Christ Church

Hard Law, Hot Gospel: The Israel of God (CC Downtown)

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INTRODUCTION

Our justification is not by works. But our justification really does result in new life. In this new life, we find that, by the Spirit’s power, there is work for us to do. The work is heavy. The work might even make you bloody. The world will despise your work. But the work is glorious.

THE TEXT

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. […] Galatians 6:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The liberty of the Gospel is not the removal of all restraint. As Paul says in Romans, “Should we sin so that grace may abound? God forbid!” Gospel liberty includes confronting a brother overtaken in a fault (v1), but this rebuke is to be done by those who are spiritual, literally Spirit-people. Confronting sin in others should be aimed towards restoring the brother, and guarding against falling into sin yourself (v1). The Law of Christ requires us to refuse the rugged individualism of modern thinking, and instead bear each other’s burdens (v2). This demands mutual humility (v3). Though we are a community, you must not coast on the work of others; your bushel will either be full of the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit (vv4-5). The saints have a duty to be in fellowship with their teachers, and this means submission and loyalty to the truth he is obligated to teach (v6).

Sowing and reaping is inescapable (v7). It’s all a matter of whether you will sow fleshly seeds or spiritual seeds. One bears a harvest of corruption, the other a harvest of everlasting life (v8). But planting and harvest requires being unwearied in good works (v9). Our good works should be ordered, giving priority to the “household of faith”, but this does not absolve us from showing goodness to all men (v10).

As we noted at the beginning of this letter this is all deeply personal for Paul. He had been called by the Lord Jesus Himself, commissioned to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he had suffered persecution for it. Paul closes this letter with a personal touch, he takes the pen from the scribe to add his signature and authentication to this letter (v11). Then he emphasizes that the troublers wanted the Galatians circumcised not out of love for the Galatians, but to spare themselves from persecution (v12). In all their zeal for law-keeping, they are in fact law-breakers, because they glory in the flesh (v13). True glory is in the shape of Christ’s cross; this is what Paul glories in, that he has died to the old world and it has died to him (v14). Christ’s cross has remade the world, and there’s no undoing it (v15). Walking according to this reality assures theses Gentiles that they are the Israel of God (v16). This really should end the dispute, because Paul’s body is tattooed with the stripes of his sufferings for the Gospel (v17). Paul closes by blessing the brethren, with the grace of Jesus equipping their spirit to be this fruitful orchard (v18).

THE LAW OF CHRIST 

The Galatians had their work cut out for them. They had been bewitched by the Judaizer’s lies. It would take time to undo the spell, and thus patience with one another. Picture a part of your property overgrown with unwanted thorn bushes; you might need a hand loading the brush into the bed of the truck. Reformation takes time and patience; restoring fallen brethren takes the long-suffering which should mark us as “Spirit-people.”

Those of the flesh are burden givers, those of the Spirit are burden bearers. Think of Jesus’ rebuke of lawyers of his time: “And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers (Luk 11:46).” Fleshly men, who place their trust in the old world, are only doing so to avoid the persecution that arises from preaching the cross. Their only use for you is whether you’ll make them more glorious. They won’t get their own hand dirty, they won’t risk their own reputation.

Life in Christ makes sacrificial men and women. Look at Paul’s stigmata. Those who follow Christ joyfully lay down their lives for the sake of truth. Even in confronting those in sin, we are doing so for the sake of their restoration. Sin is living in the old world and according to the old man. But those in Christ live in the new world, living in certain hope for the final resurrection. Thus we bear each others burdens: confronting sin, laboring at good works, enduring persecution, comforting each other in our sorrows.

When the Law of Moses was given, it was followed by the Spirit filling God’s people to build the tabernacle (Ex. 31:3). They were equipped for service in building the house of God. The seed of the law of Moses had now flowered into the law of Christ, and now Gentiles were filled with the Spirit to serve in the construction of the house of God.

MERCY & PEACE

Paul saw that Christ really had remade the world. It may not look like it by earthly sight, but by faith we see that this world is being made new. Paul’s benediction is rich with this confident faith that we have entered the new creation through Christ. Israel is being restored, not under the law, but by faith in Christ. Thus, the comfort to God’s people is that the everlasting mercy of God rests upon you. The peace of Israel’s God rests upon this new Israel: the church (Ps. 125).

