Down an Unfamiliar Road

THE DEVIL LOSES AGAIN – LUKE 4:9 [1]

Some ninety years after 80-90 AD, when Luke finished writing Acts of the Apostles, another follower of Christ, named Hegesippus, decided to write a similar chronology and bring things up to date. He wanted to include some incidents that Luke did not record. It ended up filling five volumes.  But over time copies were unfortunately lost from Near East libraries. But in a portion of the fifth volume, the only one to survive, Hegesippus tells a chilling story about one of the leading apostles still living in Jerusalem right before the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. This apostle was approached by some priests, scribes, and Pharisees to help them out because so many of their comrades were becoming converts to Christianity. They asked this venerable Christian teacher, whom many Jewish leaders highly respected, to do something to stem the tide of their fellow Jews becoming Christians.  They asked him to go to the Temple area, climb up some 45 feet in one of the pillars above the Holy of Holies, look out the window where he could be easily seen and heard, and say something that would stop this erosion of their ranks.

Oddly enough, this close follower in the Anointed One agreed. When he reached the pinnacle someone who climbed up with him got everyone’s attention on the court below and with a loud voice yelled like an interrogator, “Oh, righteous friend, in whom we are able to place great confidence; the people are being led astray after this Jesus, the crucified one. So, tell us, what this Way is all about, and this Jesus?” This venerable Apostle did not hesitate, but cupped his hands around his mouth and called out his answer. “What can I say about Jesus the Anointed One, seeing that He sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, and will return in clouds of glory?”

Many in the Temple court below were so persuaded by this Apostle’s boldness that they began to glorify God and cry out, “Hosanna in the highest to the Son of David!” The scribes and Pharisees realized that their plan had backfired. Now, even more, may turn to Christ as the Messiah. So, they ordered that this Apostle be grabbed, and without thinking threw him out the window onto the ground below. When they climbed down, they found out that not only wasn’t he dead but had gotten to his knees. So, they picked up stones to finish the job. When they did, this servant of God folded his hands and prayed, “O Lord God, Father, I beseech you to forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[2] So, who was this early martyr for the cause of Christ?  He was none other than Jesus’ own brother, James the Just. The question for us is this: if confronted with the same situation today would we be as brave as James and give our all for Him who gave His all for us? – Dr. Robert R Seyda

[1] Luke 4:9 – “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.” (NIV)

[2] Ibid. 23:34

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson LV)

One of the leaders of the Puritan Movement in the Church of England and a Cambridge theologian, William Perkins, writes that when we see “Grace” in the Scriptures, it signifies two things: the free favor of God, and the free gifts of God in us. And while the Holy Spirit is the witness to our justification, it all starts with Grace. For we are first the recipients of God’s goodwill and favor by His pardoning of our sins, and granting us timeless life, all on the merits of the Anointed One, not our own.[1] Perkins then writes that when Paul states emphatically that he is not pushing aside the grace of God, he is implying that he would never frustrate the work of God’s grace with respect to his own life nor in respect to the lives of his fellow Jews when emphasizing that justification of a sinner is by faith alone. It must be remembered that the Anointed One died freely to satisfy the will of His Father in heaven. So why couldn’t the Jews understand that they too must die freely to the Law because it was the will of God for them to receive salvation through the Anointed One?[2]

Catholic scholar Cornelius à Lapide prefers the translation by St. Ambrose that reads, “I am not ungrateful to the grace of God.” This was Ambrose’ way of saying that anyone who frustrates the Grace of God does so by seeking to be justified through the Mosaic Law, as well as those who after baptism become polluted by sin. Lapide admits that this second cause is a moral interpretation, while the first must be taken literally. He goes on to say that anyone, therefore, who seeks to gain justification through the Law of Moses does so in vain. Lapide can’t imagine anyone being so insane as to say that the Anointed One suffered in vain. Our Lord did suffer for our justification; therefore, we are justified by the Anointed One not by Moses – by faith, not by Law.[3]

Matthew Poole sees Paul making it clear to the Galatians that he would never think of despising, rejecting, or making void the Grace of God. Poole points out that the Greek verb atheteō (“frustrate” KJV) Paul uses here is translated elsewhere in the Scriptures as “reject(s),”[4] “despises,”[5] “bring to nothing,”[6] “nullify,”[7] and “throws away.”[8] Not only does Poole feel that Paul is pointing to those who put the Law above Grace, but anyone today who responds to the free love of God in giving His Son to die for their sins then continues to live a loose life and exercise their liberty to sin shows contempt and despise their justification through God’s free grace in the Anointed One. This is another way of describing sinning against God.

Poole goes on to say that if there was a way to stand before God as being righteous through obedience to the Law of Moses, then the Anointed One did die for no reason. This conclusion is reached because it was the main principal purpose for which Christs died was to procure righteousness for those who could not find their way to be righteous through the Law. So, if His death is proven to be for no just cause and no real purpose, then it was all for nothing. But the opposite is true. There are none justified by obedience to the Law. God’s grace is the only factor that possesses the power to bring a sinner before Him so that because of their faith in the work that the Anointed One did on the cross they be made right with the Father.[9]

John Bengel hears Paul refusing to be lumped together with the Judaizers who manipulated their understanding of the grace of God and wanted everyone to know that he fully embraced God’s grace, apart from the Law, with all his heart and soul. Moses didn’t die for us; it was the Anointed One and the Anointed One alone who was worthy to die as a sacrifice to pay for our redemption. We need not worry about the Law anymore because living in the Anointed One fulfills the Law. The Law proved to be incapable of offering forgiveness and thereby justifying us to be called the children of God. To allow the Law of Moses to influence our justification and salvation is the make the Anointed One’s death as the Lamb of God an unnecessary and pointless event.[10]

Puritan preacher Johnathan Edwards suggest that anyone who uses their good works as the basis for being right with God, in spite of the fact that it was the Anointed One who died for them to buy their redemption, then they are saying that all God did for humanity in preparing the only way to God’s grace was all in vain. Such self-righteousness charges God with the greatest act of foolishness ever committed since eternity past. Edward is not finished, anyone thinks they get to God on their own to stand right before Him are the ones who are foolish, thinking that their poor polluted prayers and the little pains they take in following their religion is enough to do for oneself what the Anointed One did on the cross. Who would even think that they could appease God’s anger against sin through their own method of salvation is the same as telling Him that they didn’t need His Son the Anointed One, Jesus? Those who do so will be sinners in the hands of an angry God.[11] As Joseph Benson hints, if we live so that there exists no need for the Anointed One to die, then no reason existed for Him to die so that we might live.[12]

Adam Clarke summarizes his thoughts on what Paul is teaching here. As he sees it, no other well-grounded hope of timeless life exists but what comes through the Gospel. From the time of Adam down through the last 6000 years,[13] humanity sought to find a way of mending their broken heart: none discovered even came close to being effective. The Gospel of the Anointed One not only mend but completely cure and makes whole our infected human nature. Clarke wants to know if anyone fully understands the infinite excellency and importance of the Gospel? What was the world before its appearance? What will happen to sinners if this light is ever extinguished? Clarke prays, “Blessed Lord! let neither unfaithfulness nor false doctrine rises up to obscure this heavenly splendor!”[14]

James Haldane makes an interesting observation by noting that if a sinner could be justified by the Law of Sinai, then when the Anointed One raised the cup at the last supper with His disciples, He need not drink it, but rather, put it down still full of its contents. Why pretend that what He was about to do on the cross was of any consequence? Why go through with such a vain act in delusion? But Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit and saw a different picture. The Anointed One was the grand link of the chain by which God’s timeless purpose for salvation was secured. But to many, this truth was hidden in the treasures of wisdom and knowledge found only in the Scriptures. That’s why the Apostle Paul harbored no intention of lowering the importance of God’s grace and the Anointed One’s work on the cross, thereby setting aside infallible proof of Divine love – God purchasing believers with His own blood.

