When a fellow Christian trips up in sin, then a fellow believer who is more mature in the faith (you who are spiritual) should help them back gently (a fruit of the Spirit—meaning someone who is walking in the Spirit). And yet Paul warns that the believer who seeks to help should be careful that he not also fall into sin. Perhaps someone has fallen into the trap of pornography and you want to help them, but you too have had that same problem. While you may be more spiritual, in terms of your walk in the Spirit, it may not be wise for you to help that person because of the temptation for you. In that case, it would be wise to seek the help of another mature believer to help in that situation. We should all look for ways to help each other in our Christian walk and spur each other on to live lives of godliness and in doing so we will fulfil the law of Christ (That you love one another as Christ loved you, sacrificing himself for your sake).

There is also a warning that while helping others we don’t think we are in any way better than others, even if we are “more spiritual”. When Jesus judges us one day for the works we have done in Him, He will not compare us with others. He will evaluate us based on the gifts, talents, and opportunities He gave us and what we did with them. In that sense we need to carry our own load.

When you see a fellow believer fall, what is your reaction? Is it one of concern and love and do you seek to see them restored? Or is it one of superiority and self-righteousness because you didn’t make that same mistake?

The opposite of living by the flesh, is living by the Spirit and that produces fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is:

• love – for one another
• joy – in relationships with one another
• peace – with one another
• patience – with one another
• kindness – towards one another
• goodness – towards one another
• faithfulness – to one another
• gentleness – with one another
• self-control – with each other

In this passage, Paul is not simply speaking about these characteristics in isolation. Paul is highlighting the contrast between legalism and living in the flesh, and living and walking by the Spirit. Legalism, despite its outward conformity to God’s law, results in selfish, comparative living that produces conflict. Living by the Spirit is about living in love for one another. If we belong to Christ, we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. But we can still choose not to walk in step with the Spirit. As believers, we live by the Spirit in position (we are right with God forever) but don’t always walk by the Spirit in experience (we may still break our ongoing relationship with God). The more we walk by the Spirit and the more we fall in love with Christ, the more we will manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

You cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit by trying harder!

We have two choices. We can either live by the Spirit or we can live in our own strength. The two don’t work together. The desires of the flesh are contrary to the desires of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves us towards loving service while the flesh moves us towards selfish living and conflict. In our own strength, we will not naturally move towards loving unity. Those who live for the desires of the flesh end up living a lifestyle characterised by all manner of sins. This list is not exhaustive because Paul ends his list with “and things like these”. Those who live in the flesh like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. This does not mean that people who practice this kind of lifestyle will not be saved. Paul’s letter is to believers, warning them not to live by the flesh and end up like this. Unfortunately, believers can live by the flesh. While those believers will enter the kingdom of God, they will not inherit it—they will not receive a reward for their work.

The Galatians had been running the race of faith well (1 Cor 9:24; Heb 12:1) and now found themselves under the influence of some people who hindered the from obeying the truth. This influence was not fro Christ who called them. Paul reminds them that a little leaven (yeast) fills the entire lump—a small negative influence can have devastating effect in a life or throughout a church (1 Cor 5:6; Mat 16:5-12). But Paul expresses confidence that the Galatian believers will stick with the truth and not fall for the persuasion. Paul reminds them that if he were preaching circumcision (and obedience to the law) then he wouldn’t be persecuted because the offence of the cross just wouldn’t be there. Paul says that he wishes that these trouble causes would not only circumcise themselves, but go further and emasculate themselves. Emasculation results in the inability to have children and Paul probably is expressing extreme desire that they are hindered of reproducing themselves spiritually—He wants this false teaching cut off for good.

With all this talk of circumcision and the law we might read through Galatians thinking it doesn’t really apply to us. But there are many things that can trip us up along the race of faith. There are many things that can hinder us from obeying the truth. What is tripping you up and hindering you from fully obeying the truth of the Gospel, of God’s word? What do you need to do today to make sure you get back on track?

Instead of the law we have been given freedom. But that freedom is not a freedom to sin (Rom 6:1). We must use our freedom to love and serve one another. Legalism results in criticising and condemning, the very opposite of love.

Here, Paul uses circumcision to represent the law. The Judaizers were likely requiring the Galatian men to be circumcised as a commitment to keep the law. If you choose to adopt a life of strict adherence to the law, then what advantage does Christ offer? A life of legalism is the exact opposite of the freedom Christ offers. And you don’t get to pick and choose when it comes to the law. If you choose legalism, then you’re obligated to keep the whole law (Acts 15:10; Jas 2:10). As a believer, if you subsequently try to be justified by the law, you can’t loose your salvation, for that is impossible, but you sever yourself from Christ by breaking your relationship with Him. There are still many today who teach some level of legalism, so the possibility of falling from grace is still great today. In Christ Jesus, circumcision or uncircumcision is irrelevant because no amount of legalism can be of benefit to the Christian. The only thing that is spiritually profitable is faith working through love. It is love that should motivate all that we do.

Paul quotes from Isaiah 54:1. The verses before this quote deal with the death, resurrection, and reign of the Suffering Servant who is the Messiah (Isa 53:1-12). Isaiah 54 deals with the future and enlargement of Israel during the reign of the Messiah.

Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, now interprets this verse. Israel, via Sarah, is the one who does not bear children and yet ends up having many more children than Hagar. It seems odd to refer to Hagar as the one who has a husband (because Sarah too had a husband) but “the one who has a husband” refers to a woman who is able to conceive and bear a son for her husband which fits Hagar.

