what does galatians 5:15 mean

"The death of Christ for you isn't sufficient. And, doubtless, God had all this in view when He pledged Himself with an oath to Abraham. with reproachful words, biting sarcasms, scandalous invectives, One can readily conceive men of strong prejudice and of weak faith thus hesitating, especially in presence of the apostle's strong assertion of entire liberty from the law for the Gentiles. But it was in no vain glory, in no tone of superiority, though, no doubt, it was a far fuller and higher testimony than theirs; for he adds, "privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain." This therefore the apostle would have us by all means to watch against. I'd rather trust and be burned than not to trust. You ever seen a person in love and all of the joy that they have? #2 "were called" We should take great joy in the truth that we belong to the God who calls us chosen. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. (3) c. Faith expressed in love is more significant than circumcision. It has been defined as "readiness for any pleasure." Laws are necessary to restrain unprincipled people. In fact, what Jerusalem had done, as far as this was concerned, was to let slip men that would impose circumcision evil workers, as he in a later epistle contemptuously calls such like of the concision; for they were corrupting the Gentile churches by Judaism, instead of helping them in Christ. There's nothing that you can add to what Jesus paid. He feels what he ought to do, but he does it not, and thus is increasingly wretched. The works of the flesh. Drunkenness; in the ancient world this was not a common vice. The enemy had ensnared them by crying up circumcision, in order to betray them into a link with Judaism; but they had no thought of bearing the real burden of the law. Then comes the seed, and the promise is made Yea and Amen in Him all the promises of God. That's the old nature that wants its way, that wants to insist on its own way and all. In either case "let him be accursed.". In our dealings with our fellow men we must reproduce this loving, forbearing, forgiving, patient attitude of God towards ourselves. Naughty Paul. "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." In my spirit, in the realm of the Spirit. For if a man "keeps the whole law, yet he offends in one point, he is guilty of all" ( James 2:10 ). They think that it is quite right, for the church especially, to appoint days for this and that saint; to have certain seasons to remind one of the Lord's incarnation, ministry, and crucifixion, of His resurrection, ascension, and so on. They were grieved to think that the Jewish church, with its twelve apostles and its elders, with its manifold links with antiquity and God's past testimony on earth, should seem separated in any measure from the apostle and his work. Very powerful words for those who would seek justification through the law, through rules, through keeping rules, through keeping ordinances. There was no believer, Jew or Gentile, who had not gladly submitted to that very blessed sign of having part with Christ, and of that which is made good by Christ. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5:4-5) Flesh and blood had not revealed it. For the world there is nothing yet executed, any more than the great results of grace for the saints as yet appear in their fulness. It is no question now of being subject to the Jews, who shall never possess the gate of their enemies, but be peeled and scattered and few, while the gospel is going forth. But if you bite -- By an improper use of the tongue. She did what any wife would have done in those patriarchal times and sent Abraham in to her slave girl, Hagar, to see if she could bear a child on her behalf. When once a covenant is "signed, sealed, and delivered," it must not be meddled with. There could be but one answer. The truth of the gospel, therefore, was compromised. Euripides called it "the greatest of all diseases among men." To make this evident by transgressions was the object of the law. Forgive us for the times we abuse this freedom, living more by the flesh than by the Spirit. If therefore we would have it appear that we are Christ's, and that we are partakers of his Spirit, it must be by our walking not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Others are sins against our neighbour, and contrary to the royal law of brotherly love, such as hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, which too often occasion seditions, heresies, envyings, and sometimes break out into murders, not only of the names and reputation, but even of the very lives, of our fellow-creatures. Do not abuse your freedom (13-15) I. Christ has set us free (1-6) Discussion Questions What has Christ set us free from? As in their baptism they were obliged hereunto (for, being baptized into Christ, they were baptized into his death, Romans 6:3), so they are now sincerely employing themselves herein, and, in conformity to their Lord and head, are endeavouring to die unto sin, as he had died for it. What Does Galatians 5:13 Mean? There can be no compromise; but to be exclusive in any sense save as the expression of the truth in Christ would be in its own way an utter and heartless falsehood. The allusion is to beasts of prey falling upon and devouring one another: for wolves or dogs to worry sheep is not strange; but for sheep to distress one another is unnatural. 