Paul's Final Challenge (No Other Gospel #22)

And now, after all this, Paul brings his letter to a conclusion. As we will see as we read it, this conclusion is a summary and reminder of everything that Paul has said henceforth. You've probably heard the old explanation about how to give a speech: you tell people what you're going to tell them, then you tell them, and then you tell them what you just told them. Paul doesn't usually follow this kind of formula, but in Galatians he does. Galatians 1:1-9 really is an introduction, encapsulating the main points which he will develop throughout the rest of Galatians. And this passage really is a conclusion, summarizing and driving home the points he has made throughout the book.

Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (Galatians 6:11-18)

Paul begins by striking the personal note. Though in a sense the conflict around Galatia was not personal--Paul wasn't concerned by any personal slight to himself--yet in a sense it was. This was an issue of doctrine, but it was also an issue of authority--who were the Galatians going to listen to? Paul (as an apostle and representative of the one true gospel) or the Judaizers? Paul puts this contrast plainly in this last passage.

The Judaizers were not truly concerned for the Galatians. Verse 12: “As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised.” That's all the Judaizers were after--a fair show; a good appearance. They wanted everyone to know that they were winning converts for their position; that they were bringing more people into their circle. But beyond that, they didn't really care about the Galatians. They were like boys who date a girl, not because they like her, but just so they can brag about it.

But Paul did truly care about the Galatians. Whatever hard words he may have had to say in Galatians, they were truly born out of love. In verse 11 he says that he wrote them a large letter by his own hand. It seems that most of Paul's letters were written by a scribe, but this one, so important and personal to him, he wrote himself. “How large a letter” could describe the length of the letter--that Paul is pointing out that he wrote an unusually long letter by his own hand. (Remember that his longer letters like Romans would not be written until later in his ministry and were dictated rather than written.) Or he could be referring to the size of the letters themselves. Many have theorized that Paul usually dictated his letters because he had bad eyesight and so when he did write, he had to write with very large letters in order to see them. But in any case, the point is this: Paul is reminding them that he took the trouble by his own hand to send them this warning because of how much he cared about them and about the situation they were in.

The Judaizers were motivated by fear. Verse 12: “Only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” As we've seen before, the one thing about Christianity that really ticked off the Jews was the idea of the gospel going out to the Gentiles and of the Gentiles being saved without circumcision. The Judaizers had enough faith in Christianity to want to hold onto the gospel. But they were afraid of the persecution which would come from the Jews and so the struck a compromise--insisting on circumcision, insisting that to be a Christian one also had to be a Jew. That would placate the Jews. They thought. (How well that actually worked, we don't know. Such compromises have a tendency of backfiring.)

But Paul preached his gospel fearlessly, regardless of the persecution he suffered for it. Verse 17: “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” This was his final appeal; his final appeal to the Galatians to accept his word and stop all the quarreling and rebellion: and it was the marks which he bore, which I believe refer to the scars which Paul had received in the course of his ministry. This is still relatively early in Paul's ministry, but we already know he had experienced much opposition and it is easy to assume there was much we don't know of--he was a man literally scarred by his past; who literally carried in his body the marks of his ministry. In Paul's day, a slave was sometimes branded with a mark to indicate whom he belonged to, and the word for that is the same word as “marks” here; Paul's scars were a testimony to the fact that he belonged to Jesus; that he was an apostle of Christ.

The Judaizers boasted in what they accomplished. Their pride was their converts. They “desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.” They wanted a headcount of converts; that was their boast.

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul's only pride and boast was not in the things he had done, even the good things he had done. If all the Galatians deserted the gospel of Paul and went over the Judaizers, it would have hurt Paul, but that wouldn't have changed Paul. Some time back, I heard a preacher the story of an athlete who was the champion of his particular sport--and then he lost. And in the aftermath of that defeat, he contemplated suicide: because he was the champion and if he had lost, then what was he? But if Paul had lost all his converts, if not a single fruit had come from Paul's labor, he would have been pained, but it wouldn't have destroyed his identity. Because his identity, his boast and his glory, wasn't in that, wasn't in the converts he had won, wasn't in the sermons he had preached--but in the Cross of Jesus, in the salvation which God had freely provided for him.

