Galatians 1:6-10
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one
who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel –
which is really no gospel at all.
When I first started teaching, I had a chalkboard. I’m not kidding. In 2007, I gained a classroom with two
chalkboards, a lot of chalk, and a sturdy overhead projector with Vis-à-vis
markers. I taught that way for a year
before I was given a whiteboard, and then after a few years, I gained a cart
with a computer/projector and document camera to replace my overhead
projector. I cannot describe my
enthusiasm when we got those carts. No
more chalk dust on my pants, no more
purple hands from the Vis-à-vis markers, no more copying handouts on
transparencies. With the cart and
document camera, I could project any handout immediately. A student could write an essay in her
notebook, and it could be shown to the class for editing immediately. I could type notes and show instructional
videos with the click of a button. It
was amazing – a whole new world of teaching and the freedom to instantly do
activities that would have taken hours of planning (or even been impossible)
previously. After having that type of
technology, I NEVER wanted to return to the old way of teaching.
After doing something the hard way and then experiencing the
easy way, it is difficult to imagine ever going back. But, returning to the old way is exactly what
the Galatians were doing. Prior to
Jesus, the Jews had participated in all kinds of laws set forth by God to make
them acceptable in his presence. God was
so holy that in order to commune with him, the people must also be holy. So, they had to do things that would set them
apart from the sinfulness around them – they were circumcised to show they were
set apart and dedicated to God, they participated in sacrifice to atone for
their sins, they went through procedures for entering the temple and obeyed rules
for who could and could not enter depending on how “clean” they were. The laws were impossible for people to keep
perfectly, so God made another way for them – a better way.
He sent Jesus to be perfect in all the ways they couldn't be. Jesus was like the designated hitter – he
went into the game on their (and our) behalf to do a job people were unable to do
because they were just too fragile. He
kept all the rules; he perfectly followed the law; he was holy. Because he was holy, he could be the
sacrifice for us – he could die in our place to gain us entrance into God’s
presence. You see, a perfectly holy
person could enter God’s presence because there would be no sin in him. By contrast, a sinful person was subject to
death (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death”). Essentially, on the cross, Jesus gave his
holiness to us and took our sin, which caused him to die. Because he died, we can live. That means that even though we will
physically die, we will then be able to live with Christ because we will die
covered in his holiness.[1]
It is a crazy concept, and I have a hard time wrapping my
mind around it, so I’m not sure my explanation was totally clear. The bottom line, though, is that once Jesus
came, everyone was freed from the old law.
We no longer need sacrifices to atone for sin or procedures to enter
God’s presence because when God looks at us, he sees Jesus’ holiness instead of
our sinfulness. We are clean because he
was clean. Pretty awesome.
Here is what is not awesome, though. The Galatians, who had accepted Jesus’s
sacrifice and the corresponding freedom, were now listening to a group of
conservative Jews who were teaching them that they had to live under the law to
be right with God. Jesus came so that
they could be free from all the old laws that weren't good enough anyway, but
they were choosing to live as if he had not come at all. As if his sacrifice wasn't good enough.
I love Paul’s response to them. He says, “I am astonished that you are so
quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning
to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians
1:6-7). According to the Zondervan
commentary, the Greek word used for “deserting” could be the same word used to
describe a military revolt. I find it
interesting that this word can be taken so aggressively. Paul considered the actions the Galatians
were taking to be a revolt against the plan God gave them in Christ.
Today, we may not be sacrificing animals to atone for our
sin or staying out of church based on a number of bodily conditions that would
make us “unclean,” but we do still try to follow rules in the belief that doing
so will make us acceptable to God. How
many people do you know who would say, “I’m a good person. I don’t steal or kill or cheat on my spouse. I am honest, I help people when I can, I don’t
swear. I am sure I will go to heaven.” Or worse, “Of course I’m a Christian. I go to church, I tithe, I attend Bible
Study, I read The Jesus Storybook to
my kids.” The fact is that both
statements are a lie and a revolt against God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works,
so that no one can boast.” What we do or
don’t do doesn't matter. The ONLY way we
are good enough is because of Jesus and his gift of grace. To believe that there is any other way to be
made right with God is nothing short of tragic.
We can look like a good person, or even a Christian, all we want but without
understanding that Christ is all we need, we are not ok and never will be.
[1]
John 11:25-26 says “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the
life. Anyone who believes in me will
live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never
die.’” Notice the prerequisite to being
covered in Jesus’s holiness is to believe in his sacrifice. Without believing, we don’t get to assume his
holiness and we will not find eternal life.
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