The message which Paul has been hammering home in Galatians is that you are not brought into this abundant life through striving after law-adherence. You enter this new creation, this new Israel, by faith in the One who is the first-fruit of God’s great harvest. Are you in Christ? Well then, the shalom of Yahweh rests upon you. Not because you are circumcised, but because you are in the Crucified Christ.

THE CROSS & NEW CREATION

The new world is cross shaped. This is your glory. But this glory takes time. It takes long-suffering and patience. It takes sowing to the Spirit. Paul sees by faith that in the cross he is crucified to the old world, but the opposite is true as well. The world is dead to Paul. The old world despises the new world. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. Ishmael persecutes Isaac. The cross comes before the crown. So then, do not grow weary. In the cross you died to the old world and its desires, and by faith you live in the shadowlands of everlasting life.

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Heaven (Practical Christianity #4) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

It has sometimes been said that some people are so heavenly minded they are not any earthly good, but this is a malicious slander. The fact is that Christians are commanded to be heavenly minded so that they can be the most earthly good.

Heaven is the end toward which all things on earth are bending, growing up into. So, to focus on Heaven, where Christ is seated, is to focus on what you and all things are becoming in Christ. Heaven is not an escape. Heaven is the future. In this sense, Heaven is the most practical thing there is.

The Text: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God…” (Col. 3:1-10).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

If we have been raised with Christ, Scripture says we ought to be seeking everything that is heavenly, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). We ought to think about those things which are in Heaven because to be a Christian means that we have already died, and our true lives are hidden with Christ in God in Heaven (Col. 3:2-3). When Christ appears, who is our life, then we will finally and fully appear glorified (Col. 3:4). Therefore, put to death your old, earthly ways (Col. 3:5). These “things of earth” are what God is destroying, and those are the things you used to live in (Col. 3:6-7). But since you don’t live in them anymore, put them off with all the deeds of the old man, and put on the new man who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the One in Heaven who made man (Col. 3:8-10).

WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?

The Bible teaches that Heaven is where God dwells: He is “our Father in heaven” (Lk. 11:2). Heaven is where Christ is seated on a great throne in all majesty (Mk. 16:19). Heaven is our Father’s house, full of many mansions prepared by Jesus for His people (Jn. 14:2-3). And since it is our Father’s house, Heaven is truly going home. If you are in Christ, Heaven is where your heart is. Heaven is described as a new heaven and a new earth, with a new capital city, a resplendent garden-castle coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21:1-2).

Heaven is that place where there is no death, no dying, no sin, no curse (Rev. 21:4, 22:3). And the God who has kept a record of all our tears, will personally wipe every tear away (Ps. 56:8, Is. 25:8, Rev. 21:4). This means that every sad thing will be completely undone, and we will have a fullness of joy that only grows and pleasures that only increase (Ps. 16:11).

The Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8), but to be absent from the body is to be “unclothed” and therefore, the fullness of Heaven will be when our bodies are raised from the dead and we are given new immortal bodies (2 Cor. 5:2-5). It’s possible that there is an intermediate state, but since time need not work the same way in Heaven, it’s also possible that when we die, we are immediately taken to the resurrection at Christ’s second coming (1 Cor. 15:20-26). Since even creation groans for our redemption (Rom. 8:19-22), and Heaven includes a new earth, we are invited to believe that all of creation (including animals and stars) will be raised to incorruption, which could certainly include beloved family pets (1 Cor. 15:38-44).

All of this of course means that we will have plenty to do with our new and perfect bodies in this new creation: good work and games, inventions and discoveries, cheetah and dragon rides, the loveliest arts and architecture, and the best adventures forever and ever. But it will always be without the burdens of pain and anxiety, and full of perfect rest (Heb. 4:10).

In that place, we will be reunited with our believing families: “gathered to our people,” as it was said of the patriarchs (Gen. 25:8, 35:29, 49:33). We will be with our fathers and mothers, grandparents, spouses, children, and dear friends who have died in the Lord. We serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the living, the God of generations and families, and therefore, while marriage will not be the same, we will know and love one another even better there than we ever did here (Mt. 22:29-32). We will be with all the saints, all the angels, and there will never be any sad goodbyes again.