The Judaizer's gospel was ultimately ineffective. “Neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law.” Their whole point of the Judaizers gospel was that we find salvation through obeying the law. Only they didn't obey the law. As Paul pointed out earlier, nobody could find salvation in that way, but it almost seems as if the Judaizers didn't even come close. They obviously didn't lead perfect lives. This may be saying that they didn't even lead moderately righteous life; that they used their legalism and emphasis on ceremony and covenant as a cover for their own sins. This may not have been the case, but it wouldn't be unheard of it was. Legalism cannot provide salvation; it cannot conquer the works of the flesh; so often the utmost regard for the law goes hand-in-hand with lawlessness. Colosse was dealing with somewhat similar issues; there were false teachers that insisted on rigorous and legalist discipline. And this is what Paul said. This is Colossians 2:23 from the RSV: “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.” The Judaizers could not find salvation and may not even have managed to find moderate respectability.

But Paul, through the one gospel, through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, could say that “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” The true gospel brings deliverance from the world--from the sin of the world and from the judgment of the world.

Verse 15 summarizes the entire argument of Galatians in a single verse: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision.” To be a Christian, to believe the gospel, is to put our faith in Christ Jesus; it is to acknowledge that Jesus is the way to salvation. This fact is what sets Christianity absolutely apart from every other religion. And once you see that, it should be clear that nothing we have or do can bring salvation. Being a Jew and keeping the Jewish law will not make you a Christian. Being a Gentile and following the Gentile law will also not make you a Christian. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian and neither does going anywhere else. Being rich doesn't save you and neither does being poor. None of those things matter because our salvation is in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Most other translations give that: “a new creation.” The BBE has: “A new order of existence.” What God requires from us is not anything we can do, but an entirely new heart and life that can only be created by God; that is why salvation is a gift that is received by faith. But when that new life begins it will bring a change to the way we live, so that we live according to the Spirit and not according to the Flesh, producing the fruit of the Spirit.

This is the gospel, and Paul prays for peace and mercy upon all those who follow it, all those who walk according to this rule. That's verse 16 and he prays this benediction on those who follow the gospel “and upon the Israel of God.”

That word AND can have two meanings. It can mean “also” (which is how we usually use the word “and” in English). In that case, Paul is thinking of the church in the first half of the verse and Israel as a nation in the second half. Even the Jews cast out Paul and persecuted him, he never ceased caring about them. Many of the Jews turned against Christ; many of them turned against Paul--and yet Paul always remained faithful to his people-group. His ministry was to the Gentiles, but he never lost his heart for the Jews. He told the Romans that he had such great concern and travail for his countrymen that he could wish himself cursed if that would help bring them to God. And he seemed to prophesy that a time was coming when there would be a great turning of the Jews to Christ; a prophecy which has not yet been fulfilled.

But AND can also mean “even.” In other words, Paul is saying that those who follow this rule, who follow the gospel are the true Israel of God. Of course, this doesn't mean that Gentiles are Jews. That distinction is never blurred or diminished. But the heart of God's plan for Israel was the promise to Abraham which was a promise of faith and so the true heirs of that promise are those who walk by faith and not by the law. The gospel is far closer to true Judaism than the teaching of the Judaizers because it is founded on the same thing that the Jewish covenant was founded on--faith in the grace of God.

Galatians ends with a benediction which is very similar to all of Paul's letters. “Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Whatever hard words Paul may have had to say in this letter, it was born out of his love for the Galatians and his only desire was that they would be able to enjoy to the grace of God, for the one true gospel is a gospel of grace and not of legalism and the only way to have grace is to accept it in faith rather than trying to earn through our own efforts.  “After the storm and stress and intensity of the letter comes the peace of the benediction. Paul has argued and rebuked and cajoled but his last word is GRACE, for him the only word that really mattered.” (Barclay, Galatians 6:18)