The Glad Tidings
THE GLAD TIDINGS
By
E. J. WAGGONER
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.
Oakland, Cal.
New York.
Kansas City, Mo.
1900
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900, by PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London, England.
CONTENTS.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Real Gospel [9]
Life by the Faith of Christ, the Truth of the Gospel [54]
Redeemed from the Curse, to the Blessing of Abraham [95]
The Adoption of Sons [159]
The Spirit’s Power over the Flesh [195]
The Glory of the Cross [230]
PREFACE.
The Epistle to the Galatians, together with its companion, the Epistle to the Romans, was the source, through the Spirit, of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the key-note of which was, “The just shall live by faith.” The reformation then begun is not yet complete, and the same watchword needs to be sounded now as then. If the people of God will become filled with the truth so vividly set forth in this epistle, both the church and the world will be stirred as profoundly as in the days of Luther. May this speedily be the case, and thus the times of restoration of all things be hastened!
The Glad Tidings
It is quite common, in writing upon any book in the Bible, to spend some time on an “Introduction” to the book in question—setting forth the nature of it, the circumstances under which it was written, and the probable purpose of the writer, together with many other things, partly conjectural, and partly derived from the book itself. All such statements the reader has to take on the authority of the one making them, since, not having yet studied the book, he can not judge for himself. The best way is to introduce him at once to the study of the book, and then he will, if diligent and faithful, soon learn all that it has to reveal concerning itself. We learn more of a man by talking with him than by hearing somebody talk about him. So we will proceed at once to the study of the Epistle to the Galatians, and let it speak for itself.
Nothing can take the place of the Scriptures themselves. If all would study the Bible as prayerfully and as conscientiously as they ought, giving earnest heed to every word, and receiving it as coming directly from God, there would be no need of any other religious book. Whatever is written should be for the purpose of calling people’s attention more sharply to the words of Scripture; whatever substitutes any man’s opinions for the Bible, so that by it people are led to rest content without any further study of the Bible itself, is worse than useless. The reader is, therefore, most earnestly urged to study, first of all, the Scripture text very diligently and carefully, so that every reference to it will be a reference to a familiar acquaintance. May God grant that this little aid to the study of the Word may make every reader better acquainted with all Scripture, which is able to make him wise unto salvation.
CHAPTER I.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Real Gospel.
“Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
“I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from Him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; which is not another gospel; only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema. For am I now persuading men, or God? or am I seeking to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.
“For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the Gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it; and I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus.
“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Then I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc; and they glorified God in me.” Galatians 1, R. V.
An Apostolic Salutation.
The first five verses form a greeting such as, with the exception of the first verses of the book of Romans, is not to be found elsewhere in the Bible, and, consequently, nowhere else in the world. It contains the whole Gospel. If there were no other portion of Scripture accessible, this contains sufficient to save the world. If we would study this small portion as diligently, and prize it as highly, as if there were no more, we should find our faith and hope and love infinitely strengthened, and our knowledge of the rest of the Bible much increased. In reading it, let the Galatians sink out of sight, and let each one consider it the voice of God, through His apostle, speaking to him to-day.
A Good Commission.
An apostle is one who is sent. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and of God, the Father, who raised Him from the dead. He had good backing. A messenger’s confidence is in proportion to the authority of the one who sends him, and to his confidence in that authority and power. Paul knew that he was sent by the Lord, and he knew that the power of God is the power that raises from the dead. Now “he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God.” John 3:34. Thus it was that Paul spoke with authority, and the words which he spoke were the commandments of God. 1 Cor. 14:37. So in reading this epistle, or any other in the Bible, we have not to make allowance for the writer’s personal peculiarities and prejudices. It is true that each writer retains his own individuality, since God chooses different men to do different work solely on account of their different personality; but it is God’s Word in all, and nothing need be taken off from the authority of the message, and set down to the score of prejudice or early education.
It is well to remember that not only the apostles, but every one in the church, is commissioned to “speak as the oracles of God.” 1 Peter 4:11. All who are in Christ are new creatures, having been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ; and all who have been reconciled are given the word and ministry of reconciliation, so that they are ambassadors for Christ, as though God by them, even as by Christ, was beseeching men to be reconciled to Himself. 2 Cor. 5:17-20. This is a wonderful support against discouragement and against fear to speak God’s message. The ambassadors of earthly governments have authority proportionate to the power of the king or ruler whom they represent; but Christians represent the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Apostles Are of God.
“God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,” etc. 1 Cor. 12:28. Let it be borne in mind that all these are set in the church by God Himself. No other can do it. It is impossible for men to make a true apostle or prophet. There are certain people in the world who say to others, Why do you not have apostles and prophets, etc., in the church? ignoring the fact that God has them in His church until this day, although they are often unrecognized, even as the apostleship of Paul and the others was often denied. Then there are some combinations of people who claim to have all these among them. Reading that God has set them in the church, they see that the true church of God ought to have apostles, prophets, etc. Accordingly they appoint some to be apostles, others to be prophets, and others to be teachers, and then they point to these as evidence that they are the true church of God. The fact is, however, that this is the strongest possible proof that they are not the church of God. If they were the church of God, apostles and prophets would be set among them by God Himself; but the fact that they themselves are obliged to make apostles and prophets, shows that they have none in fact. They are simply setting up a dummy to hide the absence of the reality; but the presence of the sham only emphasizes the absence of the real.
Not of Men.
All Gospel teaching is based upon and derives its authority from the fact of the Divinity of Christ. The apostles and prophets were so fully imbued with this truth that it appears everywhere in their writings. In the very first verse of this epistle we find it in the statement that Paul was not an apostle of men, nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), “the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance” (Heb. 1:1-3, R. V.); He was in the beginning with God, and was God, before the world was. John 1:1; 17:5. “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Col. 1:17, R. V.
The Father and the Son.
“Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead,” are associated on equal terms. “I and My Father are One.” John 10:30. They both sit upon one throne. Heb. 1:3; 8:1; Rev. 3:21. The counsel of peace is between them both. Zech. 6:12, 13. Jesus was the Son of God all His life, although He was of the seed of David according to the flesh; but it was by the resurrection from the dead, which was accomplished by the power of the Spirit of holiness, that His Sonship was demonstrated to all. Rom. 1:3, 4. This epistle has the same authority as Paul’s apostleship: it is from Him who has power to raise the dead, and from Him who was raised from the dead.
The Churches of Galatia.
Galatia was a province in Asia Minor, so called from the fact that it was inhabited by Gauls,—people who came from the country now known as France. They settled in the territory which took its name from them (Gaul-atia—Galatia), in the third century before Christ. They were, of course, pagans, their religion being quite similar to that of the Druids, of Britain. Paul was the one who first preached Christianity to them, as we read in Acts 16:6; 18:23. The country of Galatia also included Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, which were visited by Paul, with Barnabas, on his first missionary journey. Acts 14.
Grace and Peace Be to You.
This is the word of the Lord, let it be remembered, and therefore means more than man’s word. The Lord does not deal in empty compliments. His word is substantial; it carries with it the thing which it names. God’s word creates, and here we have the very form of the creative word.
God said, “Let there be light; and there was light,” and so on through the whole creation, “He spake, and it was.” So here, “Let there be grace and peace to you,” and so it is. “The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” Titus 2:11. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27. “Peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord.” Isa. 57:19. God has sent grace and peace, bringing righteousness and salvation to all men—even to you, whoever you are, and to me. When you read this third verse of the first chapter of Galatians, do not read it as a sort of complimentary phrase,—as a mere passing salutation to open the real matter at hand,—but as the creative word that brings to you personally all the blessings of the peace of God, that passeth all understanding. It is to us the same word that Jesus spoke to the woman: “Thy sins are forgiven.” “Go in peace.” Luke 7:48-50. Peace is given to you; therefore, “let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”
The Gift of Christ.
This grace and peace come from Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins.” “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Eph. 4:7. But this grace is “the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Tim. 2:1. Therefore we know that Christ Himself is given to every one of us. The fact that men live is an evidence that Christ has been given to them, for Christ is “the life,” and the life is the light of men, and this life-light “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:4, 9; 14:6. In Christ all things consist (Col. 1:17), and thus it is that since God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,” He can not do otherwise than, with Him, freely “give us all things.” Rom. 8:32. “His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” 2 Peter 1:3. The whole universe is given to us in Christ, and the fulness of the power that is in it is ours for the overcoming of sin. God counts each soul of as much value as all creation. Christ has, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9), so that every man in the world has received the “unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15). “The grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many,” even to all; for “as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” Rom. 5:15, 18.
Christ Not Divided.
The question is asked, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you?” (1 Cor. 1:13), the answer obviously being in the negative. In that Christ is given to every man, each person gets the whole of Him. The love of God embraces the whole world, but it also singles out each individual. A mother’s love is not divided up among her children, so that each one receives only a third, a fourth, or a fifth of it; each one is the object of all her affection. How much more so with the God whose love is more perfect than any mother’s, and who Himself is love! Isa. 49:15. Christ is the light of the world, the Sun of Righteousness. But light is not divided among a crowd of people. If a room full of people be brilliantly lighted, each individual gets the benefit of all the light, just as much as though he were alone in the room. So the life of Christ lights every man that comes into the world, and in every believing heart Christ dwells in all His fulness. Sow a seed in the ground, and you get many seeds, each one having as much life as the one sown. So Christ, the true Seed, whence everything of worth comes, gives to all the whole of His life.
Our Sins Purchased.
Christ “gave Himself for our sins.” That is to say, He bought them, and paid the price for them. This is a simple statement of fact; the language used is that commonly employed in referring to purchases. “How much did you give for it?” or, “How much do you want for it?” are frequent questions. When we hear a man say that he gave so much for a certain thing, what do we at once know?—We know that that thing belongs to him, because he has bought it. So when the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ gave Himself for our sins, of what should we be equally sure?—That He has bought our sins, and that they belong to Him, and not to us. They are ours no longer, and we have no right to them. Every time we sin we are robbing the Lord, for we must remember that Christ has purchased not merely the specific acts of sin that we have committed, and that are in the past, but the sins that are in us, and which break forth. In this faith there is righteousness.
He Has Bought Us, Too.
This follows from the fact that He has purchased our sins, to deliver us from ourselves. Our sins are part of ourselves; nay, they are the whole of us, for our natural lives are nothing but sin. Therefore, Christ could not buy our sins without buying us also. Of this fact we have many plain statements. He “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” Titus 2:14. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” 1 Cor. 6:19. “Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19, R. V.
“Accepted in the Beloved.”
How often the Gospel worker hears some one say, “I am so sinful that I am afraid the Lord will not accept me;” and even people who have long professed to be Christians, often mournfully wish that they could be sure of their acceptance with God. Now the Lord has given no ground for any such doubts. The question of acceptance is forever settled by what we have just read. Christ has bought us, together with all our sins, and has paid the price. That shows that He has accepted us. Why does a man go to the shop and buy an article?—Because he wants it. If he has paid the price for it, having examined it so as to know what he was buying, does the merchant worry lest he will not accept it?—Not at all; the merchant knows that it is his business to get the goods to the purchaser as soon as possible. If he does not deliver the goods to the purchaser, he is guilty of fraud. The buyer will not indifferently say, “Well, I have done my part, and if he doesn’t care to do his, he need not—that’s all; he may keep the things if he wants to.” No; he will visit the shop, and say, “Why have you not given me what belongs to me?” He will take vigorous measures to come into possession of his property. Even so it is not a matter of indifference to Jesus whether we surrender ourselves to Him or not. He longs with an infinite yearning for the souls that He has purchased with His own blood. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10. God has “chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,” and so “He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” Eph. 1:4-6.
“This Present Evil World.”
Christ gave Himself for our sins, “that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” He will take from us that which He bought, which is our sinfulness. In so doing, He delivers us from this “present evil world.” That shows us that “this present evil world” is nothing but our own sinful selves. It is “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” 1 John 2:16. We ourselves make all the evil there is in the world. It is man that has made the world evil. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. We need not try to throw the blame upon somebody else; we ourselves provide all the evil that can possibly injure us.
The story is told of a man whose besetting sin was a violent temper. He would frequently become very angry, but he laid all the blame upon the people with whom he lived, who were so exasperating. Nobody, he declared, could do right among such people. So he resolved, as many others have done, to “leave the world,” and become a hermit. He chose a cave in the forest for his dwelling-place, far from any other human habitation. In the morning he took his jug to a spring near by to get water for his morning meal. The rock was moss-grown, and the continual flow of water had made it very slippery. As he set his jug down under the stream, it slid away. He put it back, and again it was driven away. Two or three times was this repeated, and each time the replacing of the jug was done with increasing energy. Finally the hermit’s patience was utterly exhausted, and exclaiming, “I’ll see if you’ll not stay!” he picked the vessel up and set it down with such vehemence that it was broken to pieces. There was nobody to blame but himself, and he had the good sense to see that it was not the world around him but the world inside of him that made him sin. Doubtless very many can recognize some experience of their own in this little story.