And at the center of it all will be the greatest Wedding Feast, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), full of the best food, a feast of wine and fat things, full of marrow and the finest wines (Is. 25:6). And there will singing and music like we’ve never heard, vast choirs and orchestras and bands, from all the nations, with all their instruments and distinctive languages and styles and rhythms, praising the Lamb who was slain, the King of kings (Rev. 5:8-9, 7:9-12, 14:2-3, 15:2-4). And every one of us will see His face (Rev. 22:4). And we will cast our crowns before Him, and He will give us lavish rewards that we don’t deserve and put crowns on our heads that defy all reason (2 Tim. 4:8).

APPLICATIONS 

Since all of this is true, put to death your sin. As the old hymn says, “Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion’s children know.”

Your wrath and anger and lust and envy are weights holding you down, bending you down, deforming your life into nothing. But Jesus Christ died so that you might die, so that your sin might die in Him, and He rose from the dead so that you might rise with Him from the dead (without your sin) now in this life and rise in a new body in the Resurrection of Heaven.

Heaven and Hell begin here in this life. Either you are being pulled down into increasing selfishness and pettiness and bitterness and idolatries and fading, or else you are being set free to love and forgive one another as true human beings, real men and women, and beginning to enjoy creation as it was meant to be enjoyed and gathered to the Heavenly Mt. Zion to worship the King forever.

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The Holy Spirit Works the Room (Acts of the Apostles #24) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

This episode is the second time in Acts when the Lord makes a point of introducing two people to one another by supernatural means. The first time was in the previous chapter when He appeared to Saul and said that Ananias was coming, and then appeared to Ananias and told him to go minister to Saul (Acts 9:11-12). Then an angel of the Lord arranged for Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8: 26-27). And in this passage, Cornelius is told to send for a man named Simon Peter (v. 5), and is given the address (v. 6). The next day Simon Peter is told that the men sent by Cornelius are in fact from Him (v. 20). And this is not the last time it will happen in Acts either (Acts 16:9-10).

Remember our Table of Contents from chapter one (Acts 1:8), and realize that the Spirit is actively involved in introducing wildly disparate people to one another. It is as though the Spirit is working the room, making all kinds of introductions. This is how the kingdom works.

THE TEXT

“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter . . .” (Acts 10:1–20).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

We are here introduced to Cornelius, a centurion from the Italian regiment (v. 1). A centurion was the highest rank that an ordinary soldier could achieve as a soldier. This man was a devout God-fearer, together with his household (v. 2). He was dedicated in alms-giving, and was constant in prayer (v. 2). An angel of the Lord came to him in a vision at about three in the afternoon (v. 3), addressing him by name. Cornelius was afraid, and asked the angel what he wanted. The angel said that his prayers and alms had come up as a memorial (“remembrance” in v. 31) before God (v. 4). Cornelius was told to send some men to Joppa, a little over 30 miles south, and there to call on a man named Simon with the surname of Peter (v. 5). He was staying with another Simon, a tanner who lived by the sea. Peter would take it from there (v. 6). When the angel left, Cornelius summoned two of his domestic slaves and a devout soldier (v. 7), told them what had happened, and dispatched them to Joppa (v. 8). The next day, as they were approaching Joppa, Peter went up on the rooftop to pray around noon (v. 9). Peter became very hungry, and while lunch was being prepared for him, he fell into a trance (v. 10). Heaven opened up, and the Lord offered him lunch, in the form of a sheet filled with unclean animals (vv. 11-12). Peter was told to rise up, to kill and to eat (v. 13). But Peter demurred—he had never eaten anything like that (v. 14). The voice said that he should not call common anything that God had cleansed (v. 15). This offer was made three times, and then withdrawn (v. 16). Naturally, Peter started to puzzle over what it all meant (v. 17), and while he was doing this, the three men from Cornelius appeared at the front gate (v. 17). They called to see if Simon Peter was lodging there (v. 18). And so while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit prompted him to go down to the three men (v. 19). He was not to doubt anything, because God had sent them (v. 20).

