Galatians E-Book

Dr. Paul G. Caram

• Herausgeber: Zion Christian Publishers
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

In his commentary on Paul’s epistle to the Galations, Dr. Caram shows how the works of man are insufficient to please the heart of God, but rather that it is only by faith that it is possible to please Him. The Galatians had gone back to trusting in the traditions of man, but the Apostle Paul encouraged them to seek to be perfect through developing a love for the truth and being led by the Holy Spirit.

Leseprobe

RITUAL

OR

RELATIONSHIP

A Study of Paul’s Epistle to

— The Galatians —

Paul G. Caram

Copyright © 2003 by Paul G. Caram

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical

means without written permission from the publisher,

except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the

King James Version Bible unless otherwise stated.

Published with permission by Zion Christian Publishers

as an e-book on July 2014

in the United States of America

E-book ISBN 1-59665-163-6

For more information, please contact:

Zion Christian Publications

Box 256

Ulysses, Pa. 16948

“For in Christ Jesus neither

circumcision availeth any thing,

nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”

Galatians 6:15

The only thing God wants is a new heart, a changed life.

Ritual or Relationship

Introduction

From the beginning of time man has entreated God's favor. Man's attempt to please God, however, has often been on his own terms, using his own resources. Adam tried to cover his sin and the shame of his nakedness with fig leaves, but God would only accept what He Himself had provided for a covering—the skins of animals. Of course, animal skins imply that the shedding of innocent blood was required. Likewise, God could not accept Cain or his offering because of the wrong condition of his heart. Romans 10:2-3 describes man's endeavor to come to God his own way.

Faith is the Basis of Every Blessing

What does God really want from man? How can we please Him and open His heart unto us? The first step is faith for “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb.11:6). When Jesus was asked: “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” His simple reply was, “Believe on him whom God has sent” (Jn. 6:28,29). Faith is a relationship! It is a condition of heart. Paul taught us that “faith works by love” (Gal. 5:6). Faith, therefore, can only operate in a soft heart. It “works” by love.

Forgiveness is based upon faith in the One who paid our debt upon the cross. Therefore, salvation is received by faith. The gift of the Holy Spirit is received by faith. Healing for our bodies is received by faith, and provision for our needs is by faith. As a matter of fact, everything we receive from God is by grace through faith. Even coming into Christian perfection is by a walk of faith through our union and communion with Jesus Christ. “We are complete in Him” as Paul tells us in Colossians 2:10. Does Christian perfection come by ritual (something we bring about by our works) or does it come by a relationship of faith? This is what Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians is all about. There is only one thing that God wants and that is “a new creature”, a changed heart (Gal. 6:15). Traditions and unnecessary do's and don't's have no power to change our heart. In fact, they strengthen a fallen nature.

Not Sacrifices and Rituals, But a Listening, Obedient Heart

“For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice” (Jer. 7:22-23, 11:7). God instituted all of the animal sacrifices on Mount Sinai just several months after Israel made their exodus from Egypt (cf. Ex.19:1-6). These offerings were merely figures of the sacrifice Christ would make upon the cross many centuries later. God made it very clear at the time He brought Israel out of Egypt that His heart was not concerned with the offerings and sacrifices of animals. He was interested in another kind of sacrifice—the sacrifice of obedience (Ex.19:5). He wanted a people who listened in their hearts, and then obeyed out of a relationship of love. This is the true sacrifice, and this is the path that brings a believer unto perfection.

King David recognized this truth, for he declared, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened” (Psa. 40:6-7). David understood the heart of God. He realized that God had no pleasure in the ritual of animal sacrifices, but in men with listening ears and responding hearts. It is a relationship of obedience, faith, and love that God desires, not lifeless rituals.

This was the lesson Paul was trying to impress upon the gullible Galatian churches, who in recent months had “fallen from grace.” The Galatians were now listening wholeheartedly to legalists who had crept into their congregations and persuaded them to go back to all of the rituals and customs of the Old Testament, a regime that Peter aptly describes as “a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear” (Acts 15:10). Having begun their walk in the Spirit, they were now trying to be made perfect by the flesh (Gal. 3:3). They had turned from a Gospel of faith (which produces the beautiful fruits of the Spirit) unto a system of works.

