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Galatians Lesson 3 (2010)

BY FAITH OR BY WORKS

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

In Galatians chapters 1 and 2, Apostle Paul argued that the gospel he preached was a very authentic gospel, which he received by revelation directly from Jesus Christ. This gospel is also identical to the gospel that the Twelve Apostles preached. The truth of the gospel that Apostle Paul and the other apostles in Jerusalem agreed upon is that a man is justified by faith alone, not by observing the law. (2:15) The main reason that Apostle Paul wrote this letter to Christians in Galatia was to respond to the subtle penetration of legalism through legalistic Jewish believers. Many of us may think that we know what the gospel is all about. But the influence of legalism is so subtle that even true believers can be trapped by legalism. Legalistic people may look righteous and spiritual, but legalism ultimately fails to accomplish God’s purpose because it depends upon outward performance instead of inward change. To avoid falling into the trap of legalism, we need to understand the real difference between legalism and the gospel. In chapter 3, Apostle Paul differentiates between living by faith and doing something by works (1-9) and between the law and faith (10-14). They cannot be mixed.

Look at verse 1. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” Here, Apostle Paul uses a very strong word – the word “foolish”- to rebuke Galatian believers. Actually he uses the word “foolish” twice. He said in verse 3, “Are you so foolish?” Apostle Paul considered their turning to legalism very seriously. He even said that they were bewitched by someone. (1) In other words, he was saying, “You are crazy!” Certainly Apostle Paul wanted their attention because he had something very important to say to them. Why did Paul say that they were foolish? It’s because Galatian believers no longer had the gospel- the crucified Jesus – as the clear focus of their lives- and turned to legalism.

No false teacher reveals his true identity. Instead, false teachers may pretend to be sincere and concerned about you. “I know that you guys believe that you were justified by faith in Jesus. That sounds great. But I am afraid that you are being too naïve. Do you think you can grow spiritually by ignoring what God taught us through Moses? What do you think about that? Do you think you can ignore the teachings of the Scripture all of a sudden and then follow a new teaching, which has been around just a few years?” It seems that many believers in Galatia were deceived and turning away from the gospel to legalism again by adopting the view that circumcision and observation of the law were necessary for their salvation.

In verses 2-5, Apostle Paul reminded the Galatians of their own experience by asking many rhetorical questions. Look at verses 2-5. “I would like to know just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” There could be only one answer to these questions: They received the Holy Spirit when they simply believed the gospel message that Christ was crucified for their sins. They didn’t have to be circumcised or obey the law. All they did was listen and believe the gospel. Once they had done this, they were justified and received the Holy Spirit. In other words, we don’t need any additional work to complete our salvation because Jesus has completed all we need for our salvation through his death on the cross. If anyone says that we need to add something to our faith in order to accomplish our salvation, he is not preaching the true gospel at all.

In verses 6-9, Apostle Paul turns to the book of Moses in order to prove his point. Read verse 6. “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” This is a quotation from Genesis 15:6. Let me explain the circumstances. When God called Abraham, he was an old man and childless, but God had promised him a son, actually many children that would establish a great nation. (Gen 12:2-3) But even after 10 years had passed, God still hadn’t given Abraham a son. Abraham became impatient. In fact, Abraham seemed to have a backup plan to get a son for himself in case God didn’t give him a son. He said to the Lord, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless … You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir?” (Genesis 15:2-3) He was saying “What about that Lord? Shall I help you to fulfill your promise? Didn’t you say that God helps those who help themselves?”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abraham outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them, so shall your offspring be.” What was Abraham’s response to God’s promise and vision? Abraham simply believed the Lord, and Abraham was justified because of his faith, not because of his works. Abraham was 85 years old when his faith was considered to be his righteousness. Abraham was circumcised when he 99 years old – 13 or 14 years after. In the meantime, we see that Abraham made a big mistake by taking a concubine to get a son. Yet, God didn’t remove his promise of blessing from him. Abraham wasn’t perfect at all. But because his faith, he became and remained as a loving child of God.

