Please turn to the letter to the Galatians.
I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from Him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; which is not another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so now I say again, If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.
For am I now persuading men, or God? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.
For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.
For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it: and I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it was the good pleasure of God, Who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me: but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus.
O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? This only would I learn from you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are ye now perfected by the flesh?
See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Henceforth, let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do look to Thy Holy Spirit to illumine Thy Word and to bring Thy Word to our hearts, that we may not only understand, but that we may enter into Thy truth. We commit this time into Thy hands, and may Thy Son be glorified. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
We have mentioned many times that the Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the will of God that, in every book of the Bible—all sixty-six books—we will see Jesus.
If we do not see Jesus in any book of the Bible, then we miss the very reason why God gave us His Word. We shall see Jesus in His many aspects.
Now, this morning, we would like to enter into the letter to the Galatians. We may say that the letter to the Galatians enables us to see Christ through error—doctrinal error.
We know from Acts 13 and Acts 14 that the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Paul to do the apostolic work. As they started their apostolic work, they first visited cities in Galatia: Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
They preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in these places. Many came to the Lord, and churches were established.
These churches in Galatia were, we may say, the first love of the apostle Paul, because they were the first work of the apostle. Again and again he visited them. You find, almost in every journey that he made afterwards, that he always passed through Galatia.
But within ten years’ time, when Paul was at the beginning of his third apostolic journey, he had to write a letter to the believers in Galatia concerning a basic doctrinal error.
When you compare 1 Corinthians with the letter to the Galatians, you find that the Corinthian believers had many problems. But mostly these were moral and practical problems. Even though they had some doctrinal problems, these were not to be compared with all the problems they had in their practical life.
But with the Galatian believers, you find that they had only one problem—not many, like the Corinthians. It was a problem of doctrine, of truth. And because of that error, of course, we find that it did affect their daily lives.
The Corinthian believers did not want to go on with the Lord. They thought that to be saved was enough for them. They desired to be babes all their lives, to be taken care of, taking no responsibility of their own. So they remained in immaturity, in carnality. They did not grow into sons and daughters of God, and how it grieved the heart of God.
Now, with the Galatian believers, it was almost the very opposite. After they believed in the Lord Jesus, they desired so much to grow into perfection. But out of that desire to grow into perfection, they began to enter into an error that promised them instant spirituality.
As a matter of fact, you find that Paul’s reaction—or we may say, God’s reaction—was even stronger towards the Galatian believers than towards the Corinthian believers.
Paul wrote a very strong letter to the churches in Galatia. We can see the very agony of his heart when he wrote that letter. You know, when he wrote 1 Corinthians, he shed many tears. But I think probably when he wrote this letter to the Galatians, he really wept and cried. His heart was really broken.
Why? Because there was a basic error in Galatia, and that would destroy not only the work of Paul in their midst; it would destroy the very gospel of Jesus Christ.
What is the error that Paul had to combat in this letter to the Galatians? It is that “another gospel.”
We know that the word another in Greek has two different meanings. One is allos, another of the same kind; and the other is heteros, another of a different kind.
This “another gospel” that Paul was talking about was not allos; it was heteros. It is not a gospel that comes along with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Actually, it is a gospel opposite to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was preached as a gospel, but actually it was not a gospel. It was bad news, not good news. The only gospel that is really good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ is the gospel. He is the good news.
And if anything is preached aside from the Lord Jesus, that is not good news. That will bring us into destruction.
What is this another gospel that Paul has to combat with such intensity? It was a mixture of law and grace.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of grace. But here you find some Judaizers—probably Jews who had been converted to Christianity. They accepted the Lord Jesus, and yet they still clung to their Judaism.
These Judaizers came to Galatia, to the churches in Galatia, even after the Council of Jerusalem.
Now, brothers and sisters, if you remember the story, you find that even in the very early days some Judaizers came from Jerusalem to Antioch. They began to tell the believers there, who were mostly Gentiles, that they needed to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Otherwise, they would not be saved; otherwise, they could not be perfected.
