Today’s reading is Galatians 5:1-6:18.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

I want to quit sinning. I want to quit gratifying the lusts of my flesh. I want to overcome those temptations. I’m tired of the strife and turmoil sin causes. I’m tired of how sin wreaks havoc in my relationship with my family, friends, neighbors, etc. I’m tired of how sin destroys my faith in and fellowship with God. I want to get over all this. But I keep coming up short.

Paul explains the key in Galatians 5:16. I need simply to walk by the Spirit. I need to let the Spirit guide me. Instead of trying to be justified by law, which will only cause me to be severed from Christ (Galatians 5:4), I need to seek justification by the grace of God’s Spirit. I need to be led by the Spirit, not law (Galatians 5:18). That means I need to crucify my flesh, with its passions and desires. I need to put it to death and quit letting it lead me. It twists the law and leads me back into sin (Romans 7:8-11). I need to put away my conceit, my reliance upon me and the competition it produces with others. Instead, I need simply to surrender my life to the Spirit today and what He says I should do. Why? Because God’s way works.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

PPS. How do you think we walk by the Spirit?

Today’s reading is Galatians 3:1-4:31.

“So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:7).

This is great! Do I need to obey and honor my Father? Of course. That is what sons do. But I don’t have to crawl around on my hands and knees in constant fear of getting whipped because I’m a slave. In fact, my great privilege is there is an inheritance waiting for me because I’m a son.

How did I get to be a son? Because the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to redeem me, to purchase me, to adopt me. God wanted me to be His son so badly, He let his “biological son,” if you will, die so I could become His adopted son. I get the inheritance and I don’t have to pay for it. I simply need to live like a son. I need to revel that i’m part of the family of the king of the universe. I should honor and glorify Him for bringing me into the family.

Wow! What a privilege I’ve been given. I need to remember that privilege today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 1:1-2:21.

“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” (Galatians 2:20).

I think I get it now. I’ve not allowed this verse to have its full impact in my life. I was baptized, crucified with Christ (cf Romans 6:1-6). Since then I’ve been telling Christ, “Watch this, see how I can live my life for You.” I was certainly sincere in this. I have wanted to serve Christ. I’ve been doing my best. But wasn’t that the problem that led me to Christ in the first place? My best only put me right back into sin (cf Romans 7:14-24). Why would it do any different now?

Paul doesn’t say to tell Jesus, “I’ll do my best to live for You.” Rather, Jesus is saying, “Quit trying to live. I’ll live my best for you.” I need to quit trying to live my life and simply start letting Jesus live through me. What does He want? Do that. Of course, that is going to take faith. Jesus won’t treat me like a puppet. It’s my choice to let Him live through me by my faith. But I have to make a conscious decision to quit trying to live my life, even if I’m trying to live it for Him. Instead, I need to let Him live my life through me. I need to surrender myself to Him, His will, His goals, His life.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 5:1-6:18.

Paul said, “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. But 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” (Galatians 6:13-14).

I think I’ve often viewed this passage as talking about how hypocritical all the Jews must have been. They wanted the Christians to be circumcised, but they didn’t actually want to keep the law themselves. I’m not sure that is the case. I think there were plenty of sincere Jews who wanted the Christians to be circumcised. I think plenty of them tried to keep the law. The issue was not that they didn’t care about the law. The issue was that everyone sins and falls short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). All those who claimed they could be justified by the law had simply proven over and over again that they would fall short of the law no matter how much they attempted to follow it. That is why those who try to be justified by the law only end up under a curse (Galatians 3:10). Really, anyone who tries to boast in keeping the law is eventually going to have to get around to admitting, “But I messed up here, and here, and here…” Of course, that is why those who boast in the law eventually get to the point of boasting that they are better at law keeping than someone else. Can anyone say “Pharisee and Publican?” 

Instead of boasting in law-keeping, Paul would boast in Christ and not simply in Christ but in the cross of Christ. All those sins Paul had committed while striving to keep the law were taken out of the way by the cross. That was where his righteousness came. It wasn’t his own, it was a gift from God through the death of Jesus Christ because of Paul’s faith.

Here is my fear for me. In what do I boast? Do I boast in how often I “go to church”? Do I boast in how much money I give in the contribution? Do I boast in how many sins I haven’t committed? Do I boast in how many acts of righteousness I have done? Do I boast in how well I hold to the pattern of sound words? Or do I boast in the cross of Christ? Sadly, some hear this and think I’m saying how I live doesn’t matter. That is not the case at all. If I live by faith (Galatians 2:20), I’ll live by the pattern of sound words. I’ll assemble with the saints, contribute to the work of the church, strive to overcome sin, strive to live by righteousness, etc. The question is in what do I boast? Do I look at all the great things I do under the New Covenant and boast in that? Or do I look at the cross of Christ and boast in that?

