Love Connection

Context

All along in this series on Galatians, we have referenced false teachers. These were individuals who were among the churches in Galatia, and were teaching and preaching a different gospel from what Paul had preached to the Galatians when he was among them in person. We have called these false teachers Judaizers. Judaizers were those who insisted on Christian conformity to Jewish customs. The subtlety in their deception was in the combining the Christian gospel (faith in Christ and His redemptive work) and obedience to the Jewish laws and customs for the forgiveness of sins and peace with God. Paul’s called the Judaizers’ gospel a different gospel (1:6) and if you’re reading the NIV version verse 7 calls that other gospel no gospel at all.

Today, in the text we will consider, the centerpiece of the Judaizers’ doctrine is named. When it comes to obeying the laws and customs of Judaism, there was something particular that had been observed for hundreds of years. God commanded the father of the Jewish people, Abraham to observe this particular act, and that all his sons and males who came after him. We are referring to circumcision. I think it will be helpful to have a little background on the practice of circumcision as we see it, not only in the OT, but as it is understood in the NT.

So let’s begin at the beginning. We see the command to be circumcised first in Gen.

Genesis 17:10–14 ESV

This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

All I want us to see here is that Abraham was commanded to be circumcised, and his infant sons and their sons and even his servants who were not Jewish. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and the Jewish people. Bottom line, circumcision was the outward sign of, that is, the evidence and reminder that God had made a covenant with the people of Israel.

Now, what about the NT? We go to Romans first

Romans 4:11 ESV

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,

Here, a spiritual meaning is given to circumcision. It was a seal of righteousness. Now some say that baptism and circumcision are signifying the same thing. Both are outward signs of faith. The problem is however, that infants were commanded to be circumcised in the OT. Infants don not have the faith of righteousness. But some suggest that just like the Jewish parents were commanded to circumcise their 8-day old babies, so parents today should baptise their babies.

And some suggest we have biblical justification for this:

Colossians 2:11–12 ESV

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

So, the argument goes that if circumcision can be a sign of faith and righteousness, and still be given to all the male children of the Israelites (who don’t yet have faith for themselves), then why should not baptism be given to the children of Christians even though it is a sign of faith and righteousness (which they do not have)?

There are differences between the New Covenant people called the church and the Old Covenant people called Israel. Paul makes this clear:

Romans 9:6–8 ESV

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

What I want us to see here are the 2 Israels. A physical Israel and a spiritual Israel.

last part of v. 6: for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.

The first Israel (descended from Israel) refers to the physical, religious Israel.

The second Israel (belong to Israel) refers to spiritual Israel, that is all who are of faith (more on that in a moment)

Who was commanded to be circumcised, physical Israel or spiritual Israel? Physical Israel. All males. This means that the covenant people in the OT were mixed. They were all physical Israelites who were circumcised, but within that national-ethnic group there was a remnant of the true Israel, the true children of God (as v. 8 says).

So the question becomes: is the NT church, that is, the church today, a continuation of the larger mixed group of ethnic, religious, national Israel or is the church a continuation of the remnant of the true sons of Abraham who are children of God by faith in Christ?

This brings us back to Galatians. We looked at this last week:

Galatians 4:22–23 ESV

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

So, the 2 sons (Isaac and Ishmael) represent spiritual Israel and physical Israel. And the church is spiritual Israel as v. 28 indicates:

Galatians 4:28 ESV

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

The Galatian Christians are brothers because they are like Isaac, children of promise.

But here’s why I took the time to walk us through all of this. The Judaizers were teaching that circumcision was required to be part of spiritual Israel, and that was never the intent for circumcision. It was a sign, but it was applied to all of Israel… physical Israel. And as v. 6 in our text says

Galatians 5:6 ESV

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Notice with what Paul contrasts the ultimate emptiness of circumcision or uncircumcision: only faith working through love.

2 words that we hear often: faith & love. What do they mean, and do they have anything to do with one another? Let’s go to our text to look into this further:

Galatians 5:2–6 ESV

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Introduction

Forrest Gump

I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is

Forrest Gump admitted that there was allot he did not know, but what he did claim to know is that he loved Jenny.