Luther, in his monk’s cell, whither he had gone to escape from the world, found his sins more grievous than ever. Wherever we go, we carry the world with us; we have it in our hearts and on our backs,—a heavy, crushing load. We find that when we would do good, “evil is present” with us. Rom. 7:21. It is present, always, “this present evil world,” until, goaded to despair, we cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Even Christ found His greatest temptations in the desert, far away from human habitations. All these things teach us that hermits and monks are not in God’s plan. God’s people are the salt of the earth; and salt, no matter how good it is, is of no use if shut up in a box; it must be mingled with that which is to be preserved.
Deliverance.
That which God has promised, He is “able also to perform.” He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Eph. 3:20. He “is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” Jude 24. He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us, and He did not die in vain. Deliverance is ours. Christ was sent “to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” Isa. 42:7. Accordingly He cries out to the captives, “Liberty!” To them that are bound He proclaims that the prison doors are open. Isa. 61:1. To all the prisoners, He says, “Go forth.” Isa. 49:9. Each soul may say, if he will, “O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds.” Ps. 116:16. The thing is true, whether we believe it or not. We are the Lord’s servants, even though we stubbornly refuse to serve; for He has bought us; and, having bought us, He has broken every bond that hindered us from serving Him. If we but believe, we have the victory that has overcome the world, 1 John 5:4, R. V.; John 16:33. The message to us is that our “warfare is accomplished,” our “iniquity is pardoned.” Isa. 40:2. We have but to shout, as Israel did before Jericho, to see that God has given to us the victory. God “hath visited and redeemed His people.” Luke 1:68. Out of Zion has come the Deliverer, to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Rom. 11:26. “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”
The Will of God.
All this deliverance is “according to the will of our God and Father.” The will of God is our sanctification. 1 Thess. 4:3. He willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim. 2:4. And He “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Eph. 1:11. “What! do you mean to teach universal salvation?” We mean to teach just what the Word of God teaches,—that “the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” Titus 2:11, R. V. God has wrought out salvation for every man, and has given it to him; but the majority spurn it, and throw it away. The Judgment will reveal the fact that full and complete salvation was given to every man, and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their birthright possession. Thus every mouth will be stopped.
The will of God is, therefore, something to rejoice in, and not something to be accepted with a wry face, and merely endured. Even though it involves suffering, it is for our good, and is designed to work “for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17. In the law His will is revealed (Rom. 2:18), and we should, therefore, study it, saying with Christ, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God.” Ps. 40:8.
Here is the comfort of knowing the will of God. He wills our deliverance from the bondage of sin; therefore, we can pray with the utmost confidence, and with thanksgiving; for “this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” 1 John 5:14, 15. Blessed assurance! Let us ever with glad and humble hearts pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
To God Be the Glory.
Not simply, “To Him be glory,” as in the common version, but “To whom be the glory,” as in the Revision. “Thine is the kingdom; and the power, and the glory.” All glory is God’s, whether men acknowledge it or not. To give Him the glory is not to impart anything to Him, but to recognize a fact. We give Him the glory by acknowledging that His is the power. “It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” Ps. 100:3. Power and glory are the same, as we learn from Eph. 1:19, 20, which tells us that Christ was raised from the dead by the exceeding greatness of God’s power, and from Rom. 6:4, where we learn that “Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” Also when Jesus by His wondrous power had turned water to wine, we are told that in the performance of the miracle, He “manifested forth His glory.” John 2:11. So when we say that to God is the glory, we are saying that the power is all from Him. We do not save ourselves, for we are “without strength.” But God is the Almighty, and He can and does save. If we confess that all glory belongs to God, we shall not be indulging in vainglorious imaginations or boastings, and then will God be glorified in us. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16.
The last proclamation of “the everlasting Gospel,”—that which announces the hour of God’s Judgment come,—has for its burden, “Fear God, and give glory to Him;” “and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:6, 7. Thus we see that the Epistle to the Galatians, which says, “To Him be the glory,” is the setting forth of the everlasting Gospel. And it is emphatically a message for the last days. Let us study it, and heed it, that we may help to hasten the time when “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14.
A Critical Case.
The abruptness with which the apostle plunges into the midst of his subject shows how urgent was the matter that called forth his epistle. His spirit seemed to be on fire, and, seizing his pen, he wrote as only one can write who feels upon his heart the burden of souls about to rush to destruction.
Who Calls Men?
“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Cor. 1:9. “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,” etc. 1 Peter 5:10. “The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:39. Those that are near, and those that are afar off, include all that are in the world; therefore, God calls everybody. Not all come, however. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” 1 Thess. 5:23, 24. It is God who calls men.
Separating from God.
Since the Galatian brethren were separating from Him that had called them, and as God is the one who graciously calls men, it is evident that they were separating from God. Thus we see that it was no slight thing that called forth this epistle. Paul’s brethren were in mortal danger, and he could not spend time on compliments, but must needs get at once to the subject, and present it in as clear and direct terms as possible.
It may be well in passing to note an opinion that sometimes obtains, namely, that Paul referred to himself as the one who had called the Galatian brethren, and from whom they were removing. A little thought should convince anybody of the fallacy of this idea. First, consider the positive evidence, a little of which is already noted, that it is God who calls. Remember also that it was Paul himself who said that the apostasy would be the result of men’s seeking to draw away disciples after themselves (Acts 20:30); he, as the servant of Christ, would be the last man to draw people to himself. It is true that God uses agents, of whom Paul was one, to call men, but it is God, nevertheless, that calls. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself;” we are ambassadors for Christ, so that now it is God beseeching men by us instead of by Christ, to be reconciled to Himself. There may be many mouths, but there is only one voice.
It is a small matter to be joined to or separated from men, but a matter of vital importance to be joined to God. Many seem to think that if they are only “members in good standing” in this or that church, they are secure. But the only thing worth considering is, Am I joined to the Lord, and walking in His truth? If one is joined to the Lord, he will very soon find his place among God’s people, for those who are not God’s people will not have a zealous, consistent follower of God among them very long. See Isa. 66:5; John 9:22, 33, 34; 15:18-21; 16:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 12. When Barnabas went to Antioch, he exhorted the brethren that with purpose of heart they would “cleave unto the Lord.” Acts 11:22, 23. That was all that was necessary. If we do that, we shall certainly be with God’s own people.
Without God.
Those who were departing from God were “without God in the world,” just to the extent that they were removed from Him. But those who are in that condition are Gentiles, or heathen. Eph. 2:11, 12. It is evident, therefore, that the Galatian brethren were relapsing into heathenism. It could not be otherwise; for whenever any Christian loses his hold upon God, he inevitably and even unconsciously drops back into the old life from which he had been saved. Each backslider will take up the particular habits to which he was formerly a slave. No more hopeless condition can exist in the world than to be without God.
Another Gospel.
The Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1:16. God Himself is the power, so that separation from God means separation from the Gospel of Christ, who is the power of God. Nothing can be called a gospel unless it professes to give salvation. That which professes to offer nothing but death, can not be called a gospel. “Gospel” means “joyful news,” “good tidings,” and a promise of death does not answer that description. In order for any false doctrine to pass as the Gospel, it must pretend to be the way of life; otherwise it could not deceive men. It is evident, therefore, that the Galatians were being seduced from God, by something that promised them life and salvation, but by a power other than that of God, namely, their own power. This other gospel was solely a human gospel. The question consequently would be, Which is the true Gospel? Is it the one that Paul preached? or the one the other men set forth? Therefore, we see that this epistle must be an emphatic presentation of the true Gospel as distinguished from every false gospel.
No Other Gospel.
Just as Jesus Christ is the only power of God, and there is no other name than that of Jesus, given among men, whereby salvation can be obtained, so there can be only one Gospel. “Power belongeth unto God,” and to Him alone. See Ps. 62:9-11. A sham is nothing. A mask is not a man. So this other gospel, to which the Galatian brethren were being enticed, was only a perverted gospel, a counterfeit, a sham, and no real gospel at all. Some versions give verses 6 and 7 thus: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed ... unto another gospel, although there is not any other.” Since there is no other gospel now, there never could have been any other, for God changes not. So the Gospel which Paul preached to the Galatians, as well as to the Corinthians,—“Jesus Christ and Him crucified,”—was the Gospel that was preached by Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah. “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Acts 10:43.
“Accursed.”
If any man, or even an angel from heaven, should preach any other gospel than that which Paul preached, he would bring himself under a curse. There are not two standards of right and wrong. That which will bring a curse to-day would have produced the same result five thousand years ago. Thus we find that the way of salvation has been exactly the same in every age. The Gospel was preached to Abraham (Gal. 3:8), angels being sent to him; and the prophets preached the Gospel (1 Peter 1:11, 12). But if the Gospel preached by them had been different from that preached by Paul, they would have been accursed.
Why should one be accursed for preaching a different gospel?—Because he is the means of fastening others in the curse, by leading them to trust for their salvation in that which professes to be power, but which is nothing. Since the Galatians were removing from God, it is evident that they were trusting to supposed human power—their own power—for salvation. But no man can save another (Ps. 49:6, 7), therefore, “cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” Jer. 17:5. The one who leads men into the curse must, of course, himself be accursed.
“Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way.” Deut. 27:18. If this be so of the one who causes a physically blind man to stumble, how much more must it apply to one who causes a soul to stumble to its eternal ruin! To delude people with a false hope of salvation,—to cause them to put their trust in that which can by no means deliver them,—what could possibly be more wicked? It is to lead people to build their house over the bottomless pit. Well might the apostle deliberately reiterate his anathema. Here, again, we see the gravity of the situation that called forth this epistle.
“An Angel from Heaven.”
But is there any danger, any possibility, that an angel from heaven would preach any other than the one, true Gospel?—Most assuredly, although it would not be an angel recently come from heaven. We read of “the angels that sinned” (2 Peter 2:4), and “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jude 6), and that the habitation from which they were cast was heaven (Rev. 12:7-9). Now “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.” 2 Cor. 11:14, 15. It is they who come professing to be the spirits of the departed, and to bring messages fresh from the realms above (where the departed are not), and preaching invariably “another gospel” than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Beware of them. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” 1 John 4:1. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. No one need be deceived, so long as he has God’s Word. Nay, it is impossible for anybody to be deceived while he holds to the Word of God. That is a light to the way.
Not Men-Pleasers.
It is admitted by churchmen that in the first three centuries the church became leavened with paganism, and that, in spite of reformations, much of paganism still remains. Now this was the result of trying to please men. The bishops thought that they could gain influence over the heathen by relaxing some of the strictness of the principles of the Gospel, which they did, and the result was the corruption of the church. Self-love is always at the bottom of efforts to conciliate and please men. The bishops desired (often, perhaps, without being conscious of it) to draw away disciples after themselves. Acts 20:30. In order to gain the favor of the people, they had to compromise and pervert the truth. This was what was being done in Galatia; men were perverting the Gospel of Christ. But Paul was not of that class; he was seeking to please God, and not men. He was the servant of God, and God was the only one whom he needed to please. He who seeks to please men, is the servant of men, and not of God.
This principle is true in every grade of service. The house-servants or the shop assistants who labor only to please men, will not be faithful servants, for they will do good work only where it will be seen, but will slight any task that can not come under the eye of their employers. So Paul exhorts: “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.” Col. 3:22-24. He who cares for nothing else but to serve and please God, will render the best service to men.
This is a thing that needs to be impressed upon all. Christian workers especially need it. There is a tendency to dull the edge of truth, lest we should lose the favor of some wealthy or influential person. How many have stifled conviction, fearing the loss of money or position! Let every one of us remember this: “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” But this does not mean that we shall be stern and uncourteous. It does not mean that we willingly offend any. God is good to all. He is kind to the unthankful and the unholy. Jesus went about doing good, speaking words of love and comfort. We are to be soul-winners, and so must have a winning manner; but we are to win souls to God, and, therefore, must exhibit only the attractiveness of the loving, crucified One. We serve Christ by allowing His Spirit to control us.
“Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best.”
“Not of Man.”
Note how this epistle emphasizes the fact that the Gospel is divine, not human. In the first verse the apostle states that he was not sent by man, nor to represent any man. Again he says that he is not anxious to please men, but only Christ; and now it is made very clear that the message he bore was wholly from heaven. By birth and education he was opposed to the Gospel, and when he was converted it was by a voice from heaven. Read the accounts of his conversion in Acts 9:1-22; 22:3-16; 26:9-20. The Lord Himself appeared to him in the way as he was breathing threatening and slaughter against the saints of God.
There are no two persons whose experience in conversion is the same, yet the general principles are the same in all. In effect, every person must be converted just as Paul was. The experience will seldom be so striking, but if it is genuine, it must be a revelation from heaven as surely as Paul’s was. “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” Isa. 54:13; John 6:45. “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me.” “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.” 1 John 2:27.
