A New Creation

The end of Epistle to the Galatians. Alright, so we're going to read from 11 down through the end of the chapter. Miles, you got your Bible open? Yeah, I do. Okay, I'm going to give that task to you. Okay, 11 through the end? Right. 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 will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 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. But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Okay, thank you, Miles, for reading this morning. All right, so just as a brief review of last week, verse 14 was a one-verse week, and incredibly important and says so much, but I'll read it again and duplicate what Miles has just read.

But God forbid that I should boast or glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Why should the cross be the only thing or event in our lives in which we should glory? Why? Look where we get to go. What was accomplished at the cross that we should glory in that? It's the only thing that matters. Are you mumbling? We're speaking. It's the only thing that matters. Well, why is it the only thing that matters?

We were crucified, separated, and we have a new life. All right, so that's the co-crucifixion and the resurrection. We're going to deal with that a little bit more today. Sins were forgiven too. We can't forget that also. Okay, but what's the contrast? What else might we glory in? Remember, to be crucified to the world, the world to us, is to be declared as dead. Something crucified is dead. And I think sometimes we don't focus enough on what the cross meant. Christ died. Because of the sin of the world, from times gone by to times in the future, all that sin has been paid for.

But now we as believers have also died in terms of our position with the Lord Jesus Christ. So if we think about why we glory in the cross, we glory in the cross because of our position of righteousness that we have. And that impacts our condition, doesn't it? I think we, again, we need to think of us being dead in the flesh before God and praise Him for that. And so we're boasting and glorifying of the cross because of what it means for us individually.

That sin nature before God is gone and done. Now we, unfortunately, don't experience that day in and day out, do we? And I think one of the important teachings that we have at Holly Hills that's biblical, the sin nature never goes away. And I've often said the light and brightness of the Lord Jesus Christ and who we are in Him gets brighter.

The ugliness of who we are in the flesh gets, in fact, more revealed for what it really is. But let's really boast and glorify on that cross because ultimately that's what gives us the new life we have in Christ Jesus. The basis of such glorification or boasting is a life. It's the new life we have in Christ Jesus. And how's that manifested?

Well, just one of many verses we could utilize. Romans 12, 2. But be not conformed to this world. By the way, remember, we've been crucified to the world and the world's been crucified to us. So be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So that's not a legal demand, it's a positional demand that relates to our new life that we have in Christ Jesus. Not being conformed to the world, but being conformed to this new creation we are in Christ. Any comment about verse 14? An incredibly powerful verse. Today, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. So, okay, let's look at the first part of verse 15.

In this entire epistle, and in this chapter, Paul describes circumcision as a Jewish tradition and a badge of recognition with no spiritual value to the Jew. And by the way, uncircumcision has no value to the Gentile. As my old baseball coach would say, Margaret's going to cringe, It don't make no never mind. Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile in terms of where circumcision, right? Sorry, honey, I didn't mean to. Can you repeat that? It don't make no never mind. So I think Paul has been fairly repetitive in his epistle to indicate that circumcision and uncircumcision are irrelevant to salvation. And that's law only and tradition only. All right.

So for Christ Jesus, we're a new creation. And ultimately, it's used to describe this new man that's regenerated in Christ, which we all have internally. And ultimately, you know, this is a verse that, you know, we can go back to multiple times, but in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, each one of us, we're new creations.

Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. What does it mean when it says old things have passed away and all things have become new? I like to think that all that we were in Adam, as far as the old things passed away. Yeah, Darby kind of very succinctly says, man in the flesh is wholly gone from all relationship with God, and none can be framed or formed. There must be a new creation. There has to be, because the old things are no longer relevant. Alright, not to make you dizzy.

Ephesians 2.10 is also relevant here.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So if you look at this verse, for we are his workmanship, how do we perform as his workmanship? is because we're created in Christ Jesus. Is that not true? I mean, the workmanship that we're performing, in fact, is because of the activation of the new nature by the Holy Spirit revealing Christ in each and every one of us. So I think, ultimately, this new creation we are is incredibly important. It's interesting, too, that I think Paul ends this epistle with these important reminders that, ultimately, he related to indirectly in many ways throughout the chapter. OK. Verse 16 then, and as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. What do you make of the fact as many as walk according to is in the future active indicative tense and mood?