What is love and what is faith. I could provide us with definitions that reflect the Bible’s teaching on both. But what I want to do as we work through this text today to attempt to show the relationship between love and faith, and by understanding this relationship, I think we will gain some further insight into both of the terms. Because:

FCF: Many do not understand the connection between love and faith.

And, when we do not have a clear understanding of this connection, we are more susceptible to what the Judaizers were pushing. What we might call love or think of as loving is ultimately of no use because it is not guided and energized by truth. This must be the object of our faith. The gospel. We can’t mess with the gospel, because when we do, our faith is unstable. And when our faith is unstable, love is unclear.

So what I suggest is that

Faith quickens love.

Faith is what gives love life. Faith in Christ and His gospel is what brings clarity to what it means to love God and love people.

So, what we will do is spend the rest of our time together trying to understand how Paul explains that.

How does faith quicken love?

By relieving us of the burden of self-reliance (2-4)

You may recall from our consideration of the previous passage that self-reliance was at the heart of why Hagar and Ishmael and the covenant that is the law only leads to spiritual slavery when trusted in for peace with God. Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands, and God did not bring about what He had promised to them (an heir) through their effort. It was through His terms, and His terms was that Sarah would bring forth Abraham’s son. The son of promise.

But you and I possess a natural inclination towards self-reliance. We know what it is to have on the one hand, the promises of God and on the other our own ideas about how we can make certain desired results come to pass in our lives. We know, in other words, the temptation to take matters into our own hands. We also know the heart ache that taking matters into our own hands often brings.

AQ: So how does faith-quickened love alleviate our natural inclination towards self-reliance?

Faith-quickened love provides us with an undistracted devotion to Christ (2)

Before focusing on this undistracted devotion to Christ, I want us to see the urgency Paul, again expresses here. He says Look! I, Paul. He is essentially saying, Look! Listen. Mark my words!. There was so much at stake here.

And here’s the issue to which Paul responds with such urgency. Not circumcision in-and-of-itself. In fact, later in verse 6, Paul makes it clear that circumcision or uncircumcision doesn’t count for anything. Paul was circumcised. He circumcised Timothy. Circumcision is not the issue. It is, as we noted before, the teaching that suggests circumcision was necessary for justification. And Paul is making clear that if the Galatians but into that teaching, then Christ is of no advantage to them.

And this is what faith-quickened love guards against and instead provides people with an undistracted devotion to Christ. You know the worst condition that exists? Being alienated from Christ. I think that is what Paul means when he talks about Christ being of no advantage to us.

When we approach our lives with a love that is on our own terms and uninformed by faith in Christ. When we approach our lives with self-reliance instead of faith in the promises of God, Christ is of no benefit to us. Instead of enjoying intimacy with Christ, we re alienated from Christ

Another way faith-quickened love alleviates our inclination towards self-reliance is

Faith-quickened love releases us from the burden of obeying the whole law (3)

Notice how Paul begins v. 3: I testify again… What Paul made clear earlier in this letter is that presuming one could be right with God on the basis on effort will lead to despair and ultimately spiritual death. We suggested before that effort is for revealing not attaining. We reveal who we are through effort. We do not attain a certain identity or status with God through our effort.

This is what Pau was getting at in chapter 3, where he interpreted Deut 7:26 to mean that the curse of the law had fallen upon everyone since no one had been able to do everything written in the Book of the Law.

Galatians 3:10 ESV

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

If one presumes to be able to merit God’s favor through effort (keeping the law), then that effort must be flawless all the time.

Paul is pointing to the futility it is to strive for God’s favor through our effort.

But what we need t recognize here is that if we are not willing to trust in the obedience of Christ and His redemptive work for our peace with God, then the only alternative is to trust in ourselves. And what is clear in Scripture and what we would have to admit as we observe ourselves and the world, is that our effort is less than perfect.

And even for those who reject God outright and deny any need for Him, there is still an awareness that our behavior falls short. That we all are lacking what is necessary to have peace in life. There is, if we are being honest, an emptiness we feel. And I suggest that emptiness is especially felt when our striving comes up short. Despite our best efforts, we still do not achieve the results we want. Despite our deepest felt compassions, we still end up hurting the ones we love.