PETER DEALS IN THREE

Peter sometimes had the difficulty telling the Lord no when he shouldn’t have. When Jesus predicted that He would be betrayed, crucified, and raised, Peter took Him aside to rebuke Him (Matt. 16:22), only to be rebuked as Satan in turn. He famously denies the Lord three times during the Lord’s trial (Matt. 26:75), and the Lord graciously restored him to office at the end of the gospel of John, doing so with three basic questions (John 21:15ff), each question mirroring one of his earlier denials. And then here in this place Peter is told three times to kill and eat, and three times he refuses (Acts 10: 13-16). When everything is over, Peter goes downstairs to meet the three men.

ALL FOODS CLEAN

In the Old Testament, God required His people to refrain from certain meats as being unclean. This is codified in the Mosaic code (Lev. 11), but it also predates it, in that Noah was told to make a distinction between clean and unclean animals as he brought animals onto the ark (Gen.7:2), and that was centuries before Moses. Jesus expressly taught that His arrival had resulted in the cleansing of all foods (Mark 7: 14-23), meaning that the clean/unclean distinction had been a pedagogical one, teaching the Israelites the concept of holy and unholy. “And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him” (Mark 7:18).

We learn here that the cleansing of all foods was emblematic of Gentiles being grafted into the covenant. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).

TO REVIEW THE MAIN THING

This book began with a declaration that the gospel was going to go everywhere—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We are then given one systematic demonstration after another of God’s purpose in this. First the gospel spread throughout Jerusalem and Judea (Acts 2:14). Then it spread to Samaria (Acts 8:5). Galilee was then mentioned (Acts 9:31). The Ethiopian eunuch hears the Word from Philip (Acts 8:35). The message had apparently taken root in Damascus in Syria (Acts 9:2).

What we are learning here is that water is thicker than blood. There is nothing at all wrong with natural affection for your own people and your own place. There is something desperately wrong with contempt for the natural affections of others. So the main apostle of a universal gospel was the apostle Paul, and he was willing to go to Hell, if it were possible, for his natural kinsmen. “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Don’t come around to him talking about blood and soil. He has forgotten more about natural affection than the most ardent kinist will ever know (Phil 3:4-5). But compared to the knowledge of Christ, all of that was nothing more than dumpster scrapings to him (Phil. 3:8).

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Assurance of Salvation (Practical Christianity #3) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

In a room with this many people, a preacher always runs the risk of worrying the faithful and flattering the faithless. There are some who have very fragile faith who need to be encouraged, and there are some full of arrogant presumption that really need to be rattled.

What do I mean? There are some fragile folks who love God and their neighbors, and they can get themselves into a knot because one time in second grade they *might* have said something a little disrespectful to Mrs. Jones and they’re just not sure they’re really saved.

On the other hand, there are others who are real pills to their families, regularly causing harm and heartbreak, who constantly explain it away as “not perfect just forgiven.” And it would never even occur to them that they might not be saved.

And with a message like this, chances are good that the presumptuous will latch on to the encouragement, and the easily worried will get rattled. So pray that the Spirit would direct the Word to the right targets. When we talk about assurance of salvation, the goal is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

The Text: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother…” (1 Jn. 3:10-24)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While it is certainly true that God saves sinners, such that a snap shot of Cain and Abel might have caught Cain in what appeared to be a good moment and Abel in a bad moment, nevertheless the game film generally reveals God’s grace working righteousness in believers and sin working evil in unbelievers – this is manifest (1 Jn. 3:10-12). Some of this is proven by the hatred of the world for believers (1 Jn. 3:13). But we know that we have passed from death to life because we love other Christians (1 Jn. 3:14). But bitterness and spite for those around you is a sure sign that you are still in your sins (1 Jn. 3:15).

This distinction flows directly from the love of God, who laid His life down for us, compelling us to love those around us in word and deed (1 Jn. 3:16-17). This truth is part of how God assures our hearts, even if our hearts sometimes condemn us (1 Jn. 3:18-21). God also gives us assurance by answering our prayers, which He does in part because He is pleased with the obedience which He has given to us (1 Jn. 3:22). But the fundamental obedience is faith in His Son and love that obeys, which proves that we have been given the Holy Spirit (1 Jn. 3:23-24).

PRESUMPTION VS. FAITH 

Jesus said that there would be some who prophesied in His name, cast out devils and performed wonderful works, to whom He will say, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Mt. 7:22-23). Scripture says that it is possible to be baptized and take communion and still become idolaters and be destroyed (1 Cor. 10:1-11). It says, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Likewise, in Romans, it warns Gentile branches in the covenantal olive tree against boasting and presumption: “Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee” (Rom. 11:20-21). Presumption assumes everything is fine because nothing too bad has happened (yet) but it is always far worse than they think. Faith trembles before God knowing that it deserves destruction. Presumption is arrogant; faith is humble.

