The lutheransermons's Podcast

Study of Galatians Part 15 - Galatians 5:13

Paul said it again, as Galatians 5:13 begins. “You were called to freedom.” He was referring once again to what he had been saying throughout Galatians - that salvation comes to us purely by the grace of God through the gift of faith, of trust in Jesus and His saving work for us. Our human works cannot save us or ever contribute to our salvation. Jesus has done all that we need, as we stay in faith in Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Listen again to a little of what we have already heard in Galatians:

• “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Galatians 1:3-4)
• “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16)
• “Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith, just as ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?’” (Galatians 3:5-6)
• “The promise by faith in Jesus Christ (will) be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22)

The focus is always on Jesus and trusting what he has done for us to save us - not on what we need to do for our salvation. This could be summarized by what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21ff: “But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe… (who) are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… (God) is the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what become of our boasting? It is excluded… For we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law” (portions of Romans 3:21-22).

Why did Paul keep saying these same things, and why am I emphasizing this so much in what I say and write? Because this is the central teaching of the Christian faith. It was being challenged by false teachers in Paul’s day, and it is still being challenged by so many people and groups still today. I have said I would give you current examples, and that is what follows here. I can only give brief descriptions and a few quotations, but am trying to be fair in what I say. If anyone wants more explanation, let me know.

Obviously, atheists do not believe in any god or higher being and can only trust in themselves and other human ideas. Agnostics are not sure if there is a god or not, and what to think about Jesus, and ultimately have to trust themselves and whatever they think. Non-Christian religions and groups will not talk about Jesus at all, or only as a kind of prophet or teacher, and certainly not as the Savior of the world.                                    

Groups that call themselves Christians will talk about Jesus, but not necessarily accurately and according to what the Bible says. There are very liberal churches and groups that question many things in the Bible and would see Jesus, at best, only as a good teacher, whose example and ideas we should follow, if we can sort out what he really said and what is really true. Such people will accept only what seems rational and reasonable to them and to human thinking today. Modern media likes these non-traditional and controversial ideas. All such views are very different from Paul’s, who was an eyewitness to what he described and what Jesus directly taught him and claimed that what he said and wrote was true and accurate.

Traditional Christians will take more seriously what the Bible says, but can mix in what they see as our own human responsibility for our salvation, as well. Sometimes this happens because churches and people accept additional and later traditions and writings that they make equal to and almost more important than the Biblical revelation.

The Roman Catholic Church is an example of this, saying that Jesus paid for the “eternal” consequences for our sins, but we must pay for the “temporal punishment” of our sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Every sin… must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called Purgatory.” How do we accomplish this purification (according to the Catholic Church)? “By works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer, and the various practices of penance” (things that people are required to do by a priest, after they have confessed their sins to him). In the Catholic view, people also have obligation to pray for and do good works on behalf of their dead relatives to help pay for their sins and get them out of Purgatory more quickly. People can also pray to Mary and to other saints, especially holy people, to get help from the “treasury” of their “prayers and good works.” These saints have already “attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body” (The Church). 

The Roman Catholic Church clearly says that God gives us “the initial grace” we need. But then, “Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.” The Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Trent condemned in several ways the Biblical doctrine of justification by God’s grace through faith alone. Here is one example: “If anyone saith that by faith alone the impious is justified, in such wise as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to the obtaining the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will, let him be anathema” (cursed and condemned).

Clearly, in the Roman Catholic Church, one is saved not only by faith in Christ, but also by one’s own work and efforts and merits and by gaining the merits of others. And these ideas are not in Scripture but were developed in the traditions of the Roman church in later centuries.

The same thing is said in the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox Churches. An Orthodox Confession reads, “What must an Orthodox and Catholic Christian hold and observe in order to inherit eternal life? Answer: Right faith and good works.” “We believe that a man is justified not simply by faith alone, but by a faith which is active through love, that is, through faith and works.” Faith is simply assent to Orthodox or Catholic doctrines - rather than confidence in Jesus and His completed, saving work for us.

