Tuesday, March 4: Galatians 5- More about the gospel.

As this chapter unfolds, two more facets of the Gospel are uncovered.

One is hinted at in verse 2, Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. The Gospel message cannot be mixed with other modes of salvation. With faith, one cannot hedge one’s bets by human works. It is one or the other. Thus Paul says that if you go the ‘circumcision route’, then Christ –the Gospel message of faith in Jesus Christ, is of no value. A person can travel only one road at a time.

This underscores the nature of faith, which is total belief in Jesus Christ, period. End of discussion. No hedging bets or mixing in any other religious route. For first century Jews, the pull of another religious route was to go back to their roots of following the Law. For 21^st century people like ourselves, the pull might be

·         eastern philosophies and new age principles, or

·         horoscopes, fortune-telling and other forms of divination, or even

·         following the human made religious rules of various Christian denominations

rather than faith in Jesus alone.

There is plenty to chew on here… and some may stop and linger here in prayer.

 

The second aspect of the Gospel message that I saw came toward the end of the chapter beginning in verse 13, You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

As humans we can easily pervert the idea of faith in Jesus as opposed to the works or religion and tease ourselves into believing that faith puts no requirements on us. “Since I have faith in Jesus I can do anything I want.” No, Paul reminds us. By faith we are set free from the tedious following of human religious rules and we are set free to serve one another in love. Paul builds on this foundation to explain faith’s new way of living, living that blossoms with the fruit of the Spirit… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (23-24).

Again there is plenty to chew on here… and I am sensing the call to pray.

Lord, I bless You for the Gospel. I confess that it is oh so very easy to find myself mixing in elements of works and trusting in what I have done, rather than what You have done in Jesus. Please forgive me.

And, Lord, forgive me, too, when I allow my faith to become ‘a do nothing faith’, a selfish, loveless faith which looks out for me and cares not for others. Forgive me, Lord. Oh, how I need this forgiveness.

I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen