Motives of Legalism

Okay. We're going to finish up Galatians 6. Today we're on 11 through 13. Oh, but before I start, we, um, it's Shaphon. Shaphon? From last week. It's not butter, it's Shaphon, remember? Remember? Yeah, because we were talking about the other verses about What you reap, God has not mocked. What you reap, you sow.

Just like in the commercial Mother Nature from the 70s. So I watch it and they handed her a tub of butter and she said, oh, this is my wonderful butter that I created, Mother Nature. It's delicious. And the announcer says, no, no, that's actually margarine. It's chiffon. That's it. Thank you. And then when she was fooled, she caused the clouds to come lightning. One commercial, she caused a sunny field. It was a snowstorm by her just stamping her fingers.

So chiffon is what that is. Yes. So anyway, we did a whole dissertation on that this last week. Sorry. Sorry to Miles and Alyssa who probably didn't get that commercial up. Yeah, right. Right. So that's good. Wanted to clear that up for the record and the commercial doctrine. that we were studying.

OK, so the letters, or the verses today, and you see what I did. because that's how we start. So he writes, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they won't be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13, for those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. um... So you're going to make the whole thing large today, right?

Well, just this verse 11, just so we get that in our head. Because that's what he says. And we'll see why is he doing that. That's what we'll cover in the next slide or two. So this is an example of unseal, Greek lettering, which is one inch. That's tall. One inch tall.

He wrote those in high letters, all caps. like we have a co-worker at work who will write in all caps and all that'll get me Yeah, it's so I I type a record what what's going on? Oh, and she's not mad Everything's fine, but she writes in all caps. I'm like oh I So it has an effect, is what I'm saying, right? And it's the old man comes in to handle the situation before my spirit gets his boots on to say, okay, relax about that.

So here, there's an example of that, all caps, Greek, unseal. So that's how he wrote this, Elisa's, this greeting here in 11. The norm is cursive writing, more flowy and smaller in Greek. Maybe looking like more of the interlinear when you see your interlinear Bible.

So I'll keep in all caps here. So he says, see, which a hara'o, which is behold or see with your mind, perceive. Merriman says, do not miss the fact that I'm writing you large, in large letters and in all caps. And Merriman claims it's in the aorist active, and he says that somehow in the aorist he claims that everything I've written to this point is in all caps so because I started out this letter, I started out this study and this difference differs from what I assumed and even what Macaulay says is We usually, his letters are written by an aminusus, or a scribe for hire, and that's how he writes these letters.

And then at the end, Paul takes over. to greet them personally in his own hand to authenticate the letter and say hello himself. And he says, in my own hand, or with my own hand, in other letters, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon. And then I looked, has he ever said the large letter part in any of those letters? He does not. He just says, in my own hand or with my own hand. So I had originally began the study with the guesstimation that Paul only, spelled that wrong, only wrote this warning, 11, 12, 13, in his own hand to give this warning to the Galatians. So, I, but Merriman I think is correct here because of, you know, he goes through, he sees it in the Greek and he says, I wrote this letter.

So he's claiming it's all in caps. Yeah, and he, Paul wrote the whole thing himself, penned everything. What are the possible scenarios? So option one is, Paul's maybe had an eye problem and needed to write in large letters to see them without an aminusis, which I learned a new term, which is the scribe. Option two, Paul did have an amnesis or a scrivener for this letter, and then took the pen at this point in his valediction, or his sign of his goodbye, to write personally to them. just as he did in those other letters, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, and Philemon.

And he did that for authentication purposes, which he does in those other letters. So that's option two. So, you know, the eye problems, he could have had eye problems. I think I did a study on that when we were dealing with that in the earlier chapter. And he might have contracted a bacteria that affected his eyes. And he went up to Galatia for healing. But who knows? Option three is he did this for emphasis of this main point, which he's restating here in this conclusion.

This letter is urgent. We know that Galatians is an urgent letter because they are in danger of turning to legalism. And this is just guesswork here. Paul might not have had time to hire this scribe to have them write it. And he needed to get this letter off to them before they got circumcised and went through this whole process. So all this could have been true. Who knows? But there's urgency to this letter. And I think the best and primary reason is for his writing in unseal, or large letters, is to make, to emphasize his summation, and emphasize the whole letter here. Andrew? Yeah.