Our effort is not the answer. Our effort comes up short. It must be God’s grace. His grace conveyed to us in Jesus Christ. In His loving sacrifice for us. It is because we fall short. It is because of our sin that Jesus died.

We need to make the mantra of our lives what the beloved hymn says: I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me. (Eliza Hewitt - a public school teacher who developed a debilitating spinal condition… she wrote this during her infirmity)

Praise God, faith-quickened love releases us from the obligation to obey the whole law. That is impossible for us but Jesus has already done that.

faith-quickened love also

Faith-quickened love enables us to flourish in Christ (4)

human flourishing is something that is of importance in our culture. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness perhaps captures the idea of flourishing. The problem however is that what we are often told is necessary for human flourishing is often what works against it.

By the late 1970s, the population of China was rapidly approaching the one-billion mark. The increase in population brought with it an increased concern that the country’s resources could sustain that many people. What was at first presented as a voluntary program to limit families to have one child became a national law in Sept. of 1980. The limitation was later increased to 2 children in 2016, and in September of 2021, the limit was increased to 3 children/family. Over 40 years ago, the Communist Party in China determined that the key to human flourishing was to limit the growth of the population significantly. The labor pool is shrinking and the population is graying. Now the leadership in China’s government is acknowledging that the effort to limit the country’s population growth worked against flourishing and did not encourage it.

Notice what Paul says at the beginning of v. 4: you are severed from Christ… What does that mean? That Jesus has been made ineffective in the lives of those who presume that they can be justified by God through their obedience to the law.

The Judaizers were teaching that circumcision was necessary for the spiritual flourishing of the Galatian church. But in fact, believing that would work against their flourishing because the notion that people can do something in their own strength to gain God’s favor renders Christ as ineffective in their lives.

To be sure, no one can diminish Christ Himself, but if we reject Him by believing and living as if He is not foundational and essential to our flourishing then He is no longer of any effect in our lives. And if Christ is no longer of any effect in our lives, we will not flourish. We will, in fact, wither.

and finally, faith-quickened love alleviates our inclination towards self-reliance through

Faith-quickened love grants us joy in the grace of God (4)

Here, Paul talks about this from a negative perspective. The belief that one can be justified by God through keeping His law is to fall from grace. Is Paul talking about loosing our salvation?

Paul was not talking about forsaking one’s salvation but forsaking the doctrine of grace alone. Forsaking the grace of God will lead to despair and ruin.

The people of God are meant to rejoice in the grace of God. To rejoice in that He has provided us salvation despite our sin. He has forgiven us, despite our rejection of Him or our need to be forgiven.

And this is what we do when we live as if we can or need to behave a certain way to possess and maintain God’s favor. Yes, we are to obey, but obeying is to reveal who God made us to be. It is not to achieve anything. Obedience is a way to express our celebration of who God is and who He has made us to be.

By grace you have been saved through faith. This is meant to be the joy of God’s people. The grace of God is meant to be the realm in which we live. The domain of our existence. But, when we reject our need for Christ, we leave this domain and live in the realm of the law, where there is no freedom or joy.

But a faith-quickened love, that is a love that is defined by and fueled by faith in Christ. Faith, whose object is the truth… the gospel relieves us of the burden of self-reliance. Faith quicken love, and it also does this

By sustaining us in our waiting (5)

AQ: What makes our waiting bearable

We typically do not think of waiting as bearable. Waiting is an inconvenience. Waiting can be tortuous. We don’t like waiting, but we would all have to acknowledge that waiting is a part of life.

So again, what makes our waiting bearable? Let’s begin to answer this question with being clear on what it is we are waiting for. What makes our waiting bearable is

The “what” of our waiting

The end of v. 5 makes it clear what we are waiting for: the hope of righteousness. What is this? What’s the hope of righteousness?

Being righteous in the eyes of God means that we were declared righteous by Him. This is justification. Being declared righteous by God.