Many Protestant churches also emphasize our cooperation with God in the work of our salvation, to one degree or another. Churches that are influenced by Arminian ideas tend to downplay the seriousness of our original or inherited sin, from the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. They would say that we are not “dead in our trespasses and sins, by nature,” and that God must therefore make us spiritually alive, as Ephesians 2:1-7 says. Instead, these groups say that we are capable of and must make the first moves toward God, by opening the door to Him and confessing our sins and saying prayers a certain way, “as an act of our own will.” Only then will God respond to us and make us His own. As one prominent Baptist preacher said in the past: “God casts a vote. The devil casts a vote. And you cast the deciding vote.” in this view, your decisions seem to be the real deciding factor in your being saved - more than the decisive saving work of Christ for you.

The Christian life is important, but some Protestant churches put such tremendous emphasis on what we now do as Christians that it almost sounds as if our salvation depends on how holy our life becomes. Some go so far as to say that we can stop sinning, though we may make “mistakes,” whatever that means. Others say that we can become perfect if we try hard enough - and that is what we should try to be doing. The emphasis switches from “Christ crucified” and what He has done for us, to what we are doing for Christ and how well we are following His rules and expectations, almost as if our salvation depends on doing it all well enough.

We also have so many cultic groups around. The Seventh Day Adventists still insist that we must worship on Saturday and not do any work that day and must follow many other Old Testament rules, just as the false teachers were saying in Galatia.

The Mormons have the Bible plus their own Scriptures, which are really more important, in their view. They call themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; but Joseph Smith seems more important than Jesus in much of what they say. Becoming a “saint” by following all of their rules and regulations is really most important. They even say that you could become a “god” just like Jesus and have your own planet, some day, if you work hard enough at it all.

I also receive a mailing from another group called the United Church of God, an offshoot of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God. They have Saturday worship and focus on many Old Testament festivals. They talk about Jesus and His millennial reign here on earth (an idea most Christian do not believe in - rather, He will return to raise the dead and take all believers in Christ to eternal life in heaven, etc.) But their focus again turns to what good works we are doing. “We can follow God’s commands today, celebrating the Day of Atonement and all of His Holy Days and completely submitting ourselves to His will in our lives.” Again for them, faith in Christ our Savior is not enough to save us.

I could go on and on with more false and confusing ideas around today, too. That is why Paul spent so much time talking about salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s work already done for us. It is still important for us to hear today. Christ stays at the center of the Bible for us, and our confidence about our eternal future is in Him, not our performance.

At the same time, beginning next week, we will hear Paul talking about the right understanding of how doing “good works” does fit into our life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our “freedom” in Christ is not a license to do whatever we feel like. That is how many look at “freedom” today, as an old poem by William Ernest Henley said: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” But that is not what Christ or Paul taught. Join us next week to hear more about all that.

Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost - September 11, 2022

Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Isaiah 66:18-23 

Hebrews 12:4-24

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon originally delivered August 25, 2013

Preparing for Worship - September 11, 2022

There is always a Good Shepherd Sunday on the 4th Sunday of the Easter season, showing that our Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd. The readings this Sunday have a similar emphasis, but reminding us that we have all been lost sheep in this troubled world, with a sinful nature and many temptations to sinfulness. We would stay lost if it were not for God’s merciful help for us, in finding us and bringing us to Himself.

The Old Testament lesson is Psalm 119:169-176. The Psalmist has written verse after verse, speaking of the greatness of God’s Word and how much he loves and appreciates the Lord and His Word. Yet at the end of this long psalm, the writer still has to cry out for the right “understanding of the Word” and “longs for the Lord’s salvation.” He has to admit that he has “gone astray as a lost sheep,” and needs the Lord to “seek him” and draw him closer to Himself.

The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 34:11-24. God speaks and promises that “He will search for His sheep and will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Some may neglect His sheep, but the Lord Himself will “seek the lost and bring back the strayed and bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.” There will one great Shepherd, from the line of David, Who will especially “feed His sheep” -  our Lord Jesus

In the Epistle lesson, 1 Timothy 1:(5-11) 12-17, Paul sees himself as “the foremost, the chief, of sinners, as a blasphemer and persecutor and opponent” of Christ and Christians. Yet even he received mercy because “Jesus came to save sinners” and if Paul could be saved, anyone can be rescued, by Christ's grace, no matters what we are struggling with or where we are spiritually.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-10, Jesus Himself is being criticized for receiving “sinners” and even showing care for them by “eating with them.” Jesus tells parables of lost sheep and lost coins. If only one is lost, there is still the greatest of care and concern for that one sheep or one coin until it is found and restored. No one can repent and find his own way home. It is the Lord’s doing, by His mercy and forgiveness for the lost, even us. He rejoices over each one of us, who has been brought to faith in Him, through His Word and Baptism and all the good gifts He gives to us.

