2. The Cross And The Exchanged Life (Gal. 2:20)
Related Media“Judaizers” is the term we use to describe Jewish teachers who were trying to convince the Gentile Christians that, in order to be saved, they needed to trust Christ and observe certain Jewish religious customs, one of which was that males must be circumcised. They were the legalists of their day, the people who demanded faith plus works for salvation. In effect, the Judaizers in Galatia wanted the Gentile believers to “live like Jews” (2:14). They wanted the “old” life under the law added to the “new” life in Christ. They were insisting that faith in Christ alone was not enough, that, in addition, Jewish rituals and works were necessary for salvation, that they had to live according to the law, at least as far as circumcision was concerned. But Paul withstands them. He says: “It isn’t what we do that has merit before God, it’s what Christ has done. It isn’t life in the flesh that counts, but life in Christ by faith.”
There is a battle between the “old” and the “new” self. The “old self” knows nothing but self-justification and sin; the “new self” knows nothing but justification in Christ. Certainly you cannot be justified by the works of the law, as the Judaizers were teaching, for “by works of the law no one will be justified” (2:16), Paul says. The law was not given to save; it was given to condemn. “Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Rom.3:19).
On the basis of the law, we deserved death because we are lawbreakers by nature and by practice. That was God’s decree: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:20). God also said that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). He also said that “there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23). So how can we possibly be declared righteous by God, since we are all sinners?
The answer is because that was then and this is now: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law” (Rom. 3:21). Thank God for the “buts” of Scripture: “But now” in this present day of God’s grace; “now” in contrast to the past era of the law. “But now” God has revealed and demonstrated his righteousness in the gospel, entirely separate and apart from the requirements of the law. God’s righteousness cannot be earned on the basis of human effort or merit. It has nothing to do with keeping the law. It is solely an act of God through Christ, independent of the law. The incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a new age in which “the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” By faith in Christ this is a new day, a new relationship with God has been opened up through what God has done for us in Christ.
Though every human being is guilty before God, though “both Jews and Greeks are under sin” (Rom. 3:9), though “none is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God (Rom. 3:10-11), though “all have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Rom. 3:12), nevertheless, God’s righteousness is “now” revealed. It’s not that God has chosen to ignore or set aside the law. In fact, quite the opposite, for both “the Law and the Prophets bear witness” (Rom. 3:21) to God’ righteousness. It’s not that the law is of no value or that it is benign. Rather, it is that “by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge / consciousness of sin (Rom. 3:20).
Now, God’s righteousness is revealed on a brand new basis, namely, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Rom. 3:22). Now it is possible for us to be declared righteous by God because Christ bore the penalty of our sins, our lawlessness. Paul explains that all those who have sinned (i.e. everybody) “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith…It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24-26). Similarly, Peter puts it this way: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18).
This is the doctrine of Christ’s substitutionary atonement. Christ’s death on the cross satisfied the demands of the law, and, because I am united with him by faith, the benefit of what he has done is mine. I have died to the law by dying with Christ. He took my place on the cross, dying the death that I deserved so that, by faith in him, I am declared righteous by God. We are declared righteous by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. Thus, God sovereignly declares the sinner who believes in Jesus to be righteous through the merit of Christ. “A person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16).
The consequence is an exchanged life. When God declares us righteous a radical transformation takes place. We cannot stay the way we were - an exchange takes place. We exchange the old life under the law for the new life in Christ. We exchange the old life of sin and self for the new life of faith in Christ. We exchange self-control for God's control of our lives. Galatians 2:20 is Paul’s frank avowal of the secret of the exchange in his own life. It is Paul’s “confession of the power of the cross in his own life. It stood between him and the past” (F. B. Meyer, Devotional Commentary, 542).
The central thought in our verse is the complete break with the old ways of thought and life, a break that severs the connection with the old life and a break that demands an unqualified committal to Christ. For Paul, there can be no return to the past. This is a once-for-all thing. A return to the law as a means of getting right with God is an utter impossibility for him: death had broken his relationship with the law.
The subject of this study is “Justification: How an unrighteous person can be declared righteous by God.” And the central theological principle we learn is that the justified life initiates a radical exchange:
I. It exchanges the old life for the new – “No longer I…but Christ.” Life under the law is renounced; life in Christ is adopted.
II. It exchanges life in the flesh for life by faith – not physical life but spiritual. The temporal life is brought under the power of faith.
I. The Exchange Of The Old Life For The New: “No Longer I…But Christ”
1. My old life of sin is dead: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live” (2:20a). To be “crucified” for Paul is often meant metaphorically. It indicates a total separation and freedom from whatever dominated him before. It is a metaphor for a complete severing of relationships. It is a radical departure from a previous way of life to which he will never return. On the one hand, he has died to his previous existence and way of life. On the other hand, he is released to a new life.
So, to be crucified with Christ means to break the domination of the old nature. The old self with its sinful lusts is dead and the new self lives: “9 You have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col. 3:9-10). The old, sinful self has been done away with, rendered powerless, inoperative: “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Rom. 6:6).
To be crucified with Christ frees me from my past: “For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Rom. 6:7). The death sentence of the law has been paid; it has no further claim against me. If a man is put to death for a capital crime, the law has no more claim over him. So it is with the believer who is crucified with Christ. Now we are no longer under the law but under grace and, consequently, the power of sin is broken: “For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). The law no longer holds me in its grip – I am no longer in bondage to it. God has “forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14). Thus, the requirements of the law that were against us have been wiped out. I am free from the despair and guilt of my past.
“I have been crucified with Christ” is a past event. It took place at the cross through our spiritual union with him there. When Christ died, we died with him because, by faith, we are united with him such that his death becomes our death. And thus, the means of our justification before God was accomplished at the cross.
“I have been crucified with Christ” is also a present experience. The verb here is in the perfect tense, indicating a past event with present, ongoing effects. We are being crucified as a present experience when we identify with his cross, when we unite with him in his death, when we take up his cross daily and follow him (Lk. 9:23). This is what Paul is referring to when he expresses the desire that “I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10). This is our present experience in the life of faith – “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Cor. 4:10).
Notice that the verb here is not only in the perfect tense but also in the passive voice – i.e. the action of the verb has taken place in the subject. What we could not do for ourselves, God has done for us. Notice, it does not say: “I have crucified myself,” but “I have been crucified.” Each day you are to “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). That’s what it means to be crucified with Christ as a present experience.
“I have been crucified with Christ” secures our future glorification. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. 6:5). And again, “if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (Rom. 6:8). Thus, Christ’s death on the cross becomes our death by faith in him, and likewise his resurrection from the dead assures us of our resurrection at our glorification when Christ returns.
2. My new life in Christ is alive: “It is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (2:20b). As a consequence of dying with Christ, the old sinful “I” lives no longer. Instead, now “Christ lives in me.” Christ is the motivating principle in my life. He characterizes my life. I am like Him. I live for Him. I desire Him. As the law had once dominated Paul’s life, so Christ now does. The old rebellious, guilty “I” no longer lives. Rather, the new justified, freed-from-condemnation “I” lives.
Augustine knew what Paul was talking about. According to history, early in his Christian life one of Augustine’s former sinful companions, a prostitute, encountered him on the street one day and, with a smile, said: “Augustine, it is I.” He looked at her and replied, “But it is not I,” and turned away. Augustine acted on the fact that he was dead to his sinful flesh. Consequently, he would not “let sin reign in (his) mortal body,” nor yield his members as “instruments for unrighteousness” (Rom. 6:12-13). We too must practically place our sinful nature in the place of death. As the Scriptures instruct us: “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:14). And again: “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13). Have we given him control of our life – our thoughts, words, deeds? Only when we do, can we gain mastery over sin.
Just as we have been crucified with Christ, so too we are “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” so that “we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). Now I relinquish myself and present myself to God “as those who have been brought from death to life” (Rom. 6:13). This new resurrection life is an entirely different kind of life. Even though we have been crucified with Christ, we are plainly still alive, so we can say that the life we now live is entirely different. The difference is that we abide in Christ and he in us. He lives within us; we are his home, his permanent residence. Christ becomes the indwelling guest in my heart, as Paul reminds us - “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17). He dwells in our hearts by faith and as a result we enjoy rest and hope - “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).
God has condemned, crucified, and buried our sinful flesh so that Christ can be a living reality in us. I still retain my personhood, but now I reflect the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when others see me, they see Christ; when they hear me, they hear him. So now, Paul says, “for me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). This sums up the whole Christian experience – living is Christ, “Christ…is your life” (Col. 3:4). Christ is the sum and substance of our life. The true Christian life is not so much a believer living for Christ as Christ living in and through the believer. It is a life according to the Spirit not the flesh. It is a life for God not for self (Rom. 8:5). It is not life for pleasing the flesh but life for pleasing God: “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10).
The first exchange, then, in the justified life is “The Exchange Of The Old Life For The New,” a life in which the old “I” no longer exists and the new “I” has taken over. The second exchange is…
II. An Exchange Of Life In The Flesh For Life By Faith: Not Physical Life But Spiritual Life
1. We live now by faith: “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” (2:20c). I live in the flesh physically on the outside, but I live by faith spiritually in my inner being. The Christian life is a physical life on the earth (i.e. “in the flesh”), but that life in the flesh is marked, controlled, and directed by “faith in the Son of God.”
Through faith in Christ we have a new standing before God, not based on the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19) but based on “faith in the Son of God.” The life in the flesh is poor, limited, distressed, dreary, but within that life is a life of faith in the Son of God, a life of triumph and hope.
We live by faith in Christ because of who He is. He is “the Son of God.” Who more than he deserves our trust? “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:10).
We live by faith in Christ because of what He has done. He has died for us and risen again. He has given us new life. He indwells us. We have “received him” (Jn. 1:12) and yielded to him. He has control because our wills are submitted to his. To live by faith in the Son of God is to receive him, yield to him, rest in him.
2. Faith is rooted in Christ’s love: “…the Son of God, who loved me” (2:20d). Faith rests upon the love of God that is displayed in Christ. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 Jn. 4:9).
Faith responds to love that is unsolicited. While we were still alienated from God and hostile toward him through our evil deeds (Col. 1:21), God loved us. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19).
It is the unsolicited love of God that has won our hearts and to which we respond. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13), “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
Faith delights in love that is personal. Paul says: “He loved me” – the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). The truth that Christ died for the sins of the whole world is no good unless we appropriate it for ourselves – “he loved me” not merely the mass of humanity but “me.”
3. Christ’s love is demonstrated in His gift: “…the Son of God who… gave himself for me” (2:20e).
His gift was personal – he “gave himself.” Other Scriptures point to his death as the surrender, the giving up of the Father, such as “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all…” (Rom. 8:32). Octavius Winslow summed it up like this: “Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas for money; not Pilate for fear; not the Jews for envy; but the Father for love” (from “No condemnation in Christ Jesus”).
But here it is the Son who “gave himself” up. This is the balancing truth to the Father sending the Son. The Son freely came and bound himself to the cross with cords of love. “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2). His death was a voluntary self-surrender motivated by his love. He “handed himself over” (παραδιδωμι) to be put to death by others. Just as the Father handed over his Son to die, so the Son handed over himself. Isaiah echoes this thought: “He poured out his soul to death” (Isa. 53:12).
His going to the cross has both a human and divine perspective. It is true to say: “I did it – my sins sent him there.” It is also true to say: “He did it – his love took him there. He “gave himself.”
His gift was also individual – “for me.” His death was instead of me, in my place, as my substitute. He “gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4). Our sins took him there. He died as a sacrifice for individual human beings. His death was not for some abstract cause. No, he died for individuals, as the song says: “When he was on the cross, I was on his mind.” By faith I grasp the personal benefits of the death of Christ. The death of Christ is for me, as though I were the only person in the universe.
The cross, then, makes possible an entirely different kind of life, an exchanged life.
Final Remarks
1. The exchanged life is a life of contrasts. Notice these three…
(a) I am crucified…but I live. We live because we die. We die to our sin nature and we live to God.
(b) Not I…but Christ. “I” is no longer the motivating force of my life - Christ is. He is the One whose life shines out of us so that others can see him.
