Final Warning and Benediction
11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

​18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Paul finishes his letter to the Galatians (a part of the letter that they would actually read first because of the way that the scrolls were rolled up) to assure them that he himself is writing this letter and it's not one of his assistants or someone using his name.  They may even recognize his writing and the "large letters" he's using may indicate his passion.

He finishes where he started--they should not be drawn away by the false gospel of the Judaisers.  The real gospel is not the real gospel if it has anything added to or taken away from it.

I know we're in a different book, but did you know that Revelation gives such a warning because it conveys the gospel and the consequences for not believing the true gospel?

​
Revelation 22:18-19
English Standard Version18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.


Paul similarly is concerned about the Galatians that they not believe a false gospel and be part of the group that would experience God's wrath because the song of their lives is "I Did It My Way" nor that they imagine they are part of a family they were never adopted into and have no part in the inheritance of eternal life and the kingdom centered around the tree of life (which at least symbolically is the cross of Christ).

Paul says that anyone trying to make it by their own self-righteousness and preaching that to others is nothing but a hypocrite because there are none that are righteous (on their onw merits), no, not even one (see Romans 3:9-18)


Romans 3:9-18
English Standard VersionNo One Is Righteous9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14     “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
They only do this to boast in their own flesh, but as Christians we should only boast in Christ and His finished work on the cross because it is through that work that we are justified (declared righteous) and sanctified (made holy).  I've posted much of the rest of his argument from the Romans 3, so I won't repeat it other than to say that Jew or Gentile ("circumcision" or "uncircumcision") means nothing to God, it's all about being "in Adam" or "in Christ" (see Romans 5).

Paul basically says this this the last time he's going to address this issue with them because he's been clear that nothing is ever going to change and that this should be the final word on the subject for them and all who are trying to trick them to cause grief to Paul and he doesn't want to hear any more about it.  Again, this is probably one of the most strongly-worded letters that Paul wrote because he's rightfully upset that people would be actively trying to get Christians to turn back to their old way of living (or to another gospel) and that the so-called Christians would be so quick and willing to do so.

We should ask ourselves if we too have added or subtracted anything from the true gospel that is laid out here for us so clearly in the book of Galatians and if we are willing to be accursed and receive the just punishment on ourselves mentioned in the book of Revelation if we would believe a false gospel or encourage others to believe a false gospel.  We must believe the real gospel and be able to profess it accurately to be about the work of The Great Commission that the Lord Jesus left us with.  It is the power of God unto salvation and is the most important thing that we get right in all of Scripture.

Bear One Another's Burdens​
6 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Paul is wrapping up his epistle (letter) to the churches in Galatia--I'm not sure that I mentioned that yet, but this epistle was actually written to a group of churches that would have been on a circuit and it was meant to be shared with all the churches in the entire region.  We'll see in Acts that Paul desired to go back and visit these churches again, but the Holy Spirit prevented it as He pushed Paul to travel to Macedonia where we see some of the first European Christians.  So, Paul was forced to communicate these concerns that he had in writing.

As he's nearing the end of this letter, he changes his tone from correcting their turning away to a false gospel to encouraging them to help restore one another and to help bear each other's burdens, and to always do so in a spirit of gentleness that is consistent with the law of love that we talked about last time.

Paul puts the responsibility here on the one who is "spiritual"--that is the one who is not controlled by the flesh, but this person must be careful to not become self-righteous, proud and arrogant, because any such man who thinks he is spiritual but acts in this way is really controlled by the flesh as well (we saw that in chapter 5 of Galatians as well as I Corinthians 6).  Each one of us is supposed to take close inventory of our own lives and make close inspection of ourselves--basically the point of epistles like 1st John and James--to make sure that we are in the faith and that our talk and our walk match up.

Paul then reminds them that anyone who is taught the Word of God should share all good things (time, talent and treasure) with the one who teaches the Word of God.  In other epistles Paul would specifically say that he had a right to benefit from his work and his ministry as an apostle and teacher of the Word, but he refused to do so and instead was a tent-maker so that no one would accuse him of being one of the charlatans who simply used the gospel for personal gain (we have a lot of them today).  Yet, it is a good idea for us to keep in mind that those who have been called to full-time ministry of preaching and teaching the Word of God (and their families) survive by the generosity of those they lead--that is the order of things so that God teaches them to trust Him to provide all their needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus--which He has given stewardship of to the individual Christians in the Church.  We are to be cheerful givers and to take care of the poor and widows and orphans, but we are also to take care of our pastors, evangelists, and Bible teachers.

