GALATIANS
It is impossible to read this letter without being
impressed by the severity of its note. It is evident that the writer was dealing
with matters which, from his standpoint at least, were of vital importance.
The letter is vibrant with passion and yet consistent with
principle. From the introductory sentences to the final words, it is quite
evident that the apostle was profoundly moved; but it is equally evident that he
never allowed emotion to carry him away from the line of a clearly defined
system of thought and teaching. Whereas, as our analysis of the content reveals,
personal matters largely enter into the letter, yet the supreme concern of the
writer is for truth, and its bearing upon human life, in view of the perils
which threaten men when truth is in any way violated or changed.
There is an entirely different note running through this
letter to that which characterized the Corinthian letters. This also is
corrective; but as we turn over from the Corinthian letters we find a tone
entirely different.
Note the omissions from the salutation. Paul makes no
reference to their standing in Christ. There is no single word of commendation.
These two things mark this letter as peculiar from all others in the Pauline
writings to the churches.
The introduction is almost prosaic, "the churches in
Galatia," not "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called
saints," and such rich phrases as mark the beginnings of other letters; no
word of thankfulness for their state.
After a few brief words of introduction, he commences,
"I marvel," and immediately he proceeds to deal with them in terms of
great severity.
Notice the specially declamatory passage of this letter in
chapter one and mark the severity of it; —
" I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from Him
that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; which is not
another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the
gospel of Christ..."
Turn to another declamatory passage in the third chapter,
and again note the intense severity; —
" O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? This only would I learn
from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in
the flesh ?
Did ye suffer so many things in vain ? "
Turn over yet once more to chapter four and the same severe
note is found; —
"How turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly
rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again ? Ye observe days,
and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have
bestowed tabour upon you in vain."
Or take the one tender outburst of the letter: " My
little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you,
yea, I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I am
perplexed about you..."
This passage thrills with the pain of a troubled heart;
concern fills the mind of the writer.
I lay emphasis at such length upon these matters in order
that we may come with solemnity to the letter, in our attempt to discover its
message. Evidently the matter of which the apostle wrote was, in his estimation,
of supreme importance.
He was not writing to people who had failed in behavior.
The peril was of the gravest; the foundations were threatened, and consequently
the whole superstructure was in danger.
This letter has been called the Magna Charta of the early
Church.
It is the Manifesto of Christian liberty,
explaining the nature of that liberty,
applying the laws of that liberty, and
cursing the enemies of that liberty.
It is of perpetual value from that standpoint, and more
than once in the history of the Christian Church this little pamphlet has
sounded the clarion call of return to freedom. Take one flaming illustration of
the truth of what I now declare. This was Luther's letter, the letter that found
him, and revealed to him the true meaning of Christianity and made him the
flaming prophet of liberty, breaking the chains of cruel oppression from the
captive people of God.
Godet says with reference to Luther and this letter,
"This was the pebble from the brook with which, like
another David, he went forth to meet the papal giant and smite him in the
forehead."
Whenever the Church of God bends to a bondage which results
from denial of the foundation principles of her life, we find in this letter to
the Galatians the corrective for such apostasy.
In seeking for the message we must begin at the right
point. We are perhaps a little prone to be occupied only with the denunciations
which the letter contains. As a matter of fact the profoundest value of this
letter is not to be discovered in the denunciations. The profoundest value of
the letter is discovered in its enunciations.
To discover these is not to weaken the denunciations, but
to understand their force. We read the declamatory passages; they must be read,
and ought to be read; but we must understand what Paul meant when he said,
" If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than
that which ye received, let him be anathema " ; we ought to understand what
he meant when he declared that to produce works of the flesh which result from
ritualism is to be excluded from the Kingdom of God.
We do not understand the force of the denunciations save as
we are conscious of the enunciations of truth which lie behind them.
The truths constitute the dynamic.
The teaching causes the explosion.
We are often more occupied with the explosion than with the
dynamic when we read this letter; more interested in the way in which Paul dealt
with Peter when he came to Antioch, than with the reason of Paul's so dealing
with Peter. If I am to discover and interpret in any sense intelligently the
message of this letter, I am compelled to lay my emphasis, not principally upon
the denunciation, but upon the enunciation of principle; not upon the protest,
but upon the proclamation that lies behind the protest.
The essential message of this letter has to do then with
liberty.
Its central teaching is a proclamation or enunciation of
truth, concerning liberty. Its abiding appeal is a protest or denunciation of
everything which contradicts that truth.
The Central Teaching
In the proclamation of Galatians, the epistle to the Romans
is found in essence. Here we have in unified form, in germ and potentiality, the
great doctrines which are elaborated and systematically stated in [Romans].