Because of this there was great discussion and controversy. Finally, the church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas, with some others, to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders there. They wanted to settle this very basic question: must a Gentile who believes in the Lord Jesus still be circumcised and keep the law?
To put it another way, must a Gentile become a Jew in order to be saved and perfected?
We know that in Jerusalem there was a great discussion. And thank God, finally, the Holy Spirit, the apostles, and the elders there decided that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised or become Jews. They did not need to keep the law of Moses, because nobody could keep it.
They were instructed to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. Actually, these were not the laws of Moses; they were universal principles that go back to the time of Noah.
You remember that after the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, his children, and every living creature. This covenant is still valid today.
So letters were written with this decision and passed on to the different churches. But, sad to say, even after such a decision, this problem was not solved.
Even after the Council in Jerusalem, some Judaizers went into Asia and into Galatia, and they began to teach these believers in Christ Jesus that they must be circumcised, must keep the laws of Moses, and must keep certain ordinances of the Old Testament law.
They mixed law with grace. They did not reject Christ outright. They accepted Jesus Christ, but they said that Jesus Christ was not enough. He was not sufficient.
They said, “You have to receive the Lord Jesus, but you need to be circumcised. You need to keep the law to be perfected.”
They Judaized Christianity. They tried to put Christianity into a Judaistic religion. Instead of being a living relationship with Christ, in which Christ is everything, they began to reduce Christianity to a system—a religion of laws, rules, regulations, and ceremonies.
In doing that, they very subtly destroyed the very foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
One thing we have to remember is human nature. You find that another gospel really appeals to human instinct.
Why? Because, so far as human instinct is concerned, we always like to do something. If everything is given to us, we feel that there is no glory for us. Human nature always likes to do something so that we can get some glory out of it.
Even in this matter of salvation, why is salvation so free, and yet so few receive the gift of God? It is because if God required something, then probably more would try. But because salvation is free, God has done it all.
You cannot do anything. God does not require you to do anything, because He knows you cannot do anything. So He has done everything for you, and it is freely given to you.
And strange to say, because of this, it seems too good and too free, and people do not want to take it. That is human nature.
Even after people have believed in the Lord Jesus, that human instinct is still there. Yes, we have tried everything, but nothing works. We know that we cannot save ourselves. Therefore, we humble ourselves and accept the free gift of God in Jesus Christ.
But after we have done that, then we say, “Now let’s do something about it.” This is human instinct. We want to do something.
The Judaizers come and say, “Well, you believe in the Lord Jesus. Fine, fine. You need to believe in the Lord Jesus. But if you want to be perfect, then you need to be circumcised, and you need to keep the law of Moses. Then you will be complete.”
And here, brothers and sisters, these Galatian believers fell into that trap, because their flesh loved it.
Another thing, and again it is human instinct: we like to see everything done quickly. It is our desire that our success should come instantaneously. Oh, if we can arrive immediately, how good that would be.
So the Judaizers came into the midst of these Galatian believers and said, “You want to be mature. You want to be perfect. You want to be a success. You want to be spiritual very easily.”
“All you need to do is to be circumcised. All you need to do is to keep a few rules and regulations. Then you are complete.”
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, how the Galatian believers just jumped at it. They said, “Well, that’s good. You call that being instantaneously spiritual.”
Isn’t that human nature? We want everything to be instant. Even when you come to spiritual things, you want to be instantaneously spiritual. If anyone could offer you a gospel—which is really not a gospel—and promise that you would be spiritual immediately, I am afraid many would go for it, just like the Galatian believers.
They were so impatient. They would not allow the Holy Spirit to work day after day in their lives, to bring Christ into them more and more, that they might really grow up into Christ.
They thought that was too tedious, too slow, and they wanted something quick and immediate. So they got it.