(c) I live in the flesh…but I live by faith. The Christian life moves in two spheres at once. Externally, we live “in the flesh”; spiritually, we live “in faith.” The Christian life does not belong to the material realm, nor is it dependent upon the physical body in which it is housed. The Christian life operates now in the spiritual sphere governed by faith.
2. The exchanged life is a life of union with Christ in his death and resurrection. He died and we have died with him. Regarding death to the old life, Paul says: “I died (Rom. 7:9) … I have been crucified with Christ … It is no longer live I who live” (Gal. 2:20). Christ lives and we live in him. Regarding the resurrection to new life, Paul says: “Christ lives in me…I live by faith in the Son of God” (Gal. 2:20).
3. The exchanged life is a trade of the “old” for the “new”. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Christ died for me and I died with him. That’s the old - it’s gone; the law’s demands have been met and sin’s guilty penalty has been paid. Christ rose again and I live through him. That’s the new - it has come; now I share in his resurrection life and power.
What a glorious truth is contained in this text. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” By God’s grace may we live in the reality of this truth. The Christ who loved me and died for me is the Christ who lives in me. And now I live by faith in him.
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
3. The Cross And Preaching (Gal. 3:1)
Related MediaPaul’s mission was to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (Rom. 15:16), the gospel of the sovereign grace of God, the gospel that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ’s atoning work alone. The Galatian believers along with many others had accepted this gospel but now they were in danger of drifting away from it. They were being duped into believing a false gospel that required keeping the law, which has no power at all to save.
Satan never stops trying to distort God's way of salvation. He does this by substituting a false “salvation” through human works. Often these false gospels have an element of truth in them. That’s what makes them so insidious. Sometimes they look so genuine that its hard to separate them from the real thing. In the case of the Galatian deceivers they didn’t deny that Jesus was the Christ, nor did they deny that faith binds us to Christ. It wasn’t anything that they overtly denied that was the problem. The problem was that they added to the work of Christ. They said that, in order to be saved, you needed to keep the requirements of the law as well as trust Christ.
It is these half-truths that cause so much confusion in Christianity today. That’s why we must know the fundamental doctrines of the Bible to be able to differentiate between truth and error. What current teachings do you think have the same flavor - those who teach that you need to be baptized in order to be saved, or those who teach that only the church can impart saving grace?
It is the emphasis on outward rites that detracts from the simple gospel, so that the sole basis of salvation through grace alone by faith alone is clouded. The centre is shifted from personal union with a personal Saviour by personal faith to participation in external ordinances in order to be saved.
This is the third article in this series, “The Centrality of the Cross in Galatians.” Previously we have studied Galatians 1:3-5, “The Cross and Salvation,” and Galatians 2:20, “The Cross and the Exchanged life.” In this article we are studying Galatians 3:1, “The Cross and Preaching.” The subject of this text is “The public declaration of the one true gospel” and the central theological principle we learn from it is that Christ’s crucifixion is the paramount theme in preaching.
Up to this point in this letter, the apostle Paul has been defending the gospel from the point of view of his own experience and calling. Gradually he has been working the argument around to the topic of the gospel itself. Now he is set for a defense of the gospel as it had been presented to them. He is amazed that the Galatians had so quickly defected from the gospel (1:6-7). They had turned back from grace to law, from faith to works, from Calvary to ceremony, from freedom to bondage. He is dumbfounded that after their conversion experience under his preaching they could be so easily persuaded otherwise. He could hardly believe that they were actually heeding this false doctrine.
All of this causes Paul to cry out: “O foolish Galatians!” (3:1a). They were “foolish,” not stupid, inasmuch as they had the intellectual ability but weren’t using it. They were being irrational. They failed to use their spiritual intelligence when faced with unscriptural teaching. This is the same word Jesus used with the two on the road to Emmaus: “25 O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk. 24:25-26). Those disciples’ problem wasn’t mental but spiritual.
Similarly, the Galatians had a spiritual problem. They were adopting this doctrine of salvation by works (2:16). They were foolishly denying the necessity of grace, bringing into doubt the necessity of the death of Christ, forsaking the truth of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, following impulses rather than truth. Such a doctrine is irrational and foolish, yet that was what the Galatians were leaning towards. They were being intellectually inconsistent and self-contradictory as Paul will point out to them later in this chapter.
There are many false teachers who want to deceive us. They preach a message that appeals to our nature and our emotions, such as being able to please God based on a certain behavior, such as appealing to our ego and self-glorification. But feelings are unpredictable – they don’t form a solid foundation for belief. Faith and obedience are established through the mind, through the pursuit of truth as revealed in God’s Word and our conformity to it, the result of which is joy unspeakable. True happiness is derived from knowing and obeying God’s truth not from performing certain rituals.
How could such a reversal by them to believe such a false doctrine be explained? Paul asks the question: “Who has bewitched you?” (3:1b). This is Paul’s perhaps facetious attempt to explain what was happening to them. This is the best explanation he can come up with – that they must have been “bewitched” by someone. It’s like they had been brought under someone else’s spellbinding, charismatic charm. He is saying, “Who has brought you under their spell? This is so outrageous it smacks of utter Satanic deception. Who tickled your fancy through a false doctrine that has beguiled you into believing that you can gain merit with God through your own works?” After hearing and responding positively to his clear, accurate, and convicting presentation of the gospel, someone must have now pulled the wool over their eyes, causing them to turn away from the one true gospel that they had previously embraced - salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.
Such charmers can only hurt us if we take our focus off Christ and the truth of his word. That’s what these deceivers try to do – turn away our gaze from Christ; distract us from the only One who is worthy of our undivided attention and affection. And so our best defense is an offense, by keeping our eyes firmly fixed on Him, “looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).
The Galatians were ignoring the clear gospel that had been preached by Paul even though they had been the recipients of that life-transforming gospel of Christ, a gospel that had not been obscured by non-essentials, a gospel that proclaims the person and work of Christ – Christ and him crucified.
Our preaching of the gospel must always be “Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). We must make a conscious decision, as Paul did: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). That’s the essence of the gospel, that Christ died for our sins, rose again for our justification (Rom. 4:25), and is coming again for our glorification. Anything that takes away from the simplicity, reality and efficacy of this message is not the true gospel – its phony and deceitful.
What was happening was some sort of insanity which evoked absolute amazement. It was sin that deserved rebuke. To think that those who had been so carefully and fully taught now were turning away is beyond comprehension, especially since the gospel which had been preached to them was an open, real, and timeless declaration.
I. The Preaching Of The Cross Is An Open Declaration
1. It’s a declaration that is visual: “Before your eyes…” (3:1c). They had seen with their own eyes the visual portrayal of the gospel by and in Paul’s preaching and life. They saw its meaning and by faith had believed and received it. In other words, they hadn’t heard this report from some third party. It had been visibly presented before them in Paul’s ministry.
Paul’s preaching had been so demonstrative that the gospel was as visually clear as though they had actually been present at the crucifixion themselves. They could hear the sounds, see the sights so clearly that they were convinced of the truth of Christ’s atoning death and by grace they believed through faith in Christ’s work alone.
2. It’s a declaration that is public: “Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed” (3:1d). This refers to the ancient practice of announcing news items in a public place on a placard or billboard for all to see. Applying this to his proclamation of the gospel to the Galatians, Paul is saying, “Through my preaching of the gospel, Jesus Christ has been figuratively placarded before you, set forth for all to see, publicly proclaimed, conspicuously displayed.” Paul’s preaching of Christ’s crucifixion was done in such a public way.
It was as public as though it had been placed on a billboard alongside the highway for all to see. It was publicly displayed just like some retail stores promote their products and prices on a placard paraded up and down on the sidewalk to entice passersby to respond. Paul’s preaching and the Galatians’ reception of its truth had all been done publicly. It wasn’t hidden in a corner – this was not some secret message to a privileged few.
Further, it was public in that the believers were witnesses to each other’s salvation. The Christian movement was public and their acceptance of it was public. And yet now, through some inexplicable enchantment, they were turning away their eyes from the One whom they had once seen so clearly, and in so doing they were denying the truth that they had publicly confessed.
Those who have looked upon the cross should be free from adverse influences. It is an anomaly that any who have understood the significance of the event should ever be beguiled. Indeed, it’s the preacher’s task to proclaim the gospel publicly and visibly. The gospel is to be placarded by preachers in language that is simple and plain, but in language that is demonstrative and clear as though the event is happening “before our eyes.” Like a public announcement, it must be authoritative, urgent, and understandable. We must be placard carriers, parading the gospel before those who need it, putting up verbal (and perhaps visual) billboards all over the place for all to see and know.
Not only is the preaching of the cross an open declaration, but also…
II. The Preaching Of The Cross Is A Real Declaration
1. It’s a declaration about a real person, “Jesus Christ” (3:1d). It’s about “Jesus,” the One that they knew in the flesh, same One who had been born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, “a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs” (Acts 2:22).
Not only was he a real person whom they knew or about whom others testified, but He was a man whose life was publicly verified by God himself. This was not a fictitious character that had been written about by ancient philosophers. This was a real man, with a real family and friends. God chose to reveal himself to us in the “biography of a man” (Alexander Maclaren, Galatians, 103). He chose real flesh and blood to manifest himself to us.
It's about “Jesus” the One who is the “Christ.” It’s about the Messiah, the anointed one, the deliverer and redeemer, whom the O.T. believers knew would come but they didn’t know when or how or who. But we know him – the sent one from God.
The preaching of the cross is a declaration about a real person and…
2. It’s a declaration about a real event: “Jesus Christ… crucified” (3:1e). Christ’s death by crucifixion was a real event, which was followed by his resurrection which was also a real event. It isn’t simply that the “placard” depicts a man, but that the placard depicts Jesus Christ, the Son of God, undergoing a real crucifixion.
The picture is of Christ crucified, not of Christ in any other attitude or situation. It isn’t the upper room scene that Paul is portraying here, great as that is. It isn’t the Gethsemane scene, moving as that is. It isn’t the calming of the storm scene, powerful as that is. The picture is that of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified on the cross, bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, paying the price for our sin and depravity, satisfying the claims of a holy God on account of our sins.
And this event we know is real…
(1) Because it was witnessed by the apostles – “1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you” (1 John 1:1-2).
(2) Because it has been recorded in history and never been disproved. Even His enemies could not prove that it didn’t happen.
(3) Because it was witnessed by many people over many days, including individuals, groups, and crowds. Paul affirms this: “5 He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” (1 Cor. 15:5-8).
The reality of the crucifixion is the heartbeat of the gospel message. It is the vital point from which the Christian faith derives its power and truth.
First, then, the preaching of the cross is an open declaration that is visual and public. Second, the preaching of the cross is a real declaration about a real person and a real event. Third…
III. The Preaching Of The Cross Is A Timeless Declaration
1. It’s a declaration about a present reality: “Jesus Christ…crucified” (3:1e). This is a perfect passive participle (“having been crucified”), indicating an historical event with continuing results into the present - a past event with lasting, contemporary consequences. What the cross accomplished it continues to accomplish. It never leaves off. It is the continuing and eternal payment for all sin. And every sinner who trusts Christ’s atoning work is forever and continually being forgiven.
If the work of the cross were not a present reality we would be lost. For we cannot stay saved by anything else. Works will not keep us saved anymore than they could save us in the first place.
The preaching of the cross is a declaration of a present reality, also…
2. It’s a declaration about a permanent reality: “Jesus Christ…having been crucified” (3:1e). Again, this perfect passive participle indicates not just an historical event but an event of permanent significance. What the cross accomplished and continues to accomplish, it will forever do. It’s significance and efficacy are permanent. “The cross keeps on moving powerfully and relentlessly through history and it will stand forever as living proof that men cannot redeem themselves” (John MacArthur).
Final Remarks
In this study of Galatians 3:1, “The cross and preaching,” we have discovered that the subject of the text is “The public declaration of the one true gospel” and that the central theological principle is that Christ’s crucifixion is the paramount theme in preaching.