Wrong Doctrine - An Evil Spirit

Paul exclaimed, “Who hath bewitched you [or who has cast a spell over you] that you should not obey the truth?” (Gal. 3:1). So persuasive were the Judaizers from Jerusalem that they were able to turn the hearts of the Galatians against their spiritual father and bring them under the spell and delusion of another spirit. Such is the power and venom of a wrong doctrine! False doctrine is more than a wrong concept; it is energized by an evil spirit. What did this new doctrine of the Judaizers produce? Certainly it was not the fruit of the Spirit, but contention and pride and a devouring of one another. It was not long before the love of God and the joy of the Lord and the movings of the Spirit had diminished in their services and in their personal lives. They had replaced a life and walk in the Spirit for a system of do's and don't's. They had received another gospel—another Jesus—another spirit. (cf. 2 Cor.11:4).

Paul continued his protest by using several arguments. Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, was justified by faith, not works. He was justified by faith before he was circumcised, and he was justified by faith long before the Law of Moses was given. Even during the age of the Law the prophet Habakkuk emphasized relationship, saying, “The just shall live by faith.”

The Law is Good But Only Reveals Our Problem

The Law was given to define sin. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” The Law was a “curse” in that it could only show man what was wrong, yet offered him no power to change his problem. A No Smoking sign is good, but it only aggravates the craving for nicotine in a smoker. It does not give him any power to stop his habit. This is the reason Paul calls it “the curse of the law.” The law is good, but it gave men no power to keep it. However, the New Covenant of faith does supply that power to change.

“The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Heb.7:19). The law was good, but the law by itself was unable to make men perfect. The bringing in of “a better hope” refers to the New Covenant which enables us to draw nigh to God, to come into His presence and be transformed.

This is the covenant of faith / relationship, the covenant that baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, that opens the veil and beckons us to come into an intimate fellowship with God. Today we have an access to God that was not possible in the time of the Law. When Paul said he was “dead to the law” in Galatians 2:19, he meant that he had turned from the Law as a means of salvation. He could never look again to the Old Testament rituals as a ground for acceptance as he had in the past.

The Law Pointed to the Promised Redeemer Who Would Open the Inheritance

The Law looked ahead to a promised Redeemer. This Redeemer would pay man's debt, give power over sin, and open a rich eternal inheritance. Therefore, the people under the Law were heirs of something better to come. Paul likened the Old Covenant Law to a schoolmaster that tutored a child who was heir to a rich estate. While he is a minor, the child / heir ranks no higher than a servant. He is under tutors and disciplinarians until he reaches the age of maturity, then he receives the inheritance. When Christ came with the New Covenant of faith, the young heir became of age (having learned his lessons well) and received the inheritance. He is no longer in grade school under the Law with all the tutors and disciplinarians, but now he has graduated. Therefore, Paul asks the Galatians, “After you have come of age and received the inheritance, why are you going back to grade school to be under tutors again, and forfeiting your estate? Why do you want to go back to the Law?” “How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years” (Gal. 4:9-10).

A Comparison of the Old and New Covenants

The Apostle Paul then uses an allegory to compare the Old and New covenants. He does so by using two women and the sons they bore. Abraham had two wives, Hagar and Sarah. Hagar represents the Old Covenant. She was a bondwoman and her son was born of bondage. Sarah, a free woman, represents the New Covenant. Her son was born of freedom.

Ishmael was born of the flesh. This means his birth was something engineered by man and something man could produce (Gen.16:1-4). He represents the works of the Law. But Isaac was born of the Spirit. His birth required a miracle for Sarah was beyond the years of bearing. Isaac was born as a result of a promise, and it required a miracle of grace and faith. Ishmael was born as a result of impatience and man's natural thinking. Ishmael was something man could produce, but Isaac was something that only God could bring forth. And herein is the critical difference between the Old and New Covenants. One is based upon works (what man can do) while the other is based upon promise which is inherited by faith. Paul said to the Galatians, “You were born of Sarah, not Hagar.”—Why regress to that inferior spiritual line?