The fact is, whether old law or new, if I’m going to boast in my law-keeping, I’m only going to be able to admit that I’m a sinner and really have nothing in which to boast. I need to put my faith in Christ. When I put it in me, I fail. 

So, today, I’ll boast in Christ and not me or my law-keeping. Certainly, I’ll strive to obey Christ, but I won’t stand before Christ and try to act like He should forgive me because look at how awesome I am. That just won’t work.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 3:1-4:31.

As if to correspond with Nathan’s comment from Friday’s post, Paul steps up in Galatians 3:25-29 to explain that while we are justified by faith and not works of the law, if we don’t have some works then we cannot claim we have saving faith.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Did you see what that said about baptism and faith? It said we are sons of God through faith. We are not sons of God through works of the law, but through faith. However, how do we know we are sons of God through faith? “For” or because when we were baptized into Christ we put on Christ. I know this is not commonly accepted among most religious circles these days. But in the same way that I cannot help but see we are justified by faith and not by works of any law, I can’t help but see that I’m only a son of God through faith if I’ve put Christ on in baptism. I may believe in Jesus. I may think Jesus is great. I might even assent to all the facts about Jesus’ life. However, if my faith doesn’t carry me to surrender to Him in that first step of baptism, then my faith hasn’t saved me. I haven’t put on Christ, I’m still only an outside observer who thinks very highly of Him.

Please notice very carefully what Paul did not say. He did not say that we put on Christ through a prayer. He did not say we put on Christ through speaking in tongues. He did not say we put on Christ through an overwhelming spiritual experience. He did not say we put on Christ by being good enough. He did, however, say that we put on Christ in baptism and that we were baptized into Christ. 

That is only the beginning of a life surrendered to Jesus by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20). However, it is the beginning.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 1:1-2:21.

These chapters, or rather the end of these chapters, brings up a question for me. Galatians 2:15-21 says no man is justified by works of law. I’m no Greek scholar, but what little I know demonstrates that the article “the” is not in the original text. It doesn’t actually read “by works of the law no one will be justified” but “by works of law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

My common approach to this passage has been to say that no one will be justified by works of the Old Law. However, now we have a new law that does justify us. I do know there is a law of Christ, to which I must submit myself. Paul wrote about it in I Corinthians 9:21. But what is its place in my justification?

As I read these verses in Galatians 2:15-21 again, I have a really hard time seeing this passage as saying, “by works of the Old Law no one will be justified, but by works of the New Law will everyone be justified.” Instead, it seems to be saying, “we won’t be justified by works of law, old or new, but by faith in Jesus.” Don’t misunderstand, this faith is not merely a mental assent to some facts. Galatians 2:20 says, “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.” This faith is an increasing surrender to Christ and His will. Yet, when it is done is this just semantics? “No we aren’t save by keeping the new law, we are saved by faith, but by faith we really mean keeping the new law”? I can’t see this as just a semantic wordplay. Paul is saying we aren’t justified by keeping the law. We are justified by faith in Jesus.

What exactly is the point? What does it really say about law? What does it say about the place of the New Law in my justification?

Right now, I think Paul’s point is the same here as it was in Romans 9:30-10:4. Yes, there is a New Law. Yes, Christians submit to the New Law. However, the law’s purpose is not to justify us. Because of our weakness, God cannot provide a law that can justify us. If He could, then law would have done it (Galatians 3:21). All law does is demonstrate how we violate law and therefore are not justified (Romans 3:20). Thus, the more we focus on the law aspect of the New Testament, the more likely we are to sin, rebuilding what we have torn down and proving ourselves transgressors (Galatians 2:18). The problem with the Old Law was it had nothing that justified. Under the New Law, we still see God’s laws, but we have Jesus’ whose death justifies us and sets us free to live God’s will. But how do we attain that? Do we attain that by trying harder to simply keep the legalities of the New Testament? No. We accomplish that by increasing our faith in Jesus. The more we increase our faith in Jesus, the more God will work in our lives, the more God will strengthen us according to the gospel and preaching of Jesus, the more we will actually submit to God’s will.

This seems counterintuitive to me. What Paul seems to be saying is the more we focus on keeping God’s law, the less we will do so. However, the more we focus on believing Jesus and relying on His death, the more we will actually follow God’s law. Keeping God’s law doesn’t justify us, after all, we are sinners and not sinning today doesn’t take away our sins of yesterday. However, Jesus’ death does take away our sin and increased faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior gives us the strength to do God’s will.