You know, some people pointed out that they think that the thorn in the flesh was in fact his vision. Yeah, and that could be... Is there much other support for that, though, or is that all speculation? It's kind of a guess, like... I personally think that on the road to Damascus, he was blinded and then they peeled off these scales from his eyes or they fell off his eyes when he received his vision back and I think that affected him maybe his entire life and that could have been the thorn in the flesh, yeah. Or maybe he just... or the Thor and the Flea, he got beat up, you know, who knows, who knows.

But I think Merriman is right, it's for emphasis is the reason, and not so much this eye problem. But, you know, it's open to interpretation. So choose which one you like. So show of hands, show of hands for what you think. So on to 12, he says, those who desire to make a good showing of the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. So this first phrase here, they're trying to impress some people, the legalists, aren't they? make a good showing. So and the verb for this make a good showing is to make a fair countenance, a fair appearance in the Greek. Put on a good face is what it kind of boils down to. Yeah, I make this comment here, is this for their flesh?

Do these legalists, Judaizers, have any interest in their spiritual well-being at all? you know, the long term. And we know that Paul does, very much. Any concern about their maturation in Christ? I don't think so. I think it's just them wanting to show the Galatians off and roping them into this legalistic system. and as an add-on to justification by grace through faith alone, for their own notch in their belt. So it's interesting, we looked at last week, if you sow to the flesh, you reap destruction. So they're sowing to the flesh here.

Aren't that legal, aren't they? What are they sowing? They're sowing seeds. And I thought, what are the seeds that they're sowing, these legalists? I think it's time, energy, and reversing Paul's grace gospel. And they're seeding with mosaic doctrines. So they're putting in the time to seed them, right? Seed to the flesh. Other things, can you think of what could be the seeds that they're sowing? Doubt, seeds of doubt, that's a phrase. seeds of doubt in Paul's grace-only message. So that's just some thoughts there.

Let's go on to this They compel you to be circumcised. And compel in the Greek is, Zotiates says, by force, by external violence, is how it's usually used, compel, kind of in a military sense. Or you can force by moral authority. That's to compel in the Greek. So they're really trying hard.

And I think circumcision, we also looked at that in the previous study when in, what is that chapter where he mentioned circumcision, chapter 4 I think. And remember I did what it is, it's a peritome and a circle and cutting around the circle. So that's circumcision.

But it's a moral badge of membership into the religious mandates of the Jews. It's the bona fides of their commitment to this Mosaic system. And I guess you could say it started with Abraham, but Abraham didn't have the law, so it was just to set apart Abraham and his offspring is set apart as Jews, but then the law came in. And I think that's how they used circumcision to sort of identify themselves with the law system. So is it a religious branding as a means for show?

I think it is. It's, or an entry fee, I was just kind of free associating here. An initiation to this whole regimen. Any other thoughts about circumcision? Why? I guess, is it, I don't know if there's health, they say that they do it on the eighth day because the potassium level is really high on a baby. Have you heard that? No. No? OK. OK. I heard that long ago. No, well, I do a PubMed search on it. Right. OK. Right. So.

Yeah. And you're thinking of the word compel there. Yeah. There could have been a lot of shaming. Yeah. Like, you know, that often is used to compel people to do things. Oh, yeah. Well, you are the one who's not going with, you know, a lot of things. Yeah. Well, the second part of the verse explains this. You're going to get to that, right? Yeah. Right now, this is just for... Yeah, he explains it in the C part of the verse, but let's say that wasn't there. Why would, yeah, why would people get, you know? I need material here, so I...

It's a gospel according to the law, right? Right. So, yeah, I was just thinking about what is circumcision, you know? It's a badge, I'm sure. Yeah, a badge. So you like that. You're in the club. I'm part of the Jewish club. And I was thinking people around, all around you remember what black lives matter and they put in their yard the yard signs this black lives matter or this house i see it around our place here we believe in uh whatever yeah um yeah we really live in love and it's the and Or people with Teslas back then when they were getting keyed because of Elon Musk, they would put on their Tesla, I voted this way or don't I? I'm a liberal.