Study of Galatians Part 14 - Galatians 5:7-12

 Last week, we heard Paul saying, so strongly and clearly, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). (See again all of Galatians 5:1-6, too.) If we think that our salvation depends upon our keeping the laws of God well enough, then we are “obligated to keep the whole law,” and that is a command impossible for us to do (Galatians 5:3). Only Jesus could and did do what we cannot do, in our place, for our salvation. We have faith and trust in Him alone and His saving work.

Paul continued to emphasize these same ideas in Galatians 5:7. He pictured the Christian life as a kind of race. The Galatians had been “running well” in trusting Jesus. “Who,” literally, “cut in on you” and thus “hindered” you from following “the truth” in Jesus? Paul asked. He reminded the Galatians that these ideas about circumcision and other laws did not come from the Lord, Who had called them now to faith in Christ Jesus, through the Word of God, the Good News brought by Paul and others (Galatians 5:8).

In fact, Paul said, the ideas about the law were like “a little leaven that leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). “Leaven” is the yeast, the ingredient that makes bread rise, when one is baking. In the Old Testament, God was about to rescue His people from slavery in Egypt, and told them not to put yeast in their bread because they would not have time to wait around for their bread to rise, but would need to leave Egypt very quickly. Every year after, then, God’s people would celebrate “Passover” and eat only unleavened bread at that time. (See Exodus 12-13, and especially Exodus 12:39 and 13:6-9.)

In the New Testament, the Passover remembrance was no longer required, but replaced by Jesus with the miracle of Christ’s “Real Presence” in the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) where unleavened bread is still used by many churches, following what Jesus did and taught. (See, for example, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.)

Also in the New Testament, the mention of “leaven” almost always refers to something bad or evil, that can have a evil influence. See, for example, Matthew 16:11-12, where Jesus warned, “Beware of the leaven of the of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” and His disciples realized that He was talking about the false “teachings” of these religious leaders. See also Paul’s quotation of the same passage in a different context, but with the same warning about “the leaven of malice and evil” instead of “sincerity and truth,” in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. 

In Galatians 5:9, Paul was warning about the evil influence of the false teachings about all the legal requirements the Galatians still needed to fulfill. These requirements were pulling them away from Jesus Himself and His grace for them. Paul expressed “confidence in the Lord,” though, in Galatians 5:10, that the Galatians would finally listen to his “view” and not that of the most prominent false teacher.

Apparently, from what Paul added in Galatians  5:11, the false teachers were also claiming that Paul was deceiving the Galatians and actually still preached about the need for circumcision and following the old Jewish laws, at least at times. Paul denied that by asking the simple question: If I actually agree with these false teachers, why am I still being persecuted by them and by other Jewish leaders. Why are they so opposed to me? What really offended them, he said, was my preaching “of the cross” - the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, as the promised Savior, the Messiah, to pay for all sins.

The Greek word for “offense” is the word from which we get the English word, “scandal.” It meant a “snare” or “trap” (Psalm 69:22) or something over which one could stumble and fall - a “stumbling block.” See 1 Corinthians 1:23, where Paul wrote, “We preach Christ crucified, a “stumbling block” to Jews (who, instead of being built on Jesus and trusting Him, are offended by Him and stumble over Him and reject Him as the Savior).

Read also Romans 9:31-10:4, where Paul quotes the Old Testament, describing the Promised Savior, Jesus, as “a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense.” Jesus is “Righteousness for everyone who believes” in Him; but too many people, including many Jews, rejected Him and tried to pursue laws and rules “that would lead to righteousness” and wanted to “establish their own” righteousness by their own goodness and obedience to laws. “Christ,” however, “is the end of the law” as a means of salvation, because no one can keep the law well enough all the time.