What do you think?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 5:1-6:18.

I’m in the middle of getting ready for a funeral right now. One of our beloved sisters in Franklin, Tennessee went to be with the Lord this weekend. It is a time of joy and sorrow. However, it leaves me little time to say much here. Today, I provide a brief post.

I am almost always drawn to Galatians 6:7-8, when I get to this reading. We reap what we sow. If we sow to the flesh. We’ll reap corruption. If we sow to the Spirit, we’ll reap life. 

Something that struck me as I read it today is, if I’m not actively sowing to the Spirit, then I am sowing to the flesh. That is, sometimes I’m not out there actively doing things that give the flesh strength in the battle. However, I’m not actively doing things that turn my life over to the Spirit either. Here is what I have found. When I think I’m just coasting, I’m not. Even if only through omission, if I’m not working on surrendering to the Spirit, I am surrendering to the flesh. The fruit of that may not come immediately. But it always comes. I fall and wonder how it happened when I used to have such strong commitment. 

What does that mean for today? I can’t coast. I can’t rely on sowing to the Spirit yesterday. I have to sow to the Spirit today. I have to be active and purposeful about it.

***Question: How do you sow to the Spirit?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Galatians 3:1-4:31.

Some housekeeping first: Sorry about missing posts on Thursday and Friday and being late today. In addition to being under the weather last week, I’m having some access problems through Charter who is my ISP at home. For some reason I can’t access my sites through them right now. I’m working on that. That kept me from getting posts up last week. I’ll have to make sure to get all my posts up from my office computer. I’ll do my best to stay on top of it from here.

On to today’s reading.

Today, I’m dealing with a struggle. I clearly understand that there is a New Testament law which we must follow. Since sin is lawlessness, if there is no law, there would be no sin (cf. I John 3:4; Romans 5:13). Paul himself explains we Christians are under a law in I Corinthians 9:21. Hebrews 7:12 does not say there was an eradication of law, but simply a change of law along with the change of priesthood. We Christians have a law. Most certainly, we must follow it and violating it is sin.

However, in today’s reading, the text clearly demonstrates that keeping the law doesn’t save us. While the main thrust throughout the chapter is about the Old Law, I don’t think Paul is saying, “The Old Law doesn’t save, but the New Law does.” Look at Galatians 3:21–”For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” If a law could give life, God would use a law to give life. The point being there is no law that gives life, either Old or New. Thus, even under the New Covenant, it is not the law of the New Covenant that gives life. 

These chapters do not say that the Old Law does not give life, but the New Law does. Rather, they say that no law gives life, but faith in Jesus does. However, the text is not saying, it doesn’t matter what I do only what I think or believe. After all, Abraham is listed as our example of faith. However, he wasn’t a man of faith simply because of what he believed in his head and heart. He was counted as a man of faith because he did what he was told. If we want to be sons of Abraham and, therefore, heirs of the promise, we need to be of the same kind of faith. This ties in with Galatians 2:20. Living by faith does not mean having a mental assent to the facts of Jesus while living how I want. Living by faith means believing Jesus so much that I simply let Him be in charge. I just do what He says.

Enough rambling. The struggle for me is clearly we must obey the New Law. Yet, obeying that New Law doesn’t appear to give us life. How then can we say we are to obey it? Why not simply dispense with it? 

Right now, here is my solution to the struggle and I look forward to your thoughts on the matter. The problem is if our motivation is from the law, then we are still relying on ourselves. We are trying to find all the rules and declaring that we are strong enough to keep them all. Whether we are using the New Law or the Old Law, the problem here is the same. We simply won’t keep the Law. Unless God just dispenses with law, we will always violate it somewhere. If we are going to rely on law and our keeping of it, then the only way to be saved is through perfect adherence. We’ve already blown it. We must not have some idea that the Old Law couldn’t be followed by man, so God replaced it with an easier law that man could follow. The whole point of any law was to demonstrate that we sin and cannot save ourselves.

What then saves us? Turning to Jesus. If we believe in Jesus, if we believe Jesus, we will be saved. If we rest on faith, then we will be saved. The pragmatic side of this says, the more I trust Jesus and His strength, the more I actually submit to His law. If I’m focused on me keeping the law, I’ll fail. If, however, I focus on Jesus’ righteousness, Jesus’ strength, Jesus’ power and I believe Him, by the Spirit of God and His grace, I’ll succeed.