Paul now returns to the main idea of the letter of the flesh versus the Spirit.  He uses the idea of sowing and reaping that would be familiar to most of them.  One kernel or seed will turn into an entire plant with lots of seeds and each of those seeds can be planted and take root to produce new plants, etc.  So you reap what you sow, but greater than you sow and usually later than you sow.  Agriculture doesn't work in a way where you put a seed in the ground and seconds later it has germinated and grown and produced a healthy crop to be harvested.  So, we need to be about sowing the Spirit and not the flesh (we talked about what that looks like last time) and we need to run our race with patience and endurance because we may not see results immediately (or maybe never on this side of eternity).Jeremiah the prophet was faithful in his teaching and preaching the Word of God for many years and never saw a single person repent during his time, yet today we look back at him as one of the greatest prophets of all time that has much to say even to us today.

We should always be about the business of looking for opportunities to do good for everyone, but especially for those are part of the Body of Christ, because this is one of the ways we are told that the world understands the gospel--by the way that we love each other unconditionally and sacrificially.  "They'll know we are Christians by out love."  Yes, love your enemies without loving the world system (love the people, but not the broken system), but we must love the people that are part of our family--even the ones that were chosen by adoption that we wonder why God chose that person, because someone else is probably thinking the same thing about us.  We should not be like the older brother in the Parable of the Two Sons who refuses to celebrate that his brother who was dead is now alive and was lost but has now been found.  How awful is it if we seem to only love people until they believe the gospel and then we turn on them and treat them terribly.  Who would want to be part of a family like that--even the Gentiles/heathens know how to treat each other better than that!  (That's something that Paul will say in some of his other epistles).  Remember that the gospel is something we show, not just tell.  We live it out on full display every day by they way we walk, not just by the way we talk, and especially by the way that we treat those who we call "brother" and "sister."

Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

​25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

If you've been following my blogs from the beginning, then you probably know that this passage in particular is one of the ones that I've been waiting for.  It is one of the main topics that started me blogging in the first place (back when I wrote more "opinion" or "topical" pieces instead of going verse by verse through books of the Bible and "journaling").  I'd recommend that you go back and read "Am I Really Just a Sinner Saved By Grace....?," "Born This Way, or Born Again....?"and my series on The Sermon on the Mount.  All of these and a few others tie into this idea of Christians dying to their old nature, becoming a "new creation" or being "born again" (I use the picture of metamorphosis of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly, and point to other verses that use the language of metamorphosis) and that there is such a fundamental change in identity that there is "no turning back" as the hymn "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" says.  That has been what Paul has been arguing this entire epistle--they should never, ever, ever have been tempted to turn away to another gospel (because there is no other gospel) or turn back to their old life and old way of doing things.  It should be as impossible as a caterpillar who has become a butterfly to go back to being a caterpillar again.

I think at this point, everyone is probably tracking with me and has had a decent refresher of what we've talked about over the last one-and-a-half years (while I wrote some other things sporadically before this, it seems that February of 2019 was when God really hit me that I needed to speak about this message in particular, and I believe there was a particular reason that we'll touch on in today's passage).  Today's passage is one of those that you'll see sprinkled throughout many of those early blogs and that has colored much of the message that I've been teaching to my small group members--there is no "third way."  You are either a "good tree" that produces "good fruit" or a "bad tree" that produces "bad fruit" and Jesus told us in Matthew 7, "By their fruits, you shall know them."  Paul has just made the argument that it is not our works of righteousness (self-righteousness) that saves us, but he is now going to turn and say that those who have responded in true faith will have a change in identity and nature so that their lives will no longer be controlled by the flesh, but will be controlled by the Spirit of God and therefore the believer will "naturally" (though really it is something supernatural) will have their behavior and desires changed from the inside-out transformation (the "new creation" and being "born again" that we were talking about).  The problem is those who try to "fake it 'til they make it" with an outside-in mentality, and you'll never be able to "fake it" well enough to "make it."  Your "root" will always produce fruit that is keeping with what you really believe and who is really in control of your life.  I think as we examine today's text we will see clearly, maybe even more clearly than in other areas of Scripture, the gospel and how it is tied to repentance.

