“the only necessary things”
Satellite
oct 29

In Genesis 15 we find the account of GOD establishing a covenant with Abraham. The covenant involves Abraham walking blameless before GOD and GOD blessing Abraham with children beyond what he could count. When the covenant with Abraham was established, GOD gave Abraham a symbol of the covenant: circumcision. This symbol had become a “the seal of righteousness” because those who were circumcised were those under the covenant. The covenant declared that Abraham and his descendants walk blameless before GOD; this is the idea of righteousness. Circumcision became outward image of an inward commitment. Does this sound like anything we do within the church today?

The circumcision that Paul is talking about here isn’t just the physical act, but rather philosophy that circumcision is equal to righteousness. The Jewish people in the first century had confused the covenant with the symbol and circumcision had become their righteousness. And because circumcision was linked to righteousness those who were uncircumcised were unrighteous. If you held this belief wouldn’t it make sense that you would want those who were uncircumcised to become circumcised? The problem was that the Judiesizers (people who wanted Christ-followers to become Jewish, too) held to this “Jesus and…” philosophy that allowed them to believe that salvation needed both Jesus and circumcision. This is much of what I talked about last week. I think it’s easy to look down on the Galatians for being captured by this belief, but I think if we take a look at Western Christianity we can see glimpses of “Jesus and…”.

Question: what are some things that we see or hear people add to salvation? What are the “Jesus and..” philosophies that we live with today?
Church? Baptism? Tithing?
Communion? Political Affiliation ?

Circumcision wasn’t bad. It wasn’t evil. But the method in which it was being used was degrading Jesus’ death. This is true today, too. If we believe that we must be baptized in order to be saved, we are falling away from the grace of the cross. If we believe that we must go to church to be saved, we are falling away from the grace of the cross. If we believe that we must take communion to be saved, we are falling away from the grace of the cross. This is the message of Paul in these verses.

Let’s Pray.
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself though love.

Paul is speaking pretty boldly here. These statements are not likely to go unnoticed. “If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all,” “you who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ,” “you have fallen away from grace.” These aren’t passing comments. Paul isn’t saying “hey guys, I should tell you this,” or “listen up guys, I should remind you of something.” No, he is declaring something; he’s making a statement that demands attention. We don’t necessarily see it here, in the NIV. The translation in the NIV writes: “I, Paul, tell you…” If you look into the Greek the word translated into “tell you” is the word “martyromai.” The root word for this is “martys.” This is the word from which we get the word martyr. In a sense, Paul is saying: Mark my words; I am willing to be martyred for this. I will hold this belief to my death.

This isn’t a passing comment made by Paul. This is something of great value, so when he writes that if you are circumcised Christ holds no value to you, he is stating that if you are choosing to go back to circumcision as a condition of salvation you are giving up the need for Christ. Paul is making the Galatians aware of what this decision means. And he continues with if your circumcised you are deciding that you want to follow the whole law.

It’s my guess here that the readers of this letter start to respond with frustration. My guess is that they know the weight of the law, and that isn’t a yoke that they want to bear again, but you can’t pick and choose which parts of the law that you want to follow. They were probably say “hold on Paul, we don’t want the whole law. That’s not what we’re talking about. We need circumcision not the whole law.” But Paul isn’t going to let them make the mistake of this statement.

If you want the law as a means of salvation you reject Christ. If you want circumcision as a condition of righteousness you reject Christ. If baptism is apart of salvation you are rejecting Christ. If going to church is part of your salvation you are rejecting Christ. The grace of the cross will not share its place. This is why Paul writes: You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Falling away from grace doesn’t mean that you are loosing your salvation as some people translate it; rather you are choosing life away from grace.

Here lies the great mystery of grace. We find it in the words “you who are trying.” Grace will not let anyone try to obtain it. Grace must be accepted without condition. You cannot gain grace. You cannot earn grace. You cannot work toward grace. So if you are choosing to find righteousness under the law you cannot find grace there.

Paul writes a contrasting statement next to help prove his point. He writes: But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. This statement is in contrast to a life lived in the flesh (which is a statement that he had been writing about in the first part of his letter) and salvation gained out of the works of the law. This righteousness comes through Jesus’ death on the cross-not through the law. If we were able to obtain righteousness through the law we would be able to boast in ourselves. Paul wrote about this earlier when he wrote a letter to the Corinthian church.

I Corinthians 1:28-31
He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

If our righteousness comes from Jesus Christ then circumcision or uncircumcision, for that matter, doesn’t matter. Don’t stand on a pedestal because you are circumcised, and don’t stand on a pedestal because you aren’t circumcised. For both circumcision and uncircumcision do not lead to righteousness.

The only necessary thing is faith expressed through love. Or in Pauls words, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” This statement isn’t meaning that we can work our way to righteousness-that would contradict everything Paul just wrote about. Rather, the faith mentioned here is a faith in salvation through grace, not salvation through circumcision.

This faith in GOD’s grace is then supposed to express itself through love. The Greek word for “expressing” is the word energeo. What does that sound like? Energy. This is a active, action oriented faith. This is not a passive kind of faith. Let me give you an example. In my mind, a passive expression of this faith might look like this: a man who understands that salvation comes from Jesus’ death decides that he is going to share this faith with other people. So he stands on a corner yelling, “Jesus loves you,” or even worse, “You’re going to Hell.” His faith is what is compelling him to do this, but this isn’t the type of expression that Paul is urging us to. This is passive. This is just standing and yelling. This isn’t energy. Here’s an active expression of the same faith: The same man, moved by the understanding that his salvation comes through Jesus’ death decides that he is going to take fresh socks to some homeless people or take groceries to a family that he knows is struggling with money or visiting a friend’s friend in prison. This is the energy that Paul is writing about. This is the expression of faith that counts. This is the kind of expression we want to be know for. This is why we have a part of our ministry called one:twentyseven. It comes from James 1:27, Religion that GOD our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. This is why we are having people go to serve Hope House this weekend. This is the type of expression that will bring energy to your faith.

If you want something of value in your life don’t look to things to add to your salvation. Express your faith in the grace of GOD through an active, moving, powerful love to those who need it.