So, we don’t want to dispense with the New Law as if keeping the law doesn’t matter. However, perhaps we need to take a new look at it. Usually, when we see someone violating God’s law, we talk about how if they want to be saved they need to start obeying that law. Perhaps instead we need to see that disobedience is an indicator that they don’t trust Jesus. They don’t have faith. Instead of just saying, “You need to obey that law.” We need to realize that getting them to make a change on that law won’t save them. If we are focusing them on their own strength to keep a set of rules, there will always be some place they fall short. Instead, we need to point out the indication of weak, shallow, or non-existent faith and encourage them to work on trusting Jesus. When they do that, Jesus will live through them and they will keep those laws.

Finally, this does say something about the arrogance we sometimes have when we keep laws and patterns. We need to recognize that if we are in line with God’s will while someone else is not, it is not because of our own strength as if we can boast. If God left us to our own strength, we would fail like everyone does. When we are being successful it is only because God is working through us. When we believe that we’ll have success. The moment we think we are standing by our own strength, is the moment we’ll fall (cf. I Corinthians 10:12).

***Question: Why do you think focusing on the law side of things causes us to fail while focusing on the faith side of things causes us to grow and overcome?

Keep the faith and keep reading

ELC

Today’s reading is Galatians 5:1-6:18.

I don’t want to keep pounding this law stuff, but here in Galatians it just keeps coming. First, I find it interesting that in Galatians 5:18, it says “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Once again, the article is missing in the Greek, so it essentially says we are not under law. However, Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Somewhere this discussion is speaking accommodatingly. We are not totally free from law but yet need to fulfill a law at the same time. That bears some thinking about.

However, what really caught my attention in light of yesterday’s discussion is Paul’s discussion about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. I’ve thought a bit about this before, but it really hit me today. Notice those two different nouns. Paul talked about the works of the flesh. Not the fruit of the flesh, but the works of the flesh. That is, these are the things the flesh does. These are the actions of the flesh. When we do these things we are pursuing the flesh. On the other hand, he didn’t talk about the works of the Spirit, he talked about the fruit of the Spirit. That is, he didn’t say here are the things we need to work on in order to follow the Spirit. Rather, when we follow the Spirit’s lead, these are the things that will be produced.

In other words, Paul didn’t say, “Go work on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Then you’ll be following the Spirit.” Rather, he is saying if we follow the lead of the Spirit, this is what we’ll find in our lives. This is the fruit the Spirit will produce in us as we follow Him. 

Once again, we get that kind of counterintuitive point. If we establish these virtues as the law we are to pursue, we won’t make it. We will find that we always fall short. However, if we simply surrender ourselves to faith in Christ and His Word (the revelation of the Spirit), these fruit will start to develop. 

We also need to make a rigorously honest point here. We need to do some real soul searching and heart digging. If these qualities are not ours, we need to honestly recognize we are not following the lead of the Spirit. These are not simply things Christians should work on. They are what will be in the Christian’s life when submitting to the Spirit. If they’re not in our lives, we are not surrendering to the Spirit. No doubt, it’s a growth process. But we’ll only grow if we are honest about this.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 3:1-4:31.

The Set-up

As in Romans, Paul takes up the discourse of faith versus law. I’m beginning to pick up something as I’m reading the New Testament this time. For me, there has always been this kind of struggle in understanding. I know the New Testament continually says law won’t save. Yet, we’re clearly under a law (cf. I Corinthians 9:21; Hebrews 7:12). Certainly we are not under Moses’ law, but we are under a law. Yet, in tomorrow’s reading Paul will say, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law” (Galatians 5:18). In today’s reading, he says we are not saved by law, but by faith.

This, of course, causes the great debate about the position of works and obedience in our salvation. On the one side, some suggest as long as we believe, we’ll be saved separate and apart from any works we perform. On the other side, some suggest we can believe all day long but if we don’t obey God’s law, we’ll be lost. Therefore, our obedience saves us. The two sides find passages that seem to support their position and lob them at each other.

What if the Bible answer is in the middle of those two extremes? What if the reason both sides seem to find support is because neither side is actually right and the truth is between them as we consider all those verses together?

Not Justified by Law

Here’s what I saw in today’s reading.

“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:10-11).

In the context, some of the Galatian Christians were bringing aspects of the Old Law into their Christianity. We’re not speaking here of Jews merely following their heritage and customs. No, they were following aspects of the Law as if doing those things were the requirements for salvation. 

Paul said they could not be justified by the Law. In fact, anyone who went back to the Law and pulled parts out, obligated themselves to everything in the law. If they missed even one, they would be cursed. Of course, that was the problem. They had already disobeyed and were, therefore, cursed. Going back to the Old Law brings nothing but curses for people who have already sinned.

