. In fact you will become like God, he said.

Today Satan says: “You will not surely die if you rebel against God’s law and disregard it as antiquated and no longer in force. In fact, you will become like God and live forever.”

These are both lies that lead to Hell.

The Saints who are in Christ and live forever live in patient endurance; they keep the commandments of God AND faith in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ). Revelation 14:12.
As Gentiles grafted-in to the Tree of Israel (Romans 11, Galatians 4), we must desire Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love Him sacrificially by giving up our former way of life in sin and turning to His righteousness instead. Not our own righteousness, but His righteousness. His righteousness is defined by the law of God, and like He fulfilled the law, so must we.

“However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”
Galatians 4:8-20

We are not justified by the law; not now, not ever. Please read my words carefully. We are justified by grace alone by faith. However, once we are SAVED by the blood of Jesus—that, and that alone—, we must then obey the law to grow in our faith as part of the Sanctification process, and the Holy Spirit helps us. This becomes a matter of the heart. If your desire is to get out of the law and find wiggle room around it, then you are a Pharisee, because this is precisely what Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing. If you fully embrace the law and love every bit of it BECAUSE you love Jesus and seek to learn it, to know it, and to do it, then that is evidence of your faith and faithfulness. Jesus doesn’t want you to fearfully follow the letter of the law, but instead, He wants you to lovingly pursue the law with all of your heart, seeking Him and His love language, striving to know Him more and more each day, passionately working to understand Him better. Faith without works is dead.

In 2 Timothy 3, we read Paul writing a letter to his disciple Timothy. Before reading it, consider that there was NO New Testament when Paul wrote this:

“But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The true way to live is through the Holy Scriptures, which Timothy, who had a Greek Father and a Jewish mother, had known from His youth. All Scripture (ONLY THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS AVAILABLE THEN) is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” so the man in Christ may be “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Yes, the Old Testament is what Paul writes about, and we must learn it, know it and do it, in Christ. The New Testament interprets.

In this section of Galatians, Paul exhorts the Gentiles not to return to their pagan ways, observing “worthless elemental things” (key words) that enslave them, as pagans are wont to do. Like the Jews in the wilderness, the Gentiles are hesitant to give up their pagan practices, because they provide some comfort to what they were accustomed to, especiallly the pagan festivals, the “days and months and seasons and years.” This doesn’t refer to Jewish feasts here. He’s referring to the “days, months, seasons and years” that governed the pagan tradition, and many Christians today have failed to give them up, despite Paul’s warnings. Paul was calling Gentiles out of their Paganism to a new faith in Christ Jesus, powered by the Holy Spirit and instructed by the law. This section of Galatians highlights why it is SO important to read the law, because without it we are lost, not knowing which direction to go. We need both knowledge of God and His Spirit to help us interpret to grow in faith.

It is also evident that Paul is referring to pagan traditions with this exhortation because he chastises Gentiles for “returning” to these things. If they were Gentiles, they were not “returning” to the Jewish traditions. That’s preposterous. They were returning to their pagan practices and mixing the Holy with the profane, something that Christians still do today. Rather than fully embracing their new faith, they were mixing it in with their old way of life. This is why Paul is so upset. He is calling them out of that old life into a new life in Christ. You cannot have a new life in Christ if you are stuck worshipping idols. God comes first, and there ought to be no other god before Him. It’s Jesus or you’re lost. You can’t have it both ways.

“Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a husband.” And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.”
Galatians 4:21-31

In Hosea 4:6, we read: ”My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

In Ephesians 4:17-19, we read: “ This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”

 In 2 Peter 1:5-9: “But also for this very reason [because we have been saved by grace through faith (see 2 Peter 1:1-4)], giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”

When we are saved, we begin a long journey of sanctification that begins in ignorance. If you continue in that ignorance and do not seek the Lord and the knowledge of God, you will be destroyed. The Holy Spirit’s purpose, as described fully in John 14, is to help you understand the law of God and implement it as God intended and as Jesus showed by example. Without the Spirit, this is impossible.

If you DO NOT study the law and do it, you show that your faith is without works, and therefore dead, which is not the same as saying it never existed. It means that you have not progressed in your faith (see Hebrews 6). To progress in the faith, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we MUST read the law day and night and hear it and obey it, according to the will of Jesus Christ.

