A Law-Oriented Gospel Is False
Galatians 5:7-12 NLT
7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
Examine the scriptures:
Galatians 5:7-12 NLT
A Law-Oriented Gospel Is False
7 You were running the race so well.
Metaphor: The Christian life is like running a race.
- The Christian life is like running a race.
Galatians 2:2 NLT
2 … I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing.
Philippians 2:16 NLT
16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.
Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 NLT
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.
Who has held you back
Who has caused you to break stride?
Who has caused you to stumble?
from following the truth?
- The Galatians had a good start. They had received the Gospel message by faith and had begun to live their Christian lives by faith.
- Now some of the Galatians were believing that circumcision was necessary for salvation.
The influence of the Judaizes prevented the believers from living by faith and prevented the unsaved from responding in faith to the gospel of grace.
Paul wanted the Galatians to name the person who was responsible for the false teachings they were hearing. This man was a false teacher, and his teaching should not be allowed to continue among them.
Matthew 18:6 NLT
6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.
The Galatians thought that commitment to the law would please God, but God wasn’t calling them to this slavery. God called them to freedom.
Discuss the phrase “God told me …”
- If teaching contradicts scripture, it’s not from God.
9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!
Matthew 13:33 NLT
Parable of the Yeast
33 Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
Paul desperately wants the Galatian believers to identify the false teaching about adding works to faith in Christ, so that they can remove it from among them.
False teaching and its consequences are never limited to just a few people in a group. It is either rejected—and removed—or it works its way into the thoughts and practices of the whole group.
False ideas are contagious; they spread and take hold.
False ideas can affect an entire church (or school.)
Matthew 16:6 NLT
6 “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees)
- One seemingly small deviation from scripture can destroy the whole church.
If circumcision were necessary for salvation, the whole grace system would fall.
1 Corinthians 5:6-7 NLT
6 Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.
Application:
Be careful when teaching others.
Deuteronomy 4:2 NLT
2 Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 NLT
32 “So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them.
Proverbs 30:5-6 NLT
5 Every word of God proves true.
He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
6 Do not add to his words,
or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.
Jeremiah 26:2 NLT
2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard in front of the Temple of the Lord, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word.
Revelation 22:18-19 NLT
18 And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.
- Do not add anything to the scriptures and do not delete anything from the scriptures.
10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings.
Paul is optimistic about the outcome in Galatia.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 NLT
3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
Ephesians 6:11 NLT
11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
John 14:16-17 NLT
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NLT
23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
John 10:27-30 NLT
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
- The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
1 Peter 3:12 NLT
12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
against those who do evil.”
1 Corinthians 5:13 NLT
13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”
- God will judge the false teachers.
- “You must remove the evil person from among you.”
11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted?
Apparently the Judaizers had falsely claimed that Paul agreed with their teaching.
If Paul was preaching a law-based religion, the Judaizers would not have been persecuting him.
If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended.
- The message of the cross is offensive to those who are perishing.
Their Efforts to be made right with God outside of Christ are useless.
1 Corinthians 1:18-23 NLT
18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NLT
14 But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?
12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
Biting sarcasm with multiple levels of meaning.
To cut off or to castrate.
Mutilate themselves physically
Remove themselves from the community
Castrate themselves (a practice of some pagan priests)
Simply put – harm themselve instead of harming the Galatian Christians
Philippians 3:2 NLT
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.
********************************************
- The Christian life is like running a race.
- The Galatians had a good start. They had received the Gospel message by faith and had begun to live their Christian lives by faith.
- Now some of the Galatians were believing that circumcision was necessary for salvation.
- If teaching contradicts scripture, it’s not from God.
- One seemingly small deviation from scripture can destroy the whole church.
- Do not add anything to the scriptures and do not delete anything from the scriptures.
- The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
- God will judge the false teachers.
- “You must remove the evil person from among you.”
- The message of the cross is offensive to those who are perishing.