Why? I was surprised at this. Well, we're going to deal with something similar in Romans this morning. I mean, future can be some day way down the road, or it can be the next moment, and the next, and the next. Why wouldn't these be present tense, do you think? Maybe we're on a rabbit row here, but I don't know if it is a rabbit row. Well, I think in part because the Galatians maybe weren't. But they can, because they're believers. They can walk.

So future, again, you're right, it can be seconds from now or it could be months or years from now, right? In a sense, you think it relates to kind of the conflict of the body of believers there in Galatia, that ultimately there were many people being influenced by the Judaizers? And by the way, you're listening to all this kind of, if you will, scriptural misinterpretation, but as you go forward, consider all this in terms of the fact that we're encouraging you to recognize your new man in Christ Jesus that's been created within each one of you. Speculating here to some extent. So Bob, do you think that rule refers back to the previous verse?

Well, we're going to talk about the rule in a second. So ultimately, Walk here is stokio. It means basically living one's life. We all know that pretty well. And to turn to another verse in Galatians 5.16, I say, then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I mean, that was the entire battleground of we having the flesh battling against the spirit. And ultimately, the fruit of the spirit has been previously outlined and really given to the Galatian church.

So what's this rule? I thought we were free of rules. Actually, I have a note that could be translated basic truth, which seems to me possibly pointing back to the truth he just revealed in the previous verse. Yes, it's another way to interpret this and I went back to the Greek.

It's a principle or law of investigating or judging or living or acting. It's kind of a life is what it is. It's not a true rule to be followed as a tradition or something more formal in terms of the Jewish tradition. This is a way of life. It's a rule of life. It's kind of like a walk. walking life.

So I think Philippians 3.16 says however let us keep living by that same standard.

I'm using the new American standard here because they use standard rather than the rule to which we have obtained. So really in my opinion this rule is is living a life that's consistent with our position that's a righteous life that brings glory to God. Remember, we're glorying in the cross, right? And our life is ultimately, as Hal said so many times, you may be the only Bible people ever read.

So, I think that's probably what this rule does relate to. peace and mercy be upon them. I'm so surprised that this is, although this is kind of a benediction to some extent. I thought we had all the mercy and peace we were going to have, but I guess this is kind of an interesting statement in context. And the question to the class here, is this result then conditional? In other words, if we walk according to this rule or way of life or standard that's consistent with our positional truth as being made righteous, is then this peace and mercy which come upon us, is that dependent on our response to this guidance? Well, I think there's peace with God and there's the peace of God.

So how are you interpreting this? Let's go back to the verse again. And as many as walk according to this rule or standard of life, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. We'll come back to Israel. Rabbi, I was going to take a flip on that because I'm heading back to the previous verse and keep hanging on that.

Do you think he's saying there's some that are still hanging out thinking circumcision is good? And that's not true. And he said, peace and mercy upon them. And there's some that think that they're, they're, they got it made because they're not circumcised and that's not good either. So could he be focusing on back to 15 saying, you know, but then the final statement is, you know, um, 15 is that for a new creation could be kind of covering all the bases, so to speak. There are some that are not walking and he said, peace and mercy upon them. I don't know. I just, that kind of hit me looking at this at the moment. So I don't know. I didn't look at it that way, but other thoughts? I was just trying to explain how, why would he say, you know, scratching, why is he saying peace and mercy upon, we have, like you say, we have God's grace, do we need peace and mercy? We don't.

But the ones that are walking contrary to that, according to circumcision or uncircumcision, don't have that. The whole letter to the Galatians is dealing with an issue of the walk. He's talking to believers. He made that very clear in the opening chapters.

So they all have peace with God. But then in their walk, they're trying to gain the peace of God. They're trying to... have that, have great, you know, kind of increase or improve their favor with God, in a sense, through these external rituals, bringing over legal principles.