We read in Joshua 1:8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

We read in Psalm 1:1-2: “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”

This is what Peter means when he says, “add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge…”

Without the knowledge of God, the study of the law, the understanding of the law and the doing of the law, “In spirit and truth,” led by the Holy Spirit, you cannot progress as a Christian and remain as a little child still stuck drinking milk, when Christ wants you to move on to solid food. He wants you to follow Him, which means to fulfill the law just as He did, in every single way, even unto death on a cross—or any other way. He wants you to love one another, which means to call sinners to repentance and teach Christians about what they’re missing: The law must be followed, not out of blind obedience, but out of love for our savior who saved us. It is not for salvation that we keep the law, but it is BECAUSE of salvation that we keep the law, to show our love of our Savior. The law is for our good. This does not mean we are “under the law,” in fact it means just the opposite; it means we are abiding by the law and totally free to live our lives in Christ, according to His will.

Here are two analogies that put Galatians into perspective:
1) You are caught stealing and end up in jail and then go before the judge. You repent and ask for forgiveness and offer to pay back what you stole twofold, coinciding with Torah (Exodus 22:3-6). Instead of sentencing you, the judge comes down from the bench, and offers to serve your sentence for you so that you can go free and have another shot at life. He pays the fine and serves the time for you. At that point, do you go back out and steal again, or do you “go and sin no more”? It is because of grace that we obey the law, and thus you are not “under the law” nor do you face its punishment. It is that simple.
2) You drive 95 mph in a 65 mph zone and get pulled over. You are now “under the law” and will face the consequences of your sin. You drive 65 mph in a 65 mph zone. Now you are NOT “under the law,” but are indeed free to drive throughout the country. It is for freedom that we are set free to live righteously in Christ.

And so, when we read Galatians 4:21-31 today, we must be sure to understand verse 21 in context: “Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?” The problem is that Gentiles in Galatia are turning to circumcise themselves in the flesh, at the prompting of Pharisaic Jews who are telling them this is necessary for them to be adopted into the faith. The circumcision of the flesh is a “sign” of the Old Covenant (Genesis 17:9-11). The key word here is “sign.” We are not under the Old Covenant, though, we are under the New Covenant in Christ. Paul points out assuredly: Yes, circumcision is required to be welcomed into the faith, however, the sign of this covenant is not physical circumcision but spiritual circumcision: “In Him [Christ] you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,…” (Colossians 2:11 (read the rest of this chapter, too)).

Paul’s whole point in Galatians 4:21 is that these Gentiles are fulfilling the law in the New Covenant through their circumcision by the Holy Spirit, which cuts out the sin from their hearts and leads them in ways everlasting. Why then would they subject themselves to the requirements of the Old Covenant? They ought not do so. Once there is a circumcision of the heart, why need there be another? To seek additional requirements not commanded by God is sin, and this is something that Jesus often accused the Pharisees of doing, such as in Mark 7:6-8: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’  For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” Jeremiah 31:31-34 speaks to this New Covenant and the changes that it would bring, and in Deuteronomy 30:6, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” This too is a prophesy of the New Covenant, as well as what I believe the law intended from the beginning. God wants us to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. He told us this directly when He spoke to the woman at the well. Keeping the law in love with Yeshua is worship, and it must be done in Spirit and Truth. However, that being said, while the Holy Spirit can and does imprint the law on the hearts of those who believe, we must study the Torah every day to get to know the heart of God better and better. The nuance, the metaphors, the parables, the innuendos. It’s not only fascinating to see the heart of God, but it is FUN! It’s a joy. When we interpret and obey the law of God in spirit and truth with full love of our savior Yeshua, it brings GREAT JOY and FREEDOM!

As we move on in our verse today, the comparison made between Isaac and Ishmael is simple. Ishmael and the interpretation of his story represents the Old Covenant, while Isaac represents the New Covenant, for he is the child of promise. To understand this, we must recognize that God promised Abraham he would have a son in his old age with his wife Sarah, who was barren and past the age of childbearing. This is a matter of faith, a matter that Abraham failed miserably in. Rather than listen to God and God’s promises, Abraham listened to Sarah his wife and violated God’s law by taking Haggai, the slave woman, as his wife. He took matters into his own hands and had a child with her, thinking that he was fulfilling God’s promise. This was a gross misinterpretation of God’s promise, as we know many are guilty of doing when it comes to the advent of our Messiah Jesus. They expected him to be a conquering king, when in fact he came to die. Abraham expected God to provide a child immediately, and when God delayed, he took matters into his own hands. The resultant child was cursed, just as those who do not believe in Jesus as their savior are cursed. He would make many nations from Ishmael, yes, but those nations were doomed to destruction, other than those who are saved by the blood of Christ and believe. God gave Abraham grace, however, and did not destroy him on account of his earlier faith. He repeated the promise to Abraham after Ishmael had come along, and Abraham believed. This time, the second time (critical point), God acted and brought Isaac from Sarah’s barren womb as promised, and as a sign of the New Covenant that would come through Christ. But now Abraham’s faith would again be tested, because he doubted and because God wanted to know whether Abraham would obey Him. Sadly, Abraham messes up again. God asks Abraham to consecrate Isaac to him as a man set apart from the world and fully dedicated to the Lord. Abraham interprets the command incorrectly, thinking God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac. The mistake is intentional, and God’s command was intentionally vague, I believe, to set up the prophesy of Jesus. However, we know that Abraham is willing to obey God’s commands as he understood them with all of his heart, and he actually goes to sacrifice Isaac. God stops him through his angel and affirms that Abraham’s faith has brought him the blessing, the inheritance of promise and that it was this faith (actually acting on the commandments of God and doing them with all of his heart) that shows he is righteous and brings him to salvation. God then says that it is because Abraham was willing to sacrifice “his only son” that his faith has been accounted as righteous. God does not recognize the other son that Abraham has. In fact, in Matthew 7:21-24 and Ezekiel 18 & 33 style, God “never knew him” on account of his sin, which a study of Scripture makes clear. Isaac was his “only son,” the son of promise, who God said would come at the beginning.