And it is on the basis on this declaration that we have an expectation for something more and something better than this present life in the life to come.

It is right for the people of God to have a hope that will come to fruition on the last day. The day when Jesus will return and settle everything.

Romans 2:5–11 ESV

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

On the last day, Jesus, the judge will render His judgement. To some will be the wrath and fury of God and to the rest will be eternal life. And for those who are united to Christ, their certain hope, the hope of righteousness, is Christ’s pronouncement of eternal life.

But, perhaps this idea of the day and final judgement seems so removed from what’s relevant now. Or maybe you don’t think this is something that anyone can really think about or seek to apply to any aspect of life. I say to us all that the fact that Jesus is returning one day, and on that day He will come as the judge who will judge all creation is terribly applicable to our lives here and now. However, there’s something else we need to see when it comes to the “what” of our waiting.

Notice in v. 5 again: we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. Eagerly wait. Wee see this same word (Greek word) for eagerly wait in Rom 8.

Romans 8:22–23 ESV

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

It is not uncommon to hear from those who do not know God, who are, in fact, rejecting God to communicate, in one way or another that they feel as if there is something missing in their lives. Even those who appear to have all that anyone could want, in the quieter moments of their lives they acknowledge that something seems off.

I suggest, it is this groaning of the creation at play. People are part of the creation, therefore all people, whether they acknowledge it or not, despertely yearn for the redemptive work of Christ. They may reject Christ and their need for redemption, but because they were created by God, they cannot help but long for His redemptive work in them and in the world.

And those of us whose eyes have been open to the truth about Jesus and what He has done possess the hope of righteousness. That one day, Jesus will return, and all of creation’s birth pains will cease, and our eager waiting will cease, and we will finally be united with our Savior.

This is the “what” of our waiting.

And the other side of the the coin that makes our waiting bearable is

The “how” of our waiting

how do we expect to eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness? Through the Spirit by faith.

Now let’s make sure to see who Paul is addressing. We ourselves, in other words, we who are Christians. God’s people eagerly wait through the Spirit, by faith.

Both of these have been themes developed in this epistle.

By the Spirit shoots us back to what Paul said in chapter 3

Galatians 3:2–3 ESV

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Here, Paul makes clear that the the Galatians’ possession of the Spirit of God, that is, their salvation, did not come to them by their effort. God gave them His Spirit. God forgave their sins through Christ. And if their new lives began by the Spirit, they should expect to continue by the Spirit and not their works.

So when it comes to our waiting through the Spirit, we do not wait by means of our own concentration, willpower or by trusting in possible outcomes that are dependent on the efforts of other people. We wait with hope by the power of the Spirit of God that we have received when we were rescued from our sin.

And when it comes to waiting by faith, we need to remember what Paul said about our justification back in Gal. 2.

Galatians 2:15–16 ESV

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

It is by faith in Jesus Christ that we have been justified. Believing in Christ and His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead resulted in God’s declaration of righteousness upon us. It is therefore, by faith that we wait for the hope of righteousness.

We wait for Jesus. We wait, with the rest of creation for Christ to finish His work of redemption. Yes, there are times we wait with expectant joy and there are times we wait with tears streaming down our faces, but we have real hope. And because we have real, certain hope, our waiting is bearable.

Conclusion

So, it comes down to what really matters. Most people would agree that love matters. Most people would agree that faith matters. The problem is however, that there is little concensus on what love and faith are. But if faith has the right object, then love goes from being a fickle emotion to something that shines as a beacon of hope in a hopeless world. We know, with a faith-quickened love, what it means that God loves people. We know with a faith-quickened love what it means to love one another and to love even our enemies.

This is what matters. Faith, love and hope. We see all of these in this text don’t we. these words are more than misplaced sentiments in wedding ceremonies or meaningless ideas on Christmas tree ornaments. For the Galatian Christians, it really didn’t matter if they were circumcised or uncircumcised. What mattered tremendously was in what they placed their hope for their peace with God.

Only a love for God that is fueled by faith in God can bring us to a right understanding of God. And what is clear is that God loves people on the basis of Himself: His work through Christ and His promises.