In addition, Haldane also points out that this conclusion to chapter 2 corresponds exactly with Romans, chapters 6 and 7. He says much more, but the essence of which I’ve summarized as follows: Not only was the Anointed One’s death the basis for the immediate work of redemption, but also the foundation for the progressive work of sanctification. We must remember, the Anointed One died a lingering death on the cross. He lived in pain for hours before bowing His head and surrendered His soul to God. So it is that the Anointed One’s pain, as with the pain of Adam’s sin continues to live in us.  Thus, our sinful tendencies are at war with our spiritual needs – the mind against the soul. Only when our Adamic nature is given a burial in baptism do believers receive the power to overcome such tendencies. It’s like being raised from the dead! This is so much better than yielding to the demands of the Law and continue to serve as slaves in its bondage.[15]

Johann Lange advises that we should never let our practice of self-devotion become more important than our faith in the work of the Anointed One on the cross when it comes to our justification and sanctification. He also includes five-fold reasons on how we may knowingly or unknowingly reject the grace of God as the all-sufficient means to justification and salvation. First, by a denial of the perfect satisfaction of the Law provided by the Anointed One. Secondly, by setting alongside Grace our own merits, worthiness, and righteousness. Thirdly, by abusing this Grace to favor any presumptions we may make of our own worthiness and, thereby, supersede sanctification. Fourthly, when even sincere souls, in feeling unworthy, are much too timid upon conviction to accept God’s grace because they think they must first on their own arrive at some degree of holiness before grace offers them salvation. Fifthly, when one is tempted to lean more upon feelings rather than the facts of God’s Word, they conclude that they somehow fell out of grace again and must start all over, again![16]

John Eadie wants his readers to know that the “Grace” of God is not to be confused with the “Gospel,” nor the “Work of the Anointed One” on the cross. The fact that the Anointed One died for sinners is proof positive God’s Grace preexisted, and His sovereign kindness was manifested in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus the Anointed One. All of this was spontaneous on God’s part and was not based on any merit we may think we earned by good works.[17]

Eadie goes on to say that Paul’s realization of being in union with the Anointed One, dying with Him, and rising with Him, and his conscious possession of the Anointed One as his life within him that was put into motion and sustained by faith in the Son of God were proof enough for him that he was not being ungrateful for the grace of God. By trusting in the Anointed One, and in Him alone, he was magnifying the grace of God. This no doubt was why Paul was frustrated with Peter’s conduct in Antioch in which he seemed to be setting aside the grace of God. Paul wanted the Galatians, and all believers, to know that if anyone puts their faith in good works in any way, either completely or in part, as a way of affirming their place in justification before God as His child, is either opposed to faith or supplementing it. Grace is a gift from God, not a wage or earned merit. To do anything apart from the grace of God to secure salvation is making a mockery of the Anointed One’s work and death on the cross.[18]

[1] See 2 Timothy1:9; Ephesians 2:8

[2] William Perkins: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 219

[3] Cornelius à Lapide: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 257

[4] Mark 6:26, 7:9; Luke 7:30; John 12:48

[5] Luke 10:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; Hebrews 10:28; Jude 1:8

[6] 1 Corinthians 1:19

[7] Galatians 3:15

[8] 1 Thessalonians 6:12

[9] Matthew Poole: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Location 720-731

[10] Johann Bengel: On Galatians, op, cit., p. 583

[11] Jonathan Edwards: op. cit., On Galatians 2:21, History of the Work of Redemption, Containing the Outlines of a Body of Divinity, Including a View of the congregation History, in a Method Entirely New, Period I, Part III, Sec. I, Kindle Location 7759-7763

[12] Joseph Benson: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[13] Clarke’s Commentary was first published in 1810.

[14] Adam Clarke: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[15] James Haldane: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., pp. 99-101

[16] Peter Lange: On Galatians, op. cit., a quote from Starke, Volume 8, Kindle Location 4187-4192.

[17] See Ephesians 2:4-9

[18] John Eadie: On Galatians, op. cit., pp. 194-195

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson LIV)

Early church scholar Ambrosiaster offers his interpretation of what Paul says here about the grace of God being nullified if justification could be obtained through the Law, thereby making the Anointed One’s death on the cross purposeless. He concludes that because future life is promised to Christians, the person who lives in this life is armed with the help of God and lives in the hope of the promised life to come. Such a person meditates on their new spiritual image, which they received as a token of their future existence, which through God’s grace is granted by the Anointed One’s love. Therefore, the person who perseveres in the faith of the Anointed One shows that they are not ungrateful to Him for this, because they know that they will receive no such benefit from anyone other than from Him and that they will only insult the Anointed One if they compare Him to someone else unable to do anything to help them.

So, for this early church scholar, there is nothing clearer than this – if a person could be justified by the Law, the Anointed One need not suffer and die. But because the Law could not grant forgiveness of sins nor prevent the second death from being carried out on its captives being held hostage because of sin, the Anointed One died to achieve what the Law could not do, and for this reason, He did not die in vain.  His death is justification for sinners being pardoned by God.[1]

Early church preacher Chrysostom asks how could an act so great on the part of the Anointed One, so awesome it surpasses human reasoning, be of no purpose? How could a mystery so indescribable, for which the prophets yearned in earnest expectation; the patriarchs foresaw and the angels were astonished to behold, acknowledged by all as the crown of God’s loving care – how could anyone say that this was for show and useless? Therefore, how exceedingly absurd it would be for them to say such a deed of great significance and importance proved pointless? Paul adopts an indignant tone toward them saying, “O foolish Galatians.”[2]

As early church scholar Haimo of Auxerre sees it, in spite of what some were saying about Paul version of the Gospel, he was not trying to nullify the grace of God. In other words, he exhibited no signs of spurning the faith he treasured in the Anointed One’s work on the cross and what the Gospel taught about the forgiveness of sins. The problem was, some didn’t want to believe that these were all gifts from God. Certainly, there were somethings people needed to do in order to deserve such blessings? But Paul was quick to respond by saying, “If righteousness could be achieved through the Law, that is, if the Law was able to justify a person as being right with God, then the Anointed One came and died for no reason; His passion was neither advantageous nor detrimental.”[3]

Then Bruno the Carthusian points to the fact that it is evident the Apostle Paul was not trying to nullify the grace of God just because he argued against restoring the Law as the rule by which Christians should live. He said clearly that to restore the Law would be to falsely believe that being right with God would be achievable through the Law. And if anyone could prove that to be true, then he would be willing to admit that the Anointed One died unnecessarily when He came to justify all those who believed in His work of the cross to be forgiven and called children of God by His Father in heaven. So, Paul was more or less asking if there was anyone who would come out and say that the Anointed One died in vain?[4]

Medieval scholar Peter Lombard comments on Paul’s adamant statement that he has no intention of nullifying God’s grace by pushing the Law out of the picture when it came to justification and a right standing before God. Only if he accepted the Law as a contributing factor, then that would certainly be nullifying God’s grace. Lombard suggests a paraphrase to repeat what Paul is saying here, namely, “I am not so ungrateful for the grace of God that I would compare it to something else that might do the same work.” So, if Paul were to admit that the Law possessed the power to make a person right in the eyes of God at the required for justification, then the Anointed One died in vain, having no purpose and without any valid reason.[5]

You would think that with such a compelling argument establishing the grace of God through the Anointed One for complete salvation, that congregations who profess to be the shining light for the Gospel of salvation in the world would simply let grace do its work. But hold on!  Did your grandparents or parents, or, did you yourself ever see or hear of someone who fell at the altar and confessed their sins and received salvation by way of God’s grace in the Anointed One, being told later that if they want to come back and join that congregation and worship with the other believers then they must change the way they dress; take off the jewelry they are wearing; remove their make-up; and change their hairstyle, stop going to movie houses and playing cards?  Did you ever try to persuade someone like that to return and become a member but they told you it would be too hard; they didn’t think they could measure up or become holy enough to make it, so why even try if they were only going to fail?

When this happens, that person equates keeping the church’s laws and customs with keeping their salvation.  So not only did they lose becoming a member of the church but figured that they also lost their place in the Anointed One.  Every congregation should encourage their members to be examples of right living, telling the truth, being fair and honest, helping one another, lifting up the Anointed One and living their lives in honor of Him. But why tell a new believer that because they didn’t measure up to man’s standard of external holiness, they lost all their inward holiness? Does this sound harsh and straightforward to you? Doesn’t Paul really confront that type of mindset? Wonder how the Galatians and Judaizers were feeling now?

