Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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

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:

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:

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:

So, the 2 sons (Isaac and Ishmael) represent spiritual Israel and physical Israel.

And the church is spiritual Israel as v. 28 indicates:

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

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:

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.