Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CONGREGATIONS OF BELIEVERS

CHAPTER TWO (Lesson LVI)

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.[1] I would be more inclined to say that all of this was preplanned when it happened instead of spontaneous. But, in its preplanned stage, it was spontaneous.

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.[2]

William O’Conor makes the point that after refuting suggestions that the Anointed One might be the minister of sin if we were justified by faith, and not by the works of the law, Paul now establishes the doctrine of justification by faith by showing that the rival doctrine would leave the leading principle of the Christian religion without a motive or end. There is no alternative to fulfilling the Law outside of the Anointed One who was the complete fulfillment of the law. This was something our Lord did far better than even the most dedicated saint could accomplish. So, it is clear, the Anointed One did not die without a cause. But if righteousness, and consequent justification and sanctification, were attainable by the Law, the Anointed One risked being put to death for no reason or cause. Righteousness is, therefore, not attainable by the Law, and consequently, we must seek it through faith in the Anointed One’s death. The attainment of righteousness is the end of all that God did for us. The superiority of the Gospel to the Law is that the Law failed to make anyone righteous while God’s grace made that possible to even the lowest sinner. The Law fails because it knows no mercy, and produces a disposition also lacking in mercy. The Gospel succeeds because it presents to us a Savior who, by faith, becomes our Inward Life perfected in righteousness because of the Anointed One.[3]

Then Alvah Hovey concludes it is worthwhile to remember that God’s providence is a factor of history. A man named Paul was present in Antioch by the will of God who could meet the emergency in such a way that even Peter’s misrepresentation of grace was overruled for good. Humanly speaking, it was just the place and the time for this occurrence. A great and heretofore unsettled question could now be answered in such a manner as to satisfy the Gentiles, if not the Jews. It was answered in strict agreement with the spirit and genius of Christianity. If the divine hand is ever discernible in human affairs, it is in this sad but important transaction in front of the congregation at Antioch. And it was a transaction, the recital of which could not fail but to impress the Galatians the high authority of Paul as an Apostolic Christian teacher, and the perfect clearness and truth of the Gospel he preached. It introduced, therefore, in a most effective manner the argument which he was about to make in support of the doctrine of salvation by the grace of God through faith in the Anointed One.[4]

Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon on this twenty-first verse which he titles, “Salvation by Works, A Criminal Doctrine,” says that no one was more explicit than Paul in conveying the doctrine that we are not justified before God by works of any kind, but solely by the Grace of God. This loud trumpet alert does not go out with an uncertain sound, it is a clear and recognizable note: “By Grace, you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”[5] We should never tolerate any tampering with this matter of Grace over Works, no should there be any redaction of its true meaning. When this is detected, there should be a call to war, to pull out our sword of the Spirit,[6] and never yield to the enemy’s attack.

Spurgeon goes on to define what he calls the two great crimes committed by those trying to replace Grace with the Law. First, is the crime of frustrating the Grace of God, and the second is that such self-justification makes a mockery of the death of the Anointed One. Spurgeon also admits that there are some who think that they are too great a sinner to be saved at all. That their sins are indelible and cannot be washed away. Without knowing it they are voiding the Grace of God by making its power and limiting its might. It’s another way of saying that our Redeemer’s blood and our Father’s grace are not enough. Spurgeon then quotes from a song sung in his day that goes: “Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?”[7] [8]

Vincent in his Word Studies points out that the Greek noun charis used by Paul and translated as “grace” (KJV), is that which brings us “joy.” As used in Scripture it reveals a higher meaning as something based on the fact that it is a free gift or a gracious favor. It cannot be earned. It is free, spontaneous, and signifies the absolute loving-kindness of God toward humanity. As such, it is in contrast to the ideas of debt, law, works, and sin. This free gift of Grace is given to us through God’s gracious gift of His Son who died to redeem us.[9] This was also something no other person could do.[10]

Jewish writer David Stern writes about how God’s Grace is a gift. First, the death of the Messiah Yeshua on our behalf was a gift from He and the Father. It provided the believer with a proper righteous standing before God. Secondly, the Messiah living in the believer allows them to be righteous in their behavior. This is also a gift in that it cannot be manufactured by the believer on their own. This was especially true of the Jews who through a legalistic following of the Torah tried to be right with God based on their obedience to the Law. Stein finishes by saying that having the Anointed One in us helps in our progress toward holiness. But this does not result from putting one’s trust in God followed by a lifetime of legalism. Rather, it results from trusting God through a growing faith that endures until death.[11]

Another Jewish writer, Adriaan Liebenberg, hears Paul talking to the Judaizers who infiltrated the congregation in Galatia, as well as to the Galatians themselves, that if being right with God involved some adherence to the Torah, the possibility existed for them to declare themselves righteous without needing the help of a Messiah a long time ago. So, Yeshua died on the cross for no reason. However, even those who believed in Yeshua as the Messiah was told by the Judaizers that they were not completely saved until they learned to obey the Torah by being circumcised. But Paul is telling them that they were all saved the moment they chose to repent and put their faith in Yeshua. And what good news that is! Their hearts were purified by faith the moment they repented and believed. It is just as Peter said on the Day of Pentecost.[12] Even the prophet Ezekiel prophesied what happened on Pentecost.[13] So what the Judaizers were telling the Galatians was a contradiction of what happened in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.[14]

