Paul (in his preaching) would have never emphasized Jewish circumcision like he has, except he was forced to do so! There were some “missionaries” from Judea who have (apparently) followed Paul, everywhere that man of God traveled, Jews seeking to preach works (instead of grace) as the means of salvation. Or at least as an aid to salvation!

Therefore Paul had strongly and incessantly refuted their (false) claims … thus deny any possibility that circumcision saves!

But in reality, had not that false “litmus test” been raised … circumcision would have remained a “non-issue.”

“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” Galatians 5:6, today’s Verse.

The verb “availeth” is “ischuo,” which means “to strengthen, to make able, to empower.” And circumcision (a matter of surgery, in essence) does not help one to be saved! For that matter neither does “uncircumcision!” The condition of a man’s body does NOT save … Jesus saves!

And Jesus saves, not by means of a sharp knife, but by belief, “by faith” in His Name, in His finished Work on the Cross of Calvary!

Then Paul, led by our Lord God Himself, adds “faith which worketh by love.”

And “love” (in Greek “agape”) had been the last thing on the minds of the Judiazers that had raided Paul’s converts in Galatia! They in fact, “hated” Paul and his (in their blurred eyes) “new-fangled” Gospel!

This is the “love” that, we shall learn soon, is the “Fruit of the Holy Spirit” in the life of a true Believer in Jesus!

And looks like (“Faith which worketh by love”) saving faith and energizing love come “hand-in-hand!” It is sort of a “you-can’t-have-one-without-the-other” situation!

The verb “worketh” here, as I have indicated, is “energeo,” meaning “to be operative, to be fervent,” hence “to work!”

Love energizes faith!

Wow!

The unconditional Love of God (for lost sinners) energized our very decision to trust Jesus!

The love of God (for his born-again children) energizes us to be faithful!

What a verse today!

Not very lengthy in vocabulary words, but quite mighty in comfort to people seeking peace with Almighty God!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

What a vital role the Holy Spirit fills in the salvation of a sinner!

Not the flesh, I emphasize, but the Spirit.

For example, today’s Text: “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” Galatians 5:5

The verb “wait for” translates “apekdechomai,” which in Greek blends “apo” and “ek” and then the root verb “dechomai.” Both prefixes intensify the action being depicted. Wow! And “dechomai” means “to accept, to receive, to take with one’s hand,” with the idea of GLADLY receiving the entity in question! One lexicon says “welcoming or appropriating action!”

Eagerly (present tense) anticipating such righteousness!

And “hope” here (spelled “elpis”) is a “first cousin” to the great New Testament word “faith!” In fact, it is translated that way once, that I can find.

And how is this great “righteousness” … my soul’s salvation, both immediate (positional, my “standing” in Jesus) and future (practical, my final “redemption,” total “perfection” in Heaven some day) … going to be realized, going to be obtained … “by faith!”

By trusting Jesus!

And here Paul is furthermore saying “NOT BY WORKS!”

By the way, the subject of the sentence is “we,” a plural personal pronoun in the nominative case. Paul still feels the Galatians are saved, have truly been born-again! And here the Apostle classifies himself as such a believer in Jesus, now comradery being the issue.

Then comes the phrase “through the Spirit,” yes “pneuma” (in the dative case which here implies/supplies the preposition) hints at the upcoming full discussion of the “fruit of the Spirit,” near chapter’s end.

The Holy Spirit is critically involved in our salvation and sanctification and glorification!

And remember, Galatians, “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.” (Words which Paul will write soon, in Galatians 5:17.)

So, the Holy Spirit is God at work in everything good … opposing the flesh which is at work in everything bad … insofar as our spiritual growth is concerned!

An amazing verse, really.

With more to come tomorrow, the Lord willing.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

A committee of Greek scholars worded our Text verse this way, based on all the grammatical data at hand. This is NOT an addition or correction to our King James Bibles! Just an amplification of the meanings of some of the vocabulary words Paul has used. “For we [not relying on the Law but] through the [strength and power of the Holy] Spirit, by faith, are waiting [confidently] for the hope of righteousness [the completion of our salvation].” Helpful, to me anyway!

Words can be misunderstood!

And today, in our Text, Paul is NOT saying a man or woman can lose his or her salvation!

“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:4

Paul IS saying that a person CANNOT trust BOTH the Old Testament Law (Moses) and the Grace of God (Jesus) for salvation!

It is one or the other!

Salvation is either something earned … or something freely bestowed!

It is a wage, a payment … or a tremendous Gift!

Here one class of people are being addressed: “whosoever of you are justified by the law.” Those Galatians (either who already had or were on the verge of) being “circumcised” (as a first “token” of their determination to follow all the Law of Moses) … people who were seeking “salvation” (“justification”) by acquiescing to the Works of the Law.

Wow!

By the way, fundamentally, the Law justifies nobody!

Need proof?

Bible proof?

First, Romans 3:20 … “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified!” Then to this let’s add Romans 8:3 … “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh!” What Moses could not do, Jesus did!!!