This son of promise is Isaac, but metaphorically and prophetically it refers to Jesus, who would come and bring salvation to both the Jews and the Greeks (Gentiles) who believe in the promises of God through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. He said He would come again to raise the living and the dead and separate the sheep and the goats to everlasting life and everlasting judgment. This is the promise of God. This is why we trust in Christ and obey God’s commands, with all of our heart, with the help of the Holy Spirit, in spirit and truth.

And so here is Paul’s underlying point: As believers in Jesus, we are free from the condemnation of sin (we are not under the law), because Jesus has died so that we will not be condemned and  judged among the lawless, if we walk in righteousness. Because our sins have been forgiven, we are to walk in this freedom in the Spirit, whether Jew or Greek, abiding in the commandments of God in that freedom. This is a circumcision of the heart, and not of the flesh, for the first saves, and the latter is a misinterpretation of God’s promises, much like Abraham’s mistakes that I’ve articulated, which are not profitable. Once circumcised in the Spirit, we certainly do not want to be found sinners, because Christ is not a minister of sin. Rather than continue to be condemned “under the law,” we walk righteously according to the law in spirit and in truth, and we fulfill the law in Christ. This is the law of freedom.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”
Galatians 5:1-6

Paul the Apostle directly contradicts what I have seen a modern-day grace-only Christian write:

I have seen a modern day grace-only Christian write: “We are not free if we exchange slavery to sin to slavery to the law.”
Paul the Apostle writes in Romans 6:16-18: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

But Scripture does not contradict, and so I stand with the Truth of Scripture, which further defines these terms itself:

Psalm 119:142: “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.”
1 John 3:4: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”
Matthew 5:19: Jesus said, “So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
He also says in John 14:15-18: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

The Holy Spirit helps us keep the law, when our heart is to obey.

So then we know that when we become slaves to righteousness, yes, we become slaves to the law, as interpreted in spirit and truth. In fact, being obedient to the law of God is what gives us freedom in Christ.

“Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord—Your salvation according to Your word. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I have hoped in Your ordinances. So shall I keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. And I WILL WALK AT LIBERTY, FOR I SEEK YOUR PRECEPTS. I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, And will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love. My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love, And I will meditate on Your statutes.” Psalm 119:41-48

And so what is Paul saying here in Galatians 5:1-6: Again, the entire book of Galatians is an extension of the saga occurring in Acts 15, where the Jerusalem Council is asked whether the Gentiles coming into the faith by receiving the Holy Spirit ought to be circumcised and whether they ought to keep the whole law of God. Both questions are answered, and they are answered separately.

1) On the question of circumcision, the answer is “no.” Circumcision, as I’ve covered, is a sign/mark of the First Covenant. These Gentiles are receiving “the circumcision that is made without hands,” which is why Paul is writing on this topic in the first place. The circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit is a sign/mark/seal of the Second Covenant. If you are circumcised by the Holy Spirit, you do not need anything else. It is superior in every way. James answers the first question asked of the Council: Gentiles coming into the faith only need to avoid consuming blood, meat that was strangled, food sacrificed to idols (think Daniel) and avoid practicing sexual immorality, which is defined in Leviticus comprehensively. This is how they make sure in the New Covenant that their Temple is clean. “Don’t you know that YOU are the temple of God?,” Paul writes. Thus, Gentiles MUST do these four things immediately! NOTE: This is in response to their question of whether Gentiles need to be circumcised, which to become a Jew, is the first thing that any Gentile must do prior to the coming of Christ. The two concepts align perfectly. No, James says, these Gentiles have been circumcised by the Holy Spirit, so all they have to do immediately is make sure they provide a clean/holy dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit. Let’s move on to the next idea.