Do not make the mistake of supposing that this does away with the necessity for any human agency in the Gospel. If it did, then the apostles would have been self-condemned, because they were preachers of the Gospel. God has set apostles, prophets, teachers, etc., in the church (1 Cor. 12:28); but it is the Spirit of God that works in all these. “He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God.” John 3:34. Therefore, no matter by whom anybody first hears the truth, he is to receive it as coming direct from heaven. The Holy Spirit enables those who wish to do God’s will to tell what is truth as soon as they see or hear it, and they accept it, not on the authority of the man through whom it came to them, but on the authority of the God of truth. We may be as sure of the truth which we hold and teach as the apostle Paul was. But whenever anybody cites the name of some highly-esteemed preacher or doctor of divinity, to justify his belief, or to give it more weight with some person whom he would convince, you may be sure that he himself does not know the truth of what he professes. It may be the truth, but he does not know for himself that it is true. It is everybody’s privilege to know the truth (John 8:31, 32); and when one holds a truth directly from God, ten thousand times ten thousand great names in its favor do not add a feather’s weight to its authority; nor is his confidence in the least shaken if every great man on earth should oppose it. It is a grand thing to be built on the Rock.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Note that it is not simply a revelation from Jesus Christ, but the “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It was not simply that Christ told Paul something, but that Christ Himself revealed Himself to Paul, and in him, and He is the truth. That this is what is meant here may be seen from verse 16, where we read that God revealed His Son in Paul, that he might preach Him among the heathen. The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in the believer, the hope of glory. Col. 1:25-27. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s personal representative. Christ sends Him, that He may abide with us forever. The world receives Him not, because it sees Him not; “but ye know Him,” says Christ; “for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 14:16, 17. Only so can the truth of God be known and be made known. Christ does not stand afar off and lay down right principles for us to follow; but He impresses Himself upon us, takes possession of us, as we yield to Him, and makes manifest His life in our mortal flesh. 2 Cor. 4:11. Without this life shining forth, there can be no preaching of the Gospel. Note that Jesus was revealed in Paul, in order that Paul might preach Him among the heathen. He was not to preach about Christ, but to preach, to present, Christ Himself. “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” 2 Cor. 4:5.
God is waiting and anxious to reveal Christ in every man. We read of men “who hold down the truth in unrighteousness,” and that “that which may be known of God is manifest in them,” even as in everything that God has made His “everlasting power and Divinity” are clearly seen. Rom. 1:18-20, R. V. Now Christ is the truth (John 14:6), and He is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24), and the Divinity of God (John 1:1). Therefore, Christ is the truth that the wicked are holding down. He is the Divine Word of God, present in men, that they may do it. Deut. 30:14; Rom. 10:6-8. That Christ is in all men is evident from the fact that they live; but He is so held back and kept down that it is difficult to discern Him. Nay, in most men the opposite character is revealed, the mere fact of living and breathing being in many cases the only evidence that Christ is there. Yet He is there, patiently waiting to be revealed,—longing for the time to come when the Word of God may have free course and be glorified, and the perfect life of Jesus of Nazareth be manifested in mortal flesh. This may take place in “whosoever will,” no matter how sinful and degraded he is now. It pleases God to do it now; cease, then, to resist.
Personal History.
From the twelfth verse of the first chapter till the middle of the second, we have a narrative of personal history, told for a definite purpose. In Paul’s experience we see the truth of the Gospel, and how it has nothing to gain from men, but everything to give. The apostle shows that all his early life was against his being influenced by the Gospel, for he studied that which was opposed to it, and he bitterly opposed it. Then he was converted when there was no Christian near him, and he had next to no association with Christians for years afterward. All this of which the Galatians had been previously informed, it was necessary to repeat in order that it might be clear to all that Paul was not bringing them another human invention.
Note, in passing, the word “conversation,” which occurs several times in the Bible in a sense that is not now common. Compare the Revised Version, and we find that it means “manner of life.” Paul’s “conversation in time past” was his early life. See the old and the Revised Version of 1 Peter 1:18.
“Concerning Zeal, Persecuting the Church.”
This is what Paul said of himself, in his Epistle to the Philippians. Phil. 3:6. How great his zeal was he himself tells. He says that he persecuted the church of God “beyond measure,” and “wasted it,” or, as in the Revision, “made havoc of it.” See also Acts 8:3. Before Agrippa he said: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” Acts 26:9-11. In an address to the Jews in Jerusalem, who knew his life, he said, “I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” Acts 22:4. This he did because, as the previous verse says, he was “zealous toward God.” So full of this sort of zeal was he that he breathed nothing but “threatenings and slaughter.” Acts 9:1.
It seems almost incredible that any one professing to worship the true God, can have such false ideas of Him as to suppose that He is pleased with that kind of service; yet Saul of Tarsus, one of the most bitter and relentless persecutors of Christians that ever lived, could say years afterward, “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” Acts 23:1. Although kicking against the pricks (Acts 9:5), and endeavoring to silence the growing conviction that would force itself upon him as he witnessed the patience of the Christians, and heard their dying testimonies to the truth, Saul was not wilfully stifling the voice of conscience. On the contrary, he was striving to preserve a good conscience, and so deeply had he been indoctrinated with the Pharisaic traditions, that he felt sure that these inconvenient prickings must be the suggestions of an evil spirit, which he was in duty bound to suppress. So the prickings of the Spirit of God had for a time only led him to redouble his zeal against the Christians. Of all persons in the world, Saul, the self-righteous Pharisee, had no bias in favor of Christianity. Yet his misdirected zeal was a “zeal for God,” and this fact made him good material for a Christian worker.
Paul’s Profiting.
Paul “profited,” made advancement, “in the Jews’ religion,” above many of his equals, that is, those of his own age, among his countrymen. He had possessed every advantage that was possible to a Jewish youth. “An Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5), he was nevertheless a free-born Roman citizen (Acts 22:26-28). Naturally quick and intelligent, he had enjoyed the instruction of Gamaliel, one of the wisest doctors of the law, and had been “taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers.” Acts 22:3. After the “straitest sect” among the Jews, he lived a Pharisee, and was “a Pharisee of the Pharisees,” so that he was “more exceedingly zealous of the traditions” of the fathers than any others of his class. Grown to manhood, he had become a member of the great council among the Jews,—the Sanhedrim,—as is shown by the fact that he gave his vote (Acts 26:10, R. V.) when Christians were condemned to death. Added to this, he possessed the confidence of the high priest, who readily gave him letters of introduction to the rulers of all the synagogues throughout the land, with authority to seize and bind any whom he found guilty of “heresy.” He was, indeed, a rising young man, on whom the rulers of the Jews looked with pride and hope, believing that he would contribute much to the restoration of the Jewish nation and religion to their former greatness. There had been a promising future before Saul, from a worldly point of view; but what things were gain to him, those he counted loss for Christ, for whose sake he suffered the loss of all things. Phil. 3:7, 8.
The Traditions of the Fathers, not the Religion of Christ.
Paul says, “I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” It is easy to see that “the Jews’ religion” was not the religion of God and Jesus Christ, but was human tradition. People make a great mistake in considering “Judaism” as the religion of the Old Testament. The Old Testament no more teaches Judaism than the New Testament teaches Roman Catholicism. The religion of the Old Testament is the religion of Jesus Christ. It was His Spirit that was in the prophets, moving them to present the same Gospel that the apostles afterwards preached. 1 Peter 1:10-12. When Paul was “in the Jews’ religion” he did not believe the Old Testament, which he read and heard read daily, because he did not understand it; if he had, he would have believed on Christ. “For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” Acts 13:27.
The traditions of the fathers led to transgression of the commandments of God. Matt. 15:3. God said of the Jewish people (as a whole): “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Verses 8, 9. On the Sabbath days the rulers read in the synagogues from the Scriptures, and for this instruction there was no reproof. Jesus said: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat; all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.” Matt. 23:2, 3. Jesus had no word of condemnation for Moses and his writings. He said to the Jews, “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me.” John 5:46. Everything, therefore, which the scribes read and commanded from his writings was to be followed; but the example of the readers was to be shunned, for they did not obey the Scriptures. Christ said of them, “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Matt. 23:4. These were not the commandments of God, for “His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3); and the burdens were not of Christ, for His burden is light (Matt. 11:30).
We hear much about the “Judaizing teachers,” who sought to pervert the Galatians, and we know that they who were teaching “another gospel” were Jews; but we must not fall into the error of supposing that these “Judaizing teachers” were presenting the Bible, or any part of it, to the new converts, or trying to get them to follow the Scriptures written by Moses. Far from it; they were leading them away from the Bible, and substituting for its teaching the commandments of men. This was what roused the spirit of Paul. The “Jews’ religion” was an entirely different thing from the religion of God, as taught in the law, the prophets, and the psalms.
“Separated unto the Gospel of God.”
These are the words with which Paul described himself in the Epistle to the Romans: “Called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God.” Rom. 1:1. So here he says that God “separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace.” Gal. 1:15. That God chose Saul to be an apostle, before Saul himself had any thought that he should ever be even a Christian, is evident from the sacred narrative. On his way to Damascus, whither, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter,” he was proceeding with full authority to seize, bind, and drag to prison all Christians, both men and women, Saul was suddenly arrested, not by human hands, but by the over-powering glory of the Lord. Three days afterward the Lord said to Ananias, when sending him to give Saul his sight, “He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles.” Acts 9:15. God arrested Saul in his mad career of persecution, because He had chosen him to be an apostle. So we see that the pricks against which Saul had been kicking were the strivings of the Spirit to turn him to the work to which he had been called.
But how long before this had Saul been chosen to be the messenger of the Lord?—He himself tells us that he was “separated,”—“set apart,”—from his birth. He is not the first one of whom we read that from birth he was chosen to his life-work. Recall the case of Samson. Judges 13:2-14. John the Baptist was named, and his character and life-work were described, months before he was born. The Lord said to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jer. 1:5. The heathen king Cyrus was named more than a hundred years before he was born, and his part in the work of God was laid out for him. Isa. 44:28; 45:1-4.
These are not isolated cases, but are recorded for the purpose of showing us that God rules in the world. It is as true of all men as it was of the Thessalonians, that “God hath from the beginning chosen” them “to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 2 Thess. 2:13. It rests with every one to make that calling and election sure. And he who “willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3, 4, R. V.), has also appointed “to every man his work” (Mark 13:34). He who leaves not Himself without witness even in the inanimate creation (Acts 14:17; Rom. 1:20), would fain have man, His highest earthly creation, willingly give such witness to Him as can be given only by human intelligence. All men are chosen to be witnesses for God, and to each is his labor appointed. All through life the Spirit is striving with every man, to induce him to allow himself to be used for the work to which God has called him. Only the Judgment Day will reveal what wonderful opportunities men have recklessly flung away. Saul, the violent persecutor, became the mighty apostle. Who can imagine how much good might have been done by the men whose great power over their fellows has been exerted only for evil, if they had yielded to the influence of the Spirit? Not every one can be a Paul; but the thought that each one, according to the ability that God has given him, is chosen and called of God to witness for Him, will, when once grasped, give to life a new meaning.
The knowledge of this truth will not only make life more real for us, leading us to seek to know the will of God for us individually, and to submit wholly to Him, that He may use us to do the work for which He has designed us, but it will tend to make us more considerate of others, and not to despise the least. What a wonderful, a joyous, and yet a solemn thought, as we see men moving about, that to each one of them God has given a work of his own to do. They are all servants of the Most High God, each one assigned to special service. It is a wondrous privilege, and a wondrous responsibility. How few are doing the work God would have them do! We should be extremely careful not to hinder any person in the slightest degree from doing his heaven-appointed task.
Another thing that we should remember is that it is God who gives to every man his work. Each one is to receive his orders from God, and not from men. Therefore, we should beware of dictating to men concerning their duty. God can make it plain to them, as well as to us; and if they will not hear Him, they will not be likely to hear us, even if we could direct them in the right way. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23), much less to direct the steps of some other man.
Conferring with Flesh and Blood.
“Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” This statement is made for the purpose of showing that the apostle did not receive the Gospel from any human being. He saw Christ, and accepted Him, then he went to Arabia, and came back to Damascus, and not till three years after his conversion did he go up to Jerusalem, where he stayed only fifteen days, and saw only two of the apostles. Moreover, the brethren were afraid of him, and would not at first believe that he was a disciple; so it is evident that he did not receive the Gospel from any man.
But there is much to learn from Paul’s not conferring with flesh and blood. To be sure, he had no need to, since he had the Lord’s own word; but such a course as his is by no means common. For instance, a man reads a thing in the Bible, and then must ask some other man’s opinion before he dare believe it. If none of his friends believe it, he is fearful of accepting it. If his pastor, or some commentary, explains the text away, then away it goes; flesh and blood gain the day against the Spirit and the Word.
Or, it may be that the commandment is so plain that there is no reasonable excuse for asking anybody what it means. Then the question is, Can I afford to do it? Will it not cost too much sacrifice? The most dangerous flesh and blood that one can confer with is one’s own. It is not enough to be independent of others; in matters of truth one needs to be independent of one’s self. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Prov. 3:5. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” Prov. 28:26.