What Spiritual lesson does Apostle Paul want the Galatian Christians to learn from Abraham? Read verses 7-9. “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” When God called Abraham, he said to Abraham, “I will make into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3) But Apostle Paul quotes only the last part of verse 3, which says, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” There are many kinds of blessings. But we should think about the kind of blessing that all nations would inherit through Abraham. Is it the blessing of wealth or fame? Is it the blessing of having many children? Not really. The blessing God wanted to give to all peoples on earth is the blessing of justification by faith. In fact, there was no law of Moses in Abraham’s time. The law was given 430 years after Abraham died. In fact, Abraham never heard about Moses or the law of Moses. Yet, he was considered a righteous man because he simply believed in God’s promise. So who are the true children of Abraham? In other words, who are the true children of God who will inherit the blessing of justification and the Holy Spirit? They are those who live by faith in Jesus Christ who suffered and died for our sins.

What was the important thing that Jesus did on earth? Healing people or work miracles? No. It was his sacrificial death on the cross. When the baby Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem, the angels of the Lord appeared to several shepherds living out in the field nearby and said, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Lk 2:8-11) However, the birth of Jesus would not be good news of great joy unless he was crucified for our sins, shedding his blood as the Passover Lamb. The gospel of Jesus is good news only because he was crucified for our sins. That’s why in the book of Revelation Jesus was mainly portrayed as the Lamb who was slain. Do you know how many times the word “Lamb” is repeated in Revelation? Thirty times. The description in Revelation 5:11-12, which John the Apostle saw in heaven, is awesome and breathtaking. He said, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

When Apostle Paul preached the message of the crucified Christ in the first century, many people accepted it, but many more people rejected it. The Jews felt offended and the Gentiles said it was nonsense. But Apostle Paul was not ashamed of preaching the message of the cross because he believed that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jews. (1 Corinthians 1: 18; Romans 1:16) The message of the crucified Jesus is the only gospel that we should believe and follow. There are some preachers who draw great audiences to listen to their prosperity gospel. Today people pay little attention to the message of the crucified Jesus because it sounds almost silly and irrelevant. But we should examine and test every teaching of preachers by the gospel of Christ crucified.

In verses 10-14, Apostle Paul explains why we should not rely on works of the law or go back to legalism. Here Apostle Paul contrasts the way of the law with the way of faith. Look at verses 11 and 12. “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, ‘The man who does these things will live by them.” In these verses, Apostle Paul quotes two principles that are in contrast to one another, one from Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous will live by faith”, which teaches the way of faith, and the other from Leviticus 18:5, “Keep my decrees and law, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord”, which teaches the way of the law. Both seem to offer eternal life but in different way: one by the way of faith, meaning that only God can justify us, and the other by the way of the law, meaning we can manage by ourselves. These are the two alternatives. Which is true? Are we justified by faith or by works? Do we receive eternal life by believing or by doing? Let’s see why one works and the other doesn’t.

Look at verse 10. “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law.” Here, Apostle Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 27:26. Moses solemnly pronounced here that God’s curse would be on everyone who fails to keep all of the commandments in the law. And according to Deuteronomy 28:1, we will receive all of God’s blessings if we obey His commands absolutely. We are also familiar with Exodus 19:5 and 6, which read, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” When we read these verses, we begin to think that we are obligated to keep every single one of the commandments of the Old Testament while we believe in Jesus Christ. It’s really confusing, isn’t it? So shall we struggle hard to keep the law of Moses as best as we can while we struggle to live by faith in Jesus? Of course not! All who rely on observing the law are under a curse. It means that no one was, is and will be able to be justified by observing the law. In short, all men and women in history are under a curse. Trying to be justified by the law is like driving on a dead-end street. Although it appears to be attractive and spiritual, the way of the law leads us to a dead end. There is neither justification nor life in that way, but only darkness and death. Wasn’t this the reason that Apostle Paul cried out in Romans 7:20, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Look at verse 10 again. “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law.” The word “curse” is a very strong word that people don’t want to hear. But isn’t it true that so many people feel that they are cursed? Some may say that it’s just a psychological or emotional problem. But it’s deeper than that. In fact, being cursed is a real thing to many people. Some people might try to do good things, hoping that they may avoid trouble. Some people visit psychic readers and do very unreasonable things. Some people put jinx proof tattoos in their body. People would do anything in order to be free from the curse.