And kind of here at the end, Paul's saying, this is the path to having that experiential peace of God, is not through, you know, the law, but through counting on your Okay, I can interpret succinctly from what you just said. I think this is entirely conditional. We know we have peace with God, and we know we have the peace of God, but the new life as it is carried forward gives us a peace and mercy that extends beyond, I think, simply our position or truth. And maybe let me try to summarize what I was saying is that when you're living under a legal principle, you'll never know if you have peace between you and the Lord because you're never quite sure if you're measuring up. That falls back a little bit on what Roger said in terms of circumcision, in terms of the impact that it was having on the people being influenced by the Judaizers at Galatia, right?

But I think By the way, if we're walking by the power of the spirit and the flesh is kind of in the background and not very apparent, we do have a piece of God in our walk. We don't get cocky about that. It's just something God gives us and it gives us a feeling that... Glory to Him, and we don't take credit for that. It's just our life.

If we live a life consistent with our righteousness, and it's apparent to everybody within the body and beyond, there's something different about it. then that's a peace and ultimately the mercy is no longer needed to deal with our flesh. I mean the mercy of God, doesn't it go back to the cross again saying your sins have been forgiven, get with it, guy or gal. So I think this is almost entirely conditional that another dose of peace and mercy as we walk according to the Spirit. and the new creations were our Christ Jesus.

Other people, some thoughts about this? Bob? Yeah, Jim, yeah. If you believe that circumcision, it just doesn't matter. It gives you peace. And, you know, peace and mercy will be shown to you, you know. So, that's what Paul's saying here. He's just stating a fact. Peace and mercy be upon you.

Any other concerns? A couple of verses I pulled here for this. I always decide where I'm best to look. My vision, as you know, is not very good. In fact, I'm headed to New York this weekend. I've got two talks to give there. I need a monitor on the podium because they have these floor monitors and I'm out to lunch, I can't move. Anyway, so I'm going to, probably glasses here, glasses here, I have dime store glasses I can use here. Anyway, John is sixteen thirty here.

I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace." Now as we walk in him, again, this isn't another dose of peace, but it's kind of the confidence that God gives us when we walk according to his calling and the power of the spirits. So, I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace. And this is speaking to the believer internally.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Doesn't that really relate to this thing we've been talking about in verse 14? I've been crucified to the world, and the world to me, and that's where peace comes from, as we walk by grace in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And mercy, I had a little trouble finding mercy that went beyond the mercy of the Old Testament. And it's used sparingly in the New Testament, but mostly related to the scriptural history. But Jude 121, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Not totally applicable here, but that's really the only time I saw mercy really used in the epistles.

I mean, that relates to the kind of the walk that we're being called to by Paul in Galatians. Well, I think in like 516, he's almost being sarcastic. Like, if you're going to live by whether it matters whether you're circumcised or not according to a legal tradition, then mercy upon you, so to speak.

Well, you know, the interesting thing about 16 Peter is that if you walk in the Spirit, then the flesh has no bearing. So that's not an intellectual step. I think it's really a faith-based step that we walk in the Spirit. There's no test we need to pass to see how we're doing walking in the Spirit. We need to believe that the Holy Spirit is activating our lives day in and day out to glorify God.

Now, and even, I put even in there because some of the commentators think that that's a better translation, even upon the Israel of God. What Israel is this? All Israel is not Israel. Okay, all right, I'll bounce that in for you. It's not Israel after the flesh. among whom the Judaizers wished to enroll, but the spiritual seed of Abraham.

Everybody agree with that interpretation? Let's go back to Romans 2 and look at this in a little bit more detail. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose promise is not from men, but from God. Doesn't that fit really nicely here?

So I think the Israel that Paul is speaking about here in the terminal verses of the book of Galatians really relates to the Israel of God is the Israel who's circumcised in the heart, not in the flesh. And Roger back to the issue of circumcision in terms of in context is still kind of relevant in terms of the implication of these verses. F.B. Meyer, I think, said something maybe even more, much more eloquent. We find ourselves at once introduced into a family of kindred spirits who have passed through the same radical change and are united beneath the gracious canopy, I love that, the gracious canopy of mercy and peace. Such are God's Israel. And Paul relates this to his own walk.

