For our meditation tonight, before we participate in the supper, our focus will be verses 6 to 9, but I do want to read the chapter, then we'll pray, and then we'll look at that in some detail. So, beginning in Galatians chapter 1 at verse 1, Paul, an apostle, not from man nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. And all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or God?
Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days.
But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie. Afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.
And they glorified God in me." Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the...
It's given by inspiration of God and that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And we pray now that the Holy Spirit would guide us as we consider this passage, cause us to meditate upon, to contemplate over the richness and the glory of the gospel of our salvation. and cause us as well as the Church of Christ to reflect on our blessed privilege and our responsibility and duty to guard that Word, and help us to be faithful with that stewardship. Forgive us again for all sin and unrighteousness, and may Christ be glorified as we gather together tonight, as we remember Him specifically in the supper, His death on behalf of sinners, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
Well,
Introduction: Background to Galatians
the book of Galatians was written by the apostle Paul after the first missionary journey. So the first missionary journey occurs in Acts chapter 13 and 14, about the years AD 48 to 49. So Paul was sent out by the church. The spirit comes to the church in Antioch. says to the teacher, says to the elders there to separate Paul and Barnabas for the work that he had for that.
So the church is instrumental in sending out missionaries. It's not to be disconnected from the church, but rather it is the church that sends out the missionaries. So Paul and Barnabas go out and they go to the region of Galatia. It was a region and they went specifically to the places in Southern Galatia.
And as I said, those are mentioned in Acts chapters 13 and 14. They go to Pisidian Antioch, to Iconium, to Lystra, and to Derbe. And when they go there, they preach the gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. They make disciples, they plant churches on the way back to Antioch, they stop in the churches, and they appoint elders in each of those particular churches.
Well, as they returned to Antioch, there was a group of people that would visit those churches after the Apostle Paul. And those people are referred to in theology as Judaizers. And the Judaizers came along and they said, it's good that you've believed that Jesus is the Messiah. It's good that you believe that he is Israel's Messiah.
So, not only do you need to believe in him, but you also need to get circumcised and you're obligated to keep the laws of Moses. You're obligated to supplement the finished work of Jesus with these other things in order to be accepted by God. Well, the Apostle Paul will have no truck with that kind of departure from the gospel of free grace. And that's why we see at the outset of his epistle, after a very brief greeting, he comes out of the gate to denounce this heresy. to correct these Galatians, to call them to a fidelity in Christ and a recognition that our salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
It's not a mixture of my faith plus my works and then God may accept me. No, that's absolutely positively contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. So I want to look first at the astonishment of the apostle in verse 6, secondly, the defection of the Galatians in verse 7, and then thirdly, the curse upon heretics in verses 8 and 9. And as we come to this particular letter, I think that Machen was right.
He said, the epistle to the Galatians is a polemic, a fighting epistle from beginning to end. What a fire it kindled at the time of the Reformation. May it kindle another fire in our day, not a fire that will destroy any fine or noble or Christian thing, but a fire of Christian love in hearts grown cold. So the object of this message tonight, it's not so much polemical to denounce Rome and to denounce federal vision and to denounce the new perspective on Paul, though we might do a little bit along the way, but it is to appreciate the gospel of our salvation, to appreciate the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
To be able to sing with the hymn writer, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me savior or I die. To be able to celebrate with the apostle Paul in Romans eight, when he says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If it depends even a little bit upon our works in order for our acceptance with God, we're doomed.
We praise God for the finished work of our blessed Savior, His life, His death, His resurrection. We are dependent upon Him through and through.
The Astonishment of the Apostle
So let's look, first of all, at the astonishment of the apostle.
Paul's Marvel at the Galatians
Notice in verse six, I mentioned it's a very brief greeting. If you look at, say, for instance, 1 Corinthians, in chapter one, he has a long and extended greeting. And if you're familiar with 1 Corinthians, you'll know that he's got to deal with some pretty difficult things in that letter. He's got to deal with an incestuous relationship in 1 Corinthians chapter five.
He's got to caution the people of God in terms of fleeing sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 6. He has to remind them that with reference to Christian liberty, they're not to destroy with their meat or their drink or whatever those for whom Jesus died. He has to remind them, or rebuke them rather, for their conduct at the Lord's table. So all of these things would indicate that he should have come out of the gate with them.