A pope is one who presumes to occupy the place in counsel which rightfully belongs to God alone. The man who makes himself pope, by following his own counsel, is just as bad as the man who dictates to another, and is more likely to be led astray than is the man who follows some pope other than himself. If one is to follow a pope at all, it would be more consistent to accept the pope of Rome, because he has had more experience in popery than any other. But none is necessary, since we have the Word of God. When God speaks, the part of wisdom is to obey at once, without taking counsel even of one’s own heart. The Lord’s name is “Counselor” (Isa. 9:6), and He is “wonderful in counsel.” Hear Him! “He will be our Guide forevermore.”
“Immediately.”
Note that word. Paul did not stop to parley. He lost no time. He thought he was serving God when he was persecuting the church, and the minute he found out his mistake he turned about. When he saw Jesus of Nazareth, he recognized Him as his Lord, and immediately cried out, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” He was ready to be set to work in the right way, and that immediately. It is an example well worth consideration. Would that everybody might truthfully say, “I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments.” Ps. 119:60. “I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.” Verse 32.
Gentiles—Heathen.
Paul tells us that Christ was revealed in him, that he might preach Him among the heathen. In the Revision we have the word “Gentiles” used instead of “heathen.” There is no difference. The two words are used interchangeably in the English Bible, for wherever they occur, they are translated from only one Greek word, or, if it be in the Old Testament, the corresponding Hebrew word. Let us note a few instances.
In 1 Cor. 12:2 we read, “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.” This is from the ordinary word for “heathen,” and the text itself shows that Gentiles are idol-worshipers—heathen. Take notice that the Corinthians “were Gentiles;” they ceased to be such on becoming Christians.
Eph. 2:11, 12: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Surely, to be a Gentile is to be in a most unenviable condition.
We are told that “God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.” Acts 15:14. And James referred to the believers in Antioch and elsewhere as those who “from among the Gentiles are turned to God.” God’s people are taken out from among the Gentiles, but on being taken out, they cease to be Gentiles. Abraham, the father of Israel, was taken from among the heathen (Joshua 24:2), so that all Israel are taken from among the Gentiles. Thus it is that “all Israel shall be saved” by the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles. Rom. 11:25, 26.
In Ps. 2:1-3 we might lawfully read, “Why do the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed [that is, against Christ, for Christ means ‘anointed’], saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” How often we see this fulfilled in the cases of individuals, who, with a triumphant air, exclaim: “Show me a place where the Gentiles are commanded to keep the ten commandments!” meaning that they are Gentiles, and thinking thus to cast away from themselves the laws of God. It is no honorable class in which they place themselves. It is true that the Gentiles are not commanded to keep the commandments, as Gentiles, for that would be impossible; as soon as they accept Christ, and the law of the Spirit of life in Him, they cease to be Gentiles. How solicitous God is to save people from their Gentile state, is shown by His sending the apostle Paul (to say nothing of Christ) to bring them to Himself.
A Prophet to the Gentiles.
In this connection it is worth while to note that God was as anxious for the conversion of the Gentiles three thousand years ago as He is to-day. The Gospel was preached to them before the first advent of Christ, as well as it was afterwards. Paul was not the first one who preached to the Gentiles after Christ, although he was sent specially to them. He was known as the apostle to the Gentiles, yet everywhere he went he preached to the Jews first, and as long as they would hear him. So it was before Christ. By many agencies God made Himself known among all nations, yet Jeremiah was specially chosen as the prophet to the Gentiles, or heathen. In Jer. 1:5, “Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations,” the Hebrew word from which the word “nations” is translated is the very same that is regularly translated “heathen.” “Why do the heathen rage?” Ps. 2:1. “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war,” etc. “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen.” Joel 3:9-11. The words “heathen” and “Gentile” in these texts are the same as the word “nations,” in Jer. 1:5. This can be seen by comparing the old with the Revised Version. So the Lord said to Jeremiah, “I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee, a prophet unto the Gentiles.” Let no one say that God ever at any time confined His truth to any one people, whether Jew or Gentile. “There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.” Rom. 10:12.
The New Convert Preaching.
As soon as Paul was converted, “straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues.” Acts 9:20. Was it not marvelous that he should at once be able to preach so powerfully?—Indeed it was, as it is marvelous that any man can preach Christ. That anybody should be able to preach Christ in very truth, involves no less a mystery than Christ manifest in the flesh. But do not let anybody suppose that Paul got his knowledge instantaneously, without any study. Remember that he had all his life been a diligent student of the Scriptures. It was not an uncommon thing for a rabbi to be able to repeat the greater portion or the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures from memory, and we may be sure that Paul, who had made more advancement than any others of his age, was as familiar with the words of the Bible as a bright schoolboy is with the multiplication table. But his mind was blinded by the traditions of the fathers, which had been drilled into him at the same time. The blindness which came upon him when the light shone round him on the way to Damascus, was but a picture of the blindness of his mind; and the seeming scales that fell from his eyes when Ananias spoke to him, indicated the shining forth of the Word within him, and the scattering of the darkness of tradition. Paul’s case was very different from that of a new convert who has never read or studied the Bible. Such an one can, indeed, tell what Christ has done for him, and may thereby do much good; but he needs much study of the Scriptures to make him able to show men the way of life perfectly, and lead them in the way of righteousness.
Paul in Arabia.
Many have thought that it was while Paul was in Arabia that he had his wonderful revelations, and was taken up into heaven, where he heard “unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” This may well be, although it is by no means probable that his visions of heavenly things were confined to that time. All his life through the apostle was in close communion with heaven, and we may be sure that “the heavenly vision” was never hidden from his sight. So, also, we may be sure that, since preaching was his life-work, he did not spend all the months he was in Arabia in study and contemplation. He had been so severe a persecutor, and had received so richly of God’s grace, that he counted all the time lost in which he could not reveal that grace to others, feeling, “Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel.” He preached in the synagogues in Damascus, as soon as he was converted, before he went into Arabia; so it is but natural to conclude that he preached the Gospel to the Arabs. He could preach there without the opposition that he always received when among the Jews, and, therefore, his labors would not so much interfere with his meditation on the new worlds that had just opened before him.
The Persecutor Preaching.
Wonderful, indeed, it was to hear that “he that once persecuted us, now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc.” In view of the case of Saul of Tarsus, let no one look on any opposer of the Gospel as incorrigible. Those who make opposition are to be instructed with meekness, for who knows but that God will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth? One might have said of Paul, He has had the light as clearly as any man can have it. He has had every opportunity; he has not only heard the inspired testimony of Stephen, but he has heard the dying confessions of many martyrs; he is a hardened wretch, from whom it is useless to expect any good. Yet that same Saul became the greatest preacher of the Gospel, even as he had been the most bitter persecutor. Is there a malignant opposer of the truth? Do not strive with him, and do not reproach him. Let him have all the bitterness and strife to himself, while you hold yourself to the Word of God and to prayer. It may not be long till God, who is now blasphemed, will be glorified in him.
Glorifying God.
“And they glorified God in me.” How different Paul’s case was from that of those to whom he said, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you” (Rom. 2:24)! Every one who professes to be a follower of God should be a means of bringing glory to His name, yet many cause it to be blasphemed; and to have the name of God blasphemed through us is as bad as to be ourselves open blasphemers. How can we cause His name to be glorified?—“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16.
RECAPITULATION.
Let us now take a brief glance at the chapter as a whole.
The greeting, embracing the first five verses, tells us the name and calling of the writer of the epistle, and his authority. It incidentally notes the fact that Christ is Divine. A benediction is pronounced, from God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son. Christ gave Himself for our sins,—purchased them,—thus to deliver us from this present evil world. Our sins constitute this present evil world. Our sins belong to Christ, not to us; so by the power of His death and resurrection, in which He gave Himself for our sins, we may be kept from them. It is the will of God to save us, so that there can be no doubt as to our acceptance. To God belongs the glory, because His is the kingdom and the power.
The next two verses show us the condition of the churches in Galatia at the time the epistle was written, and thus make known to us why it was written. They were departing from God, being led astray by some who were perverting the Gospel of Christ, preaching a pretended gospel instead of the one only Gospel, which is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes. The marvel of the thing is the same as that expressed in Jer. 2:12, 13: “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
Then in the next two verses (8, 9) we find a curse pronounced on any one, even though it were the apostle himself, or an angel from heaven, who should presume to teach any other gospel than that he had preached. This shows the seriousness of the situation. The Galatian brethren were being placed under the curse by the accursed preachers who preached a false gospel.
Following this, in verses 10-12, the apostle shows himself to be the servant of Christ, because he was seeking to please God only, and not men. The preachers who perverted the souls of men, would preach smooth things,—things in harmony with human nature,—to draw away disciples after them; Paul preached only the plain truth of God, which he received not through any man, but direct from heaven.
Lastly we have the beginning of a little narrative of personal experience, which is continued more than half way through the second chapter. In this Paul refers to his life before his conversion, when he persecuted the church; mentions his conversion, which was the revelation of Christ in him; tells why he was called, and how promptly he responded to the call; and lastly shows how he had no opportunity to get the Gospel from apostles and brethren who were believers before him, even if he had wished to, since he had no connection with them for years after his conversion. The force of this will appear more plainly as we proceed.
CHAPTER II.
Life by the Faith of Christ, the Truth of the Gospel.
There are doubtless many who are reading this little book, not out of curiosity to see what another person thinks about the Epistle to the Galatians, but for help in arriving at an understanding of that much-discussed portion of Scripture. With each one of these I wish to hold a little personal talk before we proceed further with our study. Every portion of Scripture is connected with every other portion; as soon as we learn one thing thoroughly, making it a part of ourselves, it joins us and aids us in the search for more knowledge, just as each morsel of food that we eat and assimilate assists us in our labor for our daily bread. If, therefore, we proceed in the right way with the study of the Epistle to the Galatians, we shall have opened a wide door to the whole Bible.
The way to knowledge is very simple, so simple that many people despise it. It is not, however, to be despised, for, in spite of the oft-repeated statement to the contrary, there is
A Royal Road to Knowledge,
and that road is open to all. Here are the directions, laid down by the king who, to the highest degree, proved it to be the right way:—
“My son, if thou wilt receive My words, and hide My commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” Prov. 2:1-6.
It was in a dream that God appeared to Solomon, and promised to give him wisdom, but it was not by idle dreaming that the wisdom came. Solomon did not go to sleep, and wake up to find himself the wisest man that ever lived. He longed for knowledge so much that he did, indeed, dream of it by night, but he worked for it by day. The foregoing Scripture tells his experience.
Wisdom and knowledge concerning everything are to be found in God’s Word; and if you would understand the Word of God, you must study it. No man on earth can give you his knowledge. Another may aid you by his experience, so that it need not take you as long as it took him; he may direct you how and where to work; but whatever any one really knows he must acquire for himself. When you have traveled over a road a thousand times, you know every turn in it, no matter how many there are, and can see the whole way in your mind. So after you have thought through a portion of Scripture time after time, you will at last be able to see the whole of it, and every separate statement in it, at a single glance. And when you can do that, you will see in it what no man on earth can tell you.
It is useless to think to understand a detached sentence that may present special difficulty, without reference to the connection. If I should bring you a letter, and, pointing to a sentence near the close, should ask you to tell me what my correspondent means, you would at once ask, “What is he writing about? what does he say in what precedes?” If I should reply that I didn’t wish you to know the subject of the letter, and would not allow you to read it from the beginning, you would say, “Then I can not help you.” But if I should put the letter into your hands, asking you to help me to understand the difficult sentence, you would at once read the letter carefully from the beginning, making sure that you understood everything as you read, and then, with all that preceded the difficult sentence clearly in your mind, you would expect to understand the sentence itself. Even thus reasonably should we deal with the Bible.
Therefore, to each one I say: Study the very words of the text. Go over them again and again; and every time you begin the study of a new portion, go back to the beginning and review all that you have been over. It is a royal method, and it yields royal results.
The first chapter of Galatians gives us a brief, comprehensive view of what the Gospel is, of the condition of the Galatian brethren, and of Paul’s personal experience. The second chapter refers to the meeting held in Jerusalem, seventeen years after Paul’s conversion, and tells us what was the subject of controversy, and Paul’s relation to it. The apostle’s sole burden was to preserve “the truth of the Gospel” among the brethren. Having the first chapter clearly in mind, we may proceed to the study of the second, remembering that it is but a continuation of the first.
“Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. And I went up by revelation; and I laid before them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before them who were of repute, lest by any means I should be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised; and that because of the false brethren privily brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage; to whom we gave place in the way of subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you. But from those who were reputed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person)—they, I say, who were of repute, imparted nothing to me; but contrariwise, when they saw that I had been intrusted with the Gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the Gospel of the circumcision (for He that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision wrought for me also unto the Gentiles); and when they perceived the grace that was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision; only they would that we should remember the poor; which very thing I was also zealous to do.