Early church theologian Thomas Aquinas says Paul not only denies trying to put away the grace of God, but he uses its principal as part of his conclusion. First, he draws the conclusion, then secondly, he explains it. He begins by saying that because he received such marvelous grace from God, yes, so great was that grace given to him by God Himself, it made it possible for him to place his faith in the Son of God for salvation. Something not available under the Law. So why would he now disown the grace of God? That would make him out to be a liar and an ungrateful fool. As he told the Corinthians: “I am different now. It is all because of what God did for me by His loving-favor. His loving-favor was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other missionaries. But it was not I who worked. It was God’s loving-favor working through me.”[6] Aquinas refers to another version (which he does not identify) as saying, “I am not ungrateful for the grace of God.” He then points to the Book of Hebrews that quotes: “Looking diligently, lest any man is wanting to [misses out on] the grace of God.”[7] Paul knew what would happen if he showed himself to be unworthy because of ingratitude.

Paul also knew that such an act would be a form of repudiation and of ingratitude if he were to say that the Law is necessary in order to be justified. That’s why he says, that if justification came by way of the Law, then the Anointed One died in vain. Did not the Apostle Peter also say, “The Anointed One also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might offer us to God?”[8] Now if this could be done through the Law, the death of the Anointed One would be pointless. But He did not die in vain or labor for no purpose, as Isaiah complained,[9] because through Him alone came justifying grace and truth, as it is said in John’s Gospel.[10] Therefore, if any were justified before the passion of the Anointed One, this too was through the faith of the Anointed One to come in Whom they believed and in Whose faith they were redeemed.[11]

Martin Luther minces no words in his objection to the way the Roman Catholic church in his day seemed to frustrate the grace of God from being fully implemented as part of one’s salvation.  He reads this twenty-first verse as Paul’s way of getting ready for the second argument of his Epistle, namely: that to seek justification by works of the Law is to reject the grace of God. In Luther’s mind, there was no sin more disrespectful than to reject the grace of God and to refuse the righteousness of the Anointed One? It is bad enough that we are wicked sinners and transgressors of all the commandments of God. On top of that, to refuse the grace of God and the remission of sins offered to us by the Anointed One is the worst sin of all, the sin of sins. That is the limit.

Luther goes on to say, there is no sin which Paul and the other apostles detested more than when a person despises the grace of God through the Anointed One Jesus. Still, there is no sin more common. That is why Luther became get so angry at the leadership of the Catholic church because they snubbed the Anointed One, rebuffed the grace of God, and refused the merit of the Anointed One. For Luther, this was like spitting in the Anointed One’s face, pushing the Anointed One to the side, seizing the Anointed One’s throne, and saying: “We are going to justify you people; we are going to save you.” And how do they plan to do it? By daily masses, pilgrimages, pardons, merits, etc. For this is Antichrist’s doctrine: Faith, they claim, is no good unless it is reinforced by works. By this abominable doctrine the benefit of the Anointed One is minimized, and in place of the grace of God through the Anointed One and His Kingdom ended up spoiled, darkened, and buried. In doing so, established the Doctrine of Works and the Kingdom of Ceremonies.[12]

For John Calvin, since there was no formal congregation in Paul’s day, his great emphasis on how dreadful is the ingratitude manifested in despising the grace of God, so invaluable in itself, and obtained at such a price was in response to the heinous offense by the false apostles, who were not satisfied with having the Anointed One alone, but introduced Jewish rite, rituals, ceremonies, and observances of feasts and holy days as an aid towards securing their salvation in the Anointed One. As Calvin sees it, if we do not renounce all other hopes, and embrace the Anointed One alone, we reject the grace of God. And what resource is left to the person who “pushes away” the grace of God, “and thereby makes themselves unworthy of everlasting life?[13] [14]

[1] Ambrosiaster: On Galatians, Ancient Christian Texts, op. cit., p. 14

[2] Chrysostom: On Galatians, Homily 2:21, Edwards, M. J. (Ed.). p. 34

[3] Haimo of Auxerre: On Galatians, The Bible in Medieval Tradition, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle location 1275

[4] Bruno the Carthusian: On Galatians, The Bible in Medieval Tradition, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle location 2006

[5] Peter Lombard: On Galatians, The Bible in Medieval Tradition, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle location 2811

[6] I Corinthians 15:10

[7] Hebrews 12:15 – The Douay-Rheims Version

[8] 1 Peter 3:18

[9] Isaiah 49:4

[10] John 1:17

[11] Thomas Aquinas: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[12] Martin Luther: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 53

[13] Acts of the Apostles 13:46

[14] John Calvin: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson LIII)

Peter then goes on and tells James that in order to address any matter where a similar thing is happening to those who were considered part of the seventy-two disciples Jesus ordained to preach the Gospel,[1] that he is free to share with them any copies of his sermons as a form of initiating them into the ministry of indoctrinating those who wish to take part in teaching. Peter warns, if this is not done, the word of truth will fracture into different interpretations. And this he knew, not as being a prophet, but as already seeing the beginning of this very evil.

Now here comes a telling piece of information, says Clementine. Peter says he experienced this coming from the Gentile believers who rejected his legal preaching, attaching themselves to certain lawless and trivial preaching of a man who is my opponent.[2] And these things have happened while I am still alive, to transform my words by various interpretations in order to do away with the Law; as though I also myself were of such a mind, but did not freely proclaim it, which God forbid! For such a thing were to act in opposition to the Law of God which was given to Moses and confirmed by our Lord with respect to its timelessness. That’s why he said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”[3] And He said this so that all things spoken about might come to pass. But these men, professing, to somehow know my mind, undertook to explain my words which they heard me say, in a more intelligent manner than I spoke them, telling their students that this is what I meant, which indeed I never thought of. But if, while I am still alive, they dare to misrepresent my words, how much more will those who will come after me dare to do the same![4]

Paul seems to be answering such a charge that he misinterpreted what Peter said by noting that anyone who thinks that disregarding the grace of God is necessary just to remain in compliance with the Law of Moses is promoting a ridiculous thought. This is what Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing with the written Law in order to enforce their oral laws.[5] They preferred their man-made righteousness to God’s righteousness. This is the same point Paul made when he wrote the Roman believers.[6] But it was all in vain because if they do end up being justified before God and the death sentence for sinners is removed, it does not include anything they did, it is the consequence of God’s free love, grace, and mercy.[7]

That’s why it was necessary for God to send a new high priest with the authority of the new Law of Grace so that a proper sacrifice could be made that would eternally satisfy God’s demand for justice.[8] This was the message that Paul carried abroad, and reminded the Corinthians of its importance: “Now let me remind you, brothers, of what the Gospel really is, for it has not changed—it is the same Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is squarely built upon this wonderful message, and it is this Good News that saves you if you still firmly believe it, unless of course you never really believed it in the first place.”[9] And Paul repeats the same refrain here he used in his letter to the Corinthians when he said, “If the Anointed One was not raised from the dead, then what we preach to you is worth nothing. Your faith in the Anointed One is worth nothing.”[10] If that turned out to be the case, then Paul said, “If the Anointed One was not raised from the dead, your faith is worth nothing and you are still living in your sins.”[11]

This sense of futility that Paul projects on the Anointed One, and which he himself said would be the case if those he delivered the Gospel to did not stay with their conversion but went back to their old Jewish or Gentile ways, was expressed by Isaiah. In spite of God’s call designating him as His servant and messenger to Israel and the promise that God’s glory would be seen through him, Isaiah confessed: “My work has been for nothing. I spent My strength for nothing. Yet for sure what should come to Me is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.”[12]

The Prophet Jeremiah felt the same sense of letdown. After all, he did try and get the Israelites to listen to the message from the Lord, claiming that they already knew all that was needed, Jeremiah told them this: “How can you say, ‘We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,’ when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies? These wise teachers will fall into the trap of their own foolishness, for they have rejected the word of the Lord.  Are they that wise after all?”[13]

The only way we live by faith in union with the Anointed One, says Paul, is when we are dead to the old system, just as the only way a baby lives and grows older is outside the womb.  The grace of God cannot be considered just one of many options for getting saved.  It is the only option, the only way, the only truth, the only life. If you insist on requiring observance of the old rituals, ceremonies, and customs practiced under Mosaic Law for it to work, then you are implying that the Anointed One’s death on the cross was not much more than a suicidal act of a misguided Zealot.

