seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Footnotes:
a. Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
b. Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
c. Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what
The commentary this morning is from the easy English site.
This verse is a brief statement about what Paul had already taught. Christ has already freed people from the law. The false teachers were trying to make the Christians in Galatia slaves to the law. But the Christians had the responsibility to remain free.
Paul wanted to emphasise what he was writing in this section. If a man became a Jew, someone circumcised him. This was the mark that he was a Jew. Most Jews did not believe that Jesus Christ was God’s son. They did not believe that Jesus could forgive their sins. They did not trust him. The Christians in Galatia had listened to the Jewish false teachers. They had started to believe what the false teachers were teaching them about the laws. But the Christians had not yet become Jews. So Paul still had time to warn them. And he could remind them about the truth. If the Christians became Jews, they would be refusing Jesus Christ. The Christians thought that the laws would make them better Christians. But Paul said that they would not still be Christians.
Paul has already explained that the laws themselves are not bad. But God accepts only the people who trust Jesus Christ. This is God’s kind gift, which is free. Nobody can earn his or her place in God’s family. The people who trust the laws are trying to earn their place in God’s family. They think that they need to work hard to please God. Instead, they are refusing God’s kind gift.
It is not important whether Christians were Jews or Gentiles. Christians have learned how much God loves them. So they should love other people in the way that God loves them.
Paul was very angry with the false teachers. In some Gentile religions, the male priests cut off their male sex parts. The Jewish law did not allow any such behaviour. Paul was saying that the false teachers were very evil. Perhaps Paul meant that the false teachers were not part of God’s family. They should completely leave the church. This was a serious judgement. However, the false teachers were spreading serious errors in the church.
The Christians in Galatia were free. They did not have to obey all the Jewish laws. But that was not an excuse for bad behaviour. Christians still have their own desires. We are not perfect yet, so we still sin. But Romans 6:1-14 says that sin no longer controls us. We can choose not to do wrong things. Our selfish desires tempt us, but we should refuse them. We should be unselfish. We should love other people. When Jesus lived in this world, he served other people (Matthew 20:28). And Christians should be like Jesus.
This law is in Leviticus 19:18. And Jesus taught about it in Luke 10:25-37. ‘Love other people’ was the basic purpose of all the Jewish laws. If Christians behave in the right way, they will carry out the most important law.
The false teachers had caused trouble in Galatia. As a result, the Christians were fighting and arguing with each other. The word ‘hurt’ means to bite. It also means to speak in a way that hurts a person. And ‘damage’ means to eat. These words describe the way that animals tear apart their food. They tear it apart in order to eat it. The Christians were behaving very badly. Their desires were controlling them. They were behaving like wild animals. So Paul had to warn them that the situation was very serious. In the end, their behaviour would destroy their friendships and their church.
This is from the blueletterbible.org site.I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! Finally, Paul wished that those who demanded circumcision among the Gentiles would go all the way themselves, and amputate their genitalia altogether and not merely their foreskins.
Sacred castration was known to citizens of the ancient world; it was frequently practiced by pagan priests of the cults in the region of Galatia. Paul’s idea here is something like this: “If cutting will make you righteous, why don’t you do like the pagan priests, go all the way and castrate yourself?” Morris rightly observes, “This was a dreadful thing to wish, but then the teaching was a dreadful thing to inflict on young Christians.”
Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh: The great fear of the legalist is that liberty will be used as an opportunity for the flesh. The idea is that people will just go out and sin as they please, then say to a spineless God, “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” and then go on doing whatever they want again. Paul recognized the danger of this attitude, so he warned against it here.
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh: Simply put, if we walk in the Spirit (instead of trying to live by the law), we naturally shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Again, the fear of the legalist – that walking in the Spirit gives license to sin, and that only legalism can keep us holy – is just plain wrong.
IMHO.... Paul is talking about circumcision yet again. I'm surprised so many men will preach on this chapter... or much of what Paul goes on and on about... he talks a lot about cutting the penis. The Gentiles had no laws about the penis. Jews had laws that required that a baby's foreskin be removed when the baby was a week and a day old. Apparently, according to the commentaries.... there were fake priests of a cult there in Galatia that castrated themselves to become priests. Paul said.... [paraphrased].."If you think cutting the skin off of your penis makes you a Christian.... why not just go ahead and cut it completely off. Neither will get you any closer to God now."Paul is saying.... Salvation... being close to God... being in God's family... is not something we can go out and do 99 good acts to earn. If we put a cross on our neck every morning and kiss the portrait of Jesus 15 times before start our day.... no matter how devout we are about doing this every day... exactly the same way.... it won't get us any closer to Heaven. Paul says.... [paraphrased] "Believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of the one true living God.... that's all it takes. "
OK... to prove the point.... consider... what would happen if God did in fact require 99 good acts.... what human could say which act is good? What would happen if a person did 98 perfectly unquestionable good acts... and then died before getting to 99... what would happen? What if it a person miscounted one morning... and kissed the portrait 14 or 16 times instead of the correct number of 15.... would fire rain down on their home? Paul said.... [paraphrased of course] "None of that matters... we can't work our way into Heaven."
Paul says we can't worship "Law" and "Christ Crucified" in the same sentence. God didn't give us millions of laws that confuse and cripple the average joe.... humans came up with the vast majority of the laws. God gave them 10 Commandments and Jesus summed those 10 Commandments into 2. We are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul.... and we are to love one another. If we will follow those two commandments... we won't need any other rules... because everyone will be happy to make others happy.... it's a side affect of "love one another".
Apparently there is something going on in the brick and mortar churches these days. It has spilled over into social media. Politics has entered the church and preachers are reportedly preaching that the members should be voting a particular way because it's what God wants them to do. Apparently..... there is some talk that the president of the United States is chosen by God. There are discussions on social media comparing him to king Saul.... and Pence to David. Apparently this is tearing churches and families apart. I wonder.... is it worse than what was going on in Galatia or is this 2020 garbage all just a single labor pain.
Now the second commentary points out the problem most non-Christians have with Salvation. It sounds like to them... all we have to do after receiving Salvation... when we do something wrong... all we have to do is say "sorry" and we are immediately forgiven.... so what keeps us from just sinning and saying sorry.... hhhhmmmm.... good point.... that's not how it works. My Father... God... the Father of Jesus.... My Father who adopted me.... will also correct me. If I do something wrong.... someone has to answer for it. My Brother Jesus has already taken a beating and a crucifixion He didn't deserve so He gets to speak up for us.... and that's what He will do.... we will still be corrected... that's what a Father does.... but if we do as our Brother Jesus has taught us... we'll be too busy "Loving" to be doing any wrong. Someone who is spending all their time building shelters for the homeless or caring for the sick just doesn't have the time to spare on robbing a bank or beating up your neighbor.
There is no need for "Law" when there is "Christ Crucified".... because people are too busy loving one another to worry about politics.... people who love one another are naturally Pro Life... and Pro Choice... because children of God make the right choices.