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that even Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Cephas before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest as do the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, how compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, save through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law; because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died unto the law, that I might live unto God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me. I do not make void the grace of God; for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for naught.” Galatians 2, R. V.
Another Visit to Jerusalem.
“Fourteen years after,” following the natural course of the narrative, means fourteen years after the visit recorded in Gal. 1:18, which was three years after the apostle Paul’s conversion. The second visit, therefore, was seventeen years after his conversion, or about the year 51 A. D., which coincides with the time of the conference in Jerusalem, which is recorded in Acts 15. It is with that conference, and the things that led to it, and grew out of it, that the second chapter of Galatians deals. In reading this chapter, therefore, the fifteenth of Acts must be understood and borne in mind.
That New Gospel.
In the first chapter of Galatians (verses 6, 7) we are told that some were troubling the brethren, by perverting the Gospel of Christ, presenting a false gospel, and pretending that it was the true Gospel. In Acts 15:1 we read that “certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved.” This, we see, was the other gospel, which was not another, since there is only one, but which was being palmed off upon the brethren as the true Gospel. That these men who brought this teaching professed to be preaching the Gospel, is evident from the fact that they professed to tell the people what they must do to be saved. Paul and Barnabas would not give any place to the new preaching, but withstood it, in order, as Paul tells the Galatians, “that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you.” Gal. 2:5. The apostles had “no small dissension and disputation with them.” Acts 15:2. The controversy was no insignificant one, but was between the real Gospel and a counterfeit. The question was a vital one for the new believers, and has no less interest for us; it concerns our salvation.
A Denial of Christ.
A glance at the experience of the church at Antioch, to whom this new gospel was brought, will show that it did in the most direct manner deny the power of Christ to save. The Gospel was first brought to them by brethren who had been scattered by the persecution that arose on the death of Stephen. These brethren came to Antioch “preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.” Acts 11:19-21. Then the apostles sent Barnabas to assist in the work; and he, “when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith; and much people was added unto the Lord.” Verses 22-24. Then Barnabas found Saul, and together they labored with the church in Antioch for more than a year. Verses 25, 26. There were in the church prophets and teachers, and as they ministered unto the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost spoke to them, telling them to separate Barnabas and Saul to the work to which He had called them. Acts 13:1-3. So we see that the church there had had much experience in the things of God. They were acquainted with the Lord and with the voice of the Holy Spirit, who witnessed that they were children of God. And now after all this, these men said to them, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved.” That was as much as to say, All your faith in Christ, and all the witness of the Spirit, are nothing without the sign of circumcision. The sign of circumcision, without faith, was exalted above faith in Christ without any outward sign. The new gospel was a most direct assault upon the Gospel, and a flat denial of Christ.
“False Brethren.”
It is no wonder that Paul styles those who presented this teaching, “false brethren,” who had, as the Danish strongly expresses it, “sneaked in.” Gal. 2:4. To the Galatians he said of them, “There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.” Gal. 1:7. The apostles and elders, in their letter to the churches, said of those men, “Certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls.” Acts 15:24. And they further added that they “gave no commandment” to them. Verse 24, R. V. That is to say, these teachers were “false brethren,” who were not recognized by the apostles as teachers, who were speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. There have been many such since that time. So vicious was their work that the apostle said, “Let them be accursed.” They were deliberately seeking to undermine the Gospel of Christ, and thus to destroy the souls of the believers.
“The Sign of Circumcision.”
These false brethren had said, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved.” Literally, you have not power to be saved. They made salvation only a human thing, resulting solely from the exercise of human power. They had no knowledge of what circumcision really is. “He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Rom. 2:28, 29. There was a time, after Abraham believed God, when he listened to the voice of Sarai, instead of to God, and sought to fulfil the promises of God by the power of his own flesh. See Genesis 16. The result was a failure—a bond-servant instead of an heir. Then God appeared to him again, exhorting him to walk before Him with singleness of heart, and repeating His covenant. As a reminder of his failure, and of the fact that “the flesh profiteth nothing,” Abraham received “the sign of circumcision,”—a cutting off of the flesh. This was to show that since in the flesh “dwelleth no good thing,” the promises of God can be realized only by the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, through the Spirit. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:3. Abraham was, therefore, really circumcised as soon as he received the Spirit through faith in God. “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.” Rom. 4:11. Outward circumcision was never anything more than a sign of the real circumcision of the heart; when this was absent, the sign was a fraud; but when the real circumcision was present, the sign could be dispensed with. Abraham is “the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised.” The “false brethren” who visited the church at Antioch, subverting the souls of the disciples, and those of the same class who afterwards troubled the Galatians, perverting the Gospel of Christ, were substituting the empty sign for the reality. With them the shell of the nut without the kernel counted for more than the kernel without the shell.
“The Flesh Profiteth Nothing.”
Jesus said, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. The people of Antioch and Galatia had trusted in Christ for salvation; now there were some who sought to induce them to trust in the flesh. They did not tell them that they were at liberty to sin. Oh, no; they told them that they must keep the law! Yes, they must do it themselves; they must make themselves righteous without Jesus Christ. For circumcision stood for the keeping of the law. Now the real circumcision was the law written in the heart by the Spirit; but these “false brethren” wished the believers to trust in the outward form of circumcision, as a substitute for the Spirit’s work; so that the thing which was given as a sign of righteousness by faith, became only a sign of self-righteousness. The false brethren would have them circumcised for righteousness and salvation; but Peter said, “Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved.” Just as Paul wrote, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:10. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Rom. 14:23. Therefore, all the efforts of men to keep the law of God by their own power, no matter how earnest and sincere they may be, can never result in anything but imperfection—sin. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Isa. 64:6.
“A Yoke of Bondage.”
When the question came up in Jerusalem, Peter said to those who would have men seek to be justified by their own works, instead of by faith in Christ, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Acts 15:10. This yoke was a yoke of bondage, as is shown by Paul’s words, that the “false brethren” sneaked in “to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.” Gal. 2:4. Christ gives freedom from sin. His life is “the perfect law of liberty.” “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20), but not freedom from it. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12), just because it gives the knowledge of sin by condemning it. It is a sign-post, which points out the way, but does not carry us. It can tell us that we are out of the way; but Jesus Christ alone can make us walk in it; for He is the way. Sin is bondage. Prov. 5:22. Only those who keep the commandments of God are at liberty (Ps. 119:45); and the commandments can be kept only by faith in Christ (Rom. 8:3, 4). Therefore, whoever induces people to trust in the law for righteousness, without Christ, simply puts a yoke upon them, and fastens them in bondage. When a man has been convicted by the law as a transgressor, and cast into prison, he can not be delivered from his chains by the law which holds him there. But that is no fault of the law: just because it is a good law, it can not say that a guilty man is innocent. So these Galatian brethren were brought into bondage by men who were foolishly and vainly seeking to exalt the law of God by denying Him who gave it, and in whom alone its righteousness is found.
Why Paul Went Up to Jerusalem.
The record in Acts says that it was determined at Antioch that Paul and Barnabas and some others should go up to Jerusalem about this matter. But Paul declares that he went up “by revelation.” Gal. 2:2. Paul did not go up simply on their recommendation, but the same Spirit moved both him and them. He did not go up to learn the truth of the Gospel, but to maintain it. He went, not to find out what the Gospel really is, but to communicate the Gospel which he had preached among the heathen. Those who were chief in the conference imparted nothing to him. He had not been preaching for seventeen years that of which he stood in doubt. He knew whom he believed. He had not received the Gospel from any man, and he did not need to have any man’s testimony that it was genuine. When God has spoken, an indorsement by man is an impertinence. The Lord knew that the brethren in Jerusalem needed his testimony, and the new converts needed to know that those whom God sent spoke the words of God, and, therefore, all spoke the same thing. They needed the assurance that as they had turned from many gods to the one God, the truth is one, and there is but one Gospel for all men.
The Gospel Not Magic.
The great lesson taught by this experience, to which Paul referred the Galatians, is that there is nothing in this world that can confer grace and righteousness upon men, and that there is nothing in the world that any man can do, that will bring salvation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and not the power of man. Any teaching that leads men to trust in any object, whether it be an image, a picture, or anything else, or to trust for salvation in any work or effort of their own, even though that effort be directed toward the most praiseworthy object, is a perversion of the truth of the Gospel,—a false gospel. There are in the church of Christ no “sacraments” that by some sort of magical working confer special grace on the receiver; but there are things that a man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who is thereby justified and saved, may do as an expression of his faith. The only thing in the world that has any efficacy in the way of salvation, is the life of God in Christ. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:8-10, margin. This is “the truth of the Gospel,” and it was for this that Paul stood. It is the Gospel for all time.
Galatians and the Gospel.
In this chapter the apostle says that he withstood the false teaching which was now misleading the Galatian brethren, in order that “the truth of the Gospel” might remain with them. Compare this with his introduction, in the first chapter, and his vehement assertions concerning the Gospel which he had preached to them, and his astonishment that they were now forsaking it, and it will be self-evident that the epistle must contain nothing else but the Gospel in the most forcible form of expression. Many have misunderstood it, and have derived no personal gain from it, because they have thought that it was but a contribution to the “strivings about the law,” against which Paul himself warned the brethren.
No Monopoly of Truth.
“Whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man’s person.” There is no man or body of men on earth, that has a monopoly of truth,—a corner, so to speak, so that whoever wishes it must come to him. Truth is independent of men. Truth is of God, for Christ, who is the shining of His glory, and the very impress of His substance (Heb. 1:3), is the truth (John 14:6). Whoever gets the truth, must get it from God, and not from any man, just as Paul received the Gospel. God may and does use men as instruments, or channels, but He alone is the Giver. Neither names nor numbers have anything to do with determining what is truth. The truth is no more mighty, nor to be accepted more readily, when it is presented by ten thousand princes than when maintained by a single humble, laboring man. And there is no more presumptive evidence that ten thousand men have the truth than that one has it. Every man on earth may be the possessor of just as much of the truth as he is willing to use, and no more. See John 7:17; 12:35, 36. He who would act the pope, thinking to hold a monopoly of the truth, and compel people to come to him for it, dealing it out here, and withholding it there, loses all the truth that he ever had, if he ever really had any. Truth and popery can not exist together; no pope, or man with a popish disposition, has the truth. As soon as a man receives the truth, he ceases to be a pope. If the pope of Rome should get converted, and become a disciple of Christ, that very hour he would vacate the papal seat.
The Biggest Not Always the Best.
Just as there is no man who has a monopoly of truth, so there are no places to which men must necessarily go in order to find it. The brethren in Antioch did not need to go to Jerusalem to learn the truth, or to find out if what they had was the genuine article. The fact that truth was first proclaimed in a certain place, does not prove that it can be found only there, or that it can be found there at all. In fact, the last places in the world to go to with the expectation of finding or learning truth, are the cities where the Gospel was preached in the first centuries after Christ, as Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, etc. Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before him, but began at once to preach.
The Papacy arose in part in this way: It was assumed that the places where the apostles, or some of them, had preached must have the truth in its purity, and that all men must take it from there. It was also assumed that the people of a city must know more of it than the people in the country or in a village. So, from all bishops being on an equality, as at the beginning, it soon came to pass that the “country bishops” (chorepiscopoi) were rated as secondary to those who officiated in the cities. Then, when that spirit crept in, of course the next step was necessarily a strife among the city bishops to see which one should be greatest; and the unholy struggle went on until Rome gained the coveted place of power.
But Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a place that was “little among the thousands of Judah” (Micah 5:2), and nearly all His life He lived in Nazareth, a little town of so poor repute that a man in whom there was no guile said, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” John 1:45-47. Afterward Jesus took up His abode in the wealthy city of Capernaum, but was always known as “Jesus of Nazareth.” It is no farther to heaven from the smallest village or even the smallest lonely cabin on the plain, than it is from the largest city, or bishop’s palace. And God, “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,” dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. Isa. 57:15.
Appearances Are Nothing.
God looks at what a man is, and not at what he seems to be. What he seems to be is what men estimate him to be, and depends largely on the eyes of those who look at him; what he is, is the measure of the power and wisdom of God that is in him. God does not set any store upon official position. It is not position that gives authority, but authority that gives the real position. Many a humble, poor man on earth, with never an official title to his name, has occupied a position really higher and of greater authority than that of all the kings of the earth. Authority is the unfettered presence of God in the soul.
It Is God That Works.
“He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.” The Word of God is living and active. Heb. 4:12, R. V. Whatever activity there is in the work of the Gospel, if there is any work done, is all of God. Jesus “went about doing good,” “for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38. He Himself said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” John 5:30. “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” John 14:10. So Peter spoke of Him as “a Man approved of God” “by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him.” Acts 2:22. The disciple is not greater than his Lord. Paul and Barnabas, therefore, at the meeting in Jerusalem, told “what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.” Acts 15:12. Paul declared that he labored to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,” “striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.” Col. 1:28, 29. This same power it is the privilege of the humblest believer to possess, “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Phil. 2:13. The name of Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us.” God with Jesus caused Him to go about doing good. He is unchangeable; therefore, if we truly have Jesus, God with us, we, likewise, shall go about doing good.