In other words, if we could gain salvation for us by strict adherence to the rules and regulations of the religious law that regulates admission and acceptance by our congregation, then why did God go to all the trouble of sending His Son to suffer and die to accomplish the same thing?  It wouldn’t be necessary.  But that won’t work, says Paul! There is no one who satisfies each and every dot and title of the law – which must be done to gain complete righteousness through the law – nor continue in such perfection the rest of their lives.  Therefore, salvation through rites, rituals, and religiosity is impossible.

No wonder Paul felt exasperated by those who insisted on adding the burden of the law’s requirements to the gift of salvation by grace through Jesus the Anointed One. Some might suggest getting rid of the ordinances and teachings of the church because the people of God don’t need such directives. This question is redundant because all true teachings and ordinances of the church must be based on the Word of God, and this is how the Word gives direction to the believer. Then some may question the rules and regulations of discipleship and discipline put forth in the church’s doctrine as a burden. Once again, such discipleship and discipline must also conform with the teachings of Jesus the Anointed One. There is a big difference between being a servant of God through love, and a being a slave of God through law.

Church historian Philip Schaff agrees that there existed much earnest controversy in these young congregations, not necessarily about the great facts on which their faith was based, and which were fully admitted to by both Messianic Jews and synagogue Jews in the Galatian congregations. It was about doctrinal and ritual inferences from these facts, especially the question of the continued obligation of circumcision and the Mosaic law, and the personal question of the apostolic authority of Paul. The Judaizers maintained the superior claims of the older apostles and charged Paul with a radical departure from the venerable religion of their forefathers; while Paul used against them the argument that the sacrificial death of the Anointed One and His resurrection was needless and useless if justification came from the good deed done in order to obey the law.[14]

In 529 AD the Bishops of the churches met in the city of Orange, located in southeast France, about 13 miles north of the city of Avignon. This was one of the most important councils of the early church and was often pointed to by Reformers as evidence that 900 years later the Roman Catholic Church abandoned the theology of its own Council Fathers and church Theologians. All persons of faith should take the time to get to know it.

The content of the Council itself naturally grew out of the public dispute between Augustine and Pelagius. This critical dispute involved the extent to which the natural man is responsible for his or her own regeneration, namely, whether the work of God in regeneration was “monergistic” – (by God alone) or was it “synergistic” – (cooperation of man with God)? The Council of Orange condemned the Semi-Pelagian doctrine that fallen creatures, although sinful, were given an island of righteousness which made them morally competent enough to contribute toward their salvation by taking hold of the offer of the grace of God through an act of their unregenerate natural will.

As a result of the Synod in Orange, a number of Canons (doctrines) were written to be sent to all the churches throughout the known world. One of those Canon’s reads as follows: “No person will be justified by what they’ve done on their own as though it were not a gift, or suppose that it will be given to them because a message was delivered to them either by word of mouth or in writing. For the Apostle Paul speaks said this: ‘For if justification were through the Law, then the Anointed One died for no purpose.[15] Paul also quoted the Psalmist[16] when he wrote to the Ephesians that when the Anointed One ascended on high He took those who were with Him, thereby making gifts available to humankind’.”[17] It is from this source that each believer is guaranteed what they possess. And whoever denies that they received it from this either does not truly possess it or else “even what they have will be taken away.”[18] [19] So the question remains today, is the Roman Catholic Church following the doctrines of the Synod of Orange or have the composed doctrines of their own?

[1] Luke 10:1-24

[2] Many believe that this is a clear reference to the Apostle Paul

[3] Matthew 24:35

[4] The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles: Clementia, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Age, Phillip Schaff, ed. Intro. by the Rev. Thomas Smith, Chapters. I & II, pp. 365-366

[5] Mark 7:9

[6] Romans 10:3

[7] Ibid. 11:6

[8] Hebrews 7:11-12

[9] 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

[10] Ibid. 15:14

[11] Ibid. 15:17

[12] Isaiah 49:3-4

[13] Jeremiah 8:8-9

[14] Philip Schaff: History of the Christian congregation, Vol. 1, The Middle Ages, Apostolic Christianity, AD 1-100 para. 22, p. 188

[15] Galatians 2:21

[16] Psalm 68:18

[17] Ephesians 4:8

[18] Matthew 25:29

[19] The Canons of the Council of Orange, (529 AD) Canon 16, p. 18. (Redacted for better understanding in modern English – RRS). See also Canon 21.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson LII)

British Sunday school teacher J. L. Nye (1881-1965) was looking for a story or illustration to put a frame around what Paul says in verse twenty about his being crucified with the Anointed One yet he is still alive. Only, it was the Anointed One alive in him and gave him the faith to live for the God who loved him and gave Himself for him. Here’s the story he selected:

Also, when Charles Spurgeon read verse twenty, as part of his evening devotions, the thought of how the Lord Jesus the Anointed One was conducting Himself before the world as a representative of all mankind by dying on the cross as though they were dying there. But for the Apostle Paul, there was more to understand in the death of the Anointed One which he believed and trusted in for his salvation. As far as Spurgeon is concerned, Paul actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, “I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them.” Such should be the experience of every true Christian. Having received the Anointed One, they are to this world as one who is dead and buried. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, they will be able at the same time, exclaim with the Apostle, “Nevertheless I live.” They are fully alive to God in the Anointed One. The Christian’s life is an unmatched riddle. No worldly person comprehends it; even the believers themselves cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! Crucified with the Anointed One, and yet at the same time risen with the Anointed One in newness of life! In union with the suffering, bleeding Savior, and dead to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things.[3]

Bible scholar Walter Adeney gives us a similar shocking concept of the death of self we go through by being born again. For him, the crucifixion with the Anointed One is no figure of speech, meaning only that, inasmuch as the Anointed One died for us, we may be said to be crucified representatively in Him. The passionate earnestness of the Apostle Paul in describing his own spiritual renewal goes far beyond any such shallow conception. He is plainly describing what he really endured. This is death and dying! The old-self is put to death. The passions, lusts, habits, and immoral associations of life in sin, self, and worldliness are truly crucified.

We must remember, says Adeney, Christianity is not simply an educational process. It is first and foremost a militant, purging, scourging, and killing the enemy of sin religion. This is crucifixion – a painful, violent, merciless death. For it is no small thing to destroy one’s old sin life, so full of pleasant attractions, and so deeply rooted in our inmost nature. We are undertaking a judicial execution, brought on ourselves by the unforgiving powers of our own treacherous passions once we turn from them to faith in the Anointed One. Our union with the Anointed One necessitates this death of the old life and causes it to happen. If the new wine of the indwelling Spirit were poured into our old wineskins of selfish desires it would cause them to burst wide open. But we were given new wineskins for the wine of the Holy Spirit. As long as those old wineskins are not destroyed, we will be tempted from time to time to drink their putrid wine. Conscience and Law failed to destroy the old life, though they revealed its hideous deformity. But when we came to Calvary and reach out to the dying Anointed One, we joined Him in His experience by faith and hope. The old self received its mortal wounds. We no longer live in the abode of our former sinful self.[4]

Earlier, we commented on what Alfred E. Bouter wrote concerning making the Anointed One our role model.[5] So here in verse twenty, he repeats the same concept through the words of Paul. He hears Paul saying: But I am still in the flesh. So how do I live this new life? The answer is: by faith, with the Anointed One as the Object, He is my life. The life I have is characterized by the Anointed One, and further, it is by faith not by works of the law. He is the focus of my life.  In other words, when Paul says the life I live, the responsible “I” is the overcomer in us, the one who gives over the reins of their will to the Anointed One. Peter in this incident did not live by faith, but the one who lives like Paul did here live by faith, the faith of the Son of God. Paul was totally focus on Him because He lives in him, He controls him through His Spirit.[6]

So why do so many in their sinner’s prayer say, “Jesus, I receive you as my Lord and Savior,” but do not visualize Him moving in and living in their hearts? They still think of Him standing at the right hand of the Father to whom they go when they need help or guidance, instead of looking inside their heart for His instructions. Finally, and so beautifully at the end of verse twenty, who is this person? Who is this Son of God? He is the One who loves us and gave Himself for us. Should we not then live for Him who lives in us? Should we not do everything to please Him so that He is pleased with us? He gave Himself for us, can we not do the same for Him?