One man who was very successful and famous in the world ended up with two failed marriages. He thinks that the reason that he failed in marriage and in other things was that he had not served his ancestors properly. And he is very afraid of death. Life under a curse is very unstable and meaningless. We work hard to survive. We work hard to pay high mortgage payments and when we are about to pay them off, we are old and have to return to the dust of the ground. No matter how successful and famous we may be, we all die. Life is short and meaningless, like the grass and flowers that wither and die. Death is the last portion of the curse. Can a cursed man be happy unless the curse has been removed from him? How can we be free from such curse?

We have hope in Jesus Christ. Look at verses 13 and 14. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree,’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” On the cross of Calvary, our Lord Jesus accomplished what we could not accomplish by ourselves. Through his death on the cross, Jesus became a curse for us. Jesus took the curse upon himself voluntarily, in order to deliver us from it. In this way, our curse was transferred to him. He is the Lamb who was slain in our place and through his death the curse has been completely removed from us. What is the blessing given to Abraham? It is the blessing of justification, the Holy Spirit and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is there any curse still left on us who believe in Jesus? Absolutely not. Why are bad things happening to sincere believers? January 7th of this year was my 30th wedding anniversary. My wife and I were married on January 7, 1980. We were both Christians at the time, sincere believers who were ready to serve God’s mission as missionaries. But we were devastated when our first child died two hours after birth. I had to struggle with a theological question. “Am I still cursed?” Some people were so frightened that they didn’t know what to say to me either. Some people might have thought, “What did that guy do to deserve such punishment?” The question lingered in my mind constantly. “Am I cursed because I did something wrong?” At the root of this question lies the belief: “my sins are not forgiven.” “If my sins are forgiven, why am I the only one who is experiencing this kind of pain and tragedy?” “Is everyone else, who does not go through the trouble I go through, perfect?” “What am I supposed to do now?” “How can I remove the curse from my life?” “Should I make a lot of donations to the church?” Well, I knew that wasn’t an option for me because I didn’t have a job. “Should I do something good so that the curse may be removed?” I spent months thinking about this issue. But one day while I was reading the passage about Jesus’ healing of a man born blind in John chapter 9, I came out of the cave. When the disciples saw a man who was blind from birth, they asked Jesus, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Their question was the question that most ordinary people would ask. But that question comes from the cursed way of thinking. People who are under the curse think in a dark and negative way.

How did Jesus answer his disciples’ question? “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” We don’t even know the spiritual condition of the man who was born blind or of his parents. But Jesus didn’t say that he was born blind because of sin. If we think that some people are handicapped because of their sins, that’s not true. The truth is that we are all under condemnation and the curse because of our sins. But the good news is that the curse has been removed from us through Jesus Christ. It’s hard to fully understand how God’s works in redemption. But we know that in Christ, the curse has been completely removed. We are free. We are set free. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) There is no more curse or condemnation for those who are in Christ. (Romans 8:1) The curse has been removed. I am set free! I am God’s child only because of what had done through Jesus Christ on the cross. I am forgiven, accepted to heaven, receive the Holy Spirit and eternal life in the kingdom of God. It’s only through faith in Jesus.

There are two destinies for us, “blessing” and “curse.” And there are two ways that lead us to these destinies, the way of the law and the way of faith. Some of us might still say, “I can do it myself.” But you are driving yourself to a dead-end street. We need to humbly come to the cross of Jesus, where Christ took our curse and set us free. Stop living by the way of the law or human effort. We need to live a Christ-centered life, the way of faith in Jesus Christ who loved us and sacrificed his life for us on the cross. (Gal 2:20)