2) On whether or not Gentiles have to practice the law, James rules that these Gentiles will be coming to the synagogue every Sabbath (which is Saturday, and God’s Fourth Commandment, which Jesus fully upheld and commanded us to do the same). And when the Gentiles come to the synagogue on the Sabbath, they will learn the law of God given through Moses. As they learn the law of God given through Moses, they will be convicted by the Holy Spirit to obey it. A conviction of the Holy Spirit is that presence you feel inside of you when you are doing or saying something you shouldn’t or when you are not doing or saying something that you should. God lets you know, and you have the free will choice at that point whether or not to obey God. The more you disobey God, the more you grieve the Holy Spirit. If you continue in this practice, the Holy Spirit will depart from you. You MUST keep your temple clean, and obedience to God’s law in spirit and truth with love defines how to do that.

Going back to one of my favorite verses in Scripture: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” We return to the driving 65 in a 65 mph zone analogy, and I repeat Psalm 119:44-45: “So shall I keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. And I WILL WALK AT LIBERTY, FOR I SEEK YOUR PRECEPTS.”

Paul is NOT saying that we are freed from keeping the law, rather He is saying that we are freed from the punishment of violating the law. MORE IMPORTANTLY, Paul is talking about circumcision, and only circumcision, because that is the focus of Galatians. The whole letter was written BECAUSE Jews were convincing Gentiles they needed to be circumcised in the flesh because they were being grafted-in to the Jewish faith through the Jewish Messiah Yeshua. Paul wanted to make clear that Gentiles had already been circumcised by the Spirit, & that the sign of the New Covenant was different than the sign of the Old Covenant.

Thus, Paul clarifies his meaning and makes it clear what he is talking about: “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” First off, it is important that Paul writes this verse is not by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but it is Paul’s own opinion, instead. So, for those who use this verse to justify abandoning the law, I say beware: Christ Himself told you to keep the law, so if Paul contradicts Christ, whom do you follow, Paul or Christ? I say this with sincerity! But I write to assure you that Paul does not contradict Christ, rather He is expressing the severity of depending on a fleshly sign of the Old Covenant for salvation, which is the false doctrine that Paul is addressing. In fact, salvation comes only by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. There is no other salvation apart from this, so Paul says, “you have been severed from Christ, you who seek to be justified by law,” meaning the law of physical circumcision.

To emphasize: Paul is talking about the false teaching that one must be physically circumcised in order to receive salvation, because salvation is by the Jews, as we know. However, Paul writes here and elsewhere that it is by Christ’s death and resurrection alone that we are saved. There is no other obligation for salvation, which is our first step toward receiving our inheritance. This is about a rite of initiation. According to man’s ways, you must do this thing in order to be counted as one of us. According to God’s ways, if you receive His Spirit, you are one of His people, regardless of what man says. Thus Paul emphasizes the circumcision made without hands, the circumcision of sin from the heart to repentance in Christ, and the subsequent walk according to Christ’s righteousness that is written within you.

Now Paul also says that one who receives circumcision is “under obligation to keep the whole Law.” I return to Peter’s quote on Paul’s writing and how it can be confusing. Paul is not incorrect. He’s emphasizing that you must keep the whole law for salvation if you expect that circumcision of the flesh will save you. And yes, if you rely on fleshly observances for salvation, then you indeed have fallen from grace. Grace is the free gift that God gives to us who believe in His promises and trust in Him to deliver these promises. And the grace is this: forgiveness for violating the law of God, which is sin that leads to death. We are all guilty of it, for there is not one of us without sin, no not a single one. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10). Thus, in this way, grace is the forgiveness we don’t deserve through Christ’s blood for our sin. But can we then continue in sin? Paul repeats over and over again: “certainly not.”

And this brings up Paul’s next point as well as the two other elements of our walk in Christ; namely, sanctification and glorification, as we’ve called them. Scripturally, Paul describes sanctification next: “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”

When we have faith working through love, we recall what Jesus said about love: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Remember Jesus said the “GREATEST commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” Here is how John articulates what it means to “LOVE” God: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)

And so when Paul writes that “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision mean anything,” he’s referring to the physical circumcision that Galatians is written to address, and making the point that it matters not whether a man is physically circumcised or not; neither affect one’s salvation. Now, granted, circumcision of the heart is absolutely required as a fulfillment of the law, as interpreted in Spirit and Truth, because in English that means receipt of the Holy Spirit, but Paul makes that point in his letter to the Romans and elsewhere, but not here. Here He says once we are saved, we must work out our salvation through love. Elsewhere we read, with fear and trembling. Both are correct. If we do not have love, then we cannot keep God’s commandments. If we don’t have the Holy Spirit, it’s impossible to keep them. If we haven’t been saved, there’s not a chance in the world that we will meet God (on good terms, anyway). And salvation is a free gift of God, so that no one can boast. Do you think that circumcision of the flesh is a point on which some of the Jews in Galatia might be boasting? This is a sin that leads to death. It is heaping up heavy burdens that are hard to bear, that even the Jews themselves had failed to keep themselves. These burdens are the commandments of men, and not the commandments of God.