Therefore, know only those who are of faith of faith are sons of Abraham. So the Abrahamic Covenant still has relevance to the God of Israel or the Israel of God because those are the true believers. And remember the church is no longer Jews and Gentiles, they're Christians. So the Israel of God is in fact those who are in fact living by faith and are walking according to being circumcised in the heart rather than the flesh. Everybody okay with that? Sir, are you saying that Jews and Gentile believers are sons of Abraham? Yes. All right, verse 17. From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. From now on, let no man trouble me.

What do you think is going on here with Paul? What mood or emotion is he expressing here? It sounds like he's tired. He sounds like you, Bob, the other day. I'm sorry. You were worn out after the trip. I can kind of tell. You were worn out. Do you want me to step down here? Miles or Roger? So you think so, from now on, he's tired of being troubled, is that what the interpretation is? Is this the human Paul right here?

Anyway, it's interesting to see the human nature sometimes. It's an interesting word, she must admit that, let nobody trouble me. Okay, and partly this is why, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. So what's he talking about here? I mean, the marks in his body are likely physical, are they not? We'll look at that. Yeah, his resume of all the times he was... Well, here they are.

And Lee says these marks of the Lord Jesus were the scars that were caused by the scourgings, the Roman rods, and the stoning at Lystra, which Paul had received. Now, the marks on his body are one thing, and I think we can hear the verses that reflected that issue. But, you know, what do you think Paul meant by burying these marks.

Is this pain or is this physical dysfunction or other? I don't have an answer to that, but what do you think? I mean, one commentator, I think it may have been Constable, thought that he had excruciating pain that was ongoing. I'm paraphrasing that, but I don't know that we have evidence of that. But the marks were not only physical, were they? I mean, don't trouble me. And the mood he has here reflects maybe more than that. Kind of the scars of battle.

Well, how about the verse where he says, I carry the burdens of all the churches. He had physical suffering, plus emotional. I carry all the burdens of all the churches in his mind, in his heart. So it's kind of along that line, it seems to me. I'm carrying with you all you believers God has given me, or what, you know, it just seems like that's involved. Mental, or emotional, or physical, and it's just a lot.

Right, and think about this as the PTSD of Paul's age, right? I mean, in a sense, we only get a glimpse of this. There aren't too many verses in Scripture that Paul has written that make us kind of profoundly take a step back and say, this guy's been through a lot, isn't he? He's kind of reflecting that here, isn't he? And I think probably his frustration with the teaching going on at the Galatian Church. And remember, this is one of his first epistles, right? Right. Well, it's sort of like your first class and everything. Well, if you're a teacher, the first time you teach and your class is a disaster. So I'll never teach again. I'm not sure how to interpret that.

You know, if I quote a brother of Bob Wolford, I mean, maybe this came from somebody else, but the idea that he understood Romans completely, even though the epistle to Rome had not been written at the time, Galatians, because he's confronting the problem of the developing church and the impact of the Judaizers on living under law rather than under grace. But Paul internally had Romans already settled in him. He just hadn't written the epistle yet. How about if Bob Wolford said that or somebody else said that?

That was interesting, yeah. I think that's an interesting point. I think Romans captures what Paul taught everywhere he went because, I mean, that's essentially how he defines it. He said, guys, you know all this. Which is why Galatians can be hard to interpret, because he's pretty brief on some of these major truths.

And he just summarized the Galatians 2.20. That's all of Romans 6 in one verse. Exactly. That's a perfect example, Miles. Thank you for sharing that.

Galatians 2.20 goes far beyond what the church in Galatians could understand, right? He's confronting them with that truth. But boy, Romans hadn't been written yet. It's not like, go study Romans and come back next week.

All right, the last verse of this wonderful epistle. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. This is not an unusual benediction for Paul, is it? So here are other ones that are very similar, if not identical, to this. Romans, 2nd Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Timothy, all have this kind of content. The wording may not be absolutely, specifically the same, but they're very, very similar. So how would you interpret this if you were reading this letter from Paul and you were in the church there and this was the benediction? What's being emphasized here that is so credibly important on closing a letter to this church? Grace. Grace. Yeah, exactly. The word grace. How about your spirit? We're going to come back to that here in a second. But let's see another important part. Here he's addressing this to the brethren. Is this important? What do you think?