In Galatians 5:12, Paul spoke very strongly against those who were “unsettling” the Galatians by pulling them away from trust in Christ Jesus and His saving work on the cross and pushing them toward their own efforts to save themselves by being circumcised and trying to follow many other rules - a plan that would never work.

In fact, Paul said, probably with sarcasm, that he almost wished that those insisting on circumcising people, would emasculate, castrate, themselves in the process. He likely used such strong language because there was a pagan cult that originated in Galatia, where people who worshipped the false goddess Cybele would emasculate themselves. Ordinary Galatians would know of this cult and how senseless and useless such “mutilation of the flesh” really was. (See Philippians 3:2-3.)

Likewise, circumcision was worthless and useless, along with following other such rules, as a means to reach salvation. Trusting Christ and His cross and His mighty resurrection for them - that was enough.

We will stop here for today. Next week, we will hear about the proper place for trying to do good in our lives. If we have time, we will talk about how many churches and groups still today are pushing a salvation by works similar to what Paul was fighting against. Keep reading and studying the Word and hearing above all about “Christ crucified” for you and me.

Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost - September 4, 2022

Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Jeremiah 23:16-29

Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon originally delivered August 18, 2013

Preparing for Worship - September 4, 2022

The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 1, describing how blessed the person is who who walks, stands, and sits in his life in the way and Word of the Lord. He is like a healthy tree, nourished and watered by the Lord and producing fruit. In contrast are the wicked, who sin and scoff and are like worthless chaff and will not stand in the day of judgment.

In the Old Testament lesson, Deuteronomy 30:15-20, the Lord also set before His people the way of life and good, and the way of death and evil. God has already called His chosen people and commanded them to love Him and walk in His ways and His commandments. If their hearts turn away, though, and they are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, they shall surely perish. The way of life is rather in loving the Lord their God, obeying Him and His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is their life.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 14:25-35. Jesus asks the crowds of people around Him to count the cost of following Him. He gives them “hard sayings” (John 6:60). Are they willing to “hate” everything else - in the sense of loving Jesus first and foremost, even it means “bearing crosses” on His behalf and renouncing all things and following Him to the “finish”? Are they willing to be “salt” (and “light”) to others and be “useful” for their Lord?

The Epistle lesson is a practical application of what the Gospel and other readings are talking about. Paul is in prison in Rome, suffering (bearing a cross) because he is a follower of Christ. Even there, he writes letters and is useful in encouraging fellow believers with the Word of God. He writes to Philemon, a Christian and a leader in the church in Colossi and sends back to him a runaway slave of his, Onesimus (whose name means “useful”) who has now become a Christian. Paul asks Philemon to treat Onesimus not as a slave, but as a “beloved brother” in Christ, and indirectly, is asking Philemon to consider freeing him and letting him return to Paul and the church in Rome, where he could be very “useful” for the Lord, in being spiritual “salt” and “light” to other people and “refresh people’s hearts in Christ.” What do you think Philemon did? What can you do to be “useful” as a Christian and be “salt” and “light’ to others? (See Matthew 5:13-16.)

Study of Galatians Part 13 - Galatians 5:1-6

Last week, we heard Paul using events from Genesis, a part of the Book of the Law, to explain that the family line of promise would run only through Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac, and not through a son, Ishmael, born against God’s will, through Abraham and Hagar. The coming Savior of the world, Jesus, would be a descendant only of Isaac, as God had promised (Galatians 4:21-31). The emphasis and hope are upon the promises of God and not upon the ability of people to follow and obey God’s laws.

See a similar emphasis in Hebrews 12:18-24, in the New Testament. The coming of the Old Testament Law and the Old Covenant was a fearful event, even though the Law was important (Hebrews 12:18-21). The coming of Jesus and the New Covenant was a joyful event, because it ultimately brought Jesus as the “Mediator” between God and man. Jesus shed His “sprinkled blood” on the cross to make payment for all our sins; and through His perfect life and death for us, we are counted “as the righteous made perfect” through Him, by faith in Him, according to the promises of God (Hebrews 12:22-24). (See the description of Jesus as the Mediator for us and for all, in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, as well.) Our own efforts to keep the Law are not part our being saved, as Paul has been emphasizing throughout his letter to the Galatians.    