Then, Avi ben Mordechai presents the Jewish perspective on what Paul is talking about here. He begins by pointing out that long ago, Yahweh chose to show mercy to Israel for their adultery with idols.[15] It’s part of God’s plan to reconcile after their divorce and capital crime, pay what they owed to the Law, and forgive their sins.[16] It was all designed to prevent the punishment that God decreed in their being exiled, leaving the door open for the nation as a whole to repent[17] and be restored.[18] However, if anyone should rebuild a path back to the very things that caused judgment in the first place,[19] then they would, of course, be guilty of frustrating the Grace of God. It would be their way of saying, “No thank you, God. We don’t want Your Law or Your Mercy. We prefer doing it our own way instead of Yours.” To say this, would be to trample upon Divine Grace and open ourselves to an even greater timeless judgment.[20] [21]

Dr. Philip Ryken, President of Wheaton College, begins by asking, “What does it mean to ‘die to the Law.‘” He wants us to notice that it is not the Law that does the dying. Rather, it was Paul who died to the Law. Considering the fact that Paul was a staunch Pharisee at one time, this no doubt proved particularly hard for him to do. As a Pharisee, he lived for the Law and by the Law. But now that he is a Christian, he no longer shares any relationship with the Law. In other words, Paul is no longer under contract to the Law. Ryken quotes John Calvin who said: “To die to the law is to renounce it and be freed from its dominion so that we put no confidence in it and it does not hold us captive under the yoke of slavery.”[22] [23]

[1] See Ephesians 2:4-9

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

[3] W. A. O’Conor: On Galatians, op. cit., pp. 41–42

[4] Alvah Hovey: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., p. 36

[5] Ephesians 2:8-9

[6] Ibid. 6:17

[7] Great God of Wonders: by Samuel Davies, 1884

[8] Charles H. Spurgeon’s Sermons on Galatians: Book by Book Sermons, Kindle Edition, Location 2348-2550

[9] See 1 Corinthians 16:3; 2 Corinthians 8:6, 19; 1 Peter 1:10, 13

[10] Vincent, Marvin. Word Studies in Galatians (Kindle Location (519-522).  Kindle Edition.

[11] David H. Stern: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Location (15464-15473), Kindle Edition.

[12] Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39

[13] Ezekiel 36:27

[14] W. Adriaan Liebenberg: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., p. 46

[15] Hosea 1-2; Ezekiel 39:25-29

[16] Jeremiah 31:34

[17] Deuteronomy 30:14

[18] Jeremiah 29:11-14

[19] Ezekiel 20:23-25

[20] Hebrews 20:28-31

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

[22] John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, trans. T. H. L. Parked, editors, David W., and Thomas F. Torrance, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996, p. 42

[23] Ryken, Philip Graham: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Location 1436, Kindle Edition.

Anyone having read the Medieval work of Geoffrey Chaucer entitled “Canterbury Tales,” might still remember the tale told by the Miller.  A miller was one who ran the mill where the people brought their grain to be ground into flour. I have to admit, that while interesting, it was not quite as gripping as the writings of Zane Gray about Indian fighters, Jonathan and Wetzel, even though this Miller was quite a character.  He tells a story about a carpenter, and one line reads: “This carpenter wedded new a wife, which that he loved more than his life: Of eighteen year, I guess, she was of age.  Jealous he was, and held her in a narrow cage, for she was wild and young, and he was old and deemed himself a cuckold.” That means she may just go out and find a younger man who is more her type.

During Medieval times, they used the English word “soke” (pronounced “soak”), borrowed from the Latin “soc,” to define an early English law that permitted holding court and administering justice with the authority to receive certain fees or fines arising from its findings.  Thus, this word “soke” became synonymous with fines and penalties.  At the same time over at the mill, the Miller would withhold a certain amount of the grain in payment for the millwork that was done, and this also became known as his “soke.”  Therefore, when an individual would go to court and have to pay a fine, or the Miller extracted his portion of the grain for payment, the involved person would say, I’ve just been “soked.”

So, it is obvious that this old carpenter felt he might be soked for marrying a very young girl for the sake of having someone to look after his needs. Over time, because “soke” and “soak” are homophones, the meaning has changed while the concept remains the same.  Today, when someone refers to having been “soaked,” they imply that something deplorable happened to them – not that they were drenched with water.  So, the next time you do something that you later regret or feel that you took advantage of someone, remember that you too might be “soked” for doing so. But even God understands when we make foolish mistakes. So when we go to Him to ask for a pardon, we can say to Him, “Lord forgive me, I’ve just been soked. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda

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