3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. The law brings man in his nothingness into evidence, it proves that he is only a poor lost sinner. The apostle himself meets that difficulty in the face, and in effect concedes to his detractors that he was not made an apostle by Christ here below. As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? The readers ( Galatians 1:2b ) c. The greeting ( Galatians 1:3-5 ) i. to His Father. With the utmost simplicity he shows that his own separation from man was a part of God's ways for the purpose of making more strikingly felt the great truth that he was afterwards to proclaim. But if you snap at one another, and devour one another, you must watch that you do not end up by wiping each other out. ( 2 Corinthians 6:14 ) How can I really fellowship with God if I'm unrighteous? The whole idea of the word is a goodness which is kind. Paul did not stand alone. Now, what does God say about it? He signed ordinarily, putting his subscription at the end, i.e., his own name, to verify it; but he did not write it. But if ye bite - The word used here ( dakno), means, properly, to bite, to sting; and here seems to be used in the sense of contending and striving - a metaphor not improbably taken from dogs and wild beasts. And how the Holy Spirit had come upon those of the house of Cornelius who had known nothing really of obedience to the law. You cannot be ruled and dominated by your flesh.Now, it is interesting, a list similar to this is given to us in Revelation the twenty-first chapter, as it tells us those who are going to be excluded from heaven and outside were those who were doing these things: "The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and the liars," those who are outside. Jealousy; this word (zelos, G2205, from which our word zeal comes) was originally a good word. Gentiles might boast in their freedom. If Christ's, they were Abraham's seed already, "and heirs according to the promise;" for Christ, he had shown before, was the one true Seed; and if we are Christ's, we belong to that one true Seed, and therefore are the children of Abraham without circumcision at all. As far as this temper prevails among Christians, they will be ready to slight and despise those whom they look upon as inferior to them, and to be put out of humour if they are denied that respect which they think is their due from them, and they will also be apt to envy those by whom their reputation is in any danger of being lessened: and thus a foundation is laid for those quarrels and contentions which, as they are inconsistent with that love which Christians ought to maintain towards each other, so they are greatly prejudicial to the honour and interest of religion itself. Next he turns to direct exhortation, the chief salient points of which will call for but few words. We're about one degree off, but we hope to correct this in flight or something." It was used of the serenity which a country enjoyed under the just and beneficent government of a good emperor; and it was used of the good order of a town or village. The forgiveness of your sins and your redemption is totally predicated upon the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.These people were adding to it. But his heart was too agitated not to betake himself at once to the point of their danger. divided against itself, can stand long, so no religious one; and Being found only in Christ, it supposes the manifestation of grace; light does not in the same way that truth does. From the beginning Hagar had been inclined to triumph over Sarah, because barrenness was a sore shame to a woman; there was an atmosphere charged with trouble. Then I must repeat that God could only make claims; and man had to take the place, if he could, of giving to God of rendering his obedience. For ye are all the children of God." He visits Arabia and Damascus once more. It was therefore not only for him, but for the instruction of the Galatians, and of us all. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Now, that righteousness depends upon the work of Jesus Christ as my sacrifice, as my substitute. The word used here ( dakno), means, properly, to bite, to sting; and here seems to be used in the sense of contending and striving - a metaphor probably taken from dogs and wild beasts. David said, "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" ( Psalms 23:4 ). You see, it isn't a once-in-forever kind of a thing. No effort, no work on your part. "For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself. And so Paul is standing against this teaching in his letter to the Galatians, and in chapter five, he said. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. It was not merely that Paul was lowered by the carping Judaizers God's grace was being sacrificed. they are in conflict with f sinful nature each other, so that you do not do what you want. As you know, he had been under law as a Jew. In Galatians 4:1-31 the relation is taken up, not of the law to the promise, but of the Christian now to the condition of the saints of old a very important point also. ", At once the apostle launches into the troubled sea. The writer ( Galatians 1:1-2a ) i. Paul, the Apostle ( Galatians 1: 1 ) ii. There was no doubt or difficulty on this head in these early days. If I am a man, I am responsible as such; being fallen and sinful, this will end in judgment. It is thus, then, that grace uses it to give me death in my conscience before God. You remember as Paul defined love for us in I Corinthians chapter thirteen, he uses longsuffering. The apostle does not say, if grievous And I'm washed and I'm cleansed and I go on. Hence, you see, all exactly suits the gospel as Paul insisted on it. And so, Paul is picking up, now, the same phrase. Christendom is built upon this footing. He specifies the fruits of the Spirit, or the renewed nature, which as Christians we are concerned to bring forth, Galatians 5:22; Galatians 5:23. He is baptized into Christ's death, which is the sole means of deliverance out of his state of sin. He had the faith that could by grace cleave to God if he had not a companion; but God blesses that faith, and acts by it on the conscience of others, even on those that, alas! The "Israel of God," I apprehend, would mean, that the only part of Israel whom God owns now consists of those that really are of faith those that .received Jesus. So we, brothers, are children not of the slave girl but of the free woman. Galatians 5:14. It was his to bear in his body a very different brand" the marks of the Lord Jesus," the scars of the only warfare that is precious in the sight of God the Father. The