Recognizing the Gift.
The brethren in Jerusalem showed their connection with God by recognizing the grace that was given to Paul and Barnabas. When Barnabas first went to Antioch, and saw the grace of God that was working there, he was glad, “and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 11:21-24. Those who are moved by the Spirit of God will always be quick to discern the workings of the Spirit in others. The surest evidence that any one knows nothing personally of the Spirit is that he can not recognize His working. The other apostles had the Holy Spirit, and they perceived that God had chosen Paul for a special work among the Gentiles; and, although his manner of working was different from theirs, for God had given him special gifts for his special work, they freely gave to him the right hand of fellowship, only requesting that he would remember the poor among his own nation; and this he had already shown his willingness to do. Acts 11:27-30. So Paul and Barnabas returned to their work in Antioch.
Perfect Unity.
We must not lose sight of the object Paul had in mind in referring to the meeting in Jerusalem. It was to show that there was no difference of opinion among the apostles nor in the church as to what the Gospel is. There were “false brethren,” it is true, but inasmuch as they were false, they were no part of the church, the body of Christ, who is the truth. Many professed Christians, sincere persons, suppose that it is almost a matter of necessity that there be differences in the church. “All can not see alike,” is the common statement. So they misread Eph. 4:13, making it read that God has given us gifts, “till we all come into the unity of the faith.” What the Word teaches is that “in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” we all come “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” There is only “one faith” (Eph. 4:5), “the faith of Jesus,” as there is only one Lord; and those who have not that faith must necessarily be out of Christ. It is not at all necessary that there be the slightest difference upon any question of truth. Truth is the Word of God, and the Word of God is light; nobody but a blind man ever has any trouble to see a light that shines. The fact that a man has never in his life seen any other light used at night, except that from a tallow candle, does not in the least stand in the way of his recognizing that the light from an electric lamp is light, the first moment he sees it. There are, of course, different degrees of knowledge, but never any controversy between those different degrees. All truth is one.
Withstanding Peter.
“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” We need not magnify nor dwell upon the mistakes of Peter or any other good man, because that is not profitable for us; but we must note this overwhelming proof that Peter was never considered the “prince of the apostles,” and that he never was, and never considered himself to be, pope. Fancy any priest, bishop, or cardinal, withstanding Leo XIII. to the face in a public assembly. He would be considered extremely fortunate if the papal guards allowed him to escape with his life for thus presuming to oppose the self-styled “vicar of the Son of God.” But Peter made a mistake, and that upon a vital matter of doctrine, because he was not infallible, and he meekly accepted the rebuke that Paul gave him, like the sincere, humble Christian that he was. If there were such a thing as a human head to the church, it would evidently be Paul, instead of Peter, as appears from the whole narrative. Paul was sent to the Gentiles, and Peter to the Jews; but the Jews formed only a very small portion of the church; the converts from the Gentiles soon outnumbered them, so that their presence was scarcely discernible. All these Christians were largely the fruit of Paul’s labors, and they naturally looked up to him more than to others, so that Paul could say that upon him daily came “the care of all the churches.” 2 Cor. 11:28. But infallibility is not the portion of any man, and Paul himself did not claim it. The greatest man in the church of Christ has no lordship over the weakest. “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” “Be subject one to another.”
Making a Difference.
When Peter was at the conference in Jerusalem, he told the facts about the receiving of the Gospel by the Gentiles, through his preaching, saying, “God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” Acts 15:8, 9. God put no difference between Jews and Gentiles in the matter of the purification of the heart, because, knowing the hearts, He knew that “there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” so that there is no other way than for all to be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 3:22-24. Yet, after having been shown this fact by the Lord; after having preached to the Gentiles, and after having witnessed the gift of the Holy Ghost to them, the same as to Jewish believers; after having eaten with those Gentile converts, and faithfully defending his course; after having given a clear testimony in conference, that God made no difference between Jews and Gentiles; and even immediately after himself making no difference, Peter suddenly, as soon as some came who he thought would not approve of such freedom, began to make a difference. “He withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.” This was, as Paul says, dissimulation, and was not only wrong in itself, but was calculated to confuse and mislead the disciples. The fact that this was dissimulation, which was apparent, only emphasizes the fact that there was no real difference among the brethren. It was fear, not faith, that for the moment controlled Peter.
Contrary to the Truth of the Gospel.
A wave of fear seems to have passed over the Jewish believers, for “the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.” This in itself was, of course, not walking “uprightly, according to the truth of the Gospel;” but the mere fact of dissembling was not the whole of the offense against the truth of the Gospel. Under the circumstances it was a public denial of Christ, just as much as that of which Peter had once before, through sudden fear, been guilty. We have all been too often guilty of the same sin to permit us to sit in judgment; we can only note the fact and the natural consequence, as a warning to ourselves.
See how the action of Peter and the others was a virtual, although unintentional, denial of Christ. There had just been a great controversy over the question of circumcision. It was a question of justification and salvation,—whether men were saved by faith alone in Christ, or by outward forms. Clear testimony had been borne that salvation is by faith alone: and now, while the controversy is still alive, while the “false brethren” are still propagating their errors, these loyal brethren suddenly discriminated against the Gentile believers, because they were uncircumcised, in effect saying to them, Except ye be circumcised, ye can not be saved. Their actions said, We also are in doubt about the power of faith in Christ alone to save men; we really believe that salvation depends on circumcision and the works of the law; faith in Christ is well, but there’s something more to do; it is not in itself sufficient. Such a denial of the truth of the Gospel Paul could not endure, and he at once struck directly at the root of the matter.
“Sinners of the Gentiles,” and Sinners of the Jews.
Paul said to Peter, “We ... are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles.” Did he mean that they, being Jews, were, therefore, not sinners?—By no means, for he immediately adds that they had believed on Jesus Christ for justification. They were sinners of the Jews, and not sinners of the Gentiles; but whatever things they had to boast of as Jews, all had to be counted loss for the sake of Christ. Nothing availed them anything except faith in Christ; and since this was so, it was evident that the Gentile sinners could be saved directly by faith in Christ, without going through the dead forms which had been of no service to the Jews, and which were given largely as the result of their unbelief.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Tim. 1:15. “All have sinned,” and stand alike guilty before God; but all, of whatever race or class, can accept this saying, “This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” A circumcised sinner is no better than an uncircumcised one; a sinner who stands as a church-member, is no better than one who is outside. The sinner who has gone through the form of baptism is not better than the sinner who has never made any profession of religion. Sin is sin, and sinners are sinners, whether in the church or out; but, thank God, Christ is the propitiation for our sins, as well as for the sins of the whole world. There is hope for the unfaithful professor of religion, as well as for the sinner who has never named the name of Christ. The same Gospel that is preached to the world, must be preached to the church; for there is only one Gospel. It serves to convert sinners in the world, as well as sinners who stand as church-members, and at the same time it renews those who are really in Christ.
“Justified.”
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,” “we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified,” said the apostle. The meaning of the word “justified” is “made righteous.” This is the exact term that appears in other languages, which are not composed of foreign terms. The Latin word for righteousness is justitia. To be just is to be righteous. Then we add the termination fy, from the Latin word, meaning “to make,” and we have the exact equivalent of the simpler term, “make righteous.” In an accommodated sense we use the term “justified” of a man who has not done wrong in a thing whereof he is accused. But, strictly speaking, such an one needs no justification, since he is already just; his righteous deed justified him. He was justified in his deed. But since all have sinned, there are none just or righteous before God; therefore they need to be justified, or made righteous, which God does. Now the law of God is righteousness. See Rom. 7:12; 9:30, 31; Ps. 119:172. Therefore Paul did not disparage the law, although he declared that no man could be made righteous by the law, meaning, of course, the law written on stones or in a book. No; so highly did he appreciate the law, that he believed in Christ for the righteousness which the law demands but can not give. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4. The law, which declares all men to be sinners, could not justify them except by declaring that sin is not sin; and that would not be justification, but a self-contradiction in the law.
The Law Can Not Justify.
“By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Shall we say, Then we will do away with the law? That is what every confirmed criminal thinks. Persistent law-breakers would gladly do away with the law which declares them guilty and will not say that wrong is right. But the law of God can not be abolished, for it is the statement of the will of God. Rom. 2:18. In very fact it is the life and character of God. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:12. We read the written law, and find in it our duty made plain. But we have not done it; therefore we are guilty. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Rom. 3:23, 12. Moreover, there is not one who has strength to do the law, its requirements are so great. Then it is very evident that no one can be justified by the works of the law, and it is equally evident that the fault is not in the law, but in the individual. Let the man get Christ in the heart by faith, and then the righteousness of the law will be there also, for Christ says, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:8. He who would throw away the law because it will not call evil good, would reject God because He “will by no means clear the guilty.” Ex. 34:7. But God will remove the guilt, will make the sinners righteous, that is, in harmony with the law, and then the law which before condemned them will witness to their righteousness.
“The Faith of Christ.”
Much is lost, in reading the Scriptures, by not noting exactly what they say. Here we have literally, “the faith of Christ,” just as in Rev. 14:12 we have “the faith of Jesus.” He is the Author and Finisher of faith. Heb. 12:2. God has “dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3), in giving Christ to every man. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17), and Christ is the Word. All things are of God. It is He who gives repentance and forgiveness of sins.
There is, therefore, no opportunity for any one to plead that his faith is weak. He may not have accepted and made use of the gift, but there is no such thing as “weak faith.” A man may be “weak in faith,” that is, may be afraid to depend on faith, but faith itself is as strong as the Word of God. There is no faith but the faith of Christ; everything else professing to be faith is a spurious article. Christ alone is righteous; He has overcome the world, and He alone has power to do it; in Him dwelleth all the fulness of God, because the law—God Himself—was in His heart; He alone has kept and can keep the law to perfection; therefore, only by His faith,—living faith, that is, His life in us,—can we be made righteous.
But this is sufficient. He is a “tried Stone.” The faith which He gives to us is His own tried and approved faith, and it will not fail us in any contest. We are not exhorted to try to do as well as He did, or to try to exercise as much faith as He had, but simply to take His faith, and let it work by love, and purify the heart. It will do it; take it!
Believing Is Receiving.
“As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12. That is, as many as believed on His name received Him. To believe on His name is to believe that He is the Son of God; to believe that He is the Son of God, means to believe that He is come in the flesh, in human flesh, in our flesh, for His name is “God with us;” so to believe on His name means simply to believe that He dwells personally in every man,—in all flesh. We do not make it so by believing it; it is so, whether we believe it or not; we simply accept the fact, which all nature reveals to us.
It follows, then, as a matter of course that, believing in Christ, we are justified by the faith of Christ, since we have Him personally dwelling in us, exercising His own faith. All power in heaven and earth is in His hands, and, recognizing this, we simply allow Him to exercise His own power in His own way. God does “exceedingly abundantly,” by “the power that worketh in us.”
Christ Not the Minister of Sin.
Jesus Christ is “the Holy and Righteous One.” Acts 3:14, R. V. “He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” 1 John 3:5. He not only “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), but He “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore, it is impossible that any sin can come from Him. He does not impart sin. In the stream of life that flows from the heart of Christ, through His wounded side, there is no trace of impurity. It is “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal.” He is not the minister of sin, that is, He does not minister sin to anybody. If in any one who has sought—and not only sought, but found—righteousness through Christ, there is afterwards found sin, it is because the person has dammed up the stream, allowing the water to become stagnant. The Word has not been given free course, so that it could be glorified; and where there is no activity, there is death. No one is to blame for this but the person himself. Let no professed Christian take counsel of his own imperfections, and say that it is impossible for a Christian to live a sinless life. It is impossible for a true Christian, one who has full faith, to live any other kind of life. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Rom. 6:2. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him; and he can not sin, because he is born of God.” 1 John 3:9. Therefore “abide in Him.”
What Was Destroyed?
“If I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.” We ask again, What was destroyed, the building up of which will prove us to be transgressors? Remembering that the apostle is talking of those who have believed in Jesus Christ, that they might be justified by the faith of Christ, we find the answer to the question in Rom. 6:6: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Also Col. 2:10, 11: “Ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” That which is destroyed is the body of sin, and it is destroyed only by this personal presence of the life of Christ. It is destroyed in order that we may be freed from its power, and may no longer need to serve it. It is destroyed for everybody, for Christ in His own flesh has abolished “the enmity,” the carnal mind; not His own, for He had none, but ours. Our sins, our weaknesses, were upon Him. For every soul the victory has been gained, and the enemy has been disarmed. We have only to accept the victory which Christ has won. The victory over all sin is already a reality; our faith in it makes it real to us. The loss of faith puts us outside the reality, and the old body of sin looms up again. That which is destroyed by faith is built up again by unbelief. Remember that this destruction of the body of sin, although performed by Christ for all, is, nevertheless, a present, personal matter with each individual.