God commandments (all of them) are designed to teach us how to love Christ and love one another, as He loved us. Some of them are written in the negative, because God was adjusting for the sins of men. If you violate this law, here’s what you could do to make it right, for instance. Thanks be to God for coming in the flesh and saving us from our sins. Now that we are saved, yes, and now that we have His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we must work out our salvation in love, as Paul says here, which means to obey God’s commandments with all of our heart because we love Him. And so Paul teaches the same Gospel as Jesus for those with eyes to see.

Finally, our glorification comes upon the return of Christ, whether we are dead and sleeping in the grave or we are alive in Christ upon His coming. 1 Corinthians 15 explains all this, but on the Last Day, when Christ returns, we will be raised to everlasting life with Him, if we keep the commandments of God through our sanctification process and the faith of Jesus for our salvation. The faith of Jesus also enables us to endure in faithfulness, because without belief in the promises of God, it is very difficult if not impossible to turn our backs on the world and the flesh and to look only to our glorification for the source of what governs our words and our deeds. Yes, glorification will come only to those who have run the race to win, but we also know, as Paul writes, that you cannot win if you don’t play by the rules.

I pity those who believe God’s commandments are a curse, for Scripture says those who violate God’s commandments will receive the curse. In Christ, there is victory.

“You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”
Galatians 5:7-15

Note Romans 3:31, where Paul makes clear all of the points I have been making over and over again. We are saved by grace. Once we are saved by grace, we uphold the law, or fulfill the law, by following Jesus who did likewise, because we have been saved by His grace, and because He asked us to follow Him.

Thus in Galatians 5:8, the persuasion that Paul is referring to is from the circumcision party, which is trying to convince Gentiles that they must be circumcised as adults to enter into the Jewish faith of Jesus and be saved. That is the ENTIRE point of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and it isn’t deeper than that. He’s not talking about the whole law, because that would be a contradiction to the rest of his writing and the rest of Scripture, and if he was talking about the whole law, you would need to throw out the letter to the Galatians or risk being deceived. I follow Jesus Christ, not Paul.

However, I believe Paul’s writing to be exquisitely scholarly and beautiful, with greater depth of knowledge of the law than almost any other. This is why he uses metaphor and innuendo with such ease, because he knows the law like the back of his hand and he can leave us little clues in every line that almost forces us to read the whole Torah every single time so we don’t miss his point. I exhort you, brothers and sisters, to consider it, because it is what opened my eyes.

As this section begins, Paul notes that the leaven of sin is enough to destroy the whole body in Hell. We know this because the Torah says “the one who sins will die.” This is the very reason we need Christ’s blood, for we have salvation no other way. We are all sinners and we all fall short of the glory of God. Without Christ, we are all dead. Once we achieve this salvation through Christ, it is incumbent on us to grow in our faith.

Paul moves on to point out that the ones disturbing the Galatians, the circumcision party, will bear his judgment for their false teaching. As we’ve discussed already, circumcision is a sign of the Old Covenant, while circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit is the sign of the New Covenant. The sign has been upgraded, and Paul has been teaching this Truth in every letter, for he often writes on how the Old Covenant has been upgraded to the New. The law as a whole is fully part of both covenants, but now is interpreted in spirit and truth as the Spirit writes proper interpretation into the hearts of obedient believers (see John 14). You see, Paul says, “if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?” This is the subject of Galatians in its entirety. Paul’s point is on account of the persecution he is receiving from the circumcision party because he is preaching about the spiritual circumcision of the heart replacing the physical circumcision of the flesh.

As he continues, Paul uses hyperbole, noting that he wishes those who were preaching circumcision of the flesh would amputate their male body part. He does this for emphasis, to prove the point that physical circumcision isn’t necessary, and if these circumcision party fellows so believe in the impurity of the flesh that God made, perhaps they should just cut it off. Don’t tell that to the LGBTQ community. I jest, but Paul is being intentionally forward to prove his point.