Paul starts by urging the Galatian to not be controlled by their flesh, but to walk by the Spirit (he will return to this point as his closing statement in this text, so hang onto this).  The "carnal" or "fleshly" desires of man are in opposition to the Spirit and the Spirit is in opposition to the flesh as the flesh desires to "be like god" (be its own god) ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, and the Spirit of God is the third person of the Trinity and one of His characteristics is that our God is Jealous (Exodus 34:14, Ezekiel 39:25) and He will share His glory with no one and nothing else.  Unlike us, His jealousy is not out of selfish ambition, but is pure and is for the good of us because He does not want us to believe in the lies that lead to rebellion and destruction--in fact, that is the next place where Paul goes.

Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 tell us, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."  Paul reminds the Galatians that those controlled by the "natural man" (the flesh) will live in a way that is accordance with their sin nature and will be easily identified by their "fruits" of which Paul gives a partial list in verses 19, 20, and 21.  The idea is that the people Paul is talking about identify with their sin and are identified by it.  Paul says that any such person will not inherit eternal life, but will have their part in the judgment that is reserved for the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of this world--the lake of fire.

This is exactly what Jesus says to the apostle John towards the end of the book of Revelation.  In fact it seems to be one of the "closing arguments" of the entire Revelation:


Revelation 21:5-8
English Standard Version

​5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”


There are some things on these lists that probably make us say "Burn, baby, burn" because we think of those sins as awful and detestable and something that we would never do, but then there are other things that make us say, "Wait, THAT sin is on the list too????"  "Are you sure about that one God?"  "Are you really sure that gossips and liars belong in the same list as murderers and sorcerers?"  "Are you really telling me that jealousy, envy and drunkenness will keep me out of the kingdom of God and have ben thrown into the Lake of Fire?"  Yes, and no.  Let's not forget another passage that I think we need to look at in parallel with this one--I Corinthians 6:9-11:


1 Corinthians 6:9-11
English Standard Version
​9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

A very similar list here, but Paul makes the point that those of us who are in Christ are no longer have these identities.  This was our identity (past tense, before the gospel saved us), "But you were washed, you were sanctified [made holy], you were justified [declared righteous] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God."

So you see, Paul is not saying that these are unforgiveable sins that if you commit them one time you are out for good, but Paul is saying that all of these sins and lifestyles are inconsistent and incompatible with someone who is indwelt by and controlled by the Holy Spirit.  If we are letting God live in and through us, then His nature will shine through and our "fruit" will be The Fruit of the Spirit, namely:  "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  Paul returns to the idea of Law by saying "against such there is no law," saying that if you act in accordance with your new nature, you need not ever worry about keeping the Law, because the Law is also an expression of the character and nature of God and you will automatically be wanting to do the Law from the inside-out transformation that has happened (you can't do it, but God the Holy Spirit will do it in and through you).  Therefore it is never about our own works which are from our flesh for even those "good" things we do in that state are as "rubbish" and "filthy rags" to God.  (Philippians 3:8 and Isaiah 64:6).

All those who have been saved should have their sin nature and its desires put to death as they were nailed to the cross with Jesus.  What is it was say during believer's baptism?  "Buried in the likeness of His death; raised to walk in newness of life."  That is the whole point of this passage.  If you have received and are walking in accordance with the "new life" that God has given you, then you will no longer look like, think like, or act like the "old man."  It is true that we Christians battle with our flesh until the day that we die, but in the death of our fleshly bodies, but even death will not be an escape for those who die outside of Christ because they will continue to be controlled by their sinful nature for all eternity and will continue in an eternity of rebellion against God and His nature and His order, and therefore there will be an eternal judgment for an infinite amount of crimes against and infinitely holy God.  The sin of those who died outside of Christ does not stop at the moment of death, but they continue to weep and wail while cursing God and blaspheming His name, never desiring to repent.  There is no "second chance."