The Cross is an Offense – There is no Glory for Me

The cross is an “offense” to a legalist and anyone else whose motives are not pure. It is offensive because it deprives a person of glory. The cross takes away all boasting. A legalist boasts in what he can do and earn and accomplish in his own strength: fasting, religious activities, works, traditions, rituals, observance of holy days, dress, foods, disassociations, and much more.

• To glory in the flesh—is to boast in what I can do.

• To have confidence in the flesh—is to rely on what I can do.

• To make a fair show in the flesh—is a displaying and parading of what I can do.

What is the fruit of legalism? Legalism produces pride and criticism, for the legalist looks down upon others who have not worked as hard as he has. A legalist, in trying to be the greatest keeper of the law, becomes the greatest violator of the law because he is unable to keep the most important commandment of all—the law of love. The whole law is summed up in one statement: to “love our neighbor as ourself.” Love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom.13:8-10, Gal. 5:14).

A believer who inherits God's promises does so by a walk of faith. He is not able to glory in himself. He can only glory in the cross. “God forbid that I should glory, [except] in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). This person gives all glory to God for the spiritual work of circumcision that God has performed in his heart. On the contrary, the legalist hates the life of faith. He wants something he can see and feel and do. He wants something tangible to glory in, something he may lay claim to, something he has worked for and earned. The Jews did this! They majored in physical circumcision (Gal. 6:12,13). But while they focused on the external, they failed to understand the spiritual implications of circumcision that involved a work of redemption accomplished in the heart by God's Sword (Rom. 2:28,29). They worshipped the symbol but ignored the meaning of the symbol. In contrast, Paul emphasized the internal unseen work of God in the heart (Gal. 6:15).

Christian Liberty is Never a License to be Lawless

While we are on the subject of Christian liberty, I would like to add this essential thought. The theology in Paul's epistles is sometimes misunderstood and used for a license to sin. When Paul said he was “dead to the law” and that “we are not under the law” or “free from the law,” he is not teaching us to be lawless. He is simply saying that we cannot rely on the Old Testament as a means of salvation or perfection, and that the Old Testament ceremonies are outdated. Quite to the contrary, his theology exhorts us to have the law fulfilled in us in spirit (cf. Rom. 8:4, 13:8-10). He reminds the Galatians that every man will “reap what he sows.” After enumerating the seventeen works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, he warns that “they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” This is another way of saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, fornication, murder, drunkenness, witchcraft” and so on. Never does Paul suggest that we are free from the moral law of God to live as we please. To live as we please is not freedom, but bondage unto death.

The Fruit of the Spirit – There is No Higher Law – This is Perfection

A walk of faith, fellowship with God, obedience, living in the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit will lead to the development of all the fruits of the Spirit. All these fruits reveal the nature of God, and when these are flourishing in our lives we will be very much like Christ. “Against such there is no law.” There is no other law higher than this. With all of these things in mind, let us now by the grace of God look together into this marvellous Epistle of Paul to the Galatians.

Background

Paul was the founding father of the churches of Galatia. He had brought revival fire there on at least two occasions, and possibly a third time. In Acts 16:6, he came to “the region of Galatia.” This was on his second missionary journey, in 51 A. D. On his third missionary journey, in 54 A.D, he “went over all the country of Galatia strengthening all disciples” (Acts 18:23).

If Paul's epistle was intended to include the inhabitants of southern Galatia as well as the north, (Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe were believed to be in south Galatia), then Paul made his first appearance to Galatia on his first missionary journey (48–49 A.D.). Who ever this epistle was written to, whether to north or south Galatia, or both, the message certainly is of vital concern to everyone in every place, at any time in history.

The last time Paul had been in contact with the Galatian churches, whether it was during his last visit to Galatia in 54 A.D., or by correspondence, they were “running well” (Gal. 5:7). But now, someone had “hindered them that they should not obey the truth?” It is now December, 57 A.D.

Upon Paul's arrival at Corinth for a third visit, news reached him from Ephesus that his churches in Galatia had been infiltrated by false teachers (the Judaizers) who persuaded them to turn to Jewish rituals, ceremonies, sabbaths, and circumcision as a means of salvation and perfection. This startling information received by Paul, that a sudden and drastic change in attitude toward him and his Gospel was taking place in the Galatian churches, caused the writing of this epistle. With a great sense of urgency, Paul hastened to check this evil before it became irreparable.