ASSURANCES OF SALVATION 

When Christ saves a sinner, He begins a work that He has already planned, paid for, and guaranteed: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

This work begins as a seed that is planted, and the first fruit of that good soil is confessing that Jesus is Lord and calling upon Him: “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3). “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9). “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 Jn. 4:15). This is part of what makes worship central. Do you love to gather with all the saints and proclaim Jesus is Lord?

Baptism is also given as a sign of salvation: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3) Baptism is not so much something that we do as it is something that God does and says: “The like figure [Noah’s Ark] whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 3:21, cf. Heidelberg 69). Do you believe?

Scripture also teaches that when God begins the work of salvation there is a real change of character: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” (Gal. 5:19-23). Which one are you? Which list characterizes your life?

The presence of the Holy Spirit confirms that we are Christians: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 Jn. 4:13). The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (Jn. 16:8), gives us the power to repent and obey God’s commandments (1 Jn. 3:24), and leads us to pray and receive what we ask for (Rom. 8:15-16, 1 Jn. 3:22).

Finally, those who have passed from death to life love other Christians (1 Jn. 3:14). “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 Jn. 4:20) And this includes your children and spouse (Mt. 18:5, 1 Pet. 3:7). Do you love God’s people? Is there a growing desire to be around other Christians (1 Cor. 12:13)? Or are they often annoying and bothersome (2 Cor. 2:16)?

CONCLUSION 

The Christian life is marked by peace and comfort in the Holy Spirit and growing in grace and obedience over time (Rom. 14:17). This is not always a smooth ride, but it is sure and steady progress. What is the pattern?

And the trajectories are generally manifest. The difference between light and darkness, life and death are not really small. They are open and obvious. Do you love Jesus? Do you love to worship? Do you love the Bible? Do you love forgiveness? Are you baptized? Then you are a Christian. You are saved.

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Hard Law, Hot Gospel: The Law of Love (CC Downtown)

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INTRODUCTION

We are not saved by the Law, or the works of the Law. But if the Gospel makes us alive, we really must ask the question, what are we made alive to do? What do those who receive this new life occupy their time with? Paul answers that question here in our text.

THE TEXT

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. […] Galatians 5:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Contrary to the view of some expositors of the great St. Paul, he is not anti-Law. This chapter begins with the imperative: stand fast! The Judaizers were moving the goalposts of how Gentiles were to be ushered into the people of God; so Paul commands them to stand steadfast in the liberty that faith in Christ brings. Remember, Christ’s faith in God’s promise secured for all people from all nations the possibility of inclusion in the inheritance promised to Abraham, by faith in Christ. This is the liberty Paul insists the Galatians have received (v1). In contrast, if they submit to be circumcised, they are binding themselves to go through all the other hoops of an order which was passing away (vv2-3). This would be to make Christ ineffectual, and to gut grace of its potency (v4). The immaturity of looking at circumcision status is contrasted with trusting in what the Spirit does, namely, waiting in hope for the righteousness by faith (v5). Circumcision’s purpose in redemptive history had fulfilled its purpose; in its place was faith alone, full of love to God and neighbor (v6).

The Galatians had gone from running well to face-planting terribly (v7). Someone had persuaded them to disobey the truth, and this was worse than finding leaven in their Passover loaves (vv7-9). Paul denounces this troubler, and expresses his confidence that the Galatians will right the ship (v10). Nevertheless, it should be plain that the persecutions which Paul had and continued to endure were not the result of preaching circumcision; it came because of the skandalon of the cross (v11). In one of Paul’s sharpest remarks, he expresses the desire that the troubler would be totally emasculated (v12, Deu. 23:1).

Paul now elaborates on how the passing away of the “age of the Law” does not lead to lawless chaos. Through Christ we have been brought into the maturity of liberty, which means we must not treat liberty as if we were a child left alone in candy shop (v13). Rather, love should be the prevailing motivation of those set free by Christ; Paul sums up the Law: love thy neighbor as thyself (v14). The flesh devours, but walking in the Spirit puts a stronger chain on our lusts than the Law ever could (vv15-16).

