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Week 7: Galatians: Justification Through Faith Alone In Christ Alone
Galatians 5:1-15 Christian Freedom Brandon Goodin Elder
Review
Paul is addressing former pagans that had become believers by faith in Jesus Christ. They were now being wooed by a false gospel. This false gospel was being preached by the Judaizers. The Judaizers were calling the Galatians to embrace the Mosaic Law to complete their justification. Naturally there is going to be a confluence of concerns that speak to their past paganism, their new and erroneous affinity for the Law, and their ongoing faith in Christ.
Freedom in Christ
Vs. 1a: To phrase this a different way “Christ has freed you to be free; So be free!”[1]. The Galatians had been set free from the law of sin and death (Rom.8:2). They were set free from having to pay the awful price for their transgressions (Rom.8:1; Gal. 3:13-14). They were set free from the guardianship of the law and adopted as sons in Christ (Gal. 4:4-5). Their conscience was free from the guilt of their transgression and they were free to pursue righteousness with joy (Rom.8:14). Through Christ they now have full access to know God and be known (Gal. 4:9).
Vs. 1b: Paul teaches in Romans that all men have knowledge of God’s moral law (Rom.2:15-16). All men strive in some sense to prove their righteousness. They show that the requirements of God’s law is written on their heart. The Gentile Galatians had a pagan system in the past (Gal. 4:8-10) that they used as a system to merit justification before false gods. Paul calls them “not to submit again” to a system that relies on human ability, even if it is tied to their Christian heritage. To return to the law would be, in effect, no different than them returning to their pagan past. They would return to a system that would bow their backs with a destructive burden.
Circumcision: Severed from Christ
Vs. 2-3: There are two issues here. First, the Galatians saw this circumcision as a means of justification. Secondly, they are engaging in a practice that has been done away with. With Abraham, faith was counted as righteousness before circumcision occurred (Rom. 4:11). Circumcision was never the means of justification. Faith was always the means. Circumcision was the natural obedient outflow of the regenerate in the old covenant. To look to circumcision as a necessary part of the new testament believer’s inclusion into the kingdom of Christ is to disobey Christ. The ceremonial laws have found their fulfillment in Christ (Hebrews 8:13) and been done away with. To return to them is to make Christ’s work of no value. If they were going to attempt to return to a past ordinances to secure a more excellent standing with God then they would be doing the exact opposite. By taking on one requirement they would be taking on all the requirements of the law along with the blessings and curses.
Vs. 4: Anyone who looks to the law to bring about their justification or grant them standing before God is cutting themselves off from Christ. The phrase “severed from Christ” is a play on the cutting in circumcision. As they would cut the skin they would severe themselves from Christ. They remove themselves from the nourishing community of grace that God has so richly provided in the Church. This is not undermining the truth of eternal security as though the elect can lose their salvation. To embrace the law as a means of right standing before God is to leave the Church of Christ.
Faith: Waiting and Running
Vs. 5: Through the Spirit believers receive a faith that rests in Christ’s finished work and look forward with anticipation towards the hope of sanctification and glorification. Because of grace both sanctification and glorification are as free a gift as our initial justification. We do not work for it. We eagerly wait for it. Anything else “is not from Him” (Gal. 5:7; 1:6)
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By Parish Presbyterian Lectures
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Galatians 5:1-15 Christian Freedom Brandon Goodin Elder
Review
Paul is addressing former pagans that had become believers by faith in Jesus Christ. They were now being wooed by a false gospel. This false gospel was being preached by the Judaizers. The Judaizers were calling the Galatians to embrace the Mosaic Law to complete their justification. Naturally there is going to be a confluence of concerns that speak to their past paganism, their new and erroneous affinity for the Law, and their ongoing faith in Christ.
Freedom in Christ
Vs. 1a: To phrase this a different way “Christ has freed you to be free; So be free!”[1]. The Galatians had been set free from the law of sin and death (Rom.8:2). They were set free from having to pay the awful price for their transgressions (Rom.8:1; Gal. 3:13-14). They were set free from the guardianship of the law and adopted as sons in Christ (Gal. 4:4-5). Their conscience was free from the guilt of their transgression and they were free to pursue righteousness with joy (Rom.8:14). Through Christ they now have full access to know God and be known (Gal. 4:9).
Vs. 1b: Paul teaches in Romans that all men have knowledge of God’s moral law (Rom.2:15-16). All men strive in some sense to prove their righteousness. They show that the requirements of God’s law is written on their heart. The Gentile Galatians had a pagan system in the past (Gal. 4:8-10) that they used as a system to merit justification before false gods. Paul calls them “not to submit again” to a system that relies on human ability, even if it is tied to their Christian heritage. To return to the law would be, in effect, no different than them returning to their pagan past. They would return to a system that would bow their backs with a destructive burden.
Circumcision: Severed from Christ
Vs. 2-3: There are two issues here. First, the Galatians saw this circumcision as a means of justification. Secondly, they are engaging in a practice that has been done away with. With Abraham, faith was counted as righteousness before circumcision occurred (Rom. 4:11). Circumcision was never the means of justification. Faith was always the means. Circumcision was the natural obedient outflow of the regenerate in the old covenant. To look to circumcision as a necessary part of the new testament believer’s inclusion into the kingdom of Christ is to disobey Christ. The ceremonial laws have found their fulfillment in Christ (Hebrews 8:13) and been done away with. To return to them is to make Christ’s work of no value. If they were going to attempt to return to a past ordinances to secure a more excellent standing with God then they would be doing the exact opposite. By taking on one requirement they would be taking on all the requirements of the law along with the blessings and curses.
Vs. 4: Anyone who looks to the law to bring about their justification or grant them standing before God is cutting themselves off from Christ. The phrase “severed from Christ” is a play on the cutting in circumcision. As they would cut the skin they would severe themselves from Christ. They remove themselves from the nourishing community of grace that God has so richly provided in the Church. This is not undermining the truth of eternal security as though the elect can lose their salvation. To embrace the law as a means of right standing before God is to leave the Church of Christ.
Faith: Waiting and Running
Vs. 5: Through the Spirit believers receive a faith that rests in Christ’s finished work and look forward with anticipation towards the hope of sanctification and glorification. Because of grace both sanctification and glorification are as free a gift as our initial justification. We do not work for it. We eagerly wait for it. Anything else “is not from Him” (Gal. 5:7; 1:6)