The Judaizers had in fact destroyed the very essence of Christianity, and had reduced it from an inward and spiritual life to an outward ceremonial system. In effect, they taught that Christ was not all-sufficient for one's salvation. From this fatal mixing of ceremonial law with grace, Paul sought to save his converts. The contents of Galatians make evident Paul's purpose for writing. The apostle answers for all time the question which concerns the very foundation of Christianity—Is Christ sufficient for salvation and perfection, or must supplements be added to His atoning work?

A defense of Christian liberty is the clear theme of Galatians, a liberty that is made possible only by a relationship of faith, the end of which is good works. No other epistle written by Paul is marked by a greater unity of purpose.

Therefore, in December of 57 A.D. while abiding in Corinth, Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatians. In March of 58, just several months later, he also wrote to the Romans. These two epistles bear a striking resemblance which would naturally exist between two epistles written nearly at the same time. The same reasonings were occupying his mind, thus he employed the same phrases and illustrations. It is good to study Romans and Galatians, side by side.

Compare:

(Romans 8:15 with Galatians 4:6)

(Romans 7:14-25 with Galatians 5:17)

(Romans 1:17 with Galatians 3:11)

(Romans 4 with Galatians 3)

(Romans 13:8-10 with Galatians 5:13,14)

Galatians can be outlined in three simple divisions

GENERAL OUTLINE

Chapter 1–2 PERSONAL - Paul defends his divine commission and apostleship, which had been undermined by false teachers.

Chapter 3–4 DOCTRINAL - The doctrine of liberty, and freedom from Mosaic law (rituals, ceremonies, offerings, and circumcision).

Chapter 5–6 PRACTICAL - Application of our Christian liberty (What this means and how to use it)

Chapter One

Paul Defends His Apostolic Office

In this chapter, and also in chapter two, Paul defends his apostolic call. The Judaizing party, with great vigor, had succeeded not only in undermining Paul's message, but in spreading slander about his personal life as well. Hence, the rigorous defence of himself in these first two chapters.

Galatians as a whole is written with abruptness and severity to show the urgency of the occasion, and the greatness of the danger. It is also frequently characterized by a tone of sadness, for those whom Paul loved so dearly were forsaking the truth and believing the slander of his enemies. Therefore, in order to remove the seeds of alienation and distrust which had been designedly planted in the minds of his converts, Paul begins his epistle by fully disproving the falsehoods which had been propagated against himself by his opponents. Especially does Paul vindicate his apostolic office which he received directly from Christ, and exercised independently of the Twelve apostles.

The Judaizers insisted that Paul falsely represented himself as an apostle of Christ. They reasoned that Paul had not, like the Twelve, been a follower of Jesus when He was upon earth. Therefore, he had not received his commission from Jesus. Instead, he was only a teacher sent out by the authority of the Twelve, whose teaching was only to be received as far as it agreed with theirs and was approved by them. But now Paul's doctrine (they alleged) was in opposition to that of Peter and James, and the other “pillars” of the Church. By such representations, these false ministers had alienated to a great extent the Galatian Christians from their father in the faith. But in chapters one and two, Paul refutes all their slanderous reports very effectively.

The Greeting—God Made Me An Apostle, Not Man

1:1 “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;). Paul is getting straight to the point. Immediately, he reestablishes his credentials before the Galatians. “I did not make myself an apostle. I was not trained by man, nor was I commissioned and sent out by man, or by the Twelve apostles, but by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who appeared to me on the Damascus Road, and by God the Father who raised Him from the dead.” It was the resurrected Christ who intercepted Paul on the road to Damascus, and who trained and commissioned him, not the Twelve. Paul, in fact, had not even been introduced to the Twelve (with the exception of Peter) until seventeen years after his conversion.

The Brethren Stood Behind Paul

1:2 “And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:” Paul does not wish to stand alone in opposition to the Judaizing heresy that has crept into the churches of Galatia. “All the brethren which are with me” refers to the unity with which Paul's fellow-ministers supported him in his case against the adversaries. Paul joins all the brethren that were with him. He is writing in their name as well as in his own. The fact that he is addressing “the churches of Galatia” shows very clearly that a whole territory was involved here, not just a local church.