There is a great chasm between the sons of Hagar and the sons of Sarah. These sons are at war with each other, and cannot be reconciled. Sons of unbelief and sons of faith cannot have peace with each other (v17). The Spirit brings new creation, which the Law safeguarded until the time of Christ’s coming (v18). The flesh is an orchard full of rotten fruit, and those who bear such fruit are not citizens of Christ’s Kingdom (vv19-21). The Spirit bears the fruit of Eden’s tree of Life within us (vv22-23). The husk guards the seed, but once it sprouts it can no longer contain the tree (v23b). Once more, our union to this life is found by being crucified with Christ (2:20) and thus are dead to the deathly old way of being human (v24). The Spirit has begotten us by faith (justification) so now we ought to walk by the Spirit (sanctification). Which rules out the vanity of the triangles which envy traps us in (vv25-26).

THE GREAT WAR

Paul’s polemic is not a narrow attack on legalism and those silly enough to think they could impress God by shaving their beards a certain way, wearing skirts a certain length, or by avoiding the addicting power of syncopated beats. But neither is it an invitation to reject all rules.  Sinners walk by unbelief in their elaborate false doctrines, and sinners walk by unbelief in grotesque debauchery. The Christian isn’t supposed to balance themselves in between the legalist and the libertine. Rather we should set both sorts of fools on one side and believers on the other.

Paul identified in the last chapter that this great war was between Hagar’s sons and Sarah’s sons. In this chapter the same strife is identified: Flesh or Spirit. Unbelief or Faith. Sinai or Calvary. Your righteousness or Christ’s. Man in Adam or man in the Last Adam. The great war divides mankind between those who walk by faith in Christ, or those who refuse to acknowledge Him as King of Heaven and Earth. Paul demonstrates how great the chasm is between those who are walking by the flesh and those walking by the Spirit. Walking by externals, or walking by the new life of Christ which has invaded the world.

THE COVENANT SIGN

This is why, for Paul, the Judaizers’ insistence on the Gentiles being circumcised becomes a hill to die on. Rushdoony, in his typically insightful way, points out that circumcision was symbolic castration. It was given by God to be a sign of trust; not in human generation, but in heavenly regeneration. In Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive.

Man needed to be born again, and in Christ, by faith in Christ, this new birth is held out to you. Circumcision pointed Israel to hope for the new birth. This new birth would be accompanied by the washing of the Spirit (Cf. Jn. 3:5). This washing had come and was signified by baptism. So then, the promise of the Spirit was to be received by faith as signified by baptism, not by the work of the circumcising knife.

FRUIT FOR CITIZENS 

The Serpent was enticing the Galatians to grasp the fruit through fleshly willfulness instead of walking by trust in God’s clear Word. Meanwhile, Paul’s Gospel invited them to taste the fruit of the tree of life, and enjoy the liberty of that life.

But that liberty was not aimless, or do as you will. Each of the nine-fold attributes of the fruit of the Spirit are easily connected to imperatives found elsewhere in Scripture. Love one another (Jn.13:34). Rejoice always (Phi. 4:4). Seek peace and pursue it (Heb. 12:14). Endure afflictions (2Ti 4:5). Let your gentleness be evident to all (Phi. 4:5). Maintain good works (Gal. 6:10). Shewing all good fidelity (1 Cor. 4:2). Shewing all meekness unto all men (Col. 3:12). Be sober-minded (1 Pt. 5:8). This liberty of new life brings us as citizens to imitate our King. All this was promised of old (Cf. Is. 32:15, Is. 57).

Sin––at its root––is living as if Christ has not come. Sin is living in the old world. Sinful man prowls around looking for anything at all to give him meaning. It might look like sexual indulgence, or strict adherence to cultic rites. It may take the form of murder in blind rage, or the surgical deception of multitudes. All of it is the fruit of the flesh; it’s willful unbelief in the new creation work which Christ began.

But you are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. If you have been born of the Spirit you are a citizen of this kingdom. Here is fruit to nourish you. From start to finish Your new life is marked by faith. Faith in the complete work of Christ, and faith in every act of love’s duties. The seed of the Law has burst forth into an oak tree of love.

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