Here is one more related comment on the idea of using an “allegory” (Galatians 4:23-26). This is the only example of the use of an “allegory” in the Scriptures, and Paul did this as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this. Paul did not question the truth and reliability of the Old Testament events in Genesis and made only the application God intended, with support from other Scriptures.

Unfortunately, later interpreters of the Bible began to find all sorts of other “allegories” in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament and drifted far away from what the Scriptures actually taught. Parts of the Bible became more like Aesop’s fables. Stories, true or not in their view, simply became a way of making a point they wanted to make about our lives and what we should be doing. Many church leaders condemned this kind of use of allegorical interpretation, and conservative Lutheran churches have always been against this, too. So, be very cautious, when people start talking about other allegories in the Bible.    

Let’s go back, then, to Galatians 5:1, where Paul makes his application of all that he has been saying to the situation with the Galatians. He wrote, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore” in that truth, “and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul was talking, as the Scriptures do in many other places, about the freedom from the condemnation that our sins and failures bring to us.

See, for example, John 8:31-36. Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). Everyone, including Jews and us, are slaves of sins on our own, and cannot free ourselves. We can only be free from the condemnation of sin if Jesus, the Son of God, forgives us and sets us free, by His saving work. (John 8:31-36).

See also Romans 8:1-4. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul said this earlier in Galatians 3:10-14. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” taking the curse of sin upon Himself and giving us the blessings promised to Abraham, so long ago (Galatians 3:13-14).

All this is accomplished for us already through Jesus, and we are blessed with these gifts as we are simply brought to faith in Jesus and continue to trust in Him, through God’s Holy Spirit. What Paul did not want is that the Galatians would believe the false teaching that they needed to do additional things themselves to be saved - especially to be circumcised. For then they would be slaves again to many more laws and rule of the Old Covenant and new rules that Jews had made up for themselves.

Paul said it very bluntly in Galatians 5:2-4, “If you accept circumcision” as a necessary act on your part for salvation, then “Christ will be of no advantage to you.” For then you would be “obligated to keep the whole law” and “are severed from Christ” and “have fallen away from grace” - the grace of God that can never be earned by our efforts. In effect, you would be saying to Jesus, “You have not done enough to save me, Jesus. I must get circumcised and do many, many other things to earn or merit salvation for myself. Then I will be truly saved, by my additional efforts in obeying these laws.”

Paul already warned about this in Galatians 2:21. He did not want to “nullify the grace of God” by saying that Jesus had failed to do what he needed to do to save us. “For if righteousness were through (our keeping of) the law” - through circumcision and all sorts of other laws and rules - “then Christ died for no purpose.”

We would be saying that Jesus did not do enough for us. We would be saying that we have to add to what He did and thus help pay for our sins ourselves. Then, we would be trusting Jesus, plus ourselves and our efforts for salvation - and what we do would be the crucial part of our ultimate salvation. And we would always be wondering, “Have I done enough? What if I have missed some things? What more must I do?” And we would be left with uncertainty about whether we really are saved or not.    

This is the opposite of what the Scriptures say regarding our salvation. Read John 3:16-18. Listen to Ephesians 2:1-10. Note that there is not a word about our efforts contributing to our salvation by our keeping all of God’s laws. Good works are mentioned in Ephesians 2:10, but they are a response to God’s already completed saving work, and we will talk about that in weeks to come.

We can be certain about our salvation and eternal future - not based on our efforts, but entirely upon Jesus and His saving work for us. Read 1 John 5:11-13. Finally, read Galatians 5:5-6. Through the working of God’s Holy Spirit, we live “by faith” in Jesus and “eagerly wait” for the fulfillment of all God’s promises in Him (Galatians 5:5).     

If we are in Christ, by faith and His love, it does not matter whether we are circumcised or not (Galatians 5:6). It is Christ who makes the difference for us. Paul is not saying that if baby boys are circumcised for hygienic purposes that they are cut off from Christ. Paul had been circumcised as an infant himself, while he still followed Judaism. Paul had even encouraged a Gentile, Timothy, to be circumcised, simply because it would be easier for him to be accepted and get a fair hearing when he witnessed to Jewish people (Acts 16:1-5). In none of these cases, though, were people required to be circumcised for their personal salvation; nor was it ever taught that people must be circumcised or to follow other such rules in order to be earn or complete their salvation.      