Hans Dieter Betz has a good summation of these verses by pointing out the Abraham was justified by faith, not works. But by the time Yeshua came into the world, they turned that completely around and now justification came by way of works, not faith. Then when Paul began his ministry to the Gentiles, the converted Jews objected because Paul also put faith before works while they wanted to keep it in line with their theological ceremonial tradition. However, Paul refused to back down. Not only to protect the Gentiles but for the education of the Jews. Yet, by the early fourth century of the Christian Church, they fell back into this misleading concept of works before faith which was instituted despite what the Apostle Paul preached. It took the Reformation to turn it back around again.[7] So the question for us is where is the church today?

2:21 So don’t ask me to treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping all the religious rituals and regulations could make us right with God, there would have been no need for the Anointed One to die.

Paul was clear from the beginning of his letter that by turning so quickly away from the Gospel he taught them, the Galatians apparently considered these Judaizers as being so important that they could not bring themselves to categorically dismiss their teaching as harmful to their faith as believers in Yeshua the Messiah. Instead, they responded to them as trusted guides by internalizing their message but perhaps not actualizing what they were being told as being beneficial to them as new believers in the Anointed One. No doubt Paul knew that once they went down that path, there would be no way of turning them back. So, he wanted to catch them now before it was too late.[8]

Paul was driven to do this because their actions meant they failed to realize that vowing allegiance to this other message was an act of turning their backs on the Grace of God. Did they forget that His grace was given to them while they were yet heathens? If He was so merciful to them as uninformed Gentiles who knew nothing of the Mosaic Law and never participated in the rites, rituals, and ceremonies of the Jews, especially circumcision, how could they now be made to feel that they were unworthy of such grace? Furthermore, they were nullifying the whole purpose for the Anointed One’s death on the cross on their behalf while they were yet sinners.[9] It could only be seen as their admitting that when Paul came and preached the Good News to them, he misled them. How could they implicitly deny the reality of their decision to believe in the Anointed One, as well as their experience of the Holy Spirit and seeing miracles performed in their midst?[10] How could they be so blind and ignorant? And would God ever forgive them?[11]

We might all wonder how Peter was taking all this assertion by Paul that the senior Apostle failed miserably in keeping his commitment to the truth that both Jews and Gentiles were to receive the Gospel and be treated equally in the body of the Anointed One. But an out-of-the-way source exists that might give us some idea. It is contained in a letter from Peter to the Apostle James contained in the Clementine Homilies. There we read where Peter tells James he would prefer that James not share anything Peter sent to him with any Gentile believers unless they are found worthy of his trust. He seems to be referencing an incident in the past and indicates that it involves opposition to his way of interpreting the Gospel. As a sort of back-handed slap to his critics, Peter mentions a long-held Jewish tradition that no one should be considered worthy to teach if they don’t understand what the Prophets were saying and learned how to interpret Scripture. And that among these Scriptures it tells us that there is one God, one Law, and one Hope.

[1] Dr. Deems’ Sermons: Published by Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1885, The Great Truth, Ch. XII, p. 75

[2] J. L. Nye: op. cit., p. 112

[3] Charles Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Daily Readings, December 14, p. 701

[4] Walter Adeney: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[5] See commentary on 2:6-7 above

[6] Alfred E. Bouter: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[7] Hans Dieter Betz: On Galatians, op. cit., pp. 115-127

[8] Mark A. Nanos: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 30

[9] Galatians 5:2-4

[10] Ibid. 3:2-5

[11] Mark A. Nanos: On Galatians, op. cit., pp. 52-53

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson LI)

I like the Contextual Bible’s paraphrase of these verses: “For it was through the Law of God that I came to realize my impotence, that I could never keep God’s Law in my human strength, and thus be guiltless and righteous before God. It condemned me to my death and when my death penalty was paid by the Anointed One, dying in my place, the Law released me from its condemnation and authority. Released from its power, I am now under God’s power, infused with his life-giving spirit, and therefore alive and enabled to live up to his will for me.  I’ve been nailed to the torture stake with the Anointed One, my “self” has been put to death: now it is not me that is living, but the Anointed One is living in me, taking care of all of God’s requirements for me. Indeed, the life that I now live, with its power to live up to God’s will for me, is a result of my complete and absolute surrender to the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me, and not a result of my own conscientious efforts to live by God’s Law.”[1]

That’s the point Paul was trying to get across to the Galatians. He said when I gave up following those religious rituals and regulations, they became invalid for me; I cannot, therefore, return to following those legalistic forms of religious servitude, they are of no benefit to me. Remember, the baby did not leave the womb voluntarily; it was ejected from the womb.  It was the womb itself that expelled the baby and, therefore, put an end to its relationship with the child.

That fit Paul’s explanation. These religious rituals and regulations were like the womb, but it was impossible to attain spiritual life until they left the womb through faith in the Anointed One. Jesus made it possible to live outside the womb of Mosaic Law by providing the spiritual environment of salvation through grace. So, by being in union with the Anointed One, a person receives the kind of spiritual life that all these religious rituals and regulations combined could not provide. No wonder Jesus said He came that we might not only be given life but full and abundant life.

Why did the Judaizers claim that Paul became a sinner by giving up these religious rituals and regulations? Fact is, he left because as long as he tried to gain salvation by obeying them, he actually remained a sinner. How then could these Judaizers ever think that just because Jesus led us away from these religious rituals and regulations, He ended up at the head of a long line of sinners headed for hell? Fact is, if Jesus left us where He found us, we would all still be sinners, trying to get saved by obeying religious rituals and regulations that could not save us and we’d still end up in hell.

But to make matters worse, these Judaizers wanted to put everybody back into the womb where it would be impossible to live because they thought everyone only keeps themselves spiritually alive by being tied to the legalistic umbilical cord of the Law. Everyone knows what happens to the umbilical cord after the birth of the child. When the baby is born, most hospitals will immediately clamp and cut the cord. Other options include a “lotus birth” in which the cord is never cut, but the placenta is placed in a bag and carried with the baby until the cord dries up and falls off.  Regardless, after several hours the cord begins to gel internally, cutting off the blood supply to and from the placenta because the baby doesn’t need it anymore.

What the Judaizers were doing to the Galatian believers broke Paul’s heart; how could they completely dishonor the work of the Anointed One; what were they thinking in attempting to label all Jesus did on the cross as a futile, irrational act of love?  Did they really believe that the feeble works of their own hands and their futile attempt at trying to comply with all the religious rituals and regulations were so much better? No wonder it almost drove Paul to tears.

I hear Paul yelling, “Don’t you get it you misled Galatian believers? The outcome of staying with the old system is certain death; no matter how hard I tried to keep it, I fell short. But the Anointed One said, let me pay the price so you may die with Me and I can bring you back to life as a new creation. Then you will live for Me and My Father without trying to fulfill all the religious rituals and regulations that don’t apply to you anymore. I’m not talking about the laws of right and wrong, good and bad, proper and improper, but those religious rituals and regulations that supposedly brought you salvation if you kept them without ever making a mistake. Those are gone!”

At this point, Augustine of Hippo felt obligated to establish some guidelines for believers in his day, so that they were not confused between what must be held onto under the law, and what to let go of. As he saw it, from this point on the Apostle Paul begins to show how the Grace of Faith is sufficient for justification apart from works of the law, just in case anyone was saying that while they do not attribute a person’s entire justification to works of the law alone, neither do they attribute it to the Grace of Faith alone, but rather claims that salvation is accomplished by both.[2]

Here we clearly see the beginning of the Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation by way of good works by faith, allowed by, if not demanded by, God’s grace. But in order to treat this question carefully and avoid being misled by ambiguity, Augustine says that we must first realize that the works of the law are in two divisions. Some come under sacraments, others under morals. Under sacraments is circumcision of the flesh, the weekly Sabbath, new moons, sacrifices, and all the countless observances of this kind. Under morals are: You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not bear false witness and the like. Augustine is sure that it is impossible that the Apostle Paul did not care whether a Christian was a murderer and an adulterer, or celibate and innocent, in the same way, that he didn’t care whether a man was circumcised or uncircumcised in the flesh. At present, therefore, he is dealing mainly with these sacramental works. When we examine the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, we find the following: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the sick, Marriage, and Holy Orders (ordained bishops, priests, and deacons).