Here then, in summary, is the structure and thrust of Galatians 3:1, concerning the centrality of the cross in preaching:
I. The preaching of the cross is an open declaration that is visual and public.
II. The preaching of the cross is a real declaration about a real person and a real event.
III. The preaching of the cross is a timeless declaration about a present and a permanent reality.
The gospel is still openly declared through preaching and the cross is still its central theme. We thank God for the enduring truth of the cross of Christ and the freedom we have to publicize it. Many antichristian authorities in other parts of the world are restricting Christians today from the open, public preaching of the cross. But that is the very means which God has ordained for the gospel to be declared, explained, and applied. What a privilege we have, here in the west, to preach the gospel freely and openly. And every time we hear it preached with clarity, accuracy, and conviction, the cross of Christ is once more being visibly portrayed before our eyes.
You might claim that you don’t have the gift of preaching and so you are unable to participate in this great declaration. But remember, that proclamation of the gospel takes place in many different ways. Yes, the public preaching of the gospel is the primary means that God has ordained for its proclamation, but there are ways in which every Christian can participate in this great privilege. You can explain the gospel and its central theme of Christ and him crucified in your personal conversations with others who are not Christians. You can distribute it in written form. You can invite non-believers to come to your church and hear the truth.
Furthermore, the centrality of the cross is publicly proclaimed every time we gather as Christians to remember the Lord in his death, “for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). This is why the remembrance of the Lord, as he established it, is so important. The Lord’s supper, as we call it, is a public, visual, and audible proclamation of the gospel. It’s public in that anyone present can witness what Christ has done on the cross. It’s visual in that the symbols of bread and cup represent Christ’s atoning work, the bread representing the body of the Lord Jesus given in death for us and the cup representing the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for us. Through these symbols, the remembrance of the Lord is a real declaration of the gospel, picturing a real person who died and a real event that happened. The remembrance of the Lord is also an audible declaration of the gospel in that relevant Scriptures are read and usually commented on.
So, let as many of us as are truly born again Christians and have clear consciences before God (i.e. no known, unjudged sin in our lives) take every opportunity to gather around the table of the Lord to respond to his request, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), and in so doing, to proclaim the Lord’s death “until he comes.” Let us keep this timeless testimony alive through this symbolic service. Let us openly declare before the eyes of all observers that the work of Christ is still effective today in the lives of all believers and that the cross is our central theme for time and for eternity: “5 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5-6).
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
4. The Cross And Christ’s Substitution (Gal. 3:10-14)
Related MediaThe cross of Christ is central to the apostolic message. For them, as for us, the cross of Christ is the bedrock of their faith and his resurrection is the basis of their hope for eternity. The apostle Paul is abundantly clear that the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ together form the foundational pillar on which our faith rests. Without that, our faith is vain, our message is false, and we are of all men the most to be pitied (1 Cor. 15:12-19). But the fact is that Christ was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead and on this indisputable fact we rest our faith and hope for time and eternity.
Indeed, the message of the cross not only lies at the centre of our faith but also at the centre of world history. For the death and resurrection of Christ divides the world chronologically, ethnically, morally, religiously, and culturally. Thus, the centrality of the cross is of vital importance for us – for Christians as to the reality of our faith, hope, and security; and for non-Christians as to the reality of their existence, their morality, and their destiny “for we must all stand before the judgement seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10).
The centrality of the cross for the apostle Paul is vividly displayed in the epistle to the Galatians where it is emphasized in every chapter (1:3-5; 2:20; 3:1; 3:10-14; 4:4-7; 5:11; 5:16-25; 6:12-15). This is the fourth article in our series on “The Centrality of the Cross in Galatians.” Previously, we have studied the following passages in Galatians:
1. The cross and salvation (Gal. 1:3-5).
2. The cross and the exchanged life (Gal. 2:20).
3. The cross and preaching (Gal. 3:1).
Now, in this article, we are studying “The cross and Christ’s substitution” (Gal. 3:10-14). The subject of this text is “The substitutionary atonement of Christ” and the central theological principle we learn from it is that if we approach God on the basis of our own merit, we will die under God’s judgement; but if we approach God on the basis of faith, we will live through Christ.
This is probably one of the clearest expositions of the necessity, meaning, and consequence of the cross. Paul addresses the central and most important issue of life, namely, how to be “justified before God” (3:11), how to truly “live by faith” (3:11, 12). Or to put it another way, he is arguing the case for how a person can be reconciled to God, have a right relationship with God, to be in right standing with God, to find favor with God, to have fellowship with God (see 1 Jn. 1:3, 6-7). To be in a right standing with God and to have fellowship with God are inextricably linked: you cannot have one without the other.
The question is, how can we who are rebels against God, sinners by nature and practice, possibly be reconciled to God and have fellowship with him? On what basis can this take place – by works of the law or by faith? Paul’s clear and forthright answer is that our only means for gaining a right relationship with God and enjoying fellowship with God is on the basis of faith. To have faith, in Paul’s terminology, is to be “justified.” Justification is a term that is often misunderstood. Simply put, justification is an act of God by which he declares a sinner who believes to be righteous.
While it is probably true to say that most serious thinking people want to be accepted by God, not everyone chooses to be justified by God on the basis of faith in Christ’s work on the cross. Some people desperately try to be accepted by God on the basis of their own works. This contrast could not be more strikingly stated than here in our passage where, as Paul lays out his case, he contrasts these two opposing ways in which people attempt to achieve the goal of acceptance by God. Paul’s resounding conclusion is that the only way in which we can be accepted by God is on the basis of faith, without any merit of our own, trusting the work of Christ by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, on the basis of God’s word alone, all to the glory of God alone.
Our passage falls into two distinct sections as follows…
I. Those Who Rely On Their Own Works Are Condemned (3:10-12)
In this section, Paul gives two reasons why those who rely on their own works are condemned…
1. Because they can’t keep the law perfectly in its entirety (3:10). “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (3:10a). To “rely on the works of the law” means (1) to depend on the law for acceptance with God; (2) to try to be justified before God by obedience to rituals; (3) to try to do something to placate God and incur his favor. To be “under a curse” means to come under the righteous judgement of God, to be doomed to face eternal punishment at the hand of God.
Thus, those who rely on their own works are under a curse because they can’t keep the law perfectly in its entirety: “For it is written ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them’” (3:10b). This is a quote from Deuteronomy 27:26, where Moses pronounces a curse on “anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them” – i.e. anyone who fails to keep perfectly all the requirements of the law.
Why are those who rely on the works of the law cursed? Because, if they want to try to please God on the basis of the law (by works), then they must “abide by all things that are written in the Book of the Law and do them.” They must perfectly keep, practice, and live by all the precepts of the law. Therein lies the rub because no one can perfectly keep the law in its entirety. This failure incurs God’s wrath and this is the “curse.”
Why is this judgement so harsh, you might ask? Because the law is God’s written code that expresses his will for obedient human behavior based on his perfect and holy nature. Thus, anything less than perfection is unacceptable to God. Indeed, to accept anything less would be a denial of God’s nature and character. Thus, the person who perfectly obeys the law of God is obeying God’s will and, consequently, is blessed by God. On the other hand, the person who fails to obey the law of God is disobeying God’s will and is, consequently, cursed by God. To be cursed by God is to be condemned by him, cast out of his presence, eternally separated from God.
This destiny does not just apply to one of group of people, one section of society, one ethnic background, but to “all who rely on the works of the law” - Jews and Gentiles alike. The Scripture is clear: “22 For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23). Sin is lawlessness as the apostle John points out: “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Thus, since we are all sinners by nature and by practice, we are all lawbreakers – disobedient to the law of God, rejecters of the law of God. Therefore, we are all under the curse of God because of our failure to live by the law’s requirements.
It’s not enough to keep part of the law, you must keep it all. The law is a unit and must be kept in its entirety, as James says: “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for it all” (James 2:10; see also Gal. 5:3). Unless you keep the law perfectly in its entirety, you are “under a curse.” This is what the law does – it condemns; it does not justify. Try all you like, you will never keep the law perfectly in its entirety and to fail in one point is to fail in all. Who can measure up to that standard? Who hasn’t failed in one point of the law? Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever perfectly kept the whole law. But none of the rest of us has perfectly kept the whole law. Therefore, it’s humanly impossible to be justified by the works of the law.
Indeed, as Paul explains, the law wasn’t given to justify anyone. “19 We know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19-20). The law wasn’t given to justify us, it was given to expose our corrupt moral condition with a view to making us conscious of our guilt and acknowledging that guilt before God. Consequently, we have no defense before God and, outside of the redeeming work of Christ, we stand condemned.
So, those who rely on their own works are cursed, first, because they can’t keep the law perfectly in its entirety and…
2. Because righteousness is only by faith (3:11-12). Between 3:10 (that condemns all of us on the basis of the law) and 3:13-14 (that provide the only way of escape from such condemnation) Paul inserts two pieces of supporting evidence for what he has just stated in 3:10 as to why the works of the law are incapable of justifying us before God.
First: “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘the righteous shall live by faith’” (3:11). If acceptance by God is not on the basis of works, then what is the basis of our acceptance before God? How can anybody be accepted before God? What does the Scripture say? “The righteous shall live by faith.”
There has been much debate over the years by scholars as to the correct translation of this quote from Habakkuk 2:4 (see also Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38). Is it, “The righteous shall live by faith” (the traditional rendering per KJV, ESV, NASB, NIV), or “He who through faith is righteous shall live” (the revised rendering per RSV)? In other words, does “by faith” modify “live” (i.e. “live by faith”) or does it modify “righteous” (i.e. “righteous by faith”). Both translations are grammatically possible but the former, traditional rendering (“live by faith”) seems to be contextually the most probable in that one’s life reflects one’s standing before God. You are righteous (justified) on the basis of your faith in Christ (i.e. you have eternal life) and as a consequence you show your faith in your practice (i.e. how you live; your walk with God). As Calvin puts it: “The word ‘live’… does not refer to a fixed length of time…It speaks, instead, of a life lived by God’s grace every moment, in which we seek his presence and grace day by day to the end of our earthly lives.”
Second: “But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them (i.e. God’s statutes and rules) shall live by them’” (3:12) – i.e. the one who keeps God’s legal requirements will live according to them. Paul’s proposition, then, is that either (1) you are justified before God on the basis of your faith in Christ, by which faith you live physically and temporally as well as spiritually and eternally; or (2) you are attempting to be justified before God on the basis of your works, by which works you live physically and temporally but without spiritual or eternal life. The contrast between these two diametrically opposite propositions is stark and the conclusion is clear: one cannot be justified on the basis of keeping the law, only on the basis of faith.
Acceptance before God is on the principle of faith alone, not works. God’s promise in Leviticus 18:5 is still valid: “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” To rely on the works of the law means you have to live by them perfectly. To break the law in one place is to break it completely. The person who claims right standing before God on the basis of works must practice them perfectly and, if he or she does so, then they will obtain spiritual life as a result.
The contrast, then, in 3:11 and 3:12 is between two different people following two different means in attempting to achieve the same end. But how can these two totally different means (namely, faith and works) of achieving the same end (namely, eternal life) both be true? Well, I suppose, hypothetically, they could be if it were possible for someone to keep the law perfectly in its entirety. But that’s where things break down because of who we are, sinners who are incapable of keeping the law. Because of that, these two contrasting propositions cannot both be true.
Hence, Paul’s unequivocal conclusion: only by faith can we be justified before God. Living according to faith and living according to law are two different states. They are mutually exclusive principles. Salvation by works and salvation by faith are in opposition to one another. “The law is not of faith” (3:12). The law, as a means of obtaining God’s favor, does not require or rest on faith, it has nothing to do with the idea of receiving right standing before God. A right standing before God is a gift of God (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9), as a result of faith in him. It is not that the person of faith does no works but rather that faith and works are both necessary – first comes faith as the basis of our justification before God and then come works that demonstrate that faith (see James 2:14-26; Romans 3:28-31). The point is that the person who is declared righteous by God, on the basis of faith alone in Christ alone, demonstrates that righteous standing in how they live. Or, to put it another way, spiritual life is imparted on the basis of the faith of a righteous person and it is proven by their works.