However, Paul did not merely say “the Old Law” doesn’t justify. The Greek does not contain the article (that is, the word “the”). He said, no one is justified by law, not just the Old Law, any law. That means, under the New Covenant, we can establish some kind of law-keeping code, but it will not justify us. We will not be justified by keeping it for the very reason the Jews were not.  We won’t be able to keep it. The fact is, if any law could have justified people, that Old Law would have done it. But it couldn’t, not because of God or weakness with His law, but because of our weakness. Why would we want to replace one law that doesn’t work with another code of law that won’t work? Will our law justify us where God’s law could not?

Thus, if we approach the New Testament as a set of laws and rules we must follow in order to be good enough to go to heaven, we’re going to be in trouble. Law has never been able to justify and it won’t be able to now either. 

Justified by Faith

We can, however, be justified by faith. When we truly believe in Jesus and truly believe Jesus, we can be justified. That is, we can be declared innocent. 

Jesus Christ became a curse for us who are cursed so our curse might be lifted and we might have life through the Spirit of God. The Scripture (in this context the writings of the Old Covenant) didn’t justify, they simply imprisoned everyone under sin. Any system of law we develop will only do the same. Any system of trying to gain God’s favor by keeping a law will only ever remind us we are sinners because we won’t keep it anymore than the Jews kept the Old Law. Law doesn’t justify. Law condemns.

Faith in Jesus justifies. 

Why Does Faith Justify?

Sadly, some folks stopped reading above. They either said, “See, I’ve always said faith justifies and we don’t need obedience” or they said, “That Edwin has gone off the deep end. He’s starting to teach justification by faith alone.” I’m glad you kept reading.

The question we need to ask is why and how does this faith justify? Is it simply having a mental assent to some facts about Jesus and now we are justified no matter what we do? Absolutely not. Faith justifies because as I grow in faith, I grow in submission to Jesus. Let’s face it, if I’m not doing what Jesus says, I don’t really believe Him, do I? As I grow in submission, I follow Jesus’ way. I’m not justified because I’ve obeyed a series of rules. I’m justified because Jesus’ way works. Do you see the difference? That first statement focused on me and my obedience. The second focused on Jesus and His way that works. 

Notice Galatians 3:25-27. This faith didn’t end with mental assent. It went on to do what Jesus said. Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). If I have faith in Jesus and His word, I’ll be baptized for the remission of my sins in order to be saved. Did I get baptized because it was the law by which I could justify myself through obedience? No. I was baptized because I believed Jesus and I believed His way works. If I make baptism nothing more than the first law I obey in a series of laws I must follow in order to be good enough to go to heaven, I’ll never make it. However, if I submit to baptism because I believe Jesus and it is merely my first step of surrender to Him, I’ll be justified because by faith I’m surrendering my life to His. Baptism brings us into Christ, but not because we’ve done some great work to bring us into Christ by our power. We just couldn’t do that. Baptism brings us into Christ because we are beginning to live in Christ. We are beginning to live in submission to Him when we are baptized based on our faith. Until we surrender at that point, we are not in Christ, no matter how religious we are. Remember, no code of religious law can get us into Christ. Only surrendering to Him by faith will do that.

I Know It Seems Counterintuitive

This whole thing is a bit counterintuitive. If we really want to obey God’s law, we have to quit striving to obey God’s law. I can hear the screams of frustration right now. “WHAT?!” If we keep trying to make ourselves and everyone else good enough by developing a system of law, we will only succeed in doing what the Old Law accomplished. We will only succeed in condemning ourselves because we haven’t kept this law. However, if instead we build our faith in Jesus and His Word, guess what will start happening? As we believe Jesus more and more, we’ll submit to Him more and more. As we submit to Him more and more, we’ll be justified. 

Of course, if we don’t submit to Him more and more, we won’t be justified? Why? Because we didn’t obey enough? No. None of us can obey enough. Rather, because Jesus’ way works and no other way does. If we don’t have faith enough to surrender our lives to Jesus, anything else we do, no matter how religious it seems, will not justify or deliver us.

So, are we saved by faith? Absolutely. Do we have to submit? Well, if we have faith, it’s not a have to situation is it? If we have faith, we will increasingly submit. Are we justified because we did enough good stuff? No. We can’t ever do enough good stuff. Instead, God justifies us when we have faith enough to surrender to Him.

Are you surrendering to Him? Or are you holding out, thinking you can do enough religious stuff to be good enough to go to heaven?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC