Is Galatians 5:12 sub-Christian?

Note:  Here’s another single verse reflection from Galatians 5, taken from expanded notes from my sermon on Galatians 5:7-12.

“I would they were even cut off which trouble you” (Galatians 5:12).

Paul’s sentiment in v. 12 has been much discussed.  Some have been troubled by it.  Longenecker called it, “the crudest and rudest of all Paul’s extant statements” (Galatians, p. 371).  Paul says, “I would they [the false teachers, the troublers] were even cut off [apokapto: literally to cut off; also with the sense of to mutilate of to castrate] which trouble you.”  Paul is essentially saying, “They care so much about circumcision, I wish they would just go the whole nine yards and emasculate themselves.”  So, the NIV:  “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”  Indeed, Paul uses very vivid language Paul. There is also a play on word here with v. 7.  I wish the ones who cut you off in the race (egkapto; v. 7) were cut off completely (apokapto; v. 12).

In our modern day emphasis upon a more therapeutic and “feminized” view of ministry, my guess is that there would be more than a few who might accuse Paul of expressing a sub-Christian sentiment here.  They might say something like, Paul had anger issues.  He is just too harsh.  He needs training in counseling.  To make the case against Paul, they might place alongside this passage others like:

1 Corinthians 4:21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

Or even, Galatians 3:1:  “O foolish Galatians….”

This is not, of course, to excuse real abuse in any form, but Paul is not being abusive.  His inspired words here are like the inspired words of the imprecatory Psalms (cf. Psalm 137).  Timothy George concludes:

In this emergency situation Paul summoned the courage to utter a word of imprecation.  It had to be said, and it was right for him to say it because a lesser rebuke would have signaled an unconscionable compromise and retreat.  Let no one ever utter such words lightly, unadvisedly, or in a spirit of personal aggravation or revenge.  Those kinds of statements are likely to return upon the one who pronounces them with all the reciprocal force of a boomerang (Galatians, p. 373).

Paul’s words are there to serve as an inspired warning against ungodliness.  They come with apostolic authority.  Those who preach falsehood should be cut off and they will be cut off.

JTR

The Vision (3.6.14): Liberty in Christ is no excuse for sin

Note: Here are some abbreviated expositional notes on Galatians 5:13 from last Sunday morning’s sermon from Galatians 5:13-15:

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

Paul begins v. 13:  “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty….”

Notice again Paul’s use of the title “brethren [adelphoi]” (cf. 1:11; 3:15; 4:12, 28, 31; 5:11; 6:18).  Once more, despite the strain on their relationship as apostle and people, Paul still has a fraternal affection for the Galatian believers.  They are brothers still, even if brothers seduced into error.  Paul does not demonize these “brothers.”  He continues to hold them close.

He reminds them of their status as redeemed men and women.  It is a status they have received through the effectual call of God (cf. v. 8; Romans 8:30).

It is a status of liberty [eleutheria] (cf. v. 1).  Again, the word has a secular usage that draws to mind the manumission of one enslaved.  Paul is reminding the brethren that they have been set free through Christ.  From what have they been set free?

1.  From the wrath and curse of God due to them for their sin.

2.  From the guilt of sin.

3.  From the duty to keep the law as a condition of salvation.  Keeping the moral law of God and the commands of Christ might be a grateful response of a believer, but the believer does not look to this as the thing that saves him.  He has the liberty of knowing that his salvation does not depend on his own law keeping.  But there has been given to him, completely undeservedly, the righteous life of Christ.

Paul proceeds to say:  “only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh….”

Paul is urging and warning:  Do not use the assurance of your salvation as an occasion or an excuse knowingly, flagrantly, and repeatedly to wallow in sin.

Finally, Paul adds:  “but by love serve one another.”

Thus, Paul offers a positive alternative to the negative path of giving occasion to the flesh.  The Christian life is not merely a matter of mortification (putting to death sin) but also of vivification (bringing to life godliness).  Paul exhorts:  Use the occasion of liberty not for licentious living but for serving your fellow believers with an attitude and spirit of love.

This final part of the passage speaks to the importance and centrality of belonging to a local church.  How better to obey this command than by becoming a vital part of a local body of believers?

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9)

Note:  Here are some expository notes from my sermon on Galatians 5:7-12:

 

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9).

 

Paul continues this warning against these false teachers with a one verse parable.  It takes just a little bit of yeast to make the whole mass of bread dough to rise.  So, a little bit of false teaching can get mixed into the whole lump and spread its nefarious influence throughout the whole, not to produce something good (a loaf of bread) but to ruin the whole.

 

 

BTW, here is a place where I think we see that Paul directly knew the teachings of our Lord from the Gospels, because Jesus so often appealed to yeast in such a parabolic way.  Compare:

 

 

Matthew 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

 

 

Luke 12:1 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

 

 

Also, behind this metaphor is the idea of the Jewish practice of the Passover when all unleavened bread had to be removed from the house.  You will not be spiritually pure, as long as you tolerate false teaching, Paul is saying. Compare:

 

 

1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

 

 

The image that came to mind when I meditated on this verse was the recent chemical spill into the drinking water in Charleston, WVA.  Back on January 9, 2014,  seven to ten thousand gallons of MCHM leaked into the water supply affecting hundreds of thousands of people, and, by many accounts, it is still affecting their water.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.  A little false teaching can infiltrate and ruin the whole body of teaching and harm thousands.

JTR 

John Owen on How Churches Support One Another In Prayer

 While expositing Ephesians 6:18-24 at the Lynchburg RB Mission last Sunday evening, I was reflecting on Paul's call to the Ephesians that prayer be offered for "for all saints" and for his own apostolic ministry: 

Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

I made mention of a quote from a section in John Owen’s The True Nature of a Gospel Church and Its Government in which he describes the comfort and fellowship which all churches and all Christian have through prayer.  I thought I had previously posted this but looks like I hadn’t.  Here is the Owen’s quotation taken from Gospel Church Government, my 2012 abridgement and simplification of Owen’s original work (emphasis added):

The fellowship of churches in faith consists much in the principal fruit of that faith, namely, prayer.  So, in Ephesians 2:18, it says, “For through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”  Paul continues the emphasis on prayer in vv. 19-22.  Prayers in all churches have one object.  They are directed to God, even the Father, that is, God as Father.  They proceed from one and the same Spirit.  A Spirit of grace and supplication is given to them to make intercession for them.  All is continually offered to God by the same High Priest.  He adds to it the incense of his own intercession.  By him they have all access to the same throne of grace.  They have a blessed fellowship in prayer continually.  This fellowship is more evident in that the prayers of all are for all.  There is not a single particular church or a single member of any of them that does not have the prayer support of all the churches in the world and all the members of them every day.  Though this fellowship is invisible to the eyes of flesh, it is glorious to the eye of faith.  It is a part of the glory of Christ the mediator in heaven.  This fellowship in prayer gives to all churches a communion far more glorious than any outward rite or plan of men’s devising.  If there are any persons or churches who pray to anyone other than God the Father, or who rely on any mediator other than Christ alone, or who renounce the aid of the Holy Spirit, they cut themselves off from fellowship with the universal church (pp. 100-101).          

JTR

The Vision (2.27.14): Avoiding False Persuasion

Note:  Here are the notes from the conclusion to last Sunday’s sermon on Galatians 5:7-12:

“This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you” (Galatians 5:8).

Did the Judaizers who infiltrated the Galatian churches really believe that circumcision would save you (cf. Acts 15:1)?  Didn’t they believe in Jesus? Didn’t they just want to be zealous in keeping God’s law as they understood it?  Yes, there might have been something good about their zeal for obedience, but on the whole it was wrong.  They mixed truth with error, and so made the whole of their belief structure wrong.  They thought they had it right, but they were wrong. All false religions and all false cults believe with great sincerity and most often with great fervor that they hold the truth.  But this does not mean they are right.

Under the influence of the Judaizers, the Galatians had adopted a false persuasion.  It did not come from God.