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) says that Paul wants the Galatians and the Judaizers to know that he was dead to the Law. He knew that the Moral Law branded all those who did not faithfully follow everything written there. So instead of the Moral Law pronouncing the death sentence on him, he decided to just go ahead and die to the Moral Law so that it couldn’t touch him as a dead man. After all, the Moral Law offered no hope of justification or salvation, even when obeyed. And as for the Ceremonial Law, he also knew that it was now antiquated and superseded by the coming of the Anointed One, and, therefore, the essence of what the Ceremonial Law represented came in human form to the world, he no longer needed to pay attention to the Anointed One’s shadow in the Ceremonial Law now that the Anointed One came to fulfill the Law. And when considering the Torah itself, he saw that justification was never possible by the works it demanded, since no one was able to perform them in perfect obedience. That he also understood there was now no further need of the sacrifices and purifications it prescribed since they were done away in the Anointed One’s sacrifice and resurrection. To make it sweet and short, following the Law’s demands in order to obtain forgiveness and justification was all a mirage, like an illusionary lake in the desert.

But that was only half the story. Though Paul was dead to the Law he was alive to God through the Anointed One – Jesus. As he says in verse twenty, I’m not the one living now – it is the Anointed One living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God. He’s the One who loved me and gave Himself to save me. My old man is gone, a new man has moved in. Whereas I depended on the Law to be my source of strength and hope, now I depend solely upon God’s grace and promises. Before says Paul, I was independently trying to survive spiritually because of the harness that kept me attached to the Law yet gave me no assistance, but now I’m co-dependent with the Anointed One because we are united together as one in the Spirit.[3] I may still be living in the flesh, remarks Paul, but I no longer live by what I see and try to imitate, now I live by faith by that which I cannot see but find it’s real when I truly believe.[4] So, says Henry, those who have true faith live by that faith and the great thing which faith fastens upon is the Anointed One’s loving us. The great evidence of the Anointed One’s loving us is His giving Himself for us and this is what we join with faith with in order to live for Him to God’s glory and honor, not ourselves.[5]

George W. Clark (1831-1911) sees a different side of the Law in that the Law prepared the way to reach the Anointed One by cutting off all hope of right standing with God and salvation through the works of the Law. Therefore, despairing of all help from the Law in holy living and a new spiritual life, desperate sinners were driven to seek a Savior who could lift them to a higher plane of spirituality as explained in the Gospel in order to gain timeless life through a right standing with God only available through faith in Jesus the Anointed One.[6]

But some contended that this made the Anointed One a promoter of sin because we must all be sinners in order to become saints. They also accused Paul that by advocating justification through faith apart from works that it led to, or at least encouraged the sin of laziness rather than holiness and consecration to God as His servants. But Paul assured them that because the Gospel provides a righteousness in justification and a life of holiness in sanctification through the Holy Spirit, that no such attitude existed because of the internal changes that took place making those who believe into a new creation with the indwelling Spirit of the Anointed One there to guide and motivate them to live and work with an attitude of giving all glory, honor, and praise to God through the Anointed One.[7]

[1]Aiyer, Ramsey, The Contextual Bible Galatians, loc. cit.

[2] Augustine of Hippo: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[3] See Matthew 11:29

[4] 2 Corinthians 5:7

[5] Matthew Henry: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[6] Romans 6:11; Philippians 3:9

[7] George W. Clark: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 76

One of my first eye-opening moments as a boy came as I sat in a room in the late afternoon while a ray of light streamed through the window.  All at once I noticed that the whole atmosphere in the room seemed filled with tiny specks of dust floating in the air.  They were everywhere!  I couldn’t believe it; I thought my Mom kept a clean house! This phenomenon has reoccurred many times in different places over the years, and each time those millions of dust spores are still floating there. It told me there is a visible and invisible world around me.

By the same token, sometimes it takes a stream of light from above to help us see with the spiritual eye what we cannot detect with the natural eye.  This was the case in Israel between the priests and prophets.  The priests saw the visible glory of God in the Tabernacle.  But by the light of the Holy Spirit, the prophets were able to see things yet to come as well as those around them.  Such was the case with Elisha and his servant Gehazi who did not see the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around them until the prophet asked God to open his eyes (2Kings 6:17).  We must always remember that there are things going on around us we do not see, but God sees them all.  So, let’s not judge what He does base on our sight alone, but thank Him for seeing what we can’t see to provide protection and grace to us each and every day. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

FOUND AND LOST

Poetry has always been one of my first loves since my high school English teacher, Mrs. Nina Driggers (some names you just never forget), at Lee Academy in Cleveland, TN, read from Lord Byron’s, “She walks in beauty, like the night.”  That’s why I was so taken by what Francesco Petrarca, known to English readers as Petrarch, an Italian scholar, and poet during the Renaissance in Italy wrote after he first laid eyes on Laura in the Sunday morning service, the sixth of April in 1327, in the Church of Saint Clare at Avignon.  She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  But alas, he found out later she was already taken.  So, in his despair, he wrote a poem bemoaning his misfortune.  I thought you romantics out there might enjoy the first two stanzas.

‘Voi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il suono’

You who hear the sound, in scattered rhymes,

of those sighs on which I fed my heart,

in my first vagrant youthfulness,

when I was not being what I am,

 I hope to find pity and forgiveness,

for all the modes in which I talk and weep,

between vain hope and vain sadness,

in those who understand love through its trials.

 Yet I see clearly now I have become

an old fairytale amongst these people, so that

it often makes me ashamed of myself;

 And shame is the fruit of my vanities,

and remorse, and the clearest knowledge

of how the world’s delight is a brief dream.

‘Per fare una leggiadra sua vendetta’

 To make a graceful act of revenge,

and punish a thousand wrongs in a single day,

Love secretly took up his bow again,

like a man who waits the time and place to strike.

 My power was constricted in my heart,

making defense there and in my eyes,

when the mortal blow descended there,

where all other arrows had been blunted.

 So, confused by the first assault,

it had no opportunity or strength

to take up arms when they were needed,

 or withdraw me shrewdly to the high,

steep hill, out of the torment,

from which it wishes to save me now but cannot.

                                                                        Francesco Petrarca

Do you feel his grief and pain?  Losing any chance of having the woman he thought most beautiful; so near and yet so far away.  If not, you need to have your heart checked for love density.  But as I read it, I wondered if this lament might not one day apply to those souls who were first touched by the love of God through Jesus Christ, yet never felt prepared to accept His offer and become one with Him in an everlasting relationship.  It’s like looking at the blood-stained cross of the Lamb of God and saying, not right now, I’ve given my heart to someone else.  Such an eternal goodbye to God will be a heartbreak impossible to describe, even in the most poetic form. But no matter how far you’ve wandered away, He’s still waiting for you. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson L)

Wayne C. Aman (1918-1995), Christian writer and researcher, in writing about the Apostle Paul’s commitment to always proclaiming that his old sinful nature hung crucified with the Anointed One, so that any sinful tendencies in him might be destroyed, now says he showed no interest in serving the interests and desires of those tendencies that made him a sinner. Just like when someone dies they are no longer bound to any oaths or contracts they made, so it is that his being dead to sin meant he no longer was obligated under sin’s reign.[1] Furthermore, what the Law was unable to do because it was weak when it came to controlling mankind’s carnal desires, God sent His only Son to live in a human body so He could conquer those sinful tendencies so that all who believed He now possessed all power over such tendencies could be made right with God based solely on the work of the Anointed One.[2] Then they really understand what Paul says here in verse twenty about being made alive again in the Anointed One. However, it wasn’t by virtue of any life in them, but because the Spirit of the Anointed One made them alive. So even though they still lived in the same old natural body, by the power of the Anointed One they were in charge, not their body. Now they did what the Anointed One wanted them to do, not what their carnal desires might tell them to do.

Now, all if this was only made possible by the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them that they could receive a new life. Not a new body, that would come later. Therefore, the sanctified life they now lived, they lived by their faith in what the Son of God did for them. And since Jesus willingly suffered and died to be a sacrifice for them so that His blood would cover their sins from God’s eyes, they must now willingly live for him, and if necessary, die for Him and His cause. How glorious is the provision, says Aman! This gives more meaning to what Jesus said about His body – the Church. So, when we are asked to take and eat the communion wafer, we are confirming that the life we live is because of Him – He is part of us.