This is the key. Christ has already done enough to save us, as we simply trust in Him. We do not need to add anything to what He has done or do further works to earn our salvation. We have certainty, not in ourselves and our efforts in any way, but in Christ Jesus our Savior alone. Read Romans 3:21-24 and 27-28, in closing.

Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost - August 28, 2022

Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Genesis 15:1-6

Hebrews 11:1-6 

Luke 12:22-34

Sermon originally delivered August 11, 2013

Preparing for Worship - August 28, 2022

The readings this week cover many topics, but we notice often a call for humility before God and with one another. In the very short Psalm, Psalm 131, David seeks to be humble before the Lord, not with a haughty heart and eyes. Though he is king, he does not focus on things “too great or marvelous for him,” but hopes in the Lord always, and calls us to do the same. A nursing child can be very fussy, but David seeks the Lord’s help to be like a “weaned child,” calmed and quieted” in his soul.

The Old Testament lesson is from Proverbs 25:2-10. Proverbs give us wise advice.  We are encouraged to be humble before a king or other “great” people and especially before God, who keeps many things “concealed” that we would never fully understand. We are better off, when there is trouble, first to deal with others, one-to-one, and care about them and not reveal their secrets in a public way, as Jesus also teaches in Matthew 18:15-18.

The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 13:1-17, also gives us much advice about living with “brotherly love” toward others, in the various situations we face in life, and with care for the needy, too. The Lord will be our “Helper” and “will not leave or forsake us.” We are to respect our spiritual leaders, and they are reminded to speak the Word of God to us and “strengthen us with God’s grace” and “watch over our souls.” Above all, we are to remember Jesus Christ, who is “the same, yesterday and today and forever,” and who suffered and died for us, that we might have our sins forgiven “through His own blood.” We “continually praise His Name,” as we await the eternal “city that is to come” in heaven.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 14:1-14, Jesus shows mercy to a man who is ill and heals him in his time of need, even though it is the Sabbath Day. The Pharisees want to condemn Him for breaking their legalistic rules about the Sabbath, but they remain silent, knowing that they do not always follow their own rules. Jesus also taught a parable about being humble and not always pushing for a place of honor. “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God is the one who finally humbles and exalts, in His own wisdom. Jesus teaches about doing good also to those who “cannot repay you,” like the “poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” God calls all people to faith in Him and cares about all.

Study of Galatians Part 12 - Galatians 4:21-5:1

Last week, we heard of Paul’s very personal concern for the Galatian Christians. The Lord had opened their hearts to believe in the Good News of Jesus as Savior and to being so kind and helpful to Paul, even with the bodily ailment he had. Paul was very concerned, though, that people had quickly turned to “a different Gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7) which was enslaving them in trying to follow laws and regulations from which Christ Jesus had freed them and making them think they must follow these rules in order to have salvation (Galatians 4:8-20).

Paul went on to challenge the Galatians by asking them if they had really ever “listened to the law,” and if they really wanted to be slaves under that law (Galatians 4:21). Paul took the Galatians to what had been written in Genesis 16, 17:15-21, 18:9-15, and 21:1-21. (Remember that for the Jews, Moses was the great lawgiver and that his five books at the beginning of the Old Testament were the most important parts and the summary and essence of all the rest of the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament. So, Paul was taking an important part of what Moses had written, as inspired by God, and asking the Galatians to look at that.)

Turn to Genesis 16. We find out that Abraham and his wife, Sarah, as good and faithful to God as they were, were at times not so good and so faithful. God had clearly promised Abraham a son of his own in Genesis 12 and 15, but Abraham and Sarah became tired of waiting upon God. Sarah told Abraham to go to her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and have a child by her. Abraham did so, and a child, Ishmael, was born.

This was clearly against God’s plan of one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment of marriage. It was clearly also Abraham and Sarah taking things into their own hands instead of trusting God and His plans. Trouble then began right away when they sinned, as Hagar had contempt for Sarah for being barren, and Sarah treated her very harshly in return, and she tried to run away. There was trouble between Abraham and Sarah over all this too (Genesis 16:1-6).