Now, as I noted last week, the problem in the modern church is no longer circumcision.  But we still do battle with works righteousness.  This may take many forms.  Our “circumcision” is anything we think we must add to the cross work of Christ to really be saved.

Conservative Christians are particularly prone to get into these types of traps.  How do we shake ourselves loose from false persuasions?

1.  We should practice discernment, making use of all the resources God has given to us.  These resources include first and foremost Scripture, along with meditation, prayer, and the church (especially her elders and teachers, including the written works of godly men of the past and confessions of faith).  Consider the words of the apostle John:

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2.  We should take time.  We should not make hasty decisions.  There are few decisions in life that cannot be helped by taking adequate time to make them.  There is a logical fallacy called “the fallacy of exigency” which says you’ve got to hurry up and make a decision because time is running out.  Politicians and lawyers use this fallacy to bring about decisions before folk have time to think through all the ramifications of their actions.  Consider, however, the wisdom of Solomon:

Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

3.  We should strive to be stable and consistent, rather than erratic and inconsistent.  We should not be like a Christian butterfly flittering and fluttering from one conviction or practice to another and never settling anywhere for long. We are not to be double minded, as James said:

James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

As Paul puts it in Romans 14:5 when addressing disputable practices: “Let every man be persuaded in his own mind.”

Friends, let us avoid the pitfalls of false persuasions that the Galatians fell into.  Most importantly, let us look to Christ and to him alone for our salvation.

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (2.20.14): Stand fast in liberty

 

Note:  We returned to our Galatians series last Sunday, as I preached on Galatians 5:1-6.  Galatians has been called the “Magna Carta” of Christian liberty.  Here are some of my notes from the exposition of Galatians 5:1:

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

Notice first that Paul is offering an exhortation to stand fast.  The Galatians have already proven that they were capable of slippage (cf. Gal 1:6:  “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel”).  Now, he exhorts them to hold their ground.  He wants them to be spiritually rooted and grounded.  Grounded in what?  In liberty (eleutheria:  freedom).  We need to be careful here, because our democratic, egalitarian culture can cause us to misunderstand Paul’s sense. 

Paul was not speaking here about political liberty.

He was not talking about psychological or emotional liberty.

He was not talking about libertinism or spiritual anarchy—nobody can tell me what I ought to think or believe.

He was talking about the ultimate spiritual liberty that comes through the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is what he means when he speaks of this liberty “wherewith Christ has made us free.”  What is the emphasis upon?  It is upon the work of Christ.  He is the Liberator.

The language here is that of the slave-market (cf.  1 Corinthians 7:21:  “Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free [eleutheros], use it rather.”).  Christ has ransomed you who used to be slaves to sin and who were also slaves to the burden of works righteousness.

So, Paul exhorts the Galatians to stand fast in liberty, “and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage [douleia]” (v. 1).  Notice the continuation of the slavery metaphor.  You have been liberated.  Why would you go back to bondage?

There is a popular film based on the Solomon Northup book Twelve Years a Slave.  It is about a free black man who was illegally sold into slavery where he suffered for 12 years till he escaped and won again his freedom.  How would it be in the book or film if after gaining back his freedom this man had given up his liberty and returned to his suffering enslavement?  That would be nonsensical would it not?  But this is what Paul is saying that the Galatians had done by abandoning the gospel and going back to the beggarly “Christ plus” religion.  Paul is wanting to make them come to their senses.  To think clearly and soberly.  To stand fast in liberty.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Augustine's Table and Gossip

In Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo he notes that the great African bishop had the following poetic verses written on his table “warning against the common plague of gossip” (p. 200):

            Whoever thinks that he is able,

            To nibble at the life of absent friends,

            Must know that he’s unworthy of this table,

The original Latin version of the inscription is recorded in Caxton’s translation of The Golden Legend:

Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam,
Hanc mensam indignam noverit esse sibi.

Brown also shares an anecdote from an early biographer:  “….Once when some intimate friends of his, fellow bishops, were forgetful enough of his verses as to gossip, he upbraided them so sternly that he lost his temper, and said that either they should rub these verses off the table, or that he would get up and go to his room in the middle of the meal” (p. 200).

JTR