Yeah, right. And so they wouldn't get their Tesla keyed and that's a badge too, right? That's exactly what this is. So if this person, a Galatian, these legalists come along, And they could say, oh, I'm circumcised. OK, that's great. And they'll move along. And they don't care. They just want to have them be in this club. And so they really have to resist this circumcision thing.

So start with circumcision, add it to justification and sanctification by the cross alone. Then why not then add in the new moons, festivals, feasts, as Paul says? The Ten Commandments is a sort of thing. And it's an evident thing that circumcision is in the physical flesh of man, and it's also in the spiritual sense. It's also... the flesh has a spiritual meaning and a physical meaning. And this... this circumcision or the word flesh has both meanings here. Okay, so. Now we get to Bob's section.

Simply so they will not be persecuted, or in order that they will not be persecuted, is the reason that these legalists are compelling this circumcision on the Galatians. To avoid persecution is what some texts say. They know, they could see what Paul went through for preaching the cross, as we'll learn in verse 17, I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus bodily. So that would say that Paul, being beaten almost to death, he probably had some physical marks of his beatings somehow. So it's a purpose clause in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. It's for them not to go through what they themselves were to dish out on Paul, right?

Well, we'll get to it in the next slide, but we'll see another reason for this. So they don't want to be persecuted for the cross of Christ. And the cross is a reproach, a stigma. If you look at Psalm 22, especially 14 through 18, it's a reproach and a stigma. And these legalists do not want to be associated with that. And the cross is a, the Jews did not like this message of the cross.

It's foolishness to those perishing, 1 Corinthians 1.18. It's foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews.

That's 1 Corinthians 1.23. So that's what it meant to them. And why is this? Why is this? Why is the cross a reproach or a stumbling block or something not pleasant? And I think Psalm 22 spells it out. So in Psalm 22, and this is, would not this be Christ himself speaking?

I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And you lay me in the dust of death, for the dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers have encompassed me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them. And for my clothing, they cast lots. I was... I've forgotten how... What's the word? Graphic?

Well, graphic, but... vivid but accurate the accuracy of this to what really happened at the cross right it's exactly it's exactly what happened uh... uh... it from the gospel accounts and this is it's it's spot on and then i was thinking why the apostles were studying you know in in john and mark uh... and when Christ was preaching, why they couldn't go to this verse and figure out that, oh, he's going to die. They did not get this, or they skipped over this. And so this is vivid, and it's 100% accurate. Yeah, just another thought here, maybe.

Is it possible that the Judaizers within the Galatian Church were actually persecuting those who had Jewish heritage for ultimately not being circumcised? I mean, it's in sanctification, not justification. So they're expecting more of the Jewish believer to be circumcised, and maybe they're persecuting their own Jewish brothers for not being circumcised. for the sanctification, not justification. Right. But wouldn't the Jews, if they were Jews, they were circumcised? Yeah, wouldn't they have been circumcised as infants? From birth, yeah. Yeah, they would have been circumcised long before. So they were circumcised, but I could see... I think there were a subset that were, anyway.

I think what you're saying is, when they came to Christianity, or the cross, by grace, Paul's gospel, they would then disassociate themselves with the law system, and they would free themselves up, you know, they wouldn't do all the Jewish legalistic stuff anymore. And then they would be persecuted for that, even though they're circumcised, right? Because, yeah, I would say that, that's for sure. And who knows? Because if they weren't circumcised as babies, they would be cut off from the people, I think. So I think they were all... I think they were all circumcised. But they're being compelled to be circumcised.

Well, I'm assuming this to be the Gentile believers up there in Galatia, right? Because we're in Gentile land up there. We're in Gaul land. The Gauls are up there. Those are the Galatians. And I think I mentioned in a previous lesson that they're kind of Northern European, kind of Irish-French, they kind of came from that area, the Gauls, and populated the Galatian area.

So we think the Irish, they're bad people. I mean, look at that. I'm part Irish, I mean, right? Tempers and fighting and, yeah. Right, right. I think I'm only Irish in name and not more Hungarian. Yeah, so I think they were Gentiles, basically, for the most part. But there were probably some Jews that had left the Jerusalem area due to persecution.