But, of course, we know the result. They set aside the grace of God. They fell from the grace of God. The very foundation of the gospel was destroyed.
Instead of glorifying Christ, they glorified self. Instead of receiving the grace of God, they tried to be perfected by the works of law. Instead of faith in Jesus Christ, they trusted in their flesh.
Because of this basic error, their very lives were adversely affected. The works of the flesh became apparent, while the fruit of the Spirit was missing. This is another gospel, which is not a gospel, and which the apostle battled against.
Four centuries ago, we had the Reformation. Martin Luther and the other Reformers were faced with a situation similar to that in Galatia.
Martin Luther and the Reformers found themselves faced with a Judaized Christianity. That was Christianity four centuries ago.
Christianity was no longer Christ. Christ had almost disappeared. At that time, people sought salvation not by faith in Jesus Christ, but by good works. If you accumulated enough merit, you would go to heaven; if you did not, you would go to purgatory.
Christianity was a religion—a collection of rules and regulations, rituals and ceremonies. People tried to save themselves, and yet they said they believed in the Lord Jesus.
Christianity was Judaized. It was no longer Christ; it was man doing everything, even trying to save his own soul. We call it darkness. It was very dark—so dark that the truth of the gospel was unknown.
Thank God, He raised up Martin Luther and these Reformers.
Martin Luther said, “The letter to the Galatians is my letter. It is my Catherine”—that is, his wife—“I am wedded to it.”
He used the letter to the Galatians as a sword to strike Judaized Christianity in the sixteenth century. By this book, he dismantled that system of Judaized Christianity in his time.
He showed people that justification is by faith, not by works of the law. He gave the people of Europe an open Bible, declaring that we should go back to the Word of God instead of listening to the traditions of the fathers.
That was four centuries ago. Now, dear brothers and sisters, we are at the end of the twentieth century. What are we facing today? Are we in a better position than Paul? Are we in a better position than Martin Luther and the Reformers?
Dear brothers and sisters, as we look at Christianity today, what do we see? Has not Christianity again been Judaized?
Is Christianity today not a mixture of law and grace? It is true that Christ has not been rejected completely. Christ has not been thrown out. People still maintain the name of Christ.
But Christ is treated as if He were not sufficient. You may come in by Christ, but you have to be completed by Moses. You may start with the Spirit, but you have to be perfected by the flesh—the works of the flesh.
Here you find a mixture of law and grace. After you believe in the Lord Jesus, what is expected of you? You are expected to keep certain rules and regulations. You are expected to do certain things. And if you do them, that is all that is required: you are perfect.
Christianity today has become a religion, not a living relationship. Christianity today has become a system of things. Christ is no longer central.
Today, people do not know what grace is, because we are under the bondage of law. People do not know what faith is, because they are all involved in works. People do not know the Holy Spirit, because it is all the effort of ourselves.
Here, brothers and sisters, Christianity today is Judaized. The very foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is at stake.
Oh, we need to go back to the letter to the Galatians, because there we shall find what the gospel of Jesus Christ really is.
In combating this error—this another gospel—we find that Paul, when he wrote this letter, was not writing merely in a negative way.
Oftentimes, when we try to combat an error, we tend to be very negative. We come to see all the errors, but where is the truth?
Paul, as he was moved and used by the Holy Spirit to write this letter, wrote in a very positive way. It is not only by combating error, but also by presenting what the gospel of Jesus Christ really is.
And if you know the truth, the truth shall set you free.
The letter to the Galatians can be very easily divided into three parts. Each part contains two chapters. Of course, we know that these chapter divisions are arbitrary, but it so happens that the letter can be divided into three parts.
The first two chapters deal with the authenticity, or origin, of the gospel. Where did Paul receive the gospel? How did he receive it? These chapters concern the origin and authenticity of the gospel that Paul preached.
The third and fourth chapters speak of the nature of the gospel—what the gospel is all about.