Well, those are sanctification problems. I'm not suggesting that these persons in Galatia or in Corinth were necessarily going to go to hell, but Paul sees the problem, the jeopardy, the threat to the gospel of our salvation in Galatians chapter one. So he comes right out of the gate and he says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Very gracious, very humble, very kind and compassionate man.
He's the man that wrote 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the great love chapter. And yet when it comes to a threat on the doctrine of justification by faith, he says, I marvel. I'm amazed. I'm astonished.
I can't believe my eyes. I'm not liking what I'm hearing about the churches in Galatia. You're supposed to reject and resist those kinds of men that would try to add your works vis-a-vis through Moses to try to make Christ sufficient or whole in terms of your acceptance with God. Notice the reality that they were turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ.
And notice as well, this is a first century church. Sometimes you'll meet believers today and they'll say, we need to get back to the early church. Which early church? Corinth, where there was incest going on in the context of the local church?
Or to Galatia, the churches in southern Galatia, where there was a defection from the gospel of Jesus Christ? See, sin has always been there. And even in the early church, they had remaining corruption, and there was this proclivity, or this tendency, or this proneness to go after Moses to try to supplement Christ in order to be accepted with God. These Judaizers came with this particular intention.
And then as well, notice what he says in terms of their position. They are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. I wonder if we would consider it as a different gospel. We might be tempted to think, well, what's the problem?
We have faith in Jesus plus circumcision. That seems like, well, sort of round out the whole situation and bring us happily into heaven. When we try to supplement the finished work of Jesus Christ, we're rejecting the finished work of Jesus Christ. You don't go at it with both and.
You go at it in an either-or fashion. Again, J. Gresson Machen made the observation. Certainly, the point of difference between Paul and the Judaizers was no trifling difference, no matter how trifling it may seem to the modern church.
We need to fight that tendency. Well, that's not that big of a deal. It's just a small distinctive. It's just a bit of a difference.
That's the kind of stuff for theologians and those in the academic guild. That's just for the doctors in the church. No, every single Christian needs to understand doctrine of justification by faith alone. Every single Christian needs to know what it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and what benefits accrue as a result under God's blessing.
This is the one of a few, several doctrines that we must have firm grip on. There's other doctrines. You can be wrong in eschatology. You can be wrong in ecclesiology.
We're not gonna de-church or de-save the Presbyterians or the Dutch Reformed or anything like that. But when it comes to justification by faith alone, as Machen says, this was a fire that Galatians kindled at the time of the Reformation. Why? Because Rome sounded just like these Judaizers.
For Rome, it was believe the gospel plus do what the church tells you. Believe the gospel plus do these sacraments of the church. It was an attempt to supplement the finished work of our blessed Savior. And when we try to supplement that, we're actually denying that finished work of our Savior.
We're confessing that it wasn't enough. So back to Machen, certainly the point of difference between Paul and the Judaizers was no trifling difference, no matter how trifling it may seem to the modern church. It was the difference between a religion of merit and a religion of grace. Man is all about a religion of merit.
I do and then I get blessed. Well, the Bible and the message of grace says Christ has done, believe on him and you will be blessed. He goes on to say that Judaizer's teaching required a man to earn at least a part of his salvation by his own keeping of God's law. Paul saw clearly that to follow such teaching was to do despite to the cross of Christ.
If we have to fill up even the slightest gap by our own works, then we are still lost in sin. For the awakened conscience sees clearly that our own works are insufficient to bridge even the smallest gap. We must trust Christ for nothing or for all. to trust him only for part, is the essence of unbelief. Again, I don't think we view it that way, and we need to.
Machen's not a fake. Machen's not being hyperbolic. Machen is echoing the great tradition we call Protestantism. the reality that it's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. He says there are two ways of being saved according to the Apostle Paul.
One way is to keep the law perfectly. If that's what you choose, well then know this. You have to do it perfectly. You have to do it absolutely.
That way is closed because of sin, Machen says. The other way is to accept the gift of salvation, which Christ offers us freely by his cross. The two ways cannot both be followed. That is the burden of the epistle to the Galatians.
A man must choose as the way of salvation, either law or grace. In bidding men choose the latter way, the apostle was contending for the very heart of the Christian religion. So Galatians 1, 6 to 9, and the rest of Galatians capitalizes on that particular theme. Either you choose to enter in based on a covenant of works, your own obedience to the law, which must be perpetual, it must be exact, it must be entire, or you're going to be cut off.