“Dead to the Law.”
Many seem to fancy that “dead to the law” means the same as that the law is dead. Not by any means. The law must be in full force, else no one could be dead by means of it. How does a man become dead to the law?—By receiving its full penalty, which is death. He is dead, but the law which put him to death is still as ready as ever to put to death another criminal. Suppose, now, that the man who was executed for gross crimes should, by some miraculous power, come to life again, would he not still be dead to the law?—Certainly; nothing that he had done could be mentioned to him by the law; but if he should again commit crimes, the law would again execute him, but as another man. We say now that I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. By the body of Christ I am raised from the death which I have suffered by the law because of my sin, and now I walk “in newness of life,” a life unto God. Like Saul of old, I am by the Spirit of God “turned into another man.” 1 Sam. 10:6. This is the Christian’s experience. That this is the case is shown by what follows.
Crucified with Christ.
“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Christ was crucified; He was “delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.” Rom. 4:25. But unless we are crucified with Him, His death and resurrection profit us nothing. If the cross of Christ is separated from us, and outside of us, even though it be but by so much as a moment of time and an hair’s breadth of space, it is to us all the same as if He were not crucified. No one was ever saved simply by looking forward to a cross to be erected and a Christ to be crucified at some indefinite time in the future, and no one can now be saved simply by believing that at a certain time in the past Christ was crucified. No; if men would see Christ crucified, they must look neither forward nor backward, but upward; for the arms of the cross that was erected on Calvary reach from Paradise lost to Paradise restored, and embrace the whole world of sin. The crucifixion of Christ is not a thing of but a single day. He is “the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8, R. V.); and the pangs of Calvary will not be ended as long as a single sin or sinner exists in the universe. Even now Christ bears the sins of the whole world, for “in Him all things consist;” and when at the last He is obliged to cut off the irreclaimably wicked in the lake of fire, the anguish which they suffer will be only that which the Christ whom they have rejected suffered on the cross.
Where the Cross Is.
Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. 1 Peter 2:24. He was “made a curse for us,” in that He hung on the tree. Gal. 3:13. On the cross He bore not only the weakness and sin of humanity, but also the weakness of the earth. Thorns are the sign of the curse, the weakened, imperfect condition of the earth (Gen. 3:17, 18; 4:11, 12); and on the cross Christ bore the crown of thorns. Therefore, all the curse, every trace of it, is borne by Christ,—by Christ crucified. Wherever, therefore, we see any curse, or wherever there is any curse, whether we see it or not, there is the cross of Christ. This can be seen again from the following: The curse is death, and death kills; the curse is in everything, yet everywhere we see life. Here is the miracle of the cross. Christ suffered the curse of death, and yet lived. He is the only one that could do it. Therefore, the fact that we see life everywhere, also in ourselves, in spite of the curse which is everywhere, is positive proof that the cross of the Crucified One is there bearing it. So it is that not only every blade of grass, every leaf of the forest, and every piece of bread that we eat has the stamp of the cross of Christ on it, but, above all, we have the same. Wherever there is a fallen, sin-scarred, miserable human being, there is also the Christ of God crucified for him and in him. Christ on the cross bears all things, and the sins of that man are on Him. Because of unbelief and ignorance the man feels all the weight of the heavy burden, but the load is on Christ, nevertheless. It is easy for Christ, but heavy for the man; if the man will believe, he may be relieved of the load. In short, Christ bears the sins of all the world on the cross. Therefore, wherever sin is found, there we may be sure is the cross of Christ.
Where Sin Is.
Sin is a personal matter. A man is guilty only of his own sins, and not of those which another has committed. Now I can not sin where I am not, but only where I am. Sin is in the heart of man; “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within.” Mark 7:21-23. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Jer. 17:9. Sin is in every fiber of our being by nature. We are born in sin, and our life is sin, so that sin can not be taken from us without taking our life. What I need is freedom from my own personal sin,—that sin which not only has been committed by me personally, but which dwells in the heart,—the sin which constitutes the whole of my life.
Bound by Sin.
“His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Prov. 5:22. “For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord.” Jer. 2:22. My sin is committed by myself, in myself, and I can not separate it from me. Cast it on the Lord? Ah, yes, that is right, but how? Can I gather it up in my hands, and cast it from me, so that it will light upon Him?—I can not. If I could separate it but a hair’s breadth from me, then I should be safe, no matter what became of it, since it would not be found in me. In that case I could dispense with Christ; for if sin were not found on me, it would make no matter to me where it was found. If I could gather up my sins so as to lay them upon Christ crucified apart from me, then I would not need to put them on Him. They would then be away from me, and that would clear me. But no works of any kind that I can do can save me; therefore, all my efforts to separate myself from my sins are unavailing.
Christ Bears the Sin in Us.
It is evident from what has been said that whoever bears my sins must come where I am, yea, must come into me. And this is just what Christ does. Christ is the Word, and to all sinners, who would excuse themselves by saying that they can not know what God requires of them, He says, “The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Deut. 30:11-14. Therefore, He says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Rom. 10:9. What shall we confess about the Lord Jesus?—Why, confess the truth, that He is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, and believe that He is there risen from the dead. “Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” Eph. 4:9. The risen Saviour is the crucified Saviour. As Christ risen is in the heart of the sinner, therefore, Christ crucified is there. If it were not so, there would be no hope for any. A man may believe that Jesus was crucified eighteen hundred years ago, and may die in his sins; but he who believes that Christ is crucified and risen in him, has salvation.
All that any man in the world has to do in order to be saved, is to believe the truth, that is, to recognize and acknowledge facts, to see things just as they actually are, and to confess them. Whoever believes that Christ is crucified in him, which is the fact in the case of every man, and confesses that the crucified Christ is also risen, and that He dwells in him by and with the power of the resurrection, is saved from sin, and will be saved as long as he holds fast his confession. This is the only true confession of faith.
What a glorious thought that, wherever sin is, there is Christ, the Saviour from sin! He bears sin, all sin, the sin of the world. Sin is in all flesh, and so Christ is come in the flesh. Christ is crucified in every man that lives on earth. This is the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, which is to be proclaimed to all, and which will save all who accept it.
Living by Faith.
In the tenth chapter of Romans, as already noted, we learn that Christ is in every man, “a very present help in trouble.” He is in the sinner, in order that the sinner may have every incentive and facility for turning from sin to righteousness. He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6. There is no other life than His. He is the life. But, although He is in every man, not every man has His righteousness manifested in his life; for some “hold down the truth in unrighteousness.” Rom. 1:18, R. V. Now Paul’s inspired prayer was that we might be strengthened with might by the Spirit of God in the inner man, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;” “that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Eph. 3:16-19. The difference, then, between the sinner and the Christian is this: that, whereas Christ crucified and risen is in every man, in the sinner He is there unrecognized and ignored, while in the Christian He dwells there by faith.
Christ is crucified in the sinner, for wherever there is sin and the curse, there is Christ bearing it. All that is needed now is for the sinner to be crucified with Christ, to let Christ’s death be his own death, in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested in his mortal flesh. Faith in the eternal power and Divinity of God, that are seen in all the things that He has made, will enable any one to grasp this mystery. The seed is not quickened “except it die.” 1 Cor. 15:36. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. So the one who is crucified with Christ, begins at once to live, but it is as another man. “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
The Life of the World.
“But Christ was actually crucified eighteen hundred years, and more, ago, was He not?”—Certainly. “Then how can it be that my personal sins were upon Him? or how can it be that I am now crucified with Him?”—Well, it may be that we can not understand the fact, but that makes no difference with the fact. But when we remember that Christ is the life, even “that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us” (1 John 1:2), we may understand something of it. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men,”—“the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:4, 9.
Christ is larger than the Man Jesus of Nazareth, whom the eyes of all men could see. Flesh and blood,—that which the eyes can see,—can not reveal “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matt. 16:16, 17. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” 1 Cor. 2:9, 10. So no man, no matter how well acquainted he was with the Carpenter of Nazareth, could call Him Lord but by the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 12:3. By the Spirit, His own personal presence, He can dwell in every man on earth, and fill the heavens as well, a thing which Jesus, in the flesh could not do. Therefore, it was expedient for Him to go away, and send the Comforter. “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Col. 1:16, 17, R. V. Jesus of Nazareth was the manifestation of Christ in the flesh; but the flesh was not Christ, for “the flesh profiteth nothing.” It is the Word which was in the beginning, and whose power upholds all things, that is the Christ of God. The sacrifice of Christ, so far as this world is concerned, dates from the foundation of the world. While Christ was going about doing good in Judea and Galilee, He was in the bosom of the Father making reconciliation for the sins of the world.
The scene on Calvary was the manifestation of what has taken place as long as sin has existed, and will take place until every man is saved who is willing to be saved: Christ bearing the sins of the world. He bears them now. One act of death and resurrection was sufficient for all time, for it is eternal life that we are considering; therefore, it is not necessary for the sacrifice to be repeated. That life pervades and upholds all things, so that whoever accepts it by faith has all the benefit of the entire sacrifice of Christ. By Himself He “made purification of sins.” Whoever rejects the life, or is unwilling to acknowledge that the life which he has is Christ’s life, loses, of course, the benefit of the sacrifice.
The Faith of the Son of God.
Christ lived by the Father. John 6:57. His faith in the word that God gave Him was such that He repeatedly and positively maintained that when He died He should rise again the third day. In this faith He died, saying, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.” Luke 23:46. That faith which gave Him the victory over death (Heb. 5:7), because it gave Him the complete victory over sin, is the faith which He exercises in us, when He dwells in us by faith; for He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” It is not we that live, but Christ that lives in us, and uses His own faith to deliver us from the power of Satan. “What have we to do?”—Let Him live in us in His own way. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” How can we let Him?—Simply by acknowledging Him; by confessing Him. We can not understand, so as to explain the mystery of Christ in us the hope of glory, but everything in nature that serves to sustain our life teaches us the fact. The sunlight that shines upon us, the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, and the water that we drink, are all means of conveying life to us. The life that they convey to us is none other than the life of Christ, for He is the life, and thus we have constantly before us and in us evidence of the fact that Christ can live in us. If we allow the Word to have free course in us, it will be glorified in us, and will glorify us.
The Gift for Me.
“Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” How personal this is. I am the one whom He loved. Each soul in the world can say, “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Leave Paul out of the question in reading this. Paul is dead, but the words that he wrote are yet alive. It was true of Paul, but no more so than of every other man. They are the words which the Spirit puts in our mouths, if we will but receive them. The whole gift of Christ is for each individual me. Christ is not divided, but every soul gets the whole of Him, just the same as if there were not another person in the world. Each one gets all the light that shines. The fact that there are millions of people for the sun to shine upon, does not make its light any the less for me; I get the full benefit of it, and could not get more if I were the only person in the world. It shines for me. So Christ gave Himself for me, the same as if I were the only sinner in the world; and the same is true of every other sinner. When you sow a grain of wheat, you get many more grains of the same kind, each one having the same life, and just as much of it, as the original seed had. So it is with Christ, the true Seed. In dying for us, that we may also become the true seed, He gives to every one of us the whole of His life. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”
Christ Not Dead in Vain.
“I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” This is the summing up of the case. It is the substance of what has preceded. If righteousness came by the law, then there would have been no use for the death of Christ. The law itself can do nothing except point out men’s duty; therefore, to speak of righteousness coming by the law, means by our works, by our individual effort. So the text is equivalent to the statement that if we could save ourselves, Christ died for nothing; for salvation is the one thing to be gained. Well, we can not save ourselves; and Christ is not dead in vain; therefore there is salvation in Him. He is able to save all that come unto God by Him. Some must be saved, else He has died in vain; but He has not died in vain; therefore, the promise is sure: “He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand, He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Isa. 53:10, 11. “Whosoever will,” may be of the number. Since He died not in vain, see to it “that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”
CHAPTER III.
Redeemed from the Curse, to the Blessing of Abraham.
The two chapters of Galatians that we have already studied give us sufficient idea of the entire book, so that we can practically take leave of the Galatian brethren, and consider it as addressed solely to us. The circumstances that called forth the writing of the epistle were that the Galatians, having accepted the Gospel, were led astray by false teachers, who presented to them “another gospel,” that is, a counterfeit gospel, since there is but one for all time and for all men. The way it was presented to them was, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved.” Outward circumcision was given as a sign of righteousness which the individual already possessed by faith. Rom. 4:11. It was a sign that the law was written in the heart by the Spirit, and it was, therefore, only a mockery and a sham when the law was transgressed. Rom. 2:25-29. But for one to be circumcised in order to be saved, was to put his trust in works of his own and not in Christ. Now, although there is in these days no question as to whether or not a man should submit to the specific rite of circumcision in order to be saved, the question of salvation itself, whether by human works or by Christ alone, is as live a one as ever.