Thirdly, chapters 5 and 6 tell us of the effect of Paul’s gospel. When the gospel is preached, what will be the outcome? What will be the practical working of the gospel?
Now we would like to spend a little time on these three matters.
But I make known to you, brethren, as touching the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul says that the gospel he preached was not of man. Why? Because he did not receive it from any man, nor was he taught it by any man. The gospel he preached came by revelation of Jesus Christ.
He gives us his personal history. He says that he was brought up in Judaism. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was more advanced than his contemporaries in Judaism. He was fully immersed in Judaism.
He was so occupied with the traditions of the fathers—that is, the teachings of the rabbis concerning the Word of God. He was taken up by the traditions of the fathers, and he considered it his duty to persecute Christians—to persecute Christ and His followers.
According to the teachings of the fathers in Judaism, they considered Jesus an impostor who needed to be gotten rid of. So Paul says that he persecuted the church excessively and with zeal. He would have nothing to do with Christ. He followed Moses.
But on the road to Damascus, Christ met him. He had gone there to persecute believers, even in Gentile cities—to seize these believers and bring them to Jerusalem to be sentenced.
The Lord met him on the road to Damascus and challenged him, saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.”
When it pleased God to reveal His Son in Paul, it changed him completely. He received the gospel through revelation of Jesus Christ. No man had taught him; the Lord Himself revealed it to him.
After he had seen the Lord as the gospel, as salvation, as hope, by faith and love, what did he do? Did he run to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles who were before him, that he might be taught more about the gospel of Jesus Christ? No.
Not out of pride, but out of a desire that he might know the gospel firsthand and not secondhand, we find that he went to Arabia.
Arabia at that time was a very vague term. It could include many places. But if you read the letter to the Galatians, you may get some hint as you go on.
Most likely, after the Lord had revealed Himself to Paul, and after Paul had been with the disciples for a few days, he traveled to Arabia—to the desert, perhaps even to Mount Sinai.
Why did he go there? You remember that Mount Sinai was the place where the law was given. Mount Sinai was also the place where Elijah went after he fled for his life.
Paul went there in order to evaluate everything before God—the law and the prophets. He went away from men in order that he might be with God Himself.
There, I believe, he really read the Old Testament that he knew by heart. He read the Old Testament in the new light of Christ.
He knew the Old Testament, the Word of God, but he had read it before in the light of the traditions of the fathers. What a mistake he had made. Now he had to reread the Word of God in the light of Christ.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, how he discovered Christ on every page of the Old Testament.
He came back to Damascus and preached that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the One promised in the Old Testament.
Three years after his conversion, he went to Jerusalem. He was not proudly independent. He met Peter and James, and afterwards he spent years in Syria and Cilicia.
It was not until fourteen years later that he went again to Jerusalem. If you want the details, that was not the second time but the third time. There was another time when he went to Jerusalem with Barnabas to bring contributions there.
But fourteen years later he went to Jerusalem by revelation. In other words, even though outwardly he went because of the controversy with the Judaizers in Antioch, and because the church sent Paul to Jerusalem, actually he went by revelation.
God revealed to him that he should go there for the truth of the gospel. He took Titus with him. Titus was a test case, because Titus was a Gentile and was not circumcised.
Paul brought Titus as a test case, to see whether Gentiles should be circumcised.
If you read Galatians 2, you find that Paul was very agitated. If you know the Greek, you will find that his grammar is almost broken. It shows that, when he was in Jerusalem, he was deeply stirred.
No doubt they tried to put pressure on Paul to circumcise Titus. But Paul said, “We did not yield in subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”
Under that great conflict, thank God, the truth of the gospel was preserved. It is grace, not law. The battle was won.
But the war went on, because these Judaizers followed Paul throughout his life. They went to the churches in Galatia and almost succeeded in Judaizing these Christians—making them Jews instead of Christians.