So Hanta 13, he says, for those who are circumcised, do not even keep the law themselves, but the desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh, and that's an obvious thing. And we're talking again about these legalists. And you could even expand that out to Jews in general, but primarily these legalists. So let's look at, they are circumcised, but they do not even keep the law themselves. And how much of the law do they need to keep to be? The whole law. Right.

Galatians 5.3. Anyone have that up by any chance? Turn back a page.

Galatians 5.3.

Do you want us to read it out loud? Yeah, please. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. Yeah. I forgot my Bible on the kitchen counter, so. Yeah, I'll need you to look. But I reference it. Sometimes I just put it in there, but sometimes I don't. And then when I try to recite it, it comes out But I need my phone to keep the time, so you see how all the sausage is made up.

Oh, and here's what I was trying to, almost going to let the cat out of the bag in the last slide. But what noun describes these Judaizers? There's one specific noun. It's not in the text. You just have to come up with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what... Yeah, but I'm not looking for that. What would be someone who makes you do something that you don't even do yourself? Hypocrite?

Well, yeah. Good. Okay, you get the gold star. Hypocrite is the noun. I didn't know that so well. It's from the Greek, it's hypokrites. Hippocrates, maybe, or Hippocrates is probably how you pronounce it. And it means an actor or one who answers or interprets from under a mask is a hypocrite. So actors are hypocrites, basically. And you think about those, and you kind of pay attention to Hollywood, and that's kind of true, isn't it?

So it's interesting how hypocrite ties into verse 12 because in verse 12 Paul says they desire to put on a good face in the flesh and that's that putting on a good face that's that's the that ties us to hypocrite right so they did I was thinking the desire to put on a happy face and I think this is the And this is from ancient Greek, these tragedy and comedy. And they put on a mask. And they have a happy mask and a tragic mask. And they want that happy mask so that when the arch-legalists, the arch-Pharisees come around to check on them, they've done a good job of converting these Galatians through circumcision to the law. Even though they're, I think, the majority of them are Gentile. So, you know, they don't need to go through that.

Can you think of biblical examples of hypocrites, or where? Judas? Yeah, yeah. Yep. Possibly the Pharisees that bring the woman caught in adultery to Jesus they could have been hypocrites it doesn't really say that but I think they were but a really good section is Matthew 23 1 through 7 where Jesus spoke to the crowds and he says, the scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.

Therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say things and do not do them. And this is the key here. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them upon men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. Exactly what we're talking about. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men. Exactly what Paul's saying.

For they broaden their phlacteries, and that's these boxes with the law, boxes with the laws or Deuteronomy written on them so they can refer to them. And if they have the big box, it means they're super holy. And they lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at the banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues. and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men.

So there it is. There's your hypocrite. And Paul's an expert at this because he's a Pharisee of Pharisees. He's seen these guys. He was probably one himself. Yeah. Wow. So I was like, wow, that section really illustrates what we're talking about here. Oh, it goes on in 23 to the eight woes. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. And there's eight of them. And seven of them, he calls them hypocrites. So one he doesn't, but there you go. It's really amazing, the woes.

So summary here, how am I doing? Oh wow, okay. This is a first. I'm doing really good on time. I can let you out early to grab the rest of the cookies in the break room. So yeah, quick summary. Yeah, I thought this last section is not a warm valediction. And valediction is to say goodbye in the Greek. Valedesice or something. But yesterday on my walk with the dog, what he's really doing is making a legal summation. a court of law summation or a closing statement as an attorney would and this is his closing statement. Coupled with next week's 14 and 15 is part of this.

But the main point of Galatians is to eschew legalism, to throw it out. Or the main point is not for the Galatians to throw out legalism and keep with the grace provided at the cross. Mosaic legalisms, here I call it a key card. The circumcision is a key card.

And they're going to receive this soon. I think we found that before they haven't received circumcision yet. And Paul is trying to stop them. But there you go. A key card is an entry. I know that walking up in the DU campus with the dog, I can't get into any buildings because you need a key card to swipe and to open doors, you know. And that's circumcision is the entry fee into all this legalism.