To those erring believers … Paul tells them the seriousness of their impending decision … “Christ is become of no effect unto you!”

The verb is “katargeo,” meaning “to become idle, to be inactive, to linger or delay.” In the King James New Testament the verb is specifically translated “to destroy” 5 times! “To do away” 3 times! “To abolish” 3 more times! And “to cumber” (to encumber) 1 time! All serious charges!

They are making Jesus’ Death on the Cross unnecessary by their silly theology!

If they are right (that Moses, the Law, saves lost souls) … then Calvary is redundant!

But … No!

No!

No!

Without the shed Blood of Jesus on that old rugged Cross … we would all die and go to Hell! Including Moses! 

I want to do nothing to make Jesus’ vicarious Death impotent!

In fact, I want to preach it, the Cross!

I want to brag on it and on my Saviour Who died there!

Paul again, Galatians 6:14 … “But God forbid that I should glory (rejoice, boast), save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

Amen!

Now to the often misunderstood clause … “Ye are fallen from grace.”

That might include up to 613 commandments, “the whole law!” 

With the emphasis being on the adjective “whole!”

Our Bible Text today is Galatians 5:3. “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.”

If a man who once was a heathen (a gentile), a lost soul (practicing various forms of idolatry, polytheism, worshipping many gods and goddesses), and has subsequently been “born again,” meaning “saved” by the Grace of God …

If that man then decides to be “circumcised” (for religious purposes, as a “means” of fortifying his salvation, as an “aid” to pleasing Jesus, to “staying” saved) … that man has put himself (not just under the constrictions of the “circumcised” person, but) under the limitations of those who must follow the WHOLE law, the whole Old Testament Law of Moses!

That’s what Paul just said to his Galatian converts!

If you’re using the “law” as your canon, guideline, yardstick of spirituality … then go ahead and “jump in” wholeheartedly! Keep every bit of it, obey it fully, including the rules of Leviticus 11:9-12 here, the legal Old Testament requirements for a seafood lover:

“These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. 10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you: 11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination. 12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.”

Do you want the “birds” list now?

Eleven more verses … “And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, 14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind; 15 Every raven after his kind; 16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, 18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, 19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. 20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. 21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; 22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. 23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.” Seriously, read them all! From the same chapter, Leviticus 11.

An integral part of the “whole” law, those two lists of prohibitions.

How about this one?

“Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.” Deuteronomy 22:11

Wow!

None of these examples are meant to criticize the Law as given by God … to show men and women principles for godly living! And to show mankind how far short he actually falls of following God’s perfect Standard! 

But even so, the Law was NOT given to get a man saved, rather to prove what a terrible sinner he really is! Even Paul admits freely such: “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” 1 Timothy 1:8

But still … out Text today is true … “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.” Paul the Apostle, preaching the Grace of God!

Join the Law crowd … and you are in debt!

To obey it all!

But on the other hand, to trust the saving Grace of God … then to be indwelt by the dear Holy Spirit … that’s another Matter altogether!

Then … I am a debtor to Love!

Not under obligation to Moses, thus motivated and gripped by fear.

But overwhelmed by Jesus, and motivated by gratefulness nd adoration and worship!

Wow!

Romans 8:2 is thundering in my ear: “For the law of the (Holy) Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Just like disobeying one law is like disobeying all the law … “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

So pledging to keep one of the precepts of the Law … obligates one to keep them all! That little “Text” for today, yet again … “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised (just one so called “little ” point of the law), that he is a debtor to do THE WHOLE LAW.” Galatians 5:3

Wow!

“Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be CIRCUMCISED, Christ shall profit you nothing.” Galatians 5:2

I find the words “circumcision” or “circumcised” over a dozen times (13 to be exact) in this short little Book by Paul the Apostle!

And the whole Epistle contains a total of only 149 verses, so these specific words occur once about every eleven (11) verses! That’s the average, of course. Need I say that’s one of the Book’s “major themes?” 

And Paul today, as usual, is quite direct, to the point: “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.”

That is:  “If you are trusting in circumcision” … then “Christ shall profit you nothing!” 

Jesus is simply not willing to be a co-saviour, with anything or anyone!

He boldly preached often: “No man cometh to the Father but by Me!” John 14:6

(Remember, Jewish converts to the faith, were there any in Galatia, had been circumcised since they were eight days old. See Leviticus 12:3 for this precept. Paul’s concern here is over people being circumcised as adults, thinking such a surgery would aid them in going to heaven … that’s the real issue at Galatia!)

The verb “shall profit” is interesting! Sounds like it comes from the commercial world, business life. As if salvation were a “deal,” a “sale” item down at the mall! Shopping for the best buy!

When in reality salvation is a GIFT!

Not to be mixed with anything!

It is Jesus or nothing!

That’s why Paul constantly declares: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

And … “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31

Wow!

Paul is a Jesus Preacher, if one ever lived!

And rightly so.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Remember Galatians 1:8 … “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”