Theoretically anyone who perfectly keeps the law can obtain life, but in practice no one ever has nor ever will. Not only can we not be saved by keeping the law, we are actually cursed by it because that is the consequence of breaking the law - the judgement of God rests upon us. Such is the frightening predicament of the lost – those who rely on their own works for salvation are condemned. But what a relief – all is not lost for…
II. Those Who Rely On Christ’s Work Are Blessed (3:13-14)
We are blessed because…
1. The curse of the law is transferred to Christ (3:13). Though we cannot justify ourselves before God by the works of the law, we can be justified by Christ’s work on the cross. What we could not do, he has done for us. Our works condemn us because we fall short of God’s standard, but his work saves us from condemnation. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (3:13a). Christ has ransomed us from the bondage of sin by taking our curse upon himself, by becoming our substitute on the cross.
This is the greatest act of substitution in the world. Christ’s substitutionary atonement is the only means of our justification because by faith in him, his sacrifice pays our penalty. He died the death we deserved, for God said “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:20). The apostle Paul affirms this: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). But Christ died in our place, bearing the wrath of God on account of our sins. The punishment of death was born by him and, therefore, will not be born by us. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (3:13; quoted from Deut. 21:23). Apparently, in ancient times, they hung a dead criminal on a tree, a place of public humiliation, the public sign of one who was cursed. Jesus’ death on the cross was the same as being hanged on a tree (see Acts 5:30; 1 Peter. 2:24), “having died under the divine curse” (Stott, Galatians, 81). Such a message of a crucified Savior is not popular or attractive. No wonder the gospel of “Christ crucified” was a “stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23).
Notice that Christ’s substitutionary death involves a double imputation: our curse was transferred to him and his righteousness was transferred to us. This is one of the plainest statements of the substitutionary work of Christ. The curse of the law, which we had broken, rested upon us, but it was removed from us and laid upon Christ when he died on the cross. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Pet 2:24).
Christ “redeemed us from the curse of the law.” He purchased our freedom, ransomed us as slaves from the bondage of sin. He bought us out from under the burden of the law and its consequences. He took our place by “becoming a curse for us.” We, who failed miserably to keep the law, deserved punishment, but Christ, who kept the law perfectly, took our punishment instead. He became the “curse,” suffering the punishment of God that we deserved, “for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”
A man is not cursed by God just because he is hanged on a tree (i.e. a cross) but death by hanging was the outward sign of being cursed by God. Christ did not become a curse because he was crucified, but he was crucified because he became a curse in taking the full sin of the world upon himself. Death on a cross was a shame to Jew and Gentile alike since it represented the death of a criminal. But for the Christian, it symbolizes the fact that the One who hung there willingly “became a curse” for us. To be made a curse means to be made sin. “For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). God made him both “sin” and a “curse” for us when “in Christ God reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). That was the cost of our reconciliation to God.
As Martin Luther put it: “Our most merciful Father, seeing us to be oppressed and overwhelmed with the curse of the law, and so to be holden under the same that we could never be delivered from it by our own power, sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him all the sins of all men.” This is spectacular news for which we should praise God. The load has been transferred from us to him. We are free from the curse and condemnation of the law. By faith in Christ and his substitutionary death on the cross we have been set free from sin and condemnation. That is what we remember when we take communion together at the Lord’s Supper.
We are blessed because, first, the curse of the law is transferred to Christ, and second because…
2. The promise of faith is imputed to us (3:14). There were two purposes for Christ taking our curse upon himself. First, Christ took our curse upon himself, “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles (3:14a). What was the blessing? “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). Through Abraham’s posterity the Gentiles would be blessed and this promise became reality in Christ. He became the curse so that we could receive the blessing of God. Christ died to redeem us from the curse of the law in order to secure for us the blessing God promised to Abraham, namely, that we might become children of God by faith. In Christ, then, the curse of sin is replaced with the blessing of God - he took our curse and we received his righteousness.
Second, Christ took our curse upon himself, “so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (3:14b). This promise to Abraham is nothing less than the indwelling of the Spirit. Through our trust in Christ, we receive the promised gift of the Spirit. Paul expands on this promise in Ephesians: “13 In him (Christ) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph.1:13-14). The Gentile believers in the church at Ephesus were brought into the church on the same basis as the Jewish believers (who were the first to trust Christ), namely, by hearing “the word of truth,” believing it, and being sealed by the Holy Spirit, who had previously been promised (see also Matt. 3:11; John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13; Acts 1:4-5; 2:4).
Here, then, is the same truth as that of Galatians 3:14. Our salvation is based on faith in Christ’s finished work of atonement and secured by the sealing of the Holy Spirit who indwells us, the one “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” That’s the distinguishing mark of every child of God. All who are in Christ are richly blessed and secured by the indwelling of the Spirit of God on the basis of their faith, not on the basis of the law.
Final Remarks
So which course are you following? That’s the all-important question. What are you relying on for favor with God - your own works or the work of Christ? This passage teaches us that if we approach God on the basis of our own merit, we will die under God’s judgement, but if we approach God on the basis of Christ’s merit, we will live through Him.
Acceptance by God is all a matter of faith. Justifying faith involves self-renunciation, a putting away of all confidence in the flesh, in our own merit and works. We must acknowledge with Paul: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Rom. 7:18), and we must acknowledge with Isaiah: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isa. 64:6). Justifying faith involves total reliance on the work of Christ. We have no other way of escape from sin, no other resources. Our only resource is in Christ. Who or what are you trusting for you justification before God?
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
5. The Cross And Christ’s Incarnation (Gal. 4:4-7)
Related MediaMost of us try to organize our lives around a schedule. You schedule appointments, your school, your work, time to get together with friends etc. Soon you find that your week is filled up. But some people don’t make plans at all, or, if they do, they don’t stick to them. Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler Corporation, once said: “I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who can’t seem to control their own schedules. Over the years, I’ve had many executives come to me and say with pride, ‘Boy, last year I worked so hard that I didn’t take any vacation.’ It’s actually nothing to be proud of. I always feel like responding, ‘You mean to tell me that you can take responsibility for an $80 million project, and you can’t plan two weeks out of the year to go off with your family and have some fun?’”
Sometimes unplanned events occur that you can’t possibly schedule. Cliff Barrows served as Billy Graham’s lifelong associate and crusade song leader. In 1945, before he met Billy Graham, Cliff and his fiancée, Billie, had scraped together enough money for a simple wedding and two train tickets to a resort. On arrival, however, they found the hotel shut down. Stranded in an unfamiliar city with little money, they thumbed a ride. A sympathetic driver took them to a grocery store, owned by a woman he knew, where the newlyweds spent their first night in a room above the store.
The next day, when the lady overheard Cliff playing Christian songs on his trombone, she arranged for them to spend the rest of their honeymoon at a friend’s house. Several days later the host invited them to attend a youth rally where a young evangelist was speaking. The song leader that night was sick, and Cliff was asked to take charge of the music for the service. The young evangelist, of course, was Billy Graham and the two became lifelong partners. You can’t schedule such unplanned events.
When an unscheduled event occurs, you usually scramble to figure out how you can reorganize your life quickly. Perhaps it’s a health issue, or a death in the family, or a paper at school you forgot was due this week. Or, perhaps it’s the birth of a baby - sometimes babies do what they’re supposed to do and come into the world on time and sometimes they come unexpectedly. Unexpected interruptions come up and, sometimes, the timing of our plans has to change.
Herod hadn’t planned on or expected the birth of the Messiah. That was certainly an unscheduled event for him and he began to scramble. That’s why he “summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared” (Matt. 2:7). Mary hadn’t planned on Jesus being born that day, but all of a sudden “the time came for her to give birth” (Lk. 2:6).
When things don’t go the way you planned remember that God’s timing is always the best. He may have plans for you that you know nothing about. The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “To everything there is a season and a time to every matter under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1).
We’re going to see in this study that God’s schedule is perfect. All the details are fixed and certain. He made his plan in eternity past and he is carrying it out perfectly. God’s plan is never late, nothing is ever unscheduled, and it won’t change because it’s a perfect plan. It’s God’s perfect plan of redemption. God’s plan was determined before the world was made and spans the entire history of the human race. His plan was so enormous that we can’t fathom its complexity. Yet smoothly and surely his plan continues to unfold. Just as surely as his Word is fully trustworthy, so his plan for the human race is fully trustworthy.
I have titled this message, “The cross and Christ’s incarnation,” the subject of which is “God perfect plan: Why Jesus came.” The overall point of this message is that the purpose for Christ’s coming into the world was to fulfill God’s perfect plan of redemption through the cross.
A perfect plan has three components: (1) The perfect time; (2) The perfect person; (3) The perfect purpose. The first element in any plan is usually the timing, the schedule. Accordingly…
I. God Awaited The Perfect Time: “When The Fullness Of Time Had Come…” (4:4a)
1. The “fullness of time” was planned from eternity past. God has an eternal calendar which includes a schedule for human history. Throughout human history God has been unfolding his plan for the world, but throughout human history people have ignored God’s plan. They turn a blind eye to his plan and turn their backs on him. Adam and Eve disregarded God’s plan for their bliss in Eden. The nation of Israel disregarded God’s plan for their happiness in Canaan. So, God has repeatedly warned, cajoled, and pleaded with people to repent, to be reconciled to Him, to trust him.
The fullness of time was planned in eternity past. And…
2. The “fullness of time” was revealed throughout the O.T. It was revealed in Genesis 3:15 when God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” It was revealed through the patriarchs, judges, kings, and Old Testament prophets (Heb. 1:2-3). And the years passed until the perfect time came, “the fullness of time” when God intervened in human history to execute his plan of redemption.
So, the “fullness of time” was planned from eternity past. It was revealed throughout the Old Testament and…
3. The “fullness of time” came when Christ was born. First, Christ’s birth was the “fullness of time” because it was exactly at the time of our greatest need. Human beings had shown themselves to be utterly unable and unwilling to keep God’s law. Over thousands of years, the human race had proven that we are sinners in need of a Savior. “While we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). Indeed, “At that time you were separated from Christ … having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12).
Second, Christ’s birth was the “fullness of time” because it was exactly the right time according to God’s timetable. That was the time for God to effect his eternal plan of redemption. This was the culminating revelation of God’s plan. This was the apex of his unfolding drama of redemption. This was the zenith of all God’s ways with man. This was the perfect time when God himself was going to intervene in human history by coming to earth. The task was too great for any mere mortal to speak or act on behalf of God – not the patriarchs, judges, kings, and Old Testament prophets. No, this was the time for God’s one and only Son to be born.
Third, Christ’s birth was the “fullness of time” because it was exactly the right time for God’s plan to be put into action. The time had come to which all redemptive history had pointed. The right moment arrived for God to disclose to the world how he would implement his plan of salvation, a plan that he had made known through the prophets but a plan that the human race had ignored. That’s why, when Christ was born, no one seemed to realize what was happening. The people of Jerusalem and Bethlehem didn’t know, even though their own Scriptures had predicted it long before.
When Christ was born approximately 2000 years ago, it was the perfect time for God to put into action his plan of redemption. And the perfect time for God to complete his plan will come again in the future. He acted once at Christ’s first coming and He will act again at Christ’s second coming. At Christ’s first coming, God revealed his grace; at Christ’s second coming, God will reveal his judgment and wrath. There is a limit set for God’s plan of grace. Yes, “God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). God pleads with people today: “Behold, now is the favorable (acceptable) time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). And he warns everyone: “Surely I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:20). There is a limit set for God’s plan of grace. The question is: “Are you ready?”
So, God awaited for the perfect time to effect his plan. And…
II. God Appointed The Perfect Person: “…God Sent Forth His Son…” (4:4b-D)
This reminds us of the man in the parable who “planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country” (Mk. 12:1). First, he sent a servant to receive the fruit if his vineyard, but the servant was beaten by the tenants and sent away empty-handed. Then, he sent another servant who was shamefully treated – stoned, wounded, and sent away. Then, he sent another servant who was killed, and many others – some of whom were beaten and some killed. At last, “He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours’” (Mk. 12:1-6). And so “God sent forth his Son” (4:4b).
1. Jesus, the perfect person, was “born of a woman” (4:4c). In his perfect plan, God sent his beloved Son, who was born of a woman. He did not come the first time in the way he will come the second time. At his second coming he will come in power and great glory. Then, “he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (Rev. 1:7). Then “at the name of Jesus every knee (will) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11).
