Galatians Study Part Fifteen: 4:28-5:6
NLT: “And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29 But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.
“30 But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
“5 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
“2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. 4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
“5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”
NASB: “And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say?
“Cast out the bondwoman and her son,For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”
“31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.
“5 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”
Paul continues to nail down the seriousness of the issue. Those who believe in Jesus are children of promise, of a free woman. As there was persecution from Ishmael to Isaac, there will be persecution from those yet in slavery to believers who are free.
Believers need to stand firm in the freedom that Christ Jesus has given them. They should not return to slavery. Whether it is a return to the law or to man-made rules, it is walking away from freedom in Christ and into slavery. Not only that, but Paul states that if we seek to be justified by the law, we have both fallen from grace and severed ourselves from Christ. Think again if you believe that trusting in following rules doesn’t matter (“better to be safe than sorry“).
Remember what Paul shared earlier, that the law is not of faith. When we turn to following the law, or any other set of rules, our walk is no longer by faith as we are seeking to be justified by the things we do.
Our entire walk with God is by faith. It isn’t about our works making us, or keeping us, right with God. It is about faith in the completed work of Jesus, that we may be justified through faith in him.
The last verse in this segment says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” Jumping ahead to Galatians 6:15, it states, “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 proclaims that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. It doesn’t matter if one is circumcised or uncircumcised, Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free (Galatians 3:28)–we are one in Christ–a new creation and what matters is our faith working through love. Period. That is the only thing that counts.
Which will you choose? Will you follow laws and rules and fall from grace, becoming enslaved, or will you through faith stand firm in your freedom and be justified by faith in Christ Jesus?
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