Galatians 5:11-15 Podcast
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11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (Galatians 5:11-15)
In our text today, the Apostle continues to address the Galatians incorrect view of the law and of justification. As mentioned so many times before, it is through the cross that sins are forgiven (justified) not through our adherence to the law.
Paul declares, if circumcision can obligate God to bless us, then why did Jesus have to hang on the cross. And, if Paul didn't have to preach the cross, he would avoid a lot of persecution. The stumbling block of the cross would be gone, and with it, forgiveness of sins.
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is such a radical indictment of our sinful condition and a complete fulfillment of God's righteousness. Any attempt to save ourselves except through faith in His work on that cross would be a misguided compliment to ourselves and an insult to God. So Paul does not preach circumcision.
And, of those who do preach circumcision, he says in v.12, "I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! " Which means: "In addition to circumcision, I would they would castrate themselves."
The reason we live by faith and not by works is that our good behavior has no power to win blessing from God. When our acceptance before a holy and just God is based, in any way, upon our performance, we inevitably will place self at the center of the action. And, when self is at the center, God is not glorified.
In addition, it is by faith in the God of the Bible that we access real life. We access the very life of God through faith in His existence and involvement in our every day lives. This understanding or faith is the fuel that makes eternal life in the here and now take place.
In Romans 4:4-5, Paul writes, "Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness."
To live by works means to have the mindset of an employee with God as the employer in need of our services. When we do what He needs, then He owes us. That's the essence of legalism: working for God and Him paying us the wages we are due.
According to Romans 4:5, faith means that we stop thinking of ourselves as an employee and God as an employer. "And to one who does not work."
God is not the employer who needs our efforts. We are the needy ones in this relationship, and God is the one who has all the resources to meet all our needs.
So, the mindset of faith is dependency upon God. Faith longs for the miracle of seeing God gaining glory by working in and through our lives.
Faith in God produces love for God. Faith produces this love inevitably because it takes away the barriers to love, namely selfishness. The heart that rests in God's promises will not emphasize self because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