Hebrews 9:27
English Standard Version27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment
If you were to die and stand before God, what would be your identity?  Don't answer with "I hope" or "I think" because you're just telling everyone that you know the next thing out of your mouth is not true.  Look deep into yourself and ask yourself what the "real you" is really like and what God sees when he looks at you.  If we take an honest look at ourselves and the only two people in the room are you and God--there is no one else to measure yourself against or compare yourself to--how do you measure up against the holiness and righteousness of God?  Should God let your wickedness, iniquity, rebellion and transgression of His Law go unpunished?  What kind of Righteous Judge would He be if He did that?  Those who believe that somehow God is going to "wink" at them and their sin and still let them into heaven are sadly mistaken.

So how is this good news?  It sounds from this that no one measures up.  It sounds like if all we had was Galatians 5 we all in a heap of trouble because we probably easily identify with the first list and say "not so much" for the second list, but praise be to God that He gave us I Corinthians 6:9-11 to go along with this to tell us that this is no longer how He sees us once we are saved.  He chooses no to remember sins and chooses not to hold it against us because Jesus already paid the debt in full on the cross for all of our sins--all we need to do is accept this gift of His righteousness in exchange for our unrighteousness as we repent and believe.  If any of that is confusing to you, please as me.  I'll be happy to take a few minutes or a few hours (depending on how much time and how many questions you have) to talk to you about it.  There is nothing more important in this life than making that decision that will change your identity and your eternal destiny.  Will you be a citizen of the kingdom of God and be His ambassador in this world of sin, or will you come to gates of heaven and not have your "immigration papers" in order and be refused entry and be cast out into the place for all enemies of the state?  God's kingdom is reserved for His kingdom citizens, and He tells you pretty plainly (especially in the Gospel of Matthew) what the nature and identity of His kingdom citizens are and what His kingdom is like (there are lots of parables there that start with "The kingdom of heave is like....").

If we have been saved, let us act as ambassadors that represent a kingdom that is not of this world and let the kingdom of God go everywhere we go because we are temples of the Holy Spirit and have the Spirit of Christ living in and through us so that wherever the King goes, the kingdom is there in His midst.  Let us show and tell the gospel in a way that reveals its transforming power and reveals to people that we have been forever changed and that we can say with Paul (words from earlier in this letter to the Galatians):

​
Galatians 2:20
English Standard Version20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Christ Has Set Us Free​
5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Paul will continue the metaphor that we ended chapter 4 with and extend the idea of freedom and slavery to say that Christ came to set free those who were born in slavery to their flesh, sin, and the Law.  The slavery being mentioned here is not speaking of those who are slaves to human masters (Paul deals with this issue in other letters he writes though).  Paul urges the Galatians to stand firm in the freedom that Christ has purchased for them, and to never again return to the system of self-righteousness that he will refer to as "circumcision" here whereby the Jews believed that they must come to God by a combination of the righteousness of Christ and their own righteousness.

Paul then reminds them that if that's the path they are going to take (self-righteousness) then they must be all-in and must perfectly obey the Law, always, all the time--and Jesus makes it clear that it's not just external adherence to the Law, but our thoughts must also be taken captive and be in complete obedience to the law so that it's not just about not killing a person, but about not hating him so that you wish he were dead (or fantasize about killing him or what life would be like without him).

These Galatians have cut themselves off from Christ and His Body by trying to make another way.  There is only one Way to the Father and that is by grace alone and faith alone through Christ alone.  In Christ, there is no preferential treatment given to Jew or Gentile.  All that matters, according to Paul, is faith working through love (the love of God).

Paul now switches metaphors to another one of his favorites--a man running a race.  The man in Paul's metaphor started the race well and looked like he would finish and finish well, but he allowed something to trip him up.  It is for this reason that we are told in the book of Hebrews to "lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely....looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."


Hebrews 12:1-2
English Standard Version
​Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.


Paul says that the persuasion to turn back to the works of self-righteousness is not from the One who gave them their original calling.  Paul also argues that this is not something that can run in parallel with true orthodoxy and orthopraxy because "a little leaven ruins the whole lump" or as we might say in English, "one bad apple ruins the whole bunch."  This is a false teaching that cannot be allowed to spread throughout the Church.  If Christ has set us free, then we should not let any man or philosophy put us back in bondage to sin, the flesh, and the Law.