It is perfectly evident that this letter was written in the
light, and under the impulse, of that great controversy which broke out at
Antioch after the first
missionary journey, and which resulted in the Council at
Jerusalem. The apostle, in correcting error, did not go into any detailed
statement of truth; but the truth is recognized.
The proclamation of this letter may be gathered around
three words —
Life, Law, Love; and the teaching is condensed in three
principal statements.
The fact of Life is recognized in the words,
"He therefore that supplieth to you the Spirit."
That is not to take a text out of its context; it is rather
to discover within a text the supreme thought which inspired the teaching. The
whole paragraph gives the apostolic conception of Christianity. Life is supplied
in the supply of the Spirit.
That is the root of Christianity in individual experience.
The fact of Law is recognized in the words,
"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not
do the things that ye would."
The doctrine involved is that the Christian life is not a
life of licence; it is under law, but it is a new law, that of the lust of the
Spirit. I retain the word lust, using it in its true sense of desire. As the
root principle of the Christian life is the supply of the Spirit, the culture of
this life is the result of obedience to the lust of the Spirit.
The fact of Love is recognized in the words,
"The fruit of the Spirit is love."
That is the final word "fruit", the triumph of
the Spirit.
In these statements we have the doctrines of this letter
revealed. Christianity is a life; its root principle is the supply of the
Spirit. No man is a Christian unless he has the Spirit of God.
But Christianity does not set a man free to go where he
likes, or to do what he pleases.
There is a law for the culture of the life received, and it
is that of the [desire] of the Spirit within the man; the Spirit desiring in
him, correcting his desires. As man yields to the lust [desire] of the Spirit,
he is master over the lust of the flesh. The outcome of such life, yielded to
such law, will be love, which is the fruit, the triumph of the Spirit.
Let us pass over that ground again, for it is fundamental.
First, as to Life. Life is received by receiving the supply
of the Spirit. The Spirit is received in answer to the exercise of faith. That
is the master thought of the letter. The deduction from that is that nothing
other than faith is necessary to salvation. Therefore to affirm that men must be
circumcised or baptized in order to salvation is to proclaim the most deadly
heresies that can possibly be taught. To super-add anything to faith is to
destroy the foundations of Christianity. Life is by faith.
Secondly, as to Law.
Liberty is not licence.
When a man has life by faith he is thereby set from all
other bondage.
He is set free from the bondage of the flesh because he has
the power that masters it and brings it into subjection.
He is set free from the bondage of rites and ceremonies,
because he has found life apart from rite, and without ceremony; and he is
henceforward, so far as life is concerned, independent of all ceremony and of
every rite.
He is set free from bondage by life; but that liberty is
not licence. The liberty of this life is that of the capture and constraint of
the spirit of man, by the Spirit of God.
The capture of the spirit of man by the Spirit of God means
that man is made able to obey, and no man was made able to obey by circumcision
or by baptism. Man is made able to obey when that life becomes law, and he
yields to it.
The lust [desire] of the Spirit within is the law of the
new-found life.
Finally, as to Love. The fruit of this life, obedient to
this law, is love; the whole life under the dominion of love, bondage to self is
therefore no longer possible.
When we read the fifth chapter, whatever wider application
we may make of it, we must be true to the first line of its argument.
I know there are more spacious applications of these Bible
truths than were made by the writers. They dealt with great principles, the
ultimate applications of which are far wider than the one the writers indicated
at the moment. But when we read of "the works of the flesh," and
"the fruit of the Spirit," we must remember that the passage is part
of one great argument.
"The works of the flesh " are things which result
from a religion which is not a religion of faith unto life.
Works of the flesh are the activities of godless and
irreligious men; but primarily, in the apostolic argument, the phrase refers to
things resulting from the observance of rites and ceremonies as though such
observance constituted religion.
Works of the flesh are things which result from ritualism
which becomes an evasion of righteousness.
Here we touch the real reason of the vehemence of the
apostle's anger.
Super-add to faith anything else, as necessary to
salvation, and inevitably the outcome is that faith is neglected.
The moment we make anything other than faith supreme, we
establish a rite — whether it be this, that, or the other — and men will
say, "If we fulfill this rite then are we religious," and religion
will be divorced from morality, religion will have lost the inspiration of
righteousness. That is what is wrong with all false religion. That is the
supreme difference between Christianity and every other religion.
All the great systems of religion have rites, and
ceremonies, and creeds, but no life. Consequently there is not the remotest
connection between religion and morality. That is what the apostle saw was the
supreme danger of these Judaizing teachers. They were adding to faith, which is
the only way into life, with the inevitable result that presently men would say;
"We have observed this rite, now we can do what we like".