But at his first coming, Jesus came in weakness and obscurity, “born of a woman.” Because he was born of a woman, Jesus was fully human. But Jesus was no ordinary man for he was both fully human and fully divine, both natures being distinct and yet at the same time united in one person. We call this his hypostatic union, the joining together of both his divine and human natures in the person of Jesus.
Jesus was no ordinary man because his conception was different from any other – the woman to whom he was born was a virgin. He was not conceived through the natural union of a man and a woman. He was conceived through the Holy Spirit: “That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” the angel said to Joseph (Matt. 1:20). His conception guarded his deity and his conception guarded his holiness: he had no sinful nature. He was fully human and yet perfectly sinless as Scripture says: “He (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). He was “holy, innocent, unstained, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). He “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
Thus, Jesus was the God-man. He was fully and truly God and fully and truly man. He was God “manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). This is a foundational, non-negotiable truth of Christianity. Consider the following biblical statements:
1. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).
2. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).
3. “6 Though he was in the form of God, (he) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-7).
When he came into the world at his incarnation, Jesus voluntarily “emptied himself” by the position that he took (“taking the form of a servant”) and by the nature that he took (“being born in the likeness of men”). And he “humbled himself” by voluntarily submitting to death. He gave up life to “becoming obedient” to the humiliation of “death, even death cross.” He gave up divine superiority to take on human inferiority. He gave up his glorious position to become despised. He gave up his infinite riches to become poor. He gave up the independent exercise of his divine rights to become dependent and obedient, the perfect servant. Thus, Jesus voluntarily divested himself of his divine rights and privileges but without in any way ceasing to be fully God.
It was necessary for our salvation that the Savior of men should be a perfect man. As John MacArthur puts it: “He had to be God to have the power of Saviour and He had to be man to have the position of Substitute” (Galatians, 108). The debt of our sins had to be paid and it could only be paid by a sinless, perfect person. This idea is echoed in Cecil Alexander’s old hymn: “There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin; He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.” To satisfy the justice of a holy God, there had to be a perfect sacrifice, and the perfect sacrifice had to be a perfect person. The only perfect person was our Savior, Jesus. Thus, even when Jesus came into the world, he had before him the cross. The cross was central to his mission in the world, “for even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45).
First, then, Jesus, the perfect person, was born of a woman. And …
2. Jesus, the perfect person, was “born under the law” (4:4d). He was born under the same conditions as those who were finding it impossible to be justified by the law. Like any other person, he had the obligation to obey and be judged by the law. But unlike any other person, he perfectly kept and satisfied the law of God because he was perfectly sinless.
So, in putting his plan into action, first, God awaited the perfect time. Second, God appointed the perfect person. And third…
III. God Achieved The Perfect Purpose: “…To Redeem Those Who Were Under The Law” (4:5-7)
Every plan has to have a purpose, a goal…
1. God’s purpose was to change our standing before Him (4:5a). He did this by sending forth his Son “to redeem those who were under the law” (5a). To “redeem” something means to buy it back, just as slaves were sometimes bought back from slavery. Because Christ was born under the law and perfectly kept the law, he is able to redeem all who were born under the law and were held in bondage by it, being unable to keep it themselves. We could not meet the holy demands of God’s law. We stood before God condemned; our mouths were shut. We had no defense before God, no advocate. We were guilty and enslaved with no hope of freedom until “God sent forth his Son” into the world to “redeem those who were under the law.”
That’s what God revealed to Mary: “You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). That’s what God revealed to the shepherds: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:10-11). That’s what God through Paul revealed to the people in the synagogue: “38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses” (Acts. 13:38-39).
God sent forth his Son with the express purpose of redeeming us from the slavery of our sinful flesh and bondage under the law. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). If we believe in him, the condemnation of sin in the sacrifice of Christ prevents our personal condemnation. It changes our standing before God. That’s why Jesus came into the world, to redeem us from our bondage to sin and, thus, change our standing before God. And he did that at the cross.
By faith in Him and his atoning sacrifice, we are redeemed from the curse of the law, bought back from Satan’s power to the power of God, ransomed from death to life. Our standing before God changed. That was God’s purpose - to change our standing before Him. And in addition…
2. God’s purpose was to change our status before Him (4:5b). God sent forth his Son “so that we might receive adoption as sons (5b). That’s a change of status. Adoption in this context doesn’t mean what it does today in our culture. In the Greco-Roman culture, a certain time was set when the male child in the family was formally and legally “adopted.” The word used here for “adoption” literally means “to place as a son.” So, at this pre-appointed time, the male child was placed in the position of a legal son and given all the privileges of that position. This legal ceremony did not make him a member of the family - he always was a member of the family. Rather, it gave him legal recognition as a son under Roman law.
There are two Greek words that are both rendered simply as “son” in our English translations, but they are in fact different. One word refers to a child by natural birth (teknon) and the other refers to the same child who has now been legally declared a son in the eyes of the law (huios). Here in Galatians 5:5, Paul uses the term “huios” to describe this legal “adoption as sons” with full rights and privileges. Paul’s point here is that, as adopted sons and daughters, we have a new status before God. We who were slaves to the law have been redeemed from its grip and now, as free men and women, we have been adopted into God’s family with all the privileges and responsibilities of sons and daughters.
This new status brings with it a family relationship the like of which we could never have previously had with God. Our status has been changed from slavery under the law to redeemed children adopted into God’s family. Now, because we are God’s children, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (4:6). Notice this beautiful sequence: Not only did God send forth his perfect Son into the world to change our standing before God by redeeming us (marvelous as that is) and to change our status before God by adopting us (marvelous as that is), but also he has sealed that new standing and signified our new status by sending “the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (6a). Thus, we are brought into an entirely new relationship with God, a relationship of intimacy and security that a slave could never have with his master, but which we enjoy with God as his children.
Now we know God in an entirely different way. Now we can call God “Abba! Father!” The question as to what this expression means has been debated over the years. First, it’s important to understand that “Abba” is an Aramaic word which simply means “Father.” Some commentators make a distinction in meaning between the two words by defining “Abba” as a term of intimacy or familiarity (like our English word “daddy”) and “Father” as a more formal form of address. But further research would indicate otherwise. In fact, the N.T. writers who use this combination of words (Mk. 14:35-36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6) are simply giving the Greek translation, “Father” (ὁ πατήρ) of the Aramaic term, “Abba.” While “Abba” does convey a relationship of familiarity and intimacy, it also conveys a relationship of submission and obedience, as does our English word “Father.” We see this in Jesus’ address to his Father: “35 And going a little farther, he (Jesus) fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, ‘Abba, Father (ὁ πατήρ), all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (Mk. 14:35-36). In this context, “Abba, Father” clearly reflects Jesus’ relationship with his Father in terms of both intimacy and submission. Similarly, in our passage in Galatians 4:6, the idea is that of submission (as in redeemed slaves) and intimacy (as in adopted sons). Now we are “no longer slaves but sons” (7a). Now, we enjoy a paternal relationship with God of security, submission, intimacy, warmth, comfort, confidence, affection, joy, peace. Now we have a brand new relationship with God through Christ. That’s why he came into the world. (Help for this research derived from (1) Karen Engle, Faithlife, www.logos.com/grow/what-does-abba-really-mean; (2) The NET Bible, translation footnote, Gal. 4:6).
This new status not only brings with it a family relationship, but also…
The new status brings with it a family inheritance. Because of Christ’s redemption and our adoption into God’s family, we have become heirs of all that his children are entitled to inherit. If we are sons and daughters of God, “then (we are) an heir through God” (7b). We are brought into the family inheritance. Near where we live there is a Toyota car dealer whose slogan is that when you buy a car from them, “Your part of the family.” I’ve often thought that if that’s the case, then let me see the will; what’s the inheritance? Well, that’s not what they mean, obviously. What they want to convey is that, when you buy a car from them, you enter a new and personal relationship with them. As it says in Rom. 8:16-17, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”
When we become part of God’s family through “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24) we receive the family inheritance. God has appointed his Son the heir of all things according to Hebrews 1:2, and now through faith in Him, all that is Christ’s by right is ours by inheritance because we are God’s adopted children. As Colossian 1:16 says: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” And we come into the benefit of that through faith in him.
What, then, is the nature of our inheritance? Our inheritance is that we have been “3 born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5). Or, as Ephesians 1:11-14 puts it, “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Final Remarks
What we see in this passage is that the cross is central to God’s plan in sending his beloved Son into the world to accomplish our redemption. If you trust him, you can be part of his redeemed family. This is why Jesus came into the world – to be our Saviour and to bring us into this new relationship with God, our Father.
To implement his perfect plan of redemption…
1. God awaited the perfect time.
2. God appointed the perfect person.
3. God achieved the perfect purpose.
I can’t think of any better plan than that. The timing was perfect, the person was perfect, and the purpose was perfect. As a result the unsolved riddle of the previous centuries before Christ is solved. The unsolved riddle was: “How can a man be in the right (just) with God?” (Job 9:2). Now the solution is clear: “God sent forth his Son... to redeem those who were under the law.”
Remember our theme statement: The purpose for Christ’s coming into the world was to fulfill God’s perfect plan of redemption through the cross. The question today is: Have you received the redemption that has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you ready to meet Him? Don’t let other plans hold you back so that you miss him when he comes again. Many things in our lives can distract us from what’s important.
Don’t wait until some other time to make your own plan to meet God. What’s important is to follow God’s plan by receiving Christ as your Savior and committing your life to following, loving, and serving him. What’s important is being ready now. If Jesus were to return today, would you be ready to meet him? Don’t think that you have to stop doing this or start doing that first. Don’t say you plan to attend to it when you’re older. Don’t say you’ll think about it after you’ve sown your wild oats, or after you get married, or when your kids are grown up.
Are you ready for the return of Christ in accordance with God’s perfect plan of redemption? Have you made peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and his substitutionary, atoning death on the cross? The One for whom there was no room in the inn will one day declare: “Come, for everything is now ready” (Lk. 14:17). Those “rooms” (Jn. 14:2) which he has gone to prepare for those who love him will then be complete. Are you ready? There is still room in God’s house, but it is filling fast. Soon the last soul will be saved and the entry door will be shut (Lk. 13:25).
For those of us who have made peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, this reminder of why Jesus came - God’s perfect plan: “The Cross and Christ’s Incarnation” - should warm our hearts, fill us with hope, renew our commitment, cause us to watch and be ready, for the coming of the Lord draws near.
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
6. The Cross And The Flesh (Gal. 5:19-25)
Related MediaOn September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that on January 1, 1863, all slaves would be “forever free.” Yet 100 years later many African Americans were still not free. This precipitated that great demonstration for freedom at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in August 1963 at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his now famous speech, affirming his belief that freedom would one day still be achieved. In part he said: “I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream…I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood…I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together…And so let freedom ring…when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
I think those words echo the sentiments of our hearts. It’s our dream to be free from so many restraints. Some of us want to be free from the penalty and power of sin – from addictions, immorality, bad attitudes, broken relationships, memories that haunt you, behaviour that enslaves you, and a conscience that torments you. Others of us want to be free from the enticements of Satan, free from our sinful self and free to please God. The good news is that, if you’re a Christian, you have been redeemed and set free, free from slavery to sin, the flesh, the world and the devil - freed to a life of liberty in Christ. But if we have been set free, why do we still struggle with sin?
This message is the sixth in my series, “The Centrality of the Cross in Galatians.” The title of this message is “The Cross and the Flesh” and the subject is, living the Christian life in freedom through the crucifixion of the flesh. The overall truth in this passage is that the Christian life is a struggle from which we are freed only by crucifying the flesh and living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, you’ll notice in our passage, firstly, that…
I. Living By The Spirit Is A Life Of Conflict (5:16-18)
It’s a life of conflict because we have within us two opposing factions - the “flesh” and the “Spirit.” The flesh and the Spirit are in irreconcilable conflict. We have a civil war going on within us, “for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (5:17). On the one hand, our unredeemed humanity (our sinful nature, what we are in Adam by natural birth) wants us to gratify our sinful desires, to please self. And yet on the other hand, the Spirit of God, who gives us new life in Christ and who indwells us, wants us to fulfill his holy desires - to please God, to be like Christ. These desires are mutually exclusive. They cannot co-exist because they are diametrically opposed to one another. The one generates selfishness, disobedience, immorality etc. The other generates godliness, holiness, righteousness.