After the council in Jerusalem, Peter visited Galatia. There you find Peter eating with these Galatian believers who were Gentiles.
In the early days, the believers used to come together and have a common meal. They called it an agape. They came together, everybody contributed, and they ate together as a fellowship of love.
When Peter was there, he attended that agape and ate with the Gentile believers. But then some people came from Jerusalem—these Judaizers came.
When these Judaizers came, Peter became frightened. “What will James think of me? What will those who are zealous for the law think of me?” And you know Peter.
He separated himself from the Gentiles. He would not eat with these Gentile believers anymore, as if they were unclean. Even Barnabas was carried away.
This was the test: was the gospel of Jesus Christ going to be Judaized, or was it to remain pure?
Because of the truth of the gospel, Paul withstood Peter publicly. He said, “We all know that even we as Jews have to believe in the Lord Jesus in order to be saved, just as the Gentiles do. How then can we force the Gentiles to become Jews?”
We cannot keep the law. How can we put that burden upon the Gentiles? If we do that, we have fallen from grace.
Thank God, the gospel of Jesus Christ passed the test. Because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
Brothers and sisters, the gospel that Paul preached is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He received it by revelation, and that revelation was tested and proved true.
Secondly, in chapters 3 and 4, we find the nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?
What is the nature of the gospel that Paul preached? The gospel is Christ crucified.
You know, in 1 Corinthians he said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Now that is the gospel.
Christ crucified has been openly set forth in their midst, as a placard, as something standing before them. Christ crucified—that is the gospel.
Christ has done everything for us. There is nothing left for us to do. All you need to do is to believe in Him. It is grace, all of grace.
Salvation is God’s promise. God promised Abraham and his seed the inheritance, the blessing. It is a promise.
If it is a promise, then it is not to be received by works. If it is a promise, then it cannot be annulled by law—the law which came in four hundred and thirty years later.
The promise that God made to Abraham is not abrogated or annulled by the law that came in four hundred and thirty years later.
The promise is given in grace and is to be received by faith.
Then why was the law given? The law was given for the knowledge of transgression. The law is like a guardian that leads us to Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, Paul is trying to tell these Galatian believers that Christ crucified is the gospel. Christ crucified is sufficient for them.
It is God’s promise. It is in grace. It is to be received by faith. When you do that, you receive the Holy Spirit as a promise. The Holy Spirit is given to you in order that you may arrive at sonship.
God has done it all. Why is it that you want to go back to the works of law? If you want to do that, remember: if you violate one law, you violate the whole law. You are under the curse.
God’s Word says, “Cast out the handmaid and her son.” They have no part in God’s inheritance. It is only those who are born of promise who can receive the inheritance that God has promised.
Dear brothers and sisters, here you find that this is the gospel: Christ crucified. May we always keep that before us. We see Christ crucified on the cross.
He was crucified not only to bear in His own body our sins, that our sins may be forgiven, but He was crucified that our old man might be crucified with Him.
“No longer live I, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.”
This is the gospel.
And then, finally, the third part: what happens after you believe in the Lord Jesus? After you receive the promise, after you know what the grace of God is, what happens to you?
In Galatians 5:1:
For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are free. If you know the truth, the truth shall set you free. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank God, we are free in Christ Jesus. Stand fast in that freedom. Do not go back and put yourselves under the bondage of law.
It is such a temptation for us to go back and put ourselves under the yoke, even in our own lives as Christians.
Dear brothers and sisters, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, do you always keep Him before you? Do you always see Christ crucified as the truth? Or is it that, after you believe in the Lord Jesus and are saved, you begin to turn to yourself?
You begin to say, “Now I am saved. I have to do something to complete myself. I have to do this. I have to do that. I have to please God. I have to exert my own strength in order to keep the law of God.”
Are you just turning back to yourself, thinking that now you will complete yourself? Is it not true?
