Kingdom Disciples

Membership in God’s people is determined by our submission to Jesus Christ, especially the Messiah who was revealed on the Cross, and nothing else! The forgiveness of our sins is obtained “ through the faith OF Jesus ,” not “ from the works of the Law .” His self-sacrificial death is the all-sufficient basis of our acquittal of sin’s guilt before God.

The epistle to the Galatians opens with a stern warning. What some believers contemplated doing would replace the true Gospel with something quite alien to the Apostolic message. To turn from the “ faith of Jesus Christ ” to the “ works of the law ” for justification meant abandoning the grace of God and rejecting the message preached by Paul, which is why he summoned God to “ curse ” any man, even “ an angel from Heaven ,” who preached “ another gospel .”

In Galatians , the Apostle Paul compares the Mosaic Law to a “ pedagogue ” in its supervision of Israel “ until the seed came .” That “ Seed ” was Jesus. In Greco-Roman society, the “pedagogue” was usually a slave with custodial and disciplinary authority over an underage child until he reached maturity. The minority status of the child and the authority of the custodian over him were both temporary.

The Apostle Paul referred to the “ Promise of the Spirit ” which he equated with the “ Blessing of Abraham .” Jesus subjected himself to the “ curse ” of the Law to redeem believers so that the “ Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith .” He wrote elsewhere that believers were “ sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession .”

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is his response to a controversy in the churches of that region. The issue was the status of Gentile believers. Must they conform to Jewish practices and submit to the regulation of the Mosaic Law, especially circumcision? At the heart of his response was his contention that “ in Christ ” the old distinctions between “ Jew ” and “ Gentile ” no longer apply, the covenant promises have found their fulfillment in Jesus, the “ seed of Abraham .”

Paul chided the Galatians over their desire “ to return to bondage under the weak and beggarly rudiments ” of the world, including calendrical observations and circumcision. Since they were no longer “minors” but full heirs who lived in the age of fulfillment and had the Gift of the Spirit, resorting to outmoded rituals was tantamount to returning to a state of slavery.

The death of Jesus inaugurated the messianic age with consequent changes in the status of God’s people .  In his epistle to the Assembly in Galatia, Paul declares that his apostleship originated from the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, the Messiah of Israel who gave his life to “ deliver us from this evil age .” His declaration anticipates his proposition in the body of the Letter that the arrival of Jesus changed the status of the Law for the people of God, the “ children of Abraham .”

The Gift of the Spirit is clear evidence that a person has been justified by God and made a part of His covenant people. In Galatia, “ false brethren ” were preaching “ another gospel ,” one that claimed Gentiles must be circumcised to “ complete ” their faith. Paul would have none of it, and he appealed to the presence of the Spirit among uncircumcised Gentiles as proof positive of their justification and acceptance by God.