Or, by the grace of God, you see Jesus as the champion. You see Jesus as the Savior. You see Jesus as the one in whom alone there is forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with God Most High.
The Defection of the Galatians
Now notice, secondly, the defection of the Galatians in verse 7. After saying, to a different gospel, he says in verse 7, which is not another. It's not like there's two gospels, choose your poison, take which one, you know, pleases you best. There is only one gospel, there's one good news, and it concerns the life, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So when they turned away from Him who called them in the grace of Christ, grace of Christ to a different gospel. Paul says, that's not another gospel. You're being lied to. You're being deceived.
You are being threatened. You are being distorted. You are being confused. If you choose to try and supplement the finished work of Jesus and then deny the finished work of Jesus, you're going to end up the loser as a result of this.
The Judaizing heresy was simply that, adding the works that we see in the Old Covenant, vis-à-vis the Mosaic ceremonial law, the particular emphasis in the Book of Galatians is on circumcision, trying to do that in addition to Jesus in order to be saved. And you can hear the logic of the Judaizers. I mean, these were predominantly Gentile peoples in the region of southern Galatia. Well, you know, we had to get circumcised as Jews and when we, you know, we believe on Jesus, but if we had to, then you have to too.
So it's almost like it's not enough to be a believer in Jesus. You've also got to be a Jew as well. You've got to subscribe to the Mosaic ordinances and you've got to comply with those in order to be accepted with God. That's why Paul constantly thundered the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
This is why he constantly fought for it and proclaimed it.
Evidence from Galatians 3–5
Notice chapter 3 verses 1 to 3 is the evidence of this. Chapter three, verse one, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. How do you think Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified among the Galatians? Did they have the Jesus film?
Did they have the passion? No, it was through the proclamation of the gospel. It was through the preaching of the truth that they set forth Christ and all of his offices to save, prophet, priest, and king. He goes on to say, this only I want to learn from you.
Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?
Turn over to chapter four. It makes a covenantal comparison and specifically with reference to the old covenant. Chapter four, verse 21. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
Now when he says those who desire to be under the law, as a covenant of works in order to be accepted by God. He's not talking about the law and the life and the new covenant believer. He's not talking about the normative use of the law. He's not talking about Romans 13.
How do I know what love is relative to my brother or sister? Well, don't murder him. don't steal from him, don't commit adultery with his spouse. There is objective law-keeping in terms of New Covenant obedience, but it's the normative use. It's not as a covenant of words in order to try and comply your way into heaven.
That's the emphasis in Galatians. He's not denigrating the law, he is denigrating the attempt to enter into the presence of God vis-à-vis the law. Because man is sinful, man is wretched, man does not obey exactly, entirely, and perpetually, and that is precisely what God demands. And yet Christ has, so the way of salvation is to believe on Him, and He grants access to the Father, through the Son and the Spirit.
So tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar.
For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of Abraham. It's talking about old covenant, new covenant. It's talking about old covenant of works, where the children of Israel stood at the base of Sinai and said, all that the Lord has commanded, we will do.
And they didn't do it. They were saved by virtue of the new covenant that was coming. They broke the covenant of works that they had sworn fidelity to. So Paul says, you don't want to go back to that.
You've got the new covenant. You've got Jesus. You've got the way of access. You've got provision.
A little circumcision may seem like a little thing. But it's not. It is to renounce fully the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Turn over to chapter 5, verse 1, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.
And that liberty specifically is from the bondage of sin, the power of Satan, and brought into the redemptive benefit that Christ secures. And he says, do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. For Paul, the law used lawfully is not bondage. For Paul, the law used unlawfully is bondage.
And that's the point here. He says, Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Now, no, brethren, Paul is not condemning circumcision as an ethnic practice, as a cultural norm. In Acts 16, when he goes on the second missionary journey, he gets a companion by the name of Timothy.
And Timothy had a father who was a Greek. And Timothy was not circumcised at that time when Paul met him. They were going to go into Jewish regions. So Paul had Timothy circumcised.
That was not a religious thing. That was not acceptance with God. It was to not make waves with the Jews in the regions where they were going to engage in missionary endeavors. So circumcision as a cultural practice, circumcision as an ethnic practice, Paul doesn't have a problem with that.
It's when you think that circumcision makes you more acceptable in the sight of God Most High. you are negating the gospel of free and sovereign grace. So notice again in verse 2, indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Now here's the rub, verse 3, and I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. So the point is, is that if you choose law, and circumcision happens to be that one aspect, you're obligated to keep the entirety of the law.