O yes, death is coming, but by faith, we face it knowing there will be a glorious resurrection. That’s why we say with the Apostle “I died in the Anointed One but the life I now live is a glorious, resurrected life. I live by the faith of my Savior and Sanctifier Jesus the Anointed One.”[3] The wonderful fact that the sin principle is destroyed in all that die to sin and self, belief in the accomplished provision of Jesus, is clear in the teaching of the Word.[4] The water that is used in baptism not only means that a person died and is buried as far as sin is concerned but that it also represents the blood of the Lamb of God that cleanses sin’s stains and serves as an antidote to the poison of sin. So, we imply that when we come up out of the water it represents our being born again but also our being sanctified by His blood. But that is not all, now that person’s life must show that all of this took place. All that remains is for the infilling of the Holy Spirit for service.

And Duncan Hester feels that Paul is using the same language of baptism here in verse nineteen that he would later use with the Romans.[5] So baptism became his burial after he died to the Law. Just like someone is put in a grave, so also Paul was put into a watery grave. But just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so Paul was raised to new life by the power of the Anointed One. So, his relationship with the Law is over, just like when one spouse dies and is buried, their relationship with the other spouse is over. If they want to, they may remarry. And that’s what Paul did, he was married to the Anointed One in spirit. Then in verse twenty, Paul makes another reference to his baptism. But this time it is post-baptism, and it involves the fact that a co-crucifixion occurred – the Anointed One and Paul. Hester says that the word, co-crucifixion, is used about the thieves being crucified with Jesus.[6] The unrepentant thief represents those who refuse to accept the Anointed One as their Savior. But the repentant thief is a type of us all. And the promise to the repentant thief that he would be with Jesus in paradise following his death, is also the same promise to us.[7]

In their exposition of Galatians, David Platt and Tony Merida share a quote from Puritan William Perkins (1558-1602), who died nine years before the King James Version Bible was published, on his thoughts of what is being said in verse nineteen. The quote goes: “We are to consider in our mind and meditation that the Anointed One was crucified. First, we are to believe that He was crucified for us. This being done, we must go yet further, and spread our arms on the cross of the Anointed One, believing and see ourselves being crucified with Him.” In the original book published for Perkins, he then adds, “You might say, this is a difficult matter, I cannot do it. But I say again, that this is the right practice of faith: strive, therefore, to be settled in this, that the body of sin is crucified with the Anointed One.”[8] So what does this imply once we die to sin when we are co-crucified with the Anointed One? It means that the penalty, power, and preeminence of sin was broken unable to condemn our souls to timeless separation from God. Its effect in the past was covered by the blood of the Lamb, its influence in the present is erasable by God’s grace, and its potential outcome in the future is already paid for by the Anointed One. If we sin, God doesn’t say, “You are not justified anymore.” No, your justification is sealed; you died to sin. God’s declaration is final.[9]

Ralph Martin and William Lane conclude that Paul is laying down a new basis for the divine-human relationship. The old-self is condemned and put on the cross as a criminal. However, there is no canceling of one’s personality, no call to self-denial and self-punishment. The dying of self is an invitation to glorious new possibilities of a life in a union by faith with a Living Lord who now controls the believer and who lives the Anointed One’s resurrection life.[10] Only from the vantage point of this “dead to self – alive to God” experience does the cross we carry shine in its true light. Only as sinners throw themselves on the mercy of God shown on the cross as the sole ground of their hope does the cross assume its real importance, for if there is any merit in human achievement – if there is any second way to God by some side-door entrance into God’s awesome presence – then the Anointed One died for no purpose. In other words, He died for nothing.[11] [12]

Current Bible commentator Robert Gundry sees it this way: “Being in the Anointed One provides a location for the sought-after justification because from God’s point of view, believing in the Anointed One puts believers in union with the Anointed One, the object of their belief.”  He goes on to say: “Believing in the Anointed One brings the gift of His Spirit so that through the Spirit that indwells him believers too indwell Him.”[13]  Therefore, there is no justification for God to forgive us of sin outside the Anointed One, because the Law did not pay the price for redemption, nor did we pay through good works, only the Anointed One did. That’s why any Judaizers in Galatian who claimed that by forsaking the Law in favor of the Anointed One meant they were being led into sin against the Law were wrong. Paul’s response was to point out that since the Anointed One tore down all the works of the Law (see this in light of the veil in the Temple being torn in two) so that His work on the cross could take its place, by re-instituting the Law they were rebuilding what the Anointed One tore down, and sowing the veil back together again, would not only be foolish, but a rejection of what the Anointed One did on the cross.[14]

Don Garlington explains it in a very colorful way. “Because of the death-blow administered by the Law” after its laws were broken, Paul became convinced that the Torah could not bring him back to life once he paid the death penalty for his sins with his own life. He knew this was his destiny even while trying to be a faithful Pharisee because there was no way he could be the righteous person he needed to be in order to qualify for life in the world-to-come. Garlington is convinced that the words of David came crashing in upon him: “Don’t bring your servant to trial since in Your sight no one alive would be considered righteous.”[15] At this point in time, Paul became profoundly aware that his righteousness must come from none other than the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him. This was something the Law could not do.[16]

I agree with Paul, to make the Torah any part of what it means to be a born again Christian and live for the Anointed One, is rebuilding the old wall of separation that the Anointed One tore down so that all who believe in Him are one with Him. Listen to what Paul told the believers in Ephesus: But now you are in union with the Anointed One, Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you are near to Him through the blood of the Anointed One. For the Anointed One Himself brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one fellowship when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated them. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new community from the two groups. Together as one body, the Anointed One reconciled both groups to God by means of His death on the cross, and their hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from Him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what the Anointed One did for us.[17]

Since the new birth is so much a part of salvation in the Anointed One, it allows the use of an illustration to help us understand Paul’s somewhat complex thinking. From the moment of conception, the fetus depends on the umbilical cord and the mother’s intake of nutrition to stay alive.  But the day comes when the baby leaves the womb, and the umbilical cord is cut in order to live in the outside world. So, the child then says, “By leaving the womb, I’m rejecting the womb as my permanent home in order for me to exist in the environment outside.”   Yes, the womb gave the baby an environment in which to be conceived and grow, but its destiny was not to remain there into adulthood. And what child would ever wish to go back into the womb and live in a bag of water again, especially after their first Christmas? That’s not possible anymore. Now that the child breaths air, they would be unable to survive by returning to the womb. No wonder Nicodemus was somewhat taken aback when Jesus told him that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven he needed to be born again, and he thought that meant he needed to return to the womb.

[1] See Romans 6:6-7

[2] Ibid. 8:3-4

[3] This is Wayne C. Aman’s paraphrase of Galatians 2:20

[4] Wayne C. Aman: The Cross and Crown of Holiness, Books for the Ages, 1997, p. 15

[5] See Romans 6

[6] Luke 23:42

[7] Heaster, Duncan: European New Testament Commentary on Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit., Kindle Locations 544-596

[8] The Works of That Famous and Worthy Minister of the Anointed One in the University of Cambridge, Mr. William Perkins, Printed by John Legatt, London, 1631, Vol. II, p. 215

[9] Platt, David; Merida, Tony.  Galatians, op. cit., p. 49

[10] See Galatians 2:20

[11] Ibid. 6:21

[12] Martin, Ralph P.; Lane, William L.; Morris, Leon. The Shorter Letters of Paul: Galatians to Philemon (Open Your Bible Commentary, New Testament Book 8) (Kindle Locations 562-566). Creative 4 International. Kindle Edition.

[13] See Galatians 3:2; 4:6; Romans 8:1-17

[14] Robert Gundry: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Locations 465-492

[15] Psalm 143:2 – Complete Jewish Bible

[16] Don Garlington: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 85

[17] Ephesians 2:13-18 – Complete Jewish Bible

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson XLIX)

Lancaster goes on to explain why this interpretation does not work for Messianic Jews. He quotes what Paul says in Acts 25:8[1] and 28:17,[2] as evidence that Paul did not reject the Torah or Judaism. Speaking again of logic, these are two conditional statements that are only applicable to Paul remaining a Jew if the premise is in harmony with his conclusion. In both cases, Lancaster would be considered in error according to the rules of logic. In his mind, Paul remained obedient to the Torah – observant all his life; a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Jew, under the full obligation of the Law, despite the fact that he considered himself an Apostle to the Gentiles. If what Lancaster says here is supposedly true, then why did Paul not continue to persecute the congregation that dispensed with the Torah and leaned totally on the work of the Anointed One for their salvation. And why did Paul say to the Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the Good News since it is God’s powerful means of bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile. For in it is revealed how God makes people righteous in His sight; and from beginning to end it is through trust — as the Jewish Tanakh (Jewish Bible) puts it, “The person who is righteous will live his life by trust – that is faith.”[3]

For Messianic Jewish believer David Stern, when Paul said in verse nineteen that through the Law he died to the law it should be understood this way: “Through the Torah, I died to legalism.” One Jewish translation renders it thus: “Through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation.”[4] Stern goes on to say that this then allowed Paul to say that instead of being shut off from God by legalistic misinterpretation of the Torah, he got closer to God through faith and grace. Before, Paul wasn’t spiritually alive because the Law held no such power, but now he is alive in the Anointed One who is the full embodiment of the Law. So why should he try to meet the Law’s demands when the Anointed One already did so?