I love how Paul then moves from this hyperbole into a double entendre, saying “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” We are free from the Old Covenant, but subject to the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, we are circumcised by the Holy Spirit when sin is cut out of our hearts through our faith in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, and thus we ought not circumcise ourselves as men in the flesh if we find ourselves uncircumcised when becoming a believer. Our circumcision is spiritual.

Our obedience to the law is also spiritual, and we are to interpret it in Spirit and Truth. Read Matthew 5 for an example of this. We must not let the sins of the flesh, that is sexual immorality, eating unclean foods, and other such violations of God’s commandments draw us away from our salvation. We have the freedom in which Christ has made us free, but we ought not use that freedom to continue in sin, for Christ is not a minister of sin. The law instructs us on what is and is not sin, and thus we must know it, love it & live it.

And Paul then makes the same statement as Christ Himself, that the whole law is fulfilled in the statement, love your neighbor as yourself. If you do this, you fulfill the Torah. However, without the knowledge of God, that is the knowledge of Torah, you cannot possibly know what “love” is. You can be confused easily be deceivers into thinking that homosexuality or adultery are love, because you are lusting after a person who you cannot by God’s law have.  

With that, I’ll point out as Paul does that it is our duty as Christians to pull each other out of the fire & teach each other the Truth more accurately, and so these discussions are precisely what is needed in the Church today to wake our brothers and sisters up who don’t know the beauty & glory of Torah. For while Paul quotes the second greatest commandment, the greatest commandment he alludes to here but Jesus articulates, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. To love the Lord your God, you must keep His commandments, Jesus Himself has said, and so have all of the New Testament writers.

Paul finishes: ”But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” And so let us teach each other the Word of God “more accurately” with love, as Jude writes: “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:16-26

Galatians 5:16-26 goes into how we ought to walk led by the Spirit in some detail, and we can’t miss how Paul applies the righteousness derived from the law of God, for in fact by dwelling in the Spirit of Christ, we elevate ourselves above any curse for violating the law. The law is no longer necessary when we are following it with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and still it was the law with the Spirit of Christ that helps the mature Christian to get to this place. To the one who walks in the Spirit, “the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness [violating the food laws and etc.], lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like, … those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The words “and the like” should make it clear that Paul is giving us a laundry list, which is not all inclusive. All of these things are negative laws of God given to Moses, and Paul says, if we don’t follow them, we will not make it to Heaven.

If there’s any part of Galatians that contradicts the “law is done away with” idea, it is this very section—and clearly!

Paul doesn’t stop there, for he then goes into positive laws of God given to Moses, summarizing them again, and calling them the “fruit of the Spirit,” for when the Spirit of Christ is in us, we desire to obey God’s law. These fruits are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When he says, “against such there is no law,” he is making the point that this fruit is evident in the one who has the Holy Spirit and thus follows the law. Using difficult language, he is basically saying that when it is evident that you are following the law with the power of the Holy Spirit because you are exhibiting these things, it can’t possibly be said that you are violating the law. When we are living in Christ, we have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” This is done by both obeying the commandments of God and keeping our faith in the Messiah Yeshua, with the Holy Spirit as our helper, for we cannot do it alone.

When Paul writes in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage,” he’s not talking about the law here. He is talking about sin. The law is not bondage. Sin is bondage. The law simply identifies what it means to sin. That’s why the law is “a tutor.” It teaches us how to identify sin. When we follow God’s commandment to “meditate on the law day and night” (Psalms 1), the law becomes a part of us—it is literally written on our hearts. If we are yoked again in bondage, it means that we backslide into sin and then continue in it. And “…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Such things specifically refers to those things that are violations of the law. And so, Paul is encouraging the Galatians to embrace the gift of salvation (justification) through the blood of Yeshua on the cross, and His resurrection as proof of His divinity and evidence for our faith, but then to “go and sin no more,” just as Jesus commanded the woman caught in adultery in John 8:11.

Earlier in Galatians 5, Paul writes, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Again, Paul cites the same summary commandment of Yeshua from Leviticus 19:18. This is literally the law of God, but it is also a summary of the whole law of God. “The flesh” here is symbolic of sin. Paul uses different words to make the same point. In Christ we are free: We are saved by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross. This is a free gift that we cannot do anything to earn. This is the “liberty” that Paul writes about. We are forgiven from our sins. But now that we are forgiven through Messiah, should we continue to sin? Certainly not! “do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.” We should go and sin no more, and the law is what helps instruct us on how to do that, particularly when we are baby Christians just coming into the Church. We ought to go the church every Sabbath to learn the law of God given to Moses.