Paul then seems to address an issue where it appears that the Judaisers (or at least some of them) have gone around behind Paul claiming that he has changed what he believed and started preaching a gospel of works. Paul would say if that was the case then he wouldn't be persecuted by the Jews as they would have no issue with him if he was converting people to Judaism, but he's not so the persecution should be evidence that Paul has not changed the gospel he is preaching--the same gospel for both the Jew and the Gentile alike.  If man could save himself by good works then the cross would have no power--Jesus would not have needed to come and die to take our unrighteousness and give us His righteousness if we could stand before God in any way, shape or form in our own righteousness.  Paul then makes a bold statement to say that he wishes that these Judaisers making the "circumcision" argument would go all the way and emasculate themselves while they are at it.  There is no place for these Judaisers to be welcomed as brothers in the local congregation.  Today we might say that they are a cancer that needs to be cut out for the good of the whole body.

Verse 13 transitions to Paul's next thought which we'll pick up with more next time.  What then does this new life in Christ look like?  If it is not marked by adherence to the Law, how then are Christians supposed to be different from those who are in the world?  Paul says that we are free, but not free to sin and be controlled by the flesh.  Paul returns to the Greatest Commandments saying that our lives in Christ should be summed up by the commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  There is no place in the Church for the kind of back-stabbing and back-biting that happens when men try to make themselves look good and must constantly compare themselves to one another and make others look bad so that they themselves can look good.  Such actions are like a cannibal eating his own body and destroying himself--even cannibals' are smart enough not to do that, so why then can the Church not figure that out and why do we keep attacking each other when we are part of the one Body of Christ?

 Example of Hagar and Sarah 
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
    break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
    than those of the one who has a husband.”

28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

For those that remember our study of Genesis together, I made a pretty big deal out of Hagar and Ishmael at the time.  Paul goes back to that imagery now that even these Gentile believers would be familiar with to make the point that God's way isn't the way of our work, but of His work--which isn't done in our time and doesn't make any sense to us, but something that we believe in by faith.

Moreover, Paul extends the idea of "slave" and "free" here to apply to Hagar (and Ishmael) and Sarah (and Isaac).  The son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh--meaning that it was done according to Abraham and Sarah's plan and timeline instead of having faith and waiting on God's perfect plan, but Isaac was born at a time when everyone would have thought impossible when both Abraham and Sarah were old and well beyond their years of natural childbirth.

Paul interrupts (through the Holy Spirit) that these two women represent the two covenants.  Hagar, the covenant received at Mt. Saini--a slave woman whose children were born into slavery, and which corresponds to the present Jerusalem (the Judaisers).  Sarah and Isaac represent a new and better covenant, and while the "mountain" that Paul is talking about in allegory is never named, we assume he is talking about Mt. Calvary (where Jesus died).  The children of this covenant are free and citizens of a New Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven (see Revelation 21 and 22).

The two kingdoms are at war with one another--the kingdom of this world (represented by Ishmael) and the kingdom of God (represented by Isaac).  The first kingdom was cast out and would receive no inheritance from Father Abraham, and in the same way the people that die under the Law without ever coming to their Redeemer by faith in the New Covenant (yes, the New Covenant existed in the Old Testament and those Old Testament saints were saved by grace through faith just like us, not of works of the Law), those who die outside of Christ, will receive no "inheritance" of heaven or eternal life, but will receive their part in the lake of fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels--the kingdom which they have chosen to ally themselves with.  Therefore we are not children of the "slave woman" (the Law), this should not be our identity, and we should not act like that (pay attention to this fact coming up in Galatians 5 as Paul really hits this idea of identity and actions there--your root will determine your fruit).

Paul's Concern for the Galatians​
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

The question once again is posed to the Galatians--Why would you want to go back to the way things were before God saved you and set you free?  Paul calls these principles they are turning back to "weak," "worthless," "elementary," and "of the world."  Apparently, they are getting caught up once again in the pagan worship that is focused so much on the changing of the seasons and the lunar and solar cycles.  While God did say in Genesis 1:14, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years," it was never His intent for us to worship these objects or to turn to astrology or any other form of worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.  Paul fears that these Galatians may have been like the seed planted on rocky soil that sprang up quickly and looked like they were healthy, but they had no depth of soil and no root, so they quickly turned away and he wonders if any of them that have done this were ever really saved--though he still must believe in some sense that they are saved because he continues to call them "brothers" as we continue.