Stern also adds some additional color to Paul statement about being crucified with the Anointed One. He says that when the Anointed One was crucified as a criminal, he too was crucified with him as a criminal, a law-breaker. So it is no longer his proud Pharisaic ego that is the driving force in his life to be right with God, it is the driving force of the Anointed One’s Spirit that enables him to serve God out of love not an obligation; by faith, not works. By doing so, he lived in harmony with the trusting faithfulness of the Son of God, the Messiah, because He loved Paul and gave Himself up to be sacrificed for Paul so that Paul might receive everlasting life.[5]

Another Jewish writer, Adriaan Liebenberg, also takes issue with those who say that the Torah died to Paul.  As Liebenberg sees it, it does NOT say the Law is dead to us! There is a huge difference. If we are dead to the Law then we fulfilled the requirement that the law demands: our death. The Law demands that we die because at some point in our life we broke that Law. When we received Yeshua as Savior, WE become “dead to the Law” because we were crucified with Messiah who was dying because we broke the Law, not Him. That allowed God to raise us back up from our deadness to the Torah so that we could live for Elohiym.

Liebenberg then points out that when Paul goes on to say that he now lives with the Anointed One dwelling in him, he is actually saying that we walk as the Anointed One walked. He kept the Torah to absolute perfection! Because He kept the Torah as the only righteous One, then through Him we also keep the Torah and because God declared us as righteous in Him. This is the basis for our justification. Oh yes, from time to time we still let our sinful tendencies get the best of us. But now the Anointed One does through grace what the Torah could not do and forgives us and wipes away those stains of unrighteousness that sin left on our souls. Do not let anyone declare that they are righteous, but rather, that the Anointed One is their righteousness.[6]

Jewish writer Avi Ben Mordechai says that for the most part, what Paul said about dying to the law is being misinterpreted. They take what Paul says back in verse eighteen to mean that Paul used to keep the Torah before coming to “the Anointed One,” but because the Law points to “the Anointed One,” it, therefore, means that Paul should never attempt to rebuild a path back to the Torah to keep from denying the Anointed One and falling from grace and become a transgressor of the freedom from the Law of Moses that God gives through the Anointed One because Paul realized that the Torah was completely fulfilled in the Anointed One. So what Paul is really saying is that because the Anointed One took care of the demands of the Torah, and with the Anointed One being in him, he was now able to go on to really live for God and not become bogged down in a Law that was already fulfilled.[7]

Another Messianic writer says that at first blush verse nineteen seems to spell the end of any Torah relevance for the Apostle Paul. But there is more than what is comprehended in the first reading. Paul indicates that prior to his salvation experience, he was blinded of his true condition: dead in trespasses and sin. However, now that the Holy Spirit took up residence within him, via the sacrificial death of Yeshua, he looks back to how the Torah played a big part in bringing him to this newfound revelation about himself. The Torah, working in concert with the Spirit of God, revealed sin for what it was: a violation of God’s high standards for living right. That’s why, through the Torah, – that is, through its proper function of revealing and condemning sin, the individual is brought to the goal of the Torah, namely the revelation of the Messiah Himself. Once faced with the choice to remain in sin or be set free by the power of the blood of the Lamb of God, Paul confesses that he “died” to his old self and was consequently made alive in the newness of life that is gifted to those who choose life over death![8]

Christian Rabbi Avi ben Mordechai helps us see that when we see the word “Christ” in the Scripture, we forget that this is the Greek word for the Hebrew “Messiah” or the “Anointed One.” So, Paul is saying here in verse twenty that he was crucified with the Messiah. This is important because the Messiah came to provide something that no other human could provide. That was the sacrifice in payment for all the sins committed against Yahweh by the House of Israel,[9] as “atonement” or “ransom,”[10] along with all the sins committed by the rest of humanity. That’s why Yahweh sent Yeshua[11] to take upon Himself the death sentence that was adjudicated by Heaven’s High Court.[12] All of this was outlined as a curse upon humanity,[13] and spelled out in the Torah.[14] So it is clear that if Paul ripped out any reference to Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross and reinserted the required animal sacrifices of Leviticus, he would certainly be frustrating the grace of God.[15]

The Jewish New Testament renders verses 19-20 in such a way that appears as though Paul was saying that it was the Law that put him to death, and it did so that he might be able to live for God. And this was done because the Anointed One included Paul when He was crucified on the cross.[16] So the old Saul is dead and, in his place, a new Paul is living through the life-giving power of the Anointed One’s Spirit. And the only reason Paul is still alive is because of his faith in the Son of God keeps him alive.[17] The Son of God who came to earth and gave himself for him because He loved him.[18]

In Andrew Roth’s translation of the text from the original Aramaic version, it sure does seem that Paul gave credit to the Torah for his transformation from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive: “For by the Torah I am dead, that I might live for Elohiym.” In the footnotes, we read that Roth shares that Rabbi Simon Altaf in his Nazarene Hebraic Study Scriptures translates this verse nineteen as “For I through the human law am dead to the human law, that I might live to Elohiym.” Then in his own footnote, Rabbi Altaf notes Paul was referring to sure death by living in the Pharisaical system of commandments and that he now realized the life in Yahweh through His Torah, which was personified in the living Messiah Yeshua. This then allowed Paul to go on and say in verse that although he was crucified with the Messiah, the old Saul no longer lives, but the Messiah lives in him. So, he gives all credit for his new life to the Son of Elohiym, Yeshua, who love him and give His life for him so that he could receive a new life.[19]

The Contextual Bible paraphrases these two verses this way that adds even more depth: “For it was through the Law of God that I came to realize my impotence, that I could never keep God’s Law in my human strength, and thus be guiltless and righteous before God. It condemned me to my death and when my death penalty was paid by the Anointed One, dying in my place, the Law released me from its condemnation and authority. Released from its power, I am now under God’s power, infused with His life-giving spirit, and, therefore, alive and enabled to live up to His will for me. I have been nailed to the torture stake with the Anointed One, my “self” has been put to death: now it is not me that is living, but the Anointed One is living in me, taking care of all of God’s requirements for me. Indeed, the life that I now live, with its power to live up to God’s will for me, is a result of my complete and absolute surrender to the Son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me, and not a result of my own conscientious efforts to live by God’s Law.”[20]

[1] “I’ve done nothing wrong against the Jewish law, against the Temple, or against Caesar.”

[2] “My brothers, I’ve done nothing against our people or against the customs of our fathers.

[3] Romans 1:16-17 – Complete Jewish Bible

[4] Complete Jewish Bible, op. cit., loc., cit.

[5] Stern, David H: On Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit., Kindle Location 15444-15464

[6] W. Adriaan Liebenberg: On Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit., pp. 44-46

[7] Avi ben Mordechai: Commentary on Galatians, Millennium 7000 Communications

[8] Messianic Commentary: On Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit.

[9] Jeremiah 3:8

[10] Isaiah 59:16; Exodus 32:30-34

[11] John 7:16

[12] See Galatians 3:13-14

[13] Jeremiah 11:1-8

[14] Deuteronomy, chapters 27-28

[15] Avi ben Mordechai: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 26

[16] See Galatians 5:24; 6:14; cf. Romans 6:5-11; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

[17] See Romans 8:9-11; 2 Corinthians 13:5; cf. Colossians 1:27

[18] Jewish Annotated New Testament: Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit

[19] Andrew G. Roth: On Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit.

[20] Aiyer, Ramsey: On Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit., Kindle Locations 210-218