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load. The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 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. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”
Galatians 6:1-10

As Paul begins to wrap-up his brief letter, again, a shorter version of his letter to the Romans, he instructs us to set our attention on pulling our brothers and sisters in Christ away from their sins. It is our duty to exhort one another as Christians. When we see a brother or sister committing sin, it’s a serious matter that we must address, but Paul says to address it gently so as to not turn the brother away from the faith completely. There is a proper order for this, though, and Christ explained it Himself in Matthew 18:15-17. In 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 and 2 Corinthians 2:3-11, Paul gives a living example in Corinth of how to go about this. In this case, the situation went a bit beyond “gentleness,” from my estimation, but perhaps the matter-of-fact approach can be construed as gentleness in such a situation. We must be careful when a brother or sister is sinning not to get dragged into the temptation ourselves.

Next, Paul instructs the Galatians to examine “their own work,” for “each one will bear his own load.” Yes, we all will sit before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged on our works—especially on whether our heart was oriented to obey God or not. Did we seek to obey God gladly with joy, seeking to observe all that He has said, or did we look for wiggle room in Bible verses taken out of context, incongruent with the rest of Scripture when understood “our way,” according to the dictates of our own heart? In James 2:18-24, we see this played out in the very promise of Abraham Paul relates in Galatians: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”

And so as we do these good works—obedience to God’s commandments—we are to check back in with the one who has taught us and report our progress, Paul writes. “The one who is taught the Word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.” This is for the teacher’s edification, so he does not get discouraged. It’s hard to teach the Word in Truth and love, and to see progress is extremely heartening considering that persecution and hatred are the regular response. Perhaps Paul is writing this for his own encouragement, but we ought to remember to thank the ones who share the Word of God with us more accurately. God willing Apollos thanked Aquila and Priscilla after what they did for Him in Acts 18:24-28: “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”

Paul clarifies his whole message in this passage: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 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. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Do you think that when Jesus said that the commandments would not be done away with until the Sun and the Earth were done away with that he was joking? Do you think when he warned that those who practice lawlessness would be kicked out to Hell that there must be another meaning? Do you think that when He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” or when John said, “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome,” that somehow these verses don’t belong? Foolishness! Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever you reap, that is what you will sow. If you rebel against God’s commandments, discard God’s commandments, or believe they don’t apply to you, then you will be considered “least” in the kingdom of God. To be clear: that doesn’t mean you’ll make it there. When Jesus said those words, He was talking about the present time, and to be considered least in the kingdom means the angels and the Father see you that way, or they don’t know you at all. It means you are on the wide road to destruction. The whole of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation is quite clear, we must obey God’s commandments or we will not receive our inheritance, but we will be disowned. Paul says the same thing here.

And so, while we have the opportunity, Paul writes, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. To do good is to keep God’s commandments, as Jesus did. To do good is to call people to repentance when they sin. To do good is to teach the Word of God to all the world and make disciples, and to teach the Word of God to those within the church “more accurately.” To do good is to bring the love of Jesus, that he was not desiring that a single one would perish, but that all would turn to Him for eternal life. Once we turn away from the world or the flesh (sin that is defined by God’s commandments) and repent, we must then choose with love in our hearts and joy to follow our Lord Jesus and completely fulfill the law just like He did. He knows we can’t do this without His help, and this is why He has sent us His Helper. We must ask ourselves daily: Is my heart aligned? If not, drop down on your knees and pray.

“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.”
Galatians 6:11-18

As we wrap up the Book of Galatians, the most misinterpreted book in all of Christendom to the destruction of many souls, note that Paul writes so emphatically, and with great emphasis, that this letter is about circumcision and only circumcision. You can almost hear the exasperated heart of Paul beating when he writes, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” He’s tired of handling the same argument over and over again and he wants to put it to rest, and yet we still have not fully grasped his meaning today. Only the Holy Spirit can bring the Truth to light. “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” The new creation comes about through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, which circumcises the sin out of a saved man or woman’s heart and rests within the temple that Messiah Yeshua is building, which is each believer who receives Christ and the aggregate of them all together. This new creation from the circumcision of the heart is the sign of the New Covenant that Paul wants us to focus on.

In Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, we certainly don’t need to subject ourselves to fleshly signs such as adult circumcision when we have already received the Holy Spirit, and we no longer have value from the temporary sacrificial system that was set up until the Seed of Abraham arrived, but we certainly do need to obey the law of God through faith in the Messiah Jesus, who is our promise through His sacrifice once for all time and the grace of God. As Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). And so, as we read the law, and the statutes about the festivals and the feast days, the laws of the Sabbath, and the laws about keeping our temple clean, which is our bodies, it is essential for us to interpret these laws according to the Holy Spirit, which in Messiah Yeshua is what will give us eternal life. That’s what Paul means when he says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” In Christ, we are free, but let us live free by following Jesus and keeping His law.