Because of this conflict we don’t always act as we should. Sometimes we allow our sinful desires to influence us rather than our spiritual desires (cf. Rom. 7). When that happens, our old, fallen, sinful self says: “Go ahead! Gratify your fleshly desires. Do what makes you feel good. Indulge in selfish pleasures,” while the Spirit of God says: “Be holy for God is holy. Live for the glory of God who has redeemed you and set you free from sin.”
There’s a conflict going on inside us. It’s like the man who prayed: “So far today, Lord, I’ve done alright. I haven’t gossiped. I haven’t lost my temper. I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few moments, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on I’m going to need a lot of help.”
There’s an irreconcilable conflict going on inside us between the flesh and the Spirit. How, then, can we overcome this conflict?
1. You can overcome this conflict by walking by the Spirit. “Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (5:16).
To “walk by the Spirit” means to appropriate the Spirit’s power, to live in the newness of life that the Spirit gives us (Rom. 6:4), to be filled with the Spirit – to be controlled by him, to reflect his nature and character, to be governed by the Spirit in our conduct.
To “walk by the Spirit” means you will not be dominated by your fleshly desires because the Holy Spirit provides the power for holy living, and because by the Spirit you “put to death the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13).
So, you can overcome this conflict by walking by the Spirit. And...
2. You can overcome this conflict by being led by the Spirit. “…if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (5:18). Spiritual victory over this conflict is found not in trying to obey a set of rules but in following the Holy Spirit as he leads you in victory over sin, the flesh, and the devil.
To “be led by the Spirit” means that you allow the Spirit to take the initiative. He leads the way and you follow. He marks out your life and you submit. You go where He wants you to go and do what He wants you to do. You overcome the flesh by submitting to the Spirit.
That’s how we overcome this conflict, (1) by walking in the Spirit, and (2) by being led by the Spirit. It’s all a function of who controls us - the Spirit or the flesh, the truth of God or the lies of the devil, our spiritual desires or our fleshly desires.
If you’re discouraged with the conflict, don’t despair. We can have victory as we submit to the Holy Spirit, as we appropriate his power, as we turn away from our own desires and let the Holy Spirit reign in our lives.
First, then, living by the Spirit is a life of conflict. And second…
II. Living By The Spirit Is A Life Of Contrast (5:19-23)
Living by the Spirit is in total contrast to living according to the flesh. What’s the contrast? What’s the difference?
1. If you live according to the flesh, you produce the “works of the flesh” (5:19-21). The works of the flesh are our sinful desires. They are the product of the behaviour, the attitudes, and the thoughts of our unregenerate nature - those desires that please self. The works of the flesh fall into three categories …
a) Sexual works of the flesh (5:19) – offences against our bodies, such as “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality.” In fact, this category includes any uncleanness, lewdness, any illicit sexual activity, sensuality, uninhibited sexual indulgence and appetite, such as we see all around us in our society.
Sex is a gift from God, exclusively for a man and a woman who are married to each other. If you engage in sex in any other relationship, it turns what God meant for blessing into a curse. Don’t let the world’s sexual standards influence you. TV beams sexual immorality into homes at prime time. Homosexuality is portrayed as normal and even desirable. Premarital and extramarital sex are promoted and trivialized. All kinds of aberrant sexual behaviour is displayed and condoned. The sexual deeds of the flesh are everywhere in our society. They’re public, condoned, promoted, displayed, and admired.
Remember, if you live according to the flesh you produce the works of the flesh. The first category of works of the flesh is sexual. These are offences against our bodies. The second category of the works of the flesh are religious…
b) Religious works of the flesh (5:20) - offences against God, such as “idolatry, sorcery.” “Idolatry” is the worship of anything other than God. It could be your work, your possessions, your hobbies, sports etc. “Sorcery” includes occult practices (mediums, palm reading, tarot cards fortune-telling, witchcraft), and the use and influence of mind-altering drugs.
The third category of the works of the flesh are social…
c) Social works of the flesh (5:20-21) - offences against others, such as “20 enmity (hatred), strife (quarreling), jealousy, fits of anger (like road rage and unprovoked attacks), rivalries (selfish ambitions), dissensions, divisions (factions), 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these (i.e. anything else that fits into this type of behavior). We see a lot of this today, don’t we?
As Paul had previously warned, so he warns again, that those who habitually engage in this kind of behaviour “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (5:21b), because their behaviour indicates that they are not Christians - they are practicing the works of the flesh, they are not believers.
Perhaps this describes you? If so, you’re lost. You’re living life in the lust of the flesh. You’re not living by the Spirit. How do I know that? Because you’re producing the “works of the flesh.” And the only way to be freed from that lifestyle is to repent and turn to Christ in saving faith, to cry to God for forgiveness. And if you do, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).
If you live according to the flesh you produce the works of the flesh. But in contrast to this…
2. If you live according to the Spirit, you produce the “fruit of the Spirit” (5:22-23). Fruit is not something that you work for; you produce it. You can tell a fruit tree by the kind of fruit it produces - an apple tree produces apples simply because it is an apple tree. Similarly, if you’re a Christian, the fruit of the Spirit in your life is the evidence of who you are, that the Holy Spirit indwells you.
The “fruit of the Spirit” also falls into three categories…
a) The dominant Christian virtues that are found in God (5:22a). “Love” is the love that God demonstrated to us, that sacrificial love that God has poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 15:3; Rom. 5:5, 8).
“Joy” is that which springs from the security of knowing Christ as Saviour (1 Pet. 1:8), the spiritual well-being of abiding in the presence of the Holy Spirit. It’s the joy of the Lord!
“Peace” is that tranquility of mind that stems from knowing the Prince of peace and the God of peace (Phil. 4:9).
b) The outward Christian virtues that we show to others (5:22b). “Patience” is that willingness to bear with others, to accept other people for who they are, to recognize that not everyone sees things the way we do, to appreciate that God has made us all different. That requires patience, longsuffering, forbearance.
“Kindness” is a concern for others, gentleness, mercy, showing the grace of Christ to others.
“Goodness” refers to uprightness of character, generosity.
c) The inward Christian virtues that we live by (5:22c-23). “Faithfulness” is trustworthiness, loyalty.
“Gentleness” can be described as meekness, inward grace, submissiveness to the will of God (Col. 3:12), consideration of others (Eph. 4:2).
“Self-control” is the ability to restrain passions and desires, not giving in to the desires of the flesh but yielding to the control of the Spirit.
Against such things there is no law (5:23b). Against these types of Christian ethics and behaviors there is no law, so go ahead and manifest them in the power of the Spirit. No one is going to speak against them for even unbelievers recognize their value.
Is this fruit of the Spirit evident in your life? When others look at you, do they see a lifestyle that can only come from submission to the Holy Spirit? Do they recognize that your life is under the control of a power greater than yourself? Or do they see that you are under the control of your inner, sinful desires of the flesh? When you examine your own life, what do you see? A constant struggle between the flesh and the Spirit? Or that radical transformation that results from being led by the Spirit?
Clearly the apostle Paul’s exhortation here is that we must yield ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit if we want to live a life of freedom in Christ, a life in step with the Spirit.
Living by the Spirit is a life of conflict. Living by the Spirit is a life of contrast. And…
III. Living By The Spirit Is A Life Of Crucifixion (5:24)
At this point in Paul’s dissertation, you could think, as some do, that he is describing the Christian life as one of a never ending cycle between the flesh pulling us one way and the Spirit pulling us the other. But that’s not what he is saying and he clarifies that here with this short statement of fact: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24).
First, he identifies Christians as “those who belong to Christ.” We have renounced our allegiance to self, sin, and Satan and have proclaimed our allegiance to Christ. We belong to Him. We are his possession, his redeemed people (1 Pet. 2:9-10; Tit. 2:14) who seek to live “to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12).
Second, he describes Christians as those who “have crucified the flesh.” Unlike Galatians 2:20, the crucifixion of the flesh here is not something done to us but by us. While we continue to live in the flesh we do not live according to the flesh (see Rom. 8:5-11; 2 Cor. 10:2-3). Rather, we deny ourselves (Mk. 8:34) by renouncing self-control over our lives and submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s control. In so doing, we take up the cross, “share (Christ’s) sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10). In other words, we participate actively in putting to death our old self, the flesh “with its passions and desires / longings.” The implication clearly is that such desires are sinful in nature (see Rom. 7:5), desires that spring from our sinful nature and that are driven by sinful passions.
What this means is that at our conversion to Christ we were united with him in his death and the power of the flesh was broken. Indeed the flesh is “crucified” and dying, sin’s passions and desires no longer reign over us. But this does not imply that all influences of the flesh cease at our conversion, or else Paul would be contradicting his point that spiritual conflict with the flesh is a reality. The flesh is a defeated foe, but the crucifixion of the flesh will only be fully celebrated and known at our glorification. “Like a chicken with its head cut off, the flesh has been dealt a death blow, although it continues to flop around the barnyard of earth until the last nerve is stilled” (MacArthur, Galatians, 171). In the meantime, we can live in freedom from sin’s tyranny through the power of the Holy Spirit, by turning our backs on the old life and living in the newness of life in Christ.
Paul’s answer, then, to the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit in the Christian life is that, first, at conversion a true Christian crucifies the flesh such that it no longer has dominion over us (Rom. 6:12-14). Second, not only do we crucify the flesh, consigning it to a place of death, but also the Spirit dwells within us, enabling us (1) to control any desires that may respond to the temptations of the flesh, and (2) to live in the power of the Spirit, growing more and more in Christlikeness (Rom. 8:29). This is the process of sanctification by which we continuously keep the flesh in the place of death and continuously submit to the control of the Holy Spirit through (1) the daily reading of God’s word and prayer, and (2) through walking in the power of the indwelling Spirit, who enables us to overcome the influence of the flesh and, thus, live as those who have been crucified with him. Living by the Spirit is a life of crucifixion. This is the mark of a true Christian, the crucified life that gives us true freedom (Gal. 5:1).
Are you living in this freedom? If you’re living in the truth that your flesh is crucified, you won’t make excuses for it. You won’t say “Well, my tongue plays me up once in awhile; but others do the same.” Or, “That’s how I was brought up – I can’t help it.” No, you won’t tolerate it. You won’t be like the department of highways which, instead of fixing the road, puts up a sign: “Bump.” That’s how some Christians treat their flesh. They tolerate it by putting up a sign but do nothing about it. If you’re living in the truth that your flesh is crucified, you won’t try to cover it up. You won’t paint over the surface to make you look good, knowing full well that underneath there is rottenness. You won’t concede to it, won’t give in to it. You won’t say: “I can’t help it - that’s just the way I am. It’s in my DNA. My mother or father was just like it. I come by it honestly.” No, you won’t pamper it, spoil it, encourage it, or make a joke of it. But rather, you’ll fiercely reject it and live as those whose flesh is “crucified” with Christ. Martin Luther once said that Christ’s people nail their flesh to the cross “so that although the flesh be yet alive, yet it cannot perform that which it would do, forasmuch as it is bound both hand and foot, fast nailed to the cross” (A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians).
So, the question is: How do you live as one whose flesh is crucified? The answer is: By putting into practice what is true of you in fact. Stated negatively you do this, (1) by “not (letting) sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (Rom. 6:12), and (2) by “not (presenting) your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness” (Rom. 6:13). Stated positively, you do this (1) by “(considering) yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11), (2) by being obedient to the Scriptures, (3) by living as the aroma of Christ on earth (2 Cor. 2:15-16), (4) by yielding to and relying on the Holy Spirit, (5) by allegiance to the Saviour in his suffering and death.
That’s the crucified life! That’s the life to which we are called! That’s the life that signifies that you are a Christian - a life that conforms to the sufferings and death of Christ and a life that is reflective of the life of Christ.