The angel of the Lord sent Hagar back to Sarah and said that her son, Ishmael, would have many of his own descendants; but he would be “a wild donkey of a man,” and many conflicts would follow. Ishmael laughed in contempt of Isaac when he was born, too (Genesis 16:9-15, 21:9). (This trouble did happen, as the Arab nations trace themselves back to Ishmael; and Mohammed said in the Koran that Ishmael was the true child God had spoken of, and that Mohammed was his descendant and the true prophet of God. What conflict there has been, since, between Jews and Arabs, and between Islam and Christianity and others.)

This passage and others (see Genesis 12:10-20, for example) indicate that Abraham was not acceptable to God because he followed the will of God well enough. He failed miserably, at times. He could only be “counted righteous” by faith in God’s mercy and forgiveness and the ultimate Child of Promise, Jesus, and what He would come and do for him and for the world.

Remember how Paul had earlier quoted also from the Book of the Law, Deuteronomy 27:26, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” That would include Abraham (and you and me, too, as being under a curse, for we are all imperfect sinners). So Paul said, “now it is evident that no one is justified before God by keeping the law” (Galatians 3:10-11). Help could only come through Christ and what He did for us all.

Yet as we read on in Genesis 17:15-21, and Genesis 18:10-15, both Abraham and Sarah laughed when some years later God came again and promised that they would have a son, Isaac, born of the two of them, who would be the child promised, the child of the covenant. Abraham still wanted to bring up the birth of Ishmael: “Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you!’” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Genesis 17:18-19). Then, in Genesis 21:8-20, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. God protected them and Ishmael married an Egyptian, but he was not the child of promise.

Go back now to Galatians 4:22-23. Paul summarizes these events in this way: “It is written (in the law of God) that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh” (by the human will and choice of Sarah and Abraham and Hagar) “while the son of the free woman was born through promise” ( by Abraham and Sarah, but through the promise and miracle of God).

Then we have a word that is used only here in the whole Bible: “Now this may be interpreted“ ‘allegorically’” (Galatians 4:24). This is a literal rendering of the actual Greek word. It is a combination of two Greek words: “allos,” which means “other,” and the word “agoreuo,” which means “to speak in a place of public assembly,” an “agora,” a marketplace. What Paul was saying is something “other” than what the literal words say, but with an application that “corresponds with,” is in line with them (Galatians 4:25) and does not change the literal meaning. 

The two women represent or typify two covenants. The slave woman, Hagar, represented the old covenant of Mount Sinai, which imposed the Law upon people and kept them enslaved to that law, “imprisoned” and “under a guardian,” as Paul had said earlier (Galatians 3:22-24, 4:24-25).

The city of Jerusalem at the time of Paul was wrapped up in that slavery to the many laws and rules of Judaism. The city was focused on human effort and activity, like the human effort that produced Ishmael. Paul knew and lived in that slavery himself, until he was set free by Christ.

In contrast, the child of Sarah, Isaac, came through the promises and working of God. This represents the “Jerusalem above,” the freedom of those who are children of God, not by their own efforts, but by the working of God Himself, who are “born according to the Spirit of God” (Galatians 4:23,26,28.29). It is the children of the free woman who will inherit the promises of God - those who live in the freedom and love of Christ the Savior. The children of the slave woman will lose out, because they are still living in slavery to themselves and their own attempts to earn God’s favor by their works (Galatians 4:30, 31, and 5:1).

Paul added two more thoughts. He quoted an Old Testament passage, Isaiah 54:1, which predicted the fall of Jerusalem in future days. God’s people would look like barren Sarah at that time, waiting for deliverance. As Sarah was finally blessed with a child, so God’s people would be blessed through the promises of God and be free people again, by God’s work and mercy. There would be times of persecution where the Jews of old Jerusalem and the law would persecute the free children of God, in Christ, “as it is now,” Paul added (Galatians 4:27-29). But Christ has set us free, and we will be free and hopeful people, in Him, as He helps us avoid the “yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

This is a long, hard presentation in just a few verses. We’ll have a few more comments next week and then move on to Galatians 5, where Paul emphasizes again how important what he is saying really is for us all.