Paul, like in so many other places in his epistles, encourages these Christians to use him as an example and to model him as he continues to model Christ.  Apparently Paul lived among them for a while due to some ailment and became one of them (culturally) for a time.  They took him in and showed hospitality to him, and this was how he first had the opportunity to share the gospel with them--because God orchestrated the events so that Paul's sickness would give him the opportunity to do so.  But Paul wonders what has become of this friendship?  Are they now going to be enemies because Paul has clung to the true gospel while they have turned to a false gospel?

It gets a little confusing who the "they" are here in the next few verses if you haven't been reading the entire letter.  Remember the context that there are a group of Jews who say they are believers (Paul seems to differ with that and says they believe and preach a false gospel and that there's a special place in hell for them for doing what they are doing) who are going around behind Paul to the Christians that he's evangelized and discipled and telling them that Paul missed something and that you first have to become a Jew before you can become a Christian and that you must continue to obey the Law (the moral, ceremonial, and sacrificial law...all of it) in order to be saved--that somehow it is your works in addition to your faith that saves you.  In other places in the Bible, you may see this group called the Judaisers, and that's what I've been calling them, because they are trying to take the Christians and turn them back to Judaism.  Paul is arguing that these Judaisers really have no lover or concern for the Galatians, but they are "making much" of the Galatians right now (flattery) for an evil purpose--so that the Gentile Galatians will be shut out of the kingdom of God!  Isn't that awful that some people would be actively working to make sure that certain people aren't saved?

Why would anyone do such a thing?  Apparently for their own benefit.  Apparently they are jealous of the attention that Paul has received as a teacher and they want that kind of notoriety for themselves, and there seems to be some indication here and in other epistles of Paul that these false teachers were about fleecing the flock and taking their money--not that different from many of the false teachers today who are known by their greed--which we will see is not a fruit of the Spirit, but an evidence of the flesh (yes, that will be part of the book of Galatians here in a little bit because Paul will tell them how to recognize the "real" and the "fake" Christians by what controls their lives--the flesh or the Spirit).

Paul considers these young, immature Christians his spiritual children that he anguishes for like a mother does for the one that she bore in painful childbirth.  You will never stop a mother from thinking of her children and her "babies" even when they get older and become adults and you will never stop her from wanting to step in and take care of them and fix things so that they don't have to feel pain or make mistakes--it's just the nature of a mother to do so.  In the same way, Paul feels this way for the Galatians, and he wishes he could fight this battle for them and make them understand and do the right thing.  He wishes he could be present with them and speak to them in a way where they could hear his love and concern, but he knows that all is going to come through in his letter is his frustration and indignation.  Yet, he hopes from the time that they have had together in the past that they remember his great lover for them and that they remember that these words too are spoken out of love and concern for their spiritual well-being.

The Law and the Promise​
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

The word "covenant" is something we don't usually think of outside of the context of the Bible, but it's really a more formal word for a contract.  There were different types of covenants then just as there are now, but Paul's audience would be familiar with contracts and he uses that imagery here to talk about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  They understood that a covenant was supposed to be a contract that could not be broken or altered by either party once it was ratified.  There was no process to void, annul or amend a covenant.

Paul argues through the Holy Spirit that the promised heir from Abraham was always Christ and not Isaac, Jacob or any of the others along the way.  God used the singular "offspring" to talk about a single heir that would come from Abraham instead of speaking in the plural of the many numerous descendants that he was promised.  The promise that was made to Abraham could not be broken even by a new covenant in the future that was made to Moses.  Therefore the promise of the Savior was never contingent on the works of the Law since that was part of an earlier covenant that a covenant of promise and not a covenant of works.

Paul then asks the begging question.  If the purpose of the Law was never to save us or to make us righteous, then what is it's purpose?  Paul argues that the purpose of the Law was to help deal with our sin until the Savior would appear.