Oh, do you see that even though you are saved, remember: now for you to live is not you; it is Christ who lives in you. Instead of trying to live the Christian life and trying to please God, acknowledge that there is no good in yourself.
You are dead indeed. You are relying on God for His life, and you learn to live by the life of Christ in you.
Dear brothers and sisters, are you again in bondage—under a yoke of rules and regulations? Or are you free in Christ Jesus? Stand fast in your freedom.
Freedom in Christ does not mean that you are now free to do anything you like.
Freedom in Christ means that now you are free not to do what the flesh wants to do. You are free to do the will of God.
That is the reason why Paul says that the Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit, that you may not do the things that you would.
You know, this verse in Galatians 5:17 is a tremendous verse. It is very different from Romans 7. Romans 7 tells us that you cannot do what you want to do, and you do what you do not want to do.
But here in Galatians 5:17, he says that these things are contrary to one another, so that you may not do the things that you would. In other words, because the Holy Spirit is in you, and you live by the Holy Spirit, you will not do what your flesh wants to do.
You are able not to do what you do not want to do, and you are able to do what you want to do, because now you are walking by the Spirit of God.
So, dear brothers and sisters, freedom in Christ does not mean that now we are free to live as we wish. It means that now we are free to live as God wishes.
Freedom in Christ does not mean that we are free to gratify our flesh. Rather, we are free to live in the Spirit. And when you live in the Spirit, you are indeed free.
Why? Because the works of the flesh will be crucified, and the fruit of the Spirit will be produced.
That is the effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is all by grace, all of grace.
Therefore, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, can you speak of the fruit? If you really know what grace is, grace will produce in you the same character as Christ.
If you really know grace, it is Christ who is living in you. And if Christ lives in you, you have to walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. That is grace.
So here Paul concludes, saying, “See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand.”
Usually, when Paul wrote letters, he dictated and somebody else wrote them. Probably because of his eyesight, which was not very good, some people say that when he says, “See with how large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand,” he means, “See what large letters I have written.”
In other words, he usually dictated, but this letter he probably wrote himself. If he wrote it himself, then it was a long letter for him. And his letters must have been very large, because his eyesight was not too good.
Why did he write the letter himself? It shows that Paul was so agonized over the situation there. He could see that, if this thing should come through, Christianity would become completely Judaized, and the gospel of Jesus Christ would be unknown. People would remain in bondage.
He was so agonized over this possibility that he could not dictate; he had to write himself. And because his letters were big, perhaps his handwriting was not very beautiful. With such bad eyes, his penmanship could not be very good.
Therefore, he said, in effect, “Do not look at outward appearance. If you want beautiful handwriting, I do not have it. But I have the reality. I have Christ.”
How do you have Christ? You will not be able to have Christ unless you accept the cross. It is the cross against the flesh.
Those Judaizers wanted to escape the persecution of the cross. Therefore, they wanted you to be circumcised—to do something on your physical body—and then you would be all right.
You would not need to allow the cross to work in your life, to set aside your flesh and its lusts and passions, so that Christ might live in you.
But Paul says, “Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross.” I do not glory in the flesh. I glory in the cross, because the cross delivers me from the world, even from the religious world—that Judaized Christianity. It gives me Christ.
In doing that, Paul bore in his body the marks of Jesus Christ. In other words, in his body you find the wounds, the scars, the marks. Through these marks, he proved to the world that the gospel he preached was power; it worked in his life.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, the gospel you receive will make you the kind of person you are to be. If you receive another gospel, that will make another kind of person—another of a different kind.
But if you receive the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul preached, then it will make you the kind of Christian that God wants you to be.
So may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with us.
Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be kept and may be a reality in our lives.
Deliver us from being tempted and falling into the trap of another gospel, of another kind. Oh, that we may not set aside Thy grace and fall from the grace of God, which is Jesus Christ.
We pray that Thou wouldst always put Christ crucified before us, that we may walk in the way of the cross and find Christ. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.