The negative side of living by the Spirit, then, is that living by the Spirit is “a life of crucifixion”. The positive side is that …
IV. Living By The Spirit Is A Life Of Conformity (5:25)
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” The grammatical structure of this verse indicates that it is a conditional statement in which the truth of the first part of the statement supports the exhortation in the second part of the statement. Thus, the first word is probably better translated “since” than “if.” Or, to put it another way, this is an “if” of reason, not doubt.
Here is Paul’s conclusion and summary of this passage. After having discussed at length the various aspects of living by the Spirit - namely, (1) living by the Spirit is a life of conflict, (2) living by the Spirit is a life of contrast, (3) living by the Spirit is a life of crucifixion – he now concludes this section with this statement that (4) living by the Spirit is a life of conformity – i.e. conformity to the Spirit. This is Paul’s response to and conclusion concerning the potential question that we raised earlier (see comments on 5:24) about the nature of the Christian life as to whether it is a life of constantly being pulled in two different directions. No, he says, just as we have “crucified the flesh” (5:24), so also we “walk by” (5:16), are “led by” (5:18), and “live by” (5:25) the Spirit.
“Since we live by the Spirit…” reminds us that our spiritual life is derived from, granted to us, and directed by the Holy Spirit. To “live by the Spirit” is a life of conformity to the Spirit. The Spirit is the source of our divine life and the sustenance of it. As Jesus taught (1) his disciples, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63) and (2) Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5).
On this basis, Paul instructs us, “… let us also keep in step with (walk by) the Spirit.” Our life is granted to us by the Spirit and thus our walk (conduct) must be “in step (in line) with the Spirit.” To “keep in step with / live in accordance with / walk by the Spirit” is to yield the control of our wills to the Holy Spirit, who fills us with holy and godly and Christlike desires, such that our desires are his desires. This is how we overcome “the flesh with its passions and desires” – not in our own strength but in the Holy Spirit’s power. To “keep in step with the Spirit” means to reflect our submission to the Spirit’s control and leading in the way we conduct our lives. Indeed, the leading of the Spirit must be so powerful in us that our manner of life (our “walk”) reflects that reality in our thoughts, words, desires, actions, relationships etc. The Spirit leads us and we, accordingly, are exhorted to “keep in step with the Spirit.” Precisely because He leads us, we must “keep in step / in line” with his leadership, walking in the way that he marks out for us, following in his footsteps, marching in lockstep with him. We must live as those whose lives are rooted in, directed by, and conformed to the Spirit, by following his leading, by submitting to his reign over us, by showing in our actions and attitudes that he controls our lives.
The story is told about “The Sign of a Christian.” As a result of poor planning, Dennis (from Katy, Texas) needed some same-day dry cleaning before he left on a trip. He remembered a store on the other side of town with a huge sign, “One-Hour Dry Cleaners,” so he drove out of his way to drop off a suit. After filling out the tag, he said, “I need this in an hour.” The clerk replied, “I can't get this back to you until Thursday.” “I thought you did dry cleaning in an hour?” “No,” she replied, “That's just the name of the store.” Sometimes Christians are like that. The way they live doesn’t conform to the name they bear. Their lives don’t conform to the Spirit who indwells them. If you’re a Christian, then live like one by living in conformity to the Spirit who gave you new life in Christ and who empowers you to live for Christ.
Final Remarks
The reality is that, for the Christian, the Spirit, not the flesh, is the one who leads us and to whom we must cede control. And when we yield control of our lives to the Spirit, we are free from the tyranny of the flesh with its sinful desires (5:17-21). As our thesis states, the Christian life is a struggle from which we are freed only by crucifying the flesh and living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Once again in the epistle to the Galatians we see the centrality of the cross as the defining marker of our lives by which (1) we can overcome the internal “conflict” with sin; (2) we can live a life of “contrast” to what we once were; (3) we can live a “crucified” life with the flesh nailed to the cross; (4) we can live in “conformity” to the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit 5:22-23), following his leading and example.
Living by the Spirit is a life of freedom not fighting, a life of restraint not rules, a life of liberty not licence. Living in freedom is something we all crave - freedom from fear (fear of the past and / or of the future), freedom from a bad conscience, freedom from the power, penalty, and pleasure of sin, freedom to live for God.
And you can have that freedom by trusting Christ as Saviour, for Jesus promised: “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life” (Jn. 5:24). That’s freedom!
So, live by the Spirit and let freedom reign. Let it reign in your home and in your church. Let it reign in every heart that has been set free through the cross, for it is the cross of Christ alone that gives us true and lasting freedom. By the grace of God may we all know what it is to be set free - set free from the flesh and its lusts by the saving work of Christ; set free by the Holy Spirit to live a life of freedom in Christ, so that everyone of us can say in truth: “Free at last. Thank God almighty I’m free at last!”
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
7. The Cross And Boasting (Galatians 6:12-15)
Related MediaThe cross has become the universal symbol of Christianity. The most wretched means of death has become the most cherished symbol of life. God transformed the most fearful form of man’s hatred into the most beautiful expression of His love. What was for the Romans an object of shame, disgrace and disgust was for the apostle Paul his pride, his boast, his glory.
When Paul speaks of the cross, he does not mean the physical structure of wood. He means the entire work of Christ in securing our redemption. He means the significance of the whole event – our deliverance from the flesh and the law; all that Christ has done for us in satisfying the judgement of God against our sins.
Because of what the cross stands for, it is a dividing line between all people. On the one side of the dividing line are those who trust their own works for their eternal destiny - for them, the cross is an offense (1 Cor. 1:23). On the other side of the dividing line are those who trust the work of Christ for their eternal destiny - for them, the cross is the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). The subject in this passage is: “The separation of the cross.” The teaching of our passage is that when we boast in the cross, it separates us from the world.
We need to understand that…
I. In Ourselves, We Have No Reason To Boast (Gal. 6:12-13)
Whatever we boast in engrosses our attention, absorbs our time, appeals to our flesh, our pride. It’s our obsession. Some people are obsessed with themselves, their money, fame, power, position, self-image. In his book, “Love Beyond Reason,” John Ortberg tells the story of a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who pulled into a service station to get gas. After going inside to pay, he came back to the car and noticed his wife engaged in a deep discussion with the service station attendant. It turned out that she knew him. In fact back in high school, before she met her eventual husband, she used to date this man. The CEO got in the car and the two drove in silence. Feeling pretty good about himself he said: “I bet I know what you were thinking. I bet you were thinking you're glad you married me, a Fortune 500 CEO, and not him, a service station attendant.” “No,” replied his wife, “I was thinking if I'd married him, he'd be a Fortune 500 CEO and you'd be a service station attendant." (pp. 142-143).
We have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. Such human, fleshly pomp is foreign to the thinking of the apostle Paul and has no place in the Christian life. So notice two arguments why we have no reason to boast in ourselves …
1. We have no reason to boast in our ourselves because we have no “religious” merit before God (6:12). “Those who want to make a good showing in the flesh, who would force you to be circumcised…” (6:12a). This is speaking of people we call “Judaizers.” Judaizers were Jews who were preaching a false gospel, a hybrid of Judaism and Christianity, a gospel of salvation by works. They were trying to convince Gentile Christians that it wasn’t enough to trust Christ alone for salvation, that salvation consists of faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross plus their own self-righteous works, that in addition to trusting the work of Christ on the cross in order to be saved they must also keep the law by being circumcised. This was a religion of the flesh. They didn’t care about the spiritual well-being of their converts. They had no personal relationship with Jesus Christ – no inner, spiritual renewal. Everything about them was superficial religiosity and external rituals but with no spiritual reality. They were spiritual frauds, motivated by deceit.
They were motivated by deceit – the deceit of impressing others with their religious zeal. They wanted to “make a good showing in the flesh” before their Jewish colleagues by forcing Gentile Christians to be circumcised – i.e. by converting, at least partially, Gentile Christians to Judaism. All they wanted to do was impress others with their religious efforts, to be able to boast in their religious fervor. This would make them look good in the Jewish community. They were motivated by religious pride, glorying in their own accomplishments. The more Christians they could convert to this false gospel, the more prestige they would gain among their fellow Jews. This is what they boasted in. This was how they sought to gain religious merit.
But before God we have no religious merit. We cannot earn God’s favor in any way. There is nothing we can do by way of religious activities that in any way deserves the grace of God. We are sinners by nature and by practice with nothing to offer to God that is of eternal or spiritual benefit. Going to church is good, but it has no saving virtue. Singing in the choir is good, giving money to charity is good, but they don’t have any saving value. Before God, we have no religious merit nor can we earn it.
Not only were these Judaizers motivated by deceit, but also…
They were motivated by fear - the fear of persecution for the cross. The purpose behind these Judaizers trying to force the Gentile Christians to be circumcised was not only to be able to boast to their Jewish brethren about their success in proselytizing, but also “…in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ” (6:12b). They wanted the best of both worlds - to come under the umbrella of Christianity but without suffering persecution for the cross of Christ. They weren’t prepared to identify themselves out-and-out with the “cross of Christ” for fear of being persecuted. Why would identification with the cross of Christ incur persecution? Because the cross of Christ is offensive to unbelievers. So they removed the “offense of the cross” (5:11) by mixing it with religious rituals, by making salvation dependent on human effort as well the work of Christ on the cross.
There is no persecution or stigma for advocating human achievement or good works. In fact, most people aspire to some inherent human goodness in themselves, whether displayed in religious, charitable, or social works. Perhaps you are clinging to your own good works for salvation. You are refusing Christ because you fear the stigma attached to being a Christian that might incur rejection, ridicule, or even physical attack. Persecution for faithfulness to the cross of Christ is very real today. Recently, I read a report that, in Nigeria, one Christian is killed every two hours and that since 2009 more than 60,000 Christians have either been murdered or abducted, never to be seen again.
There is no doubt that the cross of Christ may be the cause of offense. The offense to unbelievers is that the only way of salvation is through repentance and confession of faith in the crucified Christ. The offense to unbelievers is that we preach the truth that they cannot earn their salvation by their works, not even works that appear to have some religious basis. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That’s the offense of the cross!
The cross of Christ divides the world. To the Jews it is a stumbling block (lit. “a scandal”); the notion of a crucified Messiah is revolting to them. To the Gentiles it is foolishness; it doesn’t make sense to their intellect (1 Cor. 1:18-25). But, to the Christian, whether Jew or Gentile, it is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). For us, the cross is the glory, joy, source, and object of our boasting.
You cannot place your trust in the cross of Christ and expect to be popular in your school or workplace or neighborhood. Identification with the cross of Christ has always brought suffering. That’s why these Judaizers tried to tone down the cross by adding to it works of self-righteousness in order to make the message more palatable.
Some years ago my wife and I attended the funeral of someone we knew, who belonged to the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s). She had spent so many hours phoning people and knocking on doors that her works earned her the special position of “pioneer” in the JW organization. This is what they boasted about and gloried in. But apart from their own works, it became evident throughout the funeral service that they had no hope.
Firstly, then, Christians have no reason to boast in ourselves because we have no “religious” merit before God. And secondly…
2. We have no reason to boast in ourselves because we have no “personal” merit before God (6:13). “For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.” These Judaizers were nothing but hypocrites! What they were demanding of others they didn’t do themselves. They insisted that others keep the law in order to be saved but they didn’t keep it themselves. These religious hypocrites were interested in only one thing, to “boast in your flesh” – i.e. to boast in their successful circumcision campaign among the Gentile Christians. The more Gentile Christians they could convince to undergo circumcision the more they boasted in the success of their proselytizing.
Theirs was a religion of personal merit. But in ourselves we have no personal merit before God. Neither our religious activities nor our personal accomplishments are meritorious before God. For the cross has made all personal accomplishments of no redemptive value, all requirements of the law unnecessary. There is no personal merit before God, not for trying to keep the law nor for performing good deeds of any nature whatsoever. The only basis for a favorable standing before God is faith alone by grace alone in the cross of Christ alone. It is impossible on any other basis to gain favor with God.
When we come face to face with Jesus Christ and the cross all boasting in ourselves is gone, all reliance on anything but the cross is gone, because the cross shows us clearly what we are - that our justification is based in the work of Christ alone, that neither good works nor trying to keep the law nor any personal merit can justify us before God.