gospel had given him to sanction in his ways and words the overthrow of the partition wall. He begins with the works of the flesh, which, as they are many, so they are manifest. That there is in every one a struggle between the flesh and the spirit (Galatians 5:17; Galatians 5:17): The flesh (the corrupt and carnal part of us) lusts (strives and struggles with strength and vigour) against the spirit: it opposes all the motions of the Spirit, and resists every thing that is spiritual. Having brought in the true character of the Christian's life as flowing simply and solely from Christ, and from Christ crucified too, so here he takes up the Holy Ghost. THE INTRODUCTION ( Galatians 1:1-10) 1. That is to say, after his flights of thought can he reduce it all to something that the ordinary man can understand and do? But at the same time it is plain that the apostle Paul here starts with the instructive fact, that the very thing for which some Judaizers then blamed him was the distinctive glory of that to which the Lord had called him. The solemnities of Christ's judgment await men in the day of the Lord. It therefore often happened that the Rabbis would take a simple bit of historical narrative from the Old Testament and read into it inner meanings which often appear to us fantastic but which were very convincing to the people of their day. dissolution; for as no civil community, either public or private, I have not. He said, "You've got to be born again." Galatians 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another Another reason inducing to love is taken from the pernicious consequences of a contrary spirit and conduct. Galatians 5:16-17 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. adds. It is the virtue which makes a man so master of himself that he is fit to be the servant of others. for want of love the Lord threatens to remove, and sometimes does The history of the flesh its sad and humbling history is soon over; but the history that faith opens into never closes. If that is the purpose, you're thinking that it's going to make you righteous before God, you think it's going to make you acceptable before God, Paul said, "Christ will profit you nothing," if that's your mental attitude towards your circumcision. And what was the result of all this? (Compare John 1:9; John 1:17.). Romans 7 indicates that under the very law by which they are attempting to be justified there is no way, once a person sins, for the inner man to gain control of the tendencies of the flesh. The sense is, if you contend with each other; and the reference is, apparently, to the strifes which would arise between the two parties in the churches - the Jewish and the Gentile converts. Do your souls go along with Paul's decision? And we can all see how exactly the phrase falls in with the words of our Lord given in the Acts of the Apostles; for the wonderful truth burst upon the apostle's ear from the beginning, in the Saviour's call to him from heaven. It is once that I have reckoned myself to be crucified with Christ when I accepted Him. Christ is forgotten. So he calls on them to be as free of the law as himself. Can you seize the gravity of this? Because you'll never come to their beliefs by just reading the Bible. You never come to believe in what the Mormons believe through reading the Bible. There was no consciousness of the identification of the saint with Christ. Nor is there a greater evidence of God's tender and considerate care for us than such a fact as this. Suppose a man desires to become a naturalized subject of a country and carefully carries out all the rules and regulations of that country as they affect naturalization. heard of the law. Up to this point it has been theological; now it becomes intensely ethical. It is for the purpose of bringing in transgression, answers the apostle. In that chapter of Romans we have a man converted indeed, but without liberty, and consequently powerless. Now, there are two ways that I can be righteous. That is not what Christian liberty is about. Thus, whatever may be the energy that seeks souls in love, there is nothing after all like Christianity for maintaining individual responsibility intact. Thus the two totally opposite roads of grace and law would have been leading to the same result. We shall find he does not forget this elsewhere: he reasons on it in another part of the epistle. The apostle urges that all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. "Unless," he says, "you solve the problem of living together you will make life impossible." No, this persuasion doesn't come from Him who called you. Christ never mingles with flesh or law any more than with the world. There are many present privileges and future glories that belong to the Christian; and promise is one of them. What ground is there for boasting in this? We are free, but our freedom loves its neighbour as itself. Further, it is laid down, if there had been a law capable of giving life, righteousness would be by the law. Abraham never. THE INTRODUCTION ( Galatians 1:1-10) 1. My very nature is dealt with. If I am a Christian, I acquire a new kind of responsibility. So here the Christian puts on Christ, not the law or circumcision. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" They're contrary, and I do not always walk after the Spirit. "Nevertheless" astonishing to say, for it could not be natural life "nevertheless, I live." This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you ( Galatians 5:7-8 ). "Christian freedom is not licence [sic] for the simple but tremendous reason that the Christian is not the man who has become free to sin, but the man, who, by the grace of God, has become free not to sin." Nevertheless, there never was one that had a deeper sense of the importance of walking, if need were, alone with God. A double intervention comes between God and man, in contrast with the simplicity of His ways of grace. We must reproduce this loving, forbearing, forgiving, patient attitude of.... 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