Paul points out as he concludes his letter to the Galatians about circumcision that the Circumcision Party that is calling for Gentile men to circumcise their flesh don’t even keep the actual law of God themselves. These are the same people who Jesus criticized in Mark 7 because they were attacking the apostles for eating bread with unwashed hands. There is no such commandment of God; this was a commandment of men, and so is the idea that a Gentile must be circumcised when he comes into the faith in Messiah Yeshua. There is truth in the concept, but as Paul makes clear over and over again, the New Covenant circumcision is a circumcision made without hands. The Circumcision Party, Paul writes, want to boast in the physical sign of the circumcision of the flesh, saying that this outward sign is what maters, when this goes directly against the teaching of Christ, that it is what is in the heart that matters to God. We are not to boast concerning our good works, but boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for this has been commanded to us.

Ultimately, boasting in the cross means that we all have salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Our salvation does not come by works, and no one should boast about their works, because their works do not lead to salvation. Jesus made this point very clearly in Luke 17:7-10: “which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” This parable contains the entire truth of Ephesians 2:8-10 and the point Paul makes in Galatians.

In other words, we do not boast in our works that God has commanded us to do, for this is what God expects of us. If we do them, so what? We have done what was expected of us. Even if we try our very best to keep all of the commandments, and desire to keep them in our heart, that is not enough for salvation. To be saved, we rely on the blood of Christ alone, for this is the grace that God has afforded us through Him, and our faith both believes this to be true, but then acts on that belief by doing the things the Master has asked of us. And so does all this mean that we are then not to keep the law or concern ourselves with the works of the law? Quite the contrary. If that servant did not do the works which he was expected to do, he would have been cast out into outer darkness, and if we reject, rebel against or fail to keep the commandments of God, we will be destroyed on the testimony of two or three witnesses. As we read in Ephesians 2:10, we do the works God commanded of us because we love Him and want to please Him, out of a desire that wells up inside of us. But NEVER do we boast in these works, for it is grace alone that saves.

Our boast is in Christ, our life is in Christ, and our devotion is to Christ. In anything we do in ourselves, it must be in humble service to our master. Once saved, we turn to obeying God’s commandments with humility, saying, “we are unprofitable servants; we have done what was our duty to do.” In fact, we don’t deserve salvation, even if we do everything the Lord has asked of us flawlessly. However, should we rebel against God’s law, against His commandments, or reject them outright, saying they don’t apply to us because of Christ, there will be a reckoning, and you will reap what you sow. God does not permit the lawless to live. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 10:29: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

How do we insult the Spirit of Grace? We insult the Spirit of Grace by thumbing our nose to God’s law and saying it doesn’t apply to us; by rebelling against clear commandments of God which last forever, according to the Word of Christ that came directly out of His Mouth; by making up our own rules or following the guidance of men within the church instead of the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, I warn you with vehement energy, AND I TOO WRITE IN BIG LETTERS, LIKE PAUL, TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS THIS: The Saints, who will inherit the kingdom of God, MUST keep the commandments of God AND the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12) If you do not do this, your faith is meaningless and has nothing to back it up; in truth, it does not actually exist. Faith is an action word and it requires faithfulness, which is doing what God asked us to do, before He came in the flesh, when He came in the flesh, and after He has ascended back to His throne. He was, He is, and He is to come. Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.

Be a new creation in Christ, as Paul exhorts us, and let God’s “peace and mercy” be upon us, so that we do not boast in our obedience, but we boast together in Christ, while at the same time we remain obedient servants. In Christ, we are “the Israel of God.” As such, we must do as our Savior commanded us: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) It definitely is not difficult to follow the advice of modern grace-only preachers (like the devotional writer) who have blasphemed God Almighty by rejecting His law. That is a wide road, and many go down that path to destruction. The narrow road is what Scripture teaches, and that is full and heart-driven obedience to God’s commandments with reliance on grace alone in Christ for salvation. This is the good news of Scripture that Christ calls all of us into, and Paul has done the same in his letter to the Galatians.

To learn more about these important topics, please consider watching Pastor Daniel Joseph of Corner Fringe Ministries’ teaching, called, “God’s Mercy and the Devil’s Grace,” for this will provide great disambiguation of the purpose of grace: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmI6y1h4ekf6v62Y9k-hDv17wWhuO7JVK

In addition to the comments I’ve shared, God willing from His Holy Spirit, I would encourage you to consider also watching Pastor Daniel Joseph of Corner Fringe Ministries’ teaching on Galatians, which goes into much more detail about all of the reading we’ve just done: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmI6y1h4ekf5GFjt-L8rquIrRIhY0b12f

May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with your spirit.