In ourselves, therefore, we have no reason for boasting. We have no religious merit before God – we can’t boast of keeping the law or any other religious standard. And we have no personal merit before God - we can’t boast about anything we have done be it ever so good.
So, in ourselves we have no reason to boast. But…
II. In The Cross, We Have Every Reason To Boast (Gal. 6:14)
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:14a). Paul had many religious and personal accomplishments - more than these Judaizers did - but he realized the worthlessness of those things. That’s why he said in Philippians 3:7-8: “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” After his conversion, his sole occupation was knowing Jesus Christ more personally, following him more devotedly, trusting him more fully, loving him more intimately. That’s why he boasted “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” not in his personal accomplishments (such as his education or social position), nor in his religious rituals (like being circumcised on the 8th day), nor in his religious fanaticism (in persecuting the Christians), nor in his family background (being of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews). Instead, Paul boasted solely in the cross because he knew that his religious zeal and personal accomplishments did not and could not earn favor with God.
He was finished with “making a good showing in the flesh” (6:12). The cross completely broke Paul’s connection with the religious world of external rituals and personal good works. The cross gave him an entirely new perspective: “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Except in the cross” indicates that the cross was central to his thinking, it was the sole object of his boasting. Elsewhere he says, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Notice three reasons that we have to boast in the cross…
1. We boast in the cross because the cross separates us from the world. “…by which (i.e. the cross) the world has been crucified to me” (6:14b). The “world” here refers to humanity in rebellion against God, the corrupt values and evil practices of unbelievers (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
What is being described here is what takes place at our salvation. Our separation from “the world” by the cross is the result and evidence of genuine salvation. If such a separation is not evident, then we have every reason to doubt the genuine salvation of such a person, for salvation means that we have been redeemed from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Salvation means that the cross stands between me and the world as an impregnable barrier. Salvation means that I am dead to the world and the world is dead to me.
The apostle John reminds us that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn. 5:19). Non-Christians live in the world under Satan’s control, a meaningless life, a life without hope, purpose, or meaning. The only thing they have to live for is the present world / age (2 Tim. 4:10; Tit. 2:12). Physical life is all they think and care about – “eat, drink and be merry” is the sum and substance of their lives.
But the cross separates Christians from the world. When we believe in Christ we no longer conform to the world’s values and practices but we are being transformed by the renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:2). We have been freed from the world’s evil and hopelessness, separated by the cross from our old, worldly values and associations. Through the cross we are freed from the tyranny of the world. Jesus Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Gal. 1:4). We are freed from its corruption and judgement. We are released from the penalty of sin through the death of Christ on our behalf at the cross and we live now in the power and control of the Holy Spirit.
The cross separates us from the world. The cross draws a dividing line between us and the world. The cross puts the Christian entirely outside of and apart from the world. There is no common ground between us. It is a mutually exclusive death - the world and the Christian have been crucified to each other. Paul is saying: “The world system is dead to me and I to it.” It doesn’t mean that the world no longer has any influence over us, but its dominion / power has been broken. We are no longer in bondage to it because it has been rendered a fatal blow by the death of Christ.
Once, we were part of the world’s system and values but now we don’t care what the world thinks or says about us. We have been transformed by Christ’s death on the cross. His self-denial for us is the pattern of our self-denial for him. In the world I see all the hatred and enmity that was shown out against Christ. Therefore, I want nothing to do with it.
So let me ask you: Are you living a separated life? Are you living your life for the glory of Christ? Or, are you still dabbling in, and attracted to, the world? To put it in concrete terms, is the language you use honoring to the Lord or do you use curse words and coarse language that the world uses? Are the TV shows and movies you watch wholesome and uplifting or are they characterized by the world’s lust for sexual immorality and violence and foul language? How about your style of dress? What about your habits, where you go, the things you do when no one is looking? What about the music you listen to? If the words were projected up on the screen, would they shock us? Are they pure and holy or dirty and defiling?
Can you say that by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ “the world has been crucified to me”? This is how the Christian views the world. The world and all that it stands for has been put to death, so that it has no power over us. We find it tasteless and meaningless and defiling. It generates no response in us, it has no life for us, it is hollow and opposed to everything we hold dear. When a person receives Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, sin is put to death, the cross becomes our glory and our greatest joy. The cross is what we boast in!
The only escape from the world is through the cross of Christ. Through it we become dead to our old sin nature and its lusts and we become alive to God (Rom. 6:6-7, 11). Now “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
So, on the one hand, “the world has been crucified to me” – that’s how I view the world; on the other hand simultaneously “I (have been crucified) to the world” (6:14c) – that’s how the world views me, the believer. The world wants nothing to do with Christ and the cross. Therefore, it wants nothing to do with me either. As far as the world is concerned I am DOA (dead-on-arrival). I am of no use to it. I am non-responsive. There is nothing in us that is attractive to the world. In fact, the world finds us somewhat repulsive, objectionable, ridiculous, laughable because we are identified with Christ.
We must always keep our crucifixion in focus with Christ’s crucifixion. We died with Christ – when he died, we died. Only when we see our dead position in Christ as far as the things of this world are concerned can we say with Paul that we glory in nothing but the cross. Just as the cross filled Paul’s vision and illumined his life, just as he boasted in the cross, so our world of reference should orbit around the cross.
So, we boast in the cross, first, because the cross separates us from the world and…
2. We boast in the cross because the cross destroys the flesh (6:15a). “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision.” For the Christian neither circumcision nor uncircumcision have any saving merit (cf. also 5:6; 5:15a). They represent religiosity, the flesh, and are of no value for salvation or for a right standing with God. There is no more virtue in being circumcised than of being uncircumcised - both are irrelevant in Christ. In Paul’s words, “our old self was crucified with him (Christ) in order that the body of sin (the flesh) might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Rom. 6:6).
We boast in the cross, first because it separates us from the world; second because it destroys the flesh; and…
3. We boast in the cross because it makes us a new creation in Christ (6:15b). That’s the power of the cross – to make us “a new creation” in Jesus Christ. The old life can’t be remodelled: there is nothing good in it. We need an entirely new life, a new birth, a new creation. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Through the cross, we have been transformed into new creations in Christ and this transformation is reflected in a new way of thinking, a new world view, a new life of holiness, and it will culminate in our resurrection to immortality at the second coming of Christ (Rom. 8:19-23; 1 Cor. 15:51-54).
Final Remarks
We’ve been talking about “The separation of the cross.” The point is that, when we boast in the cross, it separates us from the world, the cross becomes the dividing line between the Christian and the world. So, what we learn from all this is that…
1. We cannot boast in the cross and in ourselves at the same time. Biblical Christianity is a matter of what Christ has done for us, not of what we have done for him. Human activity is impotent in the shadow of the cross. Pride in human achievement has plagued humanity from the very start when Satan appealed to Adam and Eve’s pride. There is nothing in ourselves in which the Christian can boast, but there is everything in the cross in which to boast.
So we learn that we cannot boast in the cross and in ourselves at the same time. And we learn that…
2. To boast in the cross is to declare unquestioning allegiance to the Christ of the cross. Our language must be that of the hymn writer: “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”
The more I am occupied with Christ, the more precious the cross becomes and the more I will boast about it, glory in it. How much do you think about the cross? How much do you boast in the cross? How much do you speak of it to others? That depends on how much of the world you allow in your life. The more you permit of the world, the less you boast about and glory in the cross.
3. Allegiance to the cross means separation from the world. We cannot understand the truth of Galatians 6:14 without separating from the world. “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4). We are “in” the world but not “of” the world (see Jn. 17:11-15), “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 Jn. 2:16-17).
There is nothing in the world that attracts us to it. It all speaks of hatred against Christ and will eventually be burned up. Therefore, allegiance to the cross means separation from the world.
4. What we boast in is the litmus test of who we are. It is the test of our profession of Christianity because the cross is the dividing line between the ages and between all people. Either, the cross is an “offense” (5:11) to you, or the cross is the one thing about which and in which you glory. To worldly, unsaved people, the cross is an offense because their mind can’t understand it and because their proud heart won’t accept it. But to Christians, the cross is our glory and joy, that about which we are pleased to boast because of what we see there and because of what it means to us personally.
5. The glory of the cross is reflected in all who are new creatures in Christ. The cross is central in the lives of those of us who have a new nature with a new way of looking at things and, therefore, a new way of living. That’s the power of the cross! No wonder Paul said, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
6. The glory of the cross is present every time we gather around the Lord’s table. We cannot end this study of the centrality of the cross of Christ in Galatians without these final thoughts on the cross that engage our attention most particularly when we gather around the Lord’s table to remember him. When we do so, let us always remember that at the cross of Christ three crucifixions are taking place…
a) The first crucifixion is that of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It is the physical crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ that pays the penalty for our sins, that satisfies the justice of God (Gal. 3:13; 4:4-5), that makes it possible for us to be redeemed from our sin, that makes us fit for God’s presence. Notice the title that Paul gives it: “The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:14). We will never understand the significance of the cross until we are clear about who died there.
It is the cross of “our Lord” because he is the exalted one, the authoritative one, because he is the supreme one, the one above all others. It is the cross of “Jesus” because he “saves his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21), because he is the Redeemer, the Saviour. It is the cross of “Christ” because he is the Messiah, the Deliverer, the Sent One from God.
So, the first crucifixion is that of our Lord Jesus Christ…
b) The second crucifixion is that of our flesh. As we noticed in our earlier study, “those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24). There is within every believer this lifelong battle going on, the war between the “flesh” and the “Spirit” (5:17). The “flesh” is our sinful nature that we are born with in Adam. The “Spirit” is the Holy Spirit who indwells us when we are born again in Christ. The one wars against the other and vice versa. The desires of the flesh and the Spirit are contrary to each other. The only way to ensure that the desires of the Spirit prevail over the flesh is by crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires, by living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit (5:25).
To crucify the flesh means to assign it to the most brutal form of execution. We are not to pamper it or in any way grant its desires. We must maintain a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to the desires and activities of our flesh. We are to reckon “our old self” to be dead, nailed to the cross. We are to totally reject it.
To crucify the flesh means that we take an active, positive role in putting to death anything and everything in our lives for which Christ died, in banishing any notion of deriving pleasure from sin, because that is what Christ died for. The apostle Paul challenges us: “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:1).
So, the first crucifixion is that of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The second crucifixion is the crucifixion of our flesh so that it is inoperative. And…
c) The third crucifixion is the crucifixion of the world. “The world” (6:14) refers to the order of the evil world system ruled by Satan and his agents, the world’s value system, godless materialism, vanity and hypocrisy, the society that is hostile to Christ and the church, that entire system of things that is opposed to Christ, the community of unredeemed people whose actions are governed by their unredeemed nature (cf. John 12:31; 14:30; 1 Cor. 2:6, 8; Eph. 2:1-2).
The “world” is Satan’s evil system to which humanity is now in bondage because of sin and it includes Satan’s vast system of false religions (cf. 1 Jn. 5:19). If the flesh is the foothold that the devil has inside us, then the world is the means by which he exerts pressure on us from outside us.
Those are the three crucifixions that take place at the cross – the crucifixion of Christ, the crucifixion of our flesh, and the crucifixion of the world. May the cross of Christ always be at the centre of our lives. May the cross always be our joy and rejoicing. May we never lose sight of the cross. May we always glory and boast in the cross. Don’t demean it or diminish it. Don’t be ashamed of it or embarrassed by it. Remember our thesis: When we boast in the cross, it separates us from the world.
Sir John Bowring was a brilliant man who had a special gift for languages. He is reputed to have learned a hundred different languages during his lifetime and translated poetry into English from a number of languages. Because he was brilliant and good with languages, the British government appointed him to a number of jobs that required him to travel throughout Europe as well as to Syria and even Siam (modern Thailand). He learned Chinese and served as the British governor of Hong Kong in the mid-1800s. Tradition says that one time Bowring visited Macao, a Portuguese colony near Hong Kong, and saw a great bronze cross towering over the ruins of a cathedral that had been destroyed by a typhoon. That sight inspired him in 1825 to write the hymn: “In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks of time; all the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime.”
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
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