The believers in Galatia and Paul are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free woman, children of the promise. Isaac was the promised child, not the fleshly solution to the problem. Isaac was God’s promised answer to Abraham and Sarah’s barrenness. Genesis tells us that Ishmael (born according to the flesh) persecuted Isaac (born according to the Spirit) and in the same way the legalistic Judaizers were persecuting Paul. The reality is that the Galatians would also be persecuted if they rejected the legalism of the Judaizers. In Genesis, Abraham was commanded to cast out the slave woman and her son. Ishmael represents the way of legalism and human efforts to do God’s will. We too need to cast out any human effort to please God. Christ died to set us free. God still expects us to live right lives and be holy, but the focus must not be on the doing, our focus must be on Christ. In Christ we are a new creation. When our focus is on Christ, then our doing will flow from that through spiritual sanctification and the renewal of our minds.

Paul is so concerned for the Galatians that it feels like the pains of childbirth. He is not concerned about their position in Christ because he knows they are believers. His fear is that they will fall completely into legalism. His desire is to see them grow to maturity in Christ. This is compounded by the fact that he is not with them. If we were with them, he could be more gentle in tone and guide them personally. Because he is away from them, he needs to use a more stern tone in his letter.

To further illustrate the problem of being under the law (the law of Moses), Paul points the readers back to the law (the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament). The life of Abraham provides a lesson in freedom versus bondage. Abraham had been promised a son and a great nation to come from him. Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands by arranging an heir for Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s slave. This was a cultural action that was not illegal, but also one that showed a lack of faith in God’s promise. Abraham took things into his own hands. Paul explains that the two women represent two covenants. Hagar is the one from Mount Sinai (where God gave the law) which represents slavery. This would have been insulting to Jewish readers because Hagar was the mother of Ishmael and the Arab nations, not of the Jews. Jerusalem is the mother who is under slavery with her children. Paul then says that it is the New Jerusalem (not Sarah) who represents freedom and she is the mother of believers. As believers, we are citizens of a new city in heaven.

How is your faith walk? Is it on a path to maturity in Christ, or is it hindered because you are moving towards things that are unhealthy for your spiritual growth? What can you do today to move towards “Christ formed in you”?

Before they became believers, the Galatians had been enslaved to idolatry. Why now did hey want to turn back to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world and be slaves now to the law (observing days and months and seasons and years)? Paul was concerned that his labour over them may have been in vain.

Paul had become like them by living with them and eating with them (not separate like the Jews, 1 Cor 9:21-22; Gal 2:15). He had enjoyed the freedom from the law that the Gentiles had. Now he wants them to become like him—free from the law. Why is it that we feel the need to do something in our own strength to please God. If we could ever please God through our own strength, then we wouldn’t need a Saviour.

Paul had preached to the Galatians because of a physical condition, likely a problem with his eyes (“if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me”). They had received him as a messenger (“angel”) of God, as Christ. They had been a real blessing to Paul. But then they had begun to treat him as their enemy. Why did Paul become their enemy by telling them the truth? Consider your life. Who have you rejected or become an enemy to because they spoke truth into your life? Sometimes the truth hurts and we reject the messenger because we don’t want to deal with the sin in our lives. Don’t be like the Galatians and reject the truth to follow a lie. The Judaizers had “made much of them”, meaning they had pursued them with zeal. They had made a fuss of the Galatians and won them over but to no good end. Paul reminds them that it’s always good to pursue things with zeal, but only for a good purpose. What is it you are pursuing with zeal, or being strongly enticed towards? Is your energy and passion being focussed on a good purpose?

An heir to an inheritance who has not reached the age set by his father is no different from a slave because he is not free to do as he pleases but is under guardians and managers. In the same way, both Jew and Gentile were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. The Jew to the law and the Gentile to their own religious attempts to win favour with the gods. When the time was right according to God, He sent His Son, Jesus, to be born of woman (this is a reminder of both the virgin birth and Jesus’ humanity). He was born as a Jew under the law and perfectly satisfied the requirements of the law in order to redeem (buy back) those who were under the law. The end result is that we receive adoption as sons. We are adopted as fully mature sons who have full access to the inheritance—the wealth and power of God. Because we are sons, God has given us His Holy Spirit who helps us to recognise our position and see God as Father. So we are no longer slaves to the elementary principles of the world but sons. And if we are sons, then we are heirs.

“Christ, by nature Son of God, became Son of man, that we, by nature sons of man, might become sons of God. Wonderful exchange!”

Govett

What does it mean to you that you are no longer a slave, but a full son of God with full access to your inheritance?

Paul begins by speaking about the Jews. They were held captive under the law. The law was their guardian, their strict disciplinarian who kept them apart from the other nations until the coming faith (Jesus Christ) arrived. Christ came so that they might be justified by faith. Now that Christ has come, the Jews are no longer under the guardianship of the law. Then Paul changes from “we” (the Jews) to “you” (the Galatians, non-Jews). In Christ Jesus, we are all sons of God through faith (John 1:12). Now that we have put on Christ, we are all one in Christ. As believers, we have equal standing before God as children of God. Paul does not deny that there are distinctions between these groups (he speaks to our distinctions as male and female, slave and free in Ephesians and Colossians for example) but that those distinctions are not relevant when it comes to our faith or our standing before God. This also means that it is clearly wrong for us to treat each other differently based on our differences. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are in Christ, then we are all Abraham’s children and all heirs according to the promise made to Abraham.

At a time when racial hatred is again under the spotlight we must remember that it has no place in the Christian’s worldview. All people are equal under God because we were all created in God’s image. As believers, racism has even less place (if that were possible) because in Christ we are all brothers and sisters.