Well, Galatians 4.12 helps us here. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

So, you know, I'm trying to think of 1 Corinthians 11.1, where Paul seems to be drawing attention to himself.

Somebody could pull up 1 Corinthians 11.1 and read that for us. And I think if you were a novice into biblical truth and you read this, you might think that Paul is kind of drawing attention to himself. Anybody have that?

Be imitators of me as I also am of Christ. Okay, be imitators of me as I also am of Christ. I should have remembered that, but thank you. So, in a sense I think the same thing is coming across here. Paul is saying the walk that God has given me is one that's exemplifying of the glorying of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be like that. Imitators are not of Paul. Imitators are the walk. It's not being fleshly imitators of Paul, but imitators of the walk that Paul has established. For I became like you. What do you make of that? The commentators were not helpful here, but I became like you, meaning his history was Jewish-based, was it not? He was like them.

What do you think? Is that reasonable? It doesn't look like that's what it says, but he didn't live under law as a believer, did he? Or maybe Romans 7 suggested he did. Well, don't you think because he was a Jew among Jews, a Pharisee, I mean, this was a whole new thing for him. This was not just simple to go from being that to now understanding what grace was. That was totally out of his character. So I imagine, you know, it was difficult for him to just become Well, I think two interpretations are possible, and I don't think we need to be solidly convinced of one or the other, and maybe either one of them. One is just Jewish traditions of Pharisee living everything under the rule of God, if you will, under law.

The second thing is the Roman 7 experience, where he was saved, but yet falling back all the time under legal principles. And what do you think? I mean, Baz, you're teaching Romans. You and Roger are way. Is it possible that that's what he's relating to here?

I became like you. I mean, Romans 7 would be a perfect example. I'm saved, but I keep falling back under law all the time. So in a sense, his experience, which again hadn't been written yet, could be related to the sin nature as it was manifested under law in Paul's walk.

Anyway, let's go ahead. Notice the mention again of grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Incredibly relevant for any benediction here. Be with your spirit. What does this suggest? That it will keep down the flesh? Be with your spirit. How do we interpret your spirit? Is that the Holy Spirit? I don't think so. Do you? No. We all have a spirit of our human existence, do we not?

And so our own spirit is being influenced by one of two. forces. One is the flesh or the other is the new creations we are in Christ Jesus. So what I think Paul is saying, your spirit is the way you're carrying yourself. The human spirit is not necessarily a sin of us or of the Lord.

It's ultimately the individual walk and what it's being looked like. What are your thoughts? Nobody has any thoughts. I agree with you. It's your human spirit. You're an LF1, yes. No further comments. All right. Amen. So it is. Let it be. May it be fulfilled. I think ultimately this is an interesting statement by Strong.

I pulled this right out of the lexicon. Strong says, it was a custom which passed over from the synagogues to the Christian assemblies that when he who had read or discovered had offered up solemn prayer to God, the others responded, Amen, and thus made the substance of what was uttered their own. I think that was a tremendous description of how Amen is used. And if you do a word search on Amen, there are hundreds of examples in the Bible where Amen is used in the Old Testament and the New. So I have nothing profound to say in closing this book, but it's been a great study. I think we've learned so much, and I thank Roger and Bob Wolford and also Andrew and Miles for all their teaching and contributions to this book. Any parting comments, words of wisdom, thoughts?

Okay, well, we go now to First Peter. And I think I'll just comment up front about 1 Peter in that the Peter that wrote the epistle is a whole different Peter than we see in the gospel account. And solid doctrine is really in these two epistles. So anyway, look forward to being part of that. Any other comments? So let's close in prayer.

Father, we're grateful for this opportunity to open your word and see how Paul has dealt with the many issues that were problematic in the Galatian church. And in many ways we fall back under some of those same temptations of living under law and by the flesh. But we see doctrinally that this is not what you've called us to. We're all called to be crucified with Christ and that life that we live now is that crucified life that is spirit led to the fruit of the spirit and the new creations we are may be glorified to you. We're thankful for this teaching and all the people who brought words of wisdom to our understanding and we close in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.