Instead of attacking their error, and combating it with hard argument, the apostle begins with experience, the relation of which illustrates the case in hand. In this narrative he has occasion to show that salvation is wholly by faith, for all men alike, and not in any degree by works. As Christ tasted death for every man, so every man who is saved must have Christ’s personal experience of death and resurrection and life. Christ in the flesh does what the law could not do. Gal. 2:21; Rom. 8:3, 4. But that very fact witnesses to the righteousness of the law. If the law were at fault, Christ would not fulfil its demands. He shows its righteousness by fulfilling, or doing, what it demands, not simply for us, but in us. The grace of God in Christ attests the majesty and holiness of the law. We do not frustrate the grace of God; if righteousness could come by the law, then would Christ be dead in vain. But to claim that the law could be abolished, or could relax its claims, and thus be of no account, is also to say that Christ is dead in vain. Let it be repeated, righteousness can not possibly come by the law, but only by the faith of Christ; but the fact that the righteousness of the law could be attained in no other way by us than by the crucifixion and resurrection and life of Christ in us, shows the infinite greatness and holiness of the law.
“O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh? Did ye suffer so many things in vain? if it be indeed in vain. He therefore that supplieth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Know therefore that they which be of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one which continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them. Now that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, is evident; for, The righteous shall live by faith; and the law is not of faith; but, He that doeth them shall live in them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
“Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no one maketh it void, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not disannul, so as to make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise. What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law. Howbeit the Scripture hath shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
“But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law hath been our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3, R. V.
The Sin of Witchcraft.
The apostle asks those who are departing from God and His truth, “Who hath bewitched you?” “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” 1 Sam. 15:22, 23. If you look up this text in the Bible, you will see that in both instances the words “is as” are added. The literal Hebrew is, “Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry.” And how so?—Plainly enough, for stubbornness and rebellion are rejection of God; and he who rejects God, puts himself under the control of evil spirits. All idolatry is devil-worship. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils.” 1 Cor. 10:20. There is no middle ground. Christ says, “He that is not with Me is against Me.” Matt. 12:30. That is, disobedience, rejection of the Lord, is the spirit of antichrist. The Galatian brethren were, as we have already seen, departing from God, and consequently they were inevitably, although perhaps unconsciously, relapsing into idolatry.
The Safeguard against Spiritualism.
Spiritualism is only another name for ancient witchcraft and soothsaying. It is a fraud, but not the kind of fraud that most people think it is. There is reality in it. It is a fraud in that while it professes to receive communications from the spirits of the dead, it has communication only with the spirits of devils, since “the dead know not anything.” To be a Spiritualist medium is to give one’s self to the control of demons. Now there is only one protection against this, and that is to hold fast to the Word of God. He who lightly regards God’s Word, severs himself from association with God, and puts himself within Satan’s influence. Even though a man denounce Spiritualism in the strongest terms, if he does not hold to God’s Word, he will sooner or later be carried away by the strong delusion. Only by keeping the Word of Christ’s patience can men be kept from the temptation that is coming on all the world. Rev. 3:10. “The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2), is the spirit of Satan, the spirit of antichrist; and the Gospel of Christ, which reveals the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:16, 17), is the only possible salvation from it.
Christ Crucified before Us.
“Who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?” Jesus was set forth before the Galatians, when Paul preached to them, as openly crucified before their eyes. So vivid was the presentation, that they could actually see Christ crucified. It was not skilful word-painting on the part of Paul, nor imagination on the part of the Galatians, for then it would have been only deception. No; it was an actual fact; Christ was there, crucified, before their eyes, and Paul by the Spirit enabled them to see Him. We know that it was not Paul’s skill in making beautiful word pictures that enabled them to fancy that they saw the crucifixion, for elsewhere Paul says that he determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that he purposely and carefully refrained from using the wisdom of words, for fear that he should make the cross of Christ without effect. 1 Cor. 1:17, 18; 2:1-4. The experience of the Galatians in this matter was not peculiar to them. The cross of Christ is a present thing. The expression, “Come to the cross,” is not an empty form of words, but an invitation that can be literally complied with. Christ is crucified before us, and each blade of grass, each leaf in the forest, reveals the fact. Yea, we have the testimony in our own bodies, in that, although sinful and corruptible, we yet live. Not until one has seen Christ crucified before his eyes, and can see the cross of Christ at every turn, does one know the reality of the Gospel. Let those scoff who will; the fact that a blind man can not see the sun, and denies that it shines, will not deter one who sees it from talking of its glory. Many there are who can testify that it is something more than a figure of speech, when the apostle says that Christ was crucified before the eyes of the Galatians. They have had the experience. God grant that this study of Galatians, before it is finished, may be the means of opening the eyes of many more, so that they may see Christ crucified before their eyes, and know Him crucified in them and for them.
A Good Beginning.
The question, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” admits of but one answer. It was by the hearing of faith. The Spirit is given to those who believe. John 7:39; Eph. 1:13. The question also shows that the Galatians had received the Holy Spirit. There is no other way of beginning the Christian life. “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 1 Cor. 12:3. In the beginning the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, begetting life and activity in the creation; for without the Spirit there is no motion—no life. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zech. 4:6. The Spirit of God alone can carry out the perfect will of God, and no works that a man can do can bring Him into the soul, any more than a dead man can manufacture the breath by which he can be made to live and move. Those to whom Paul addressed this Epistle had seen Christ crucified before their eyes, and had accepted Him through the Spirit. Have you also seen and accepted Him?
Hold Fast the Beginning.
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?” Foolish is but a feeble term for it. The man who has not power to begin a work, has strength to finish it! He who has not strength to put one foot before the other, or even to stand alone, has strength enough in himself to win a race! Impossible. Who has power to beget himself? No one; we come into this world without having begotten ourselves; we are born without strength; and, therefore, all the strength that ever manifests itself in us, comes from another than ourselves. It is all given to us. The new-born babe is the representative of man. “A man is born into the world.” All the strength that any man has of himself is found in the infant as it utters its first cry with its first breath. And even that feeble strength is not of itself. Even so in things spiritual. “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth.” James 1:18. We can no more live righteous lives by our own strength than we could beget ourselves. The work that is begun by the Spirit, must be carried to completion by the Spirit. “We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” Heb. 3:14. “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6. And He alone can do it.
Experience in the Gospel.
“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” These questions show that the experience of the Galatian brethren had been as deep and as real as would be expected from those before whose eyes Christ was openly crucified. The Spirit had been given to them, miracles had been wrought among them, and even by them, for the gifts of the Spirit accompany the gift of the Spirit; and as the result of this living Gospel among them, they had suffered persecution; for “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12. This makes the case the more serious. Having shared the sufferings of Christ, they were now departing from Him; and this departure from Christ, through whom alone righteousness can come, was marked by disobedience to the law of truth. They were insensibly but inevitably transgressing the law to which they were looking for salvation.
Abraham Believed God.
The questions asked in verses 3, 4, and 5 suggest their own answer. The Spirit was ministered, and miracles were wrought, not by works of law, but by “the hearing of faith,” that is, by the obedience of faith, for faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Rom. 10:17. Thus Paul’s labor, and the first experience of the Galatians, were exactly in line with the experience of Abraham, whose faith was accounted for righteousness. Let it be remembered that the “false brethren” who preached “another gospel,” even the false gospel of righteousness by works, were Jews, and claimed Abraham for their father. It would be their boast that they were children of Abraham, and they would appeal to their circumcision as proof of the fact. But the very thing upon which they relied as proving them to be children of Abraham, was proof that they were not; for “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Abraham had the righteousness of faith before he was circumcised. Rom. 4:11. “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Abraham was not justified by works (Rom. 4:2, 3), but his faith “wrought righteousness.”
The same trouble still exists. People take the sign for the substance, the end for the means. They see that righteousness reveals itself in good works; therefore, they assume that the good works bring the righteousness. Righteousness gained by trusting, good works wrought without working, seem to them impractical and fanciful. They call themselves “practical” men, and believe that the only way to have a thing done is to do it. But the truth is that all such men are highly impractical. A man absolutely “without strength” can not do anything, not even so much as to raise himself up to take the medicine that is offered him; and any counsel for him to try to do it would be impractical. Only in the Lord is there righteousness and strength. Isa. 45:24. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.” Ps. 37:5, 6. Abraham is the father of all who believe for righteousness, and of those only. The only practical thing is to trust, even as he did.
The Gospel to the Gentiles.
“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham.” This verse will bear much reading. An understanding of it will guard one against many errors. And it is not difficult to understand; simply hold to what it says, and you have it.
(a) For one thing, the verse shows us that the Gospel was preached at least as early as the days of Abraham.
(b) It was God Himself who preached it; therefore, it was the true and only Gospel.
(c) It was the same Gospel that Paul preached; so that we have no other Gospel than that which Abraham had.
(d) The Gospel differs in no particular now from what it was in Abraham’s day; for his day was the day of Christ. John 8:56.
God requires just the same things now that He required then, and nothing more.
Moreover, the Gospel was then preached to the Gentiles, for Abraham was a Gentile, or, in other words, a heathen. He was brought up as a heathen, for “Terah, the father of Abraham,” “served other gods” (Joshua 24:2), and was a heathen till the Gospel was preached to him. So the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles was no new thing in the days of Peter and Paul. The Jewish nation was taken out from among the heathen, and it is only by the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen that Israel is built up and saved. See Acts 15:14-18; Rom. 11:25, 26. The very existence of the people Israel always was and still is a standing proof that God’s purpose is to save a people from among the Gentiles. It is in fulfilment of this purpose that Israel exists.
Thus we see that the apostle takes the Galatians, and us, back to the fountain-head,—to the place where God Himself preaches the Gospel to us Gentiles. No Gentile can hope to be saved in any other way or by any other gospel than that by which Abraham was saved.
Blessed with Abraham.
“So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Mark the close connection between this and the preceding verse. The Gospel was preached to Abraham in the words, “In thee shall all nations be blessed.” (It should be remembered, in passing, that the words “heathen,” or “Gentiles,” as in the Revised Version, and “nations,” in verse 8, come from the very same Greek word.) This blessing is the blessing of righteousness through Christ, as we learn from Acts 3:25, 26: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Because God preached the Gospel to Abraham, saying, “In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” those who believe are blessed with the faithful Abraham. There is no blessing for any man except the blessing which Abraham received, and the Gospel preached to him is the only Gospel there is for any people under heaven; for besides the name of Jesus, in whom Abraham believed, “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” In Him “we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:14. The forgiveness of sins carries with it all blessings.
A Contrast: Under the Curse.
Note the sharp contrast in verses 9 and 10. “They which be of faith are blessed,” but “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” Faith brings the blessing; works bring the curse, or, rather, leave one under the curse. The curse is on all, for “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” John 3:18. Faith removes the curse.
Who are under the curse?—“As many as are of the works of the law.” Note that it does not say that those who do the law are under the curse, for that would be a contradiction of Rev. 22:14: “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Ps. 119:1.
So, then, they that are of faith are keepers of the law; for they that are of faith are blessed, and those who do the commandments are blessed. By faith they do the commandments. The Gospel is contrary to human nature, and so it is that we become doers of the law, not by doing, but by believing. If we worked for righteousness, we should be exercising only our own sinful human nature, and so would get no nearer to righteousness, but farther from it; but by believing the “exceeding great and precious promises,” we become partakers of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and then all our works are wrought in God. “The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore?—Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a Stumbling-stone and Rock of offense; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Rom. 9:30-33.
What the Curse Is.
No one can read Gal. 3:10 carefully and thoughtfully without seeing that the curse is transgression of the law. Disobedience to God’s law is itself the curse; for “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Rom. 5:12. Sin has death wrapped up in it. Without sin death would be impossible, for “the sting of death is sin.” 1 Cor. 15:56. “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” Why? Is it because the law is a curse?—Not by any means. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:12. Why, then, are as many as are of the works of the law under the curse?—Because it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Mark it well: They are not cursed because they do the law, but because they do not do it. So, then, we see that being of the works of the law does not mean that one is doing the law. No; “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. All are under the curse, and he who thinks to get out by his own works, remains there. The curse consists in not continuing in all things that are written in the law; therefore, the blessing means perfect conformity to the law. This is as plain as language can make it.
Blessing and Cursing.
“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God.” Deut. 11:26-28. This is the living word of God, addressed to each one of us personally. “The law worketh wrath” (Rom. 4:15), but the wrath of God comes only on the children of disobedience (Eph. 5:6). If we truly believe, we are not condemned, but only because faith brings us into harmony with the law—the life of God. “Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:25.
Good Works.
The Bible does not disparage good works. On the contrary, it exalts them. “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable.” Titus 3:8. The charge against the unbelieving is that they are “unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16. Timothy was exhorted to “charge them that are rich in this world,” “that they do good, that they be rich in good works.” 1 Tim. 6:17, 18. And the apostle Paul prayed for us all, that we might “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.” Col. 1:10. Still further, we are assured that God has created us in Christ Jesus “unto good works,” “that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10.