So versus 14 and 15s, Paul brings in a personal plea into this closing statement, and that is his coup de grace to his whole argument here. And coup de grace is when you wounded a soldier in battle, and he's suffering, so you give him a coup de grace, which is to, they did that to King Saul, to finish him off so he's not suffering. And that's, next week is that for the whole argument he's making here about, we'll see what you say, Bob, but I think it is.

The other point about point two, which is so true, if you think of the error that's going on in the church in Galatia, is that the grace of the cross extends beyond justification. That grace principle is sanctification. And it's glorification. We're living in a sanctified world, we the body of Christ, right? And when you return law to grace, it dampens or even cancels out the principle of grace as it relates to growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, and it's hard. A lot of denominations get the justification by the cross, and then they bring in things, and not necessarily the Mosaic law, but things, accoutrements to it, right?

Traditions. Other things to be sanctified. Good Friday. You know, really, how many churches, they think, you know, you're not there on Good Friday. Yeah, or I know evangelical churches like that, I know. Lent. What is Lent? Why are you guys kind of highlighting Lent? What is even that? And yeah, Good Friday, or the whole Holy Week, they bring in those things.

I was thinking, Other things that they, how you bring in, and once you get, circumcision, I didn't say this, but circumcision is also like the nose of the camel. under the tent, the bottom of the tent. You get that nose of the camel in there, and then the whole thing's coming in. For whatever that is, and this has happened in the church too.

So it's, we're one of the unique ones here by keeping grace in sanctification and glorification, I think. One good example is our Bible study. We have a man who was a former faculty in Washington where I did my training. And he heard that we had a Bible study in the home. So he's joined us online. And when I said we're having Bible study on April 2nd, which was three days before Easter, he said, that's a holy night. That's, you know, ultimately...

Maudee Thursday, right? I can't join you. Maudee Thursday, yeah. Because of that. Then there was a woman, when we were in Barcelona, seated next to us, a Hindu woman who converted to Catholicism, and she was giving up what, dessert or something, because of Lent. We had to take the other half with us. I wanted to make sure she saw that I was eating.

Because in Telluride, they make a big deal of Mardi Gras. They love it. They're all about Mardi Gras. It's a big party. Big Bacchanal, right? But what do they do the next day? They begin they began the Lenten season. And then, so you party it up, and then the next day, you gotta, it's just, well. They all have a hangover anyway. Yeah, it's, yeah, and so those, so even the heathens like this system, this Mardi Gras, and then Lent, Lenten season. It's really amazing. Makes you feel like you're doing something. Yeah, right, it gives you something to do. Yep, yeah. Instead of something to believe in.

So it's interesting too, next week, he ties this argument, today's argument, well, no, next week's argument, he brings back the cross and crucifixion into Galatians 2.20. into these, his final thoughts here. It's a really, it's really, and next week's verses are incredible, one of Paul's. It's one verse only. Oh, it is one verse, okay. So the next week will be 15. Yeah, we'll finish it up.

Yeah, good stuff there. So, So ending with this, I found this, and yet for grace, such grace, he was commonly stigmatized. Blessed stigma, oh, how he glorified in an offense of this kind, that's the cross. And when we say blessed stigma, we're not, like the Catholics, but he's not saying that here. He's, he's, saying what a blessed thing the cross is. His love for the poor, sinful souls of men, that sublimest of all charities, should have secured something else than his rejection. Meaning that, you know, he did all these while he was here on earth. He healed the sick and he was a balm for sinful souls of men. and he should have been elevated instead of rejected as he was.

For this reason too, he might have said, blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Or who are not offended in me. I think I have that right. I copied it right down. There should be a, yeah, okay, that makes sense. But there it is. And I found that J. Wilson Smith. Yeah. So there you go. Let's close.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the cross. We thank you for Jesus' ultimate sacrifice on the cross and that he was willing to endure what we read in Psalm 22 for our for our salvation and our justification and our sanctification and glorification as well. It's all wrapped up in the cross. An offense to many but to us a blessed thing and we thank you for that in his name. Amen.