All forms of sensuality and spiritual sin result from the
tragedy of super-adding something to the one law of faith.
The Abiding Appeal
Therefore the abiding appeal of this letter is of the
nature of a protest.
[1] Its first note is a denunciation of the preachers of
another gospel; — "If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than
that which ye received, let him be anathema."
That is not an episcopal curse; it is not an apostolic
malediction.
It is the statement of the case as it is. " Let him be
anathema."
The word "anathema", which means accursed, occurs
in only one other passage in the New Testament, in the letter of Paul to this
Corinthians, "If any man loveth not the Lord let him be anathema."
That is not a curse pronounced as by ecclesiastical
authority; it is a declaration of truth concerning the condition of any man who
loves not the Lord Jesus Christ; he is anathema; therefore let him be anathema.
And so with the use of the word in this letter; —
" If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than
that which ye received, let him be anathema"; the man who preaches another
gospel, by such preaching, substitutes the false — which issues finally in the
works of the flesh — for the true — which issues in the fruit of the Spirit.
[2] Not only the preacher, but the receiver of the other
gospel is severed from Christ. To trust in ceremony is to deny Christ; and to
deny Christ is to be severed from Christ; and to be severed from Christ is to
fall from grace.
To add to faith in Christ as the foundation of religious
life, either rite or ceremony, as necessary to salvation, is to deny Christ and
to be severed from Christ, and fallen from grace.
I am not dealing with rites and ceremonies [except] as
rites and ceremonies are made essential to salvation. Baptism has its place in
the Christian Church. The observance of the Lord's Supper has its place in the
Christian Church. The assembling of men and women for worship has its place in
the Christian Church.
But to make baptism, or the Lord's Supper, or the
assembling, necessary to salvation, is to deny Christ.
There is only one way to be a Christian, and it is the way
of honestly and sincerely saying,
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling
If I come to the Cross and say, " By that and by my
baptism I will become a Christian, " I deny Christ.
[3] The last note of the appeal is the solemn declaration
that the practicers of the deeds resulting from a false gospel, the deeds of the
flesh, are excluded from the Kingdom of God. With what great and grave sense of
responsibility the apostle wrote these words.
These were the terrible possibilities which Paul saw. These
were the things that made his words vibrant with passion. His profound
understanding of the peril of the Christian Church, through the influence of
Judaizing teachers, called forth this letter.
In a closing word let us make a twofold application of the
teaching of the letter. This Galatian letter warns the Church that to
superimpose upon men any rite or ceremony or observance, as necessary to
salvation, is to sever from Christ both in the case of the individual and in the
case of the Church.
I care not what the Church may be as to ecclesiastical
conviction. I have less and less concern for such things. I am growingly
convinced that ecclesiastical matters are not essential matters. There is room
for every form of Church government within the economy of the Spirit of God. I
decline controversy over ecclesiastical convictions.
But whatever Church adds to faith in Christ, any rite or
ceremony or observance of any kind, as essential to salvation, that Church is
severed from Christ.
We need to get back to these fundamental documents, to
these tremendous revelations of the apostolic writings; to the sense of the
importance of things, which, if we are not very careful, we are allowing to
appear as though they were unimportant.
You began in the Spirit, will you attempt to gain
perfection by the flesh ?
That is the great question of the letter. We need today to
understand that in our preaching and in our teaching, and in order to strength
of Church life for the accomplishment of the Divine purpose in the world, the
one condition of salvation is that of faith in Christ, and the reception of life
from Christ; not because of our observance of rite or ceremony, but simply and
solely and wholly by His great unmerited grace in response to faith.
That is fundamental to personal Christianity and to Church
life. Those guilty of superimposing upon faith any rite or ceremony or
observance, as necessary to salvation, are "anathema"; whether they be
individuals, or councils, or churches.
If I am emphatic about this it is because the letter is
emphatic about it. Where there is faith unto life, the life becomes a law, and
there result no works of the flesh, neither sensual things, fornications,
uncleanness, and lasciviousness; nor spiritual things, idolatry, sorcery, and
the like.
The freedom of the Church is not political. It is spiritual
or nothing. The only freedom that comes from absolute unbending loyalty to the
will of God is bondage to the law of life, interpreted by the Spirit of God.
Let us make our protest, and let it be vehement, against
all bondage; but let us see to it that behind the denunciation is the
enunciation of principle. It is only as we live in the power of that dynamic,
that we shall be strong enough to burst all bonds, and fling off all yokes, and
live in the spaciousness of spiritual freedom.
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