This next part about angels and intermediaries is a bit confusing for us to read in English, so I'll try and break it down.  The word translated as "angel" is the word for "messenger."  So, Paul is saying that the Old Covenant was "inferior" because God spoke the law to a messenger who then relayed that message to the people (I think this is specifically talking about Moses going up on the mountain to bring the Law down to the people because the people would not go up the mountain to let God speak directly to them in Exodus 19).  But the New Covenant is superior because God speaks for Himself by sending the second person of the Trinity as the "messenger" this time.  As we saw recently in The Gospel Project, Jesus claims to fulfill this promise to be both the Prophet foretold in Deuteronomy and the promise that "They would all be taught by God" in the days of the Messiah.

So how do these two covenants work in concert with one another since it does not make sense that God would make two covenants that would be in opposition to one another?  Part of the "good news" (the gospel) is realizing the "bad news" that you are in need of salvation.  There is a metaphor that is used to say that the Law is like the mirror that you use when you examine yourself--in fact the Bible uses this exact imagery.  Hopefully when we look in the mirror we don't forget what we see or look and see but fail to act on it.  If you see your tie is not on straight, you fix it.  if you see your hair is messy, you comb or brush it, and if you see you have something in your teeth, you brush and/or floss them.  But we are unable to use the mirror itself to do any of those things that I just mentioned.  It helps us see what needs to be fixed, but in none of those examples did the mirror alone fix the issue.  It may show us the dirt on our face, but we have to use soap and water to wash our face--something else other than the mirror.  In the same way, the Law shows us our need for something else outside of itself to fix the issue of sin.  For the Law's sacrificial system dealt with payment for unintentional sin, but if we are honest about it, we sin intentionally quite often.  If there is no sacrifice to make atonement for these sins in the Law, then the Law is insufficient to truly deal with sin and we need a better covenant and the only answer was for people to cry out to the LORD to not simply cover their sin but to take away their iniquity (their bad character that makes them choose to do bad things willfully).  We'll see people cry out to God to give them clean hands and a clean heart because they know that they are not fit for heaven in their current state.  So, the gospel is not really that different in the Old Testament and New Testament other than in the Old Testament, the object of their faith had not yet been revealed (though they had the promise that had been revealed which they clung to by faith), but in the New Testament we see more clearly, though there are still some promises that are not revealed clearly and we are told that it is as if we were looking through fogged or frosted glass--yet one day we are promised that we will see all things clearly when we see Him face-to-face in heaven.

Paul uses the imagery here of "guardian" whose responsibility it was to make sure that a child was taken to school.  They would make sure the child left on time, got to school safely, stayed there and was attentive at school, and get the child back home safely.  But it was not the responsibility of the guardian to be the Teacher--the Teacher was greater than the Guardian.  In the same way the covenant of the Law brings us to the covenant of Grace.  So, they are not working in opposition to one another but in concert with one another, but they have different roles and functions.  Where it is the purpose of the Law to reveal our sin to us and our need for a Savior, it is the purpose of the New Covenant to deal with that sin once and for all.

Paul argues that now that we've arrived safely at our destination and been taught our lessons by the Master Teacher, that the Law no longer serves that purpose of being a guardian.  We who are saved are no longer under the Law, but are in Christ--and Paul points to baptism where we are "buried in the likeness of His death; raise to walk in newness of life."

Part of this new life we are raised to is that we are sons and daughters of God through adoption (we'll get to this issue of adoption much more in the book of Romans).  Therefore we are all part of one family.  Where the purpose of the Law was to make a separate people different from the rest of all the nations of the world and to make it obvious by these distinctions who belonged to God, it is now the purpose of the New Covenant to bring many people from all the nations of the world together into a single group of people (we will be grafted into the one true Vine, but will give the Vine new properties and strength that come from the "wild" branches that are grafted in).  So though we are many and different, we are one in a similar way to how God is Father, Son, and Spirit and yet is one God.

When God looks at the Church, he no longer sees the individual members, but the body of Christ.  We are all part of Christ and will be treated as co-heirs with Jesus and receive blessings through Him that only He deserves and we will lay these crowns, gold, silver, and precious stones down at His feet as we sing His praises.  Even as Gentiles, all those who are "in Christ" are children of the promise that was given to Abraham as we are in the one who was the Promised One that was the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.