It's either covenant of works, your keeping of the law for acceptance with God, or it's Christ's keeping of the law, and that imputed to you and received by faith alone by virtue of the new covenant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Heresy Identified
So the identification of the heresy is very obvious. It is very, very clear when you survey this particular epistle. So going back to chapter one, verse seven. Oh, I'm sorry, go back to chapter five.
There's a verse that I think a lot of us just don't get. After he says that, notice what he says in verse four. You have become estranged from Christ. You attempt to be justified by law.
You have fallen from grace. Now, typically that phrase, you have fallen from grace, is pulled out of the Bible, pulled out of this context, and it's made to teach that a sinner saved by grace can ultimately be lost. He or she can fall from grace. It is a rejection of the doctrine of perseverance of the saints.
In some churches, it's called eternal security. Some people rail against that. I think there's a reason to rail against that, but I also think there's a reason to embrace it. We are eternally secured because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us on the cross.
So the fall from grace is not, oh, you can lose your salvation. The fall from grace in this context is that when you choose the law as a covenant of works, For your acceptance with God, you have turned from the gracious new covenant and its approach to God through faith alone in Jesus Christ. John Eady said, Christ's method of justification is wholly of grace. And those who rely on law and merit are in opposition to grace, are fallen out of it.
The clause has really no bearing on the doctrine of perseverance of the saints or on their possible apostasy. There's other passages that one could go to to try and teach that, but it's not Galatians 5.4. The fall from grace there is to deny the gracious new covenant and to throw yourself back in to the works-oriented law covenant, the old covenant. Fisher, in his wonderful book, Merrill of Modern Theology, he says, so that if you desire to be justified before God, you must either bring to him a perfect righteousness of your own and wholly renounce Christ, or else you must bring the perfect righteousness of Christ and wholly renounce your own.
Christ Jesus will either be a whole Savior or no Savior. He will either save you alone or not save you at all. Now, lots of quotes, lots of theology. Let's get real practical.
The apostle is saying that there is one way of acceptance with God, and that one way of acceptance with God is gracious. Why would we balk at that? Why would we want to try to introduce works into that, especially our works? If we know ourselves rightly, we ought to appreciate the accent on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Because we know the prophet Isaiah, for instance, on behalf of the nation of Israel, cries out to Yahweh and says that all our righteousness is like filthy rags in your sight. And in the context, it was religious worship. It was what they were obligated to do. It was what God or Yahweh had called them unto in terms of their covenant responsibility.
So they say our righteousness is like filthy rags. That doesn't even begin to get at our sins. Remember Jesus in Matthew chapter 12 says that men will give an account for every idle word on the day of judgment. Think about that.
How many idle words do we vomit out in a given day? Just think about the blasphemies. Think about the lies. Think about the gossip.
Think about the slander. Are you sure you want to try to get to God on your own? Or get to God with just a wee bit of help from Jesus? No.
It's either all Jesus or no Jesus. That's the message of Galatians. And let me encourage you that all Jesus is the only way to go. Because there is no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved.
It is Christ alone who brings redemption. It is Christ alone who ushers us into the presence of God. It is Christ alone who brings us. not only a forgiveness for sins, but the righteousness that he accomplished in his 33 years on earth. That's why this is so important.
That's why Paul marvels, why he's astonished. I can't believe you're going to turn away. I can't believe you're going to renounce Christ and try to go it on your own. You're gonna renounce Christ and try to supplement?
You're gonna try to add to it? You're gonna suggest that what Christ has accomplished wasn't enough to get you over the finish line? Banish the thought, perish the thought. It is Christ and Him only that brings salvation.
And as we move through this particular passage, we see something consistent with our studies in John's gospel. I mentioned this last week. Notice in verse seven, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you. This is troublesome.
If the church is not troubled with false doctrine, then the church isn't thinking clearly. If the church is okay with false doctrine, if the church is okay with threats against the integrity of the gospel, if the church says, well, you know, we've got other bigger things, bigger fish to fry. I mean, there's homeless people, there's hungry people, there's all kinds of people out there. You know, this doctrinal sort of emphasis is sort of not our bag.
Brethren, if we are not upset, if we are not perplexed, if we are not in prayer, if we are not seeking to defend the integrity of the Christian gospel, we might as well just depart from the church altogether and go join the Lions Club. There's other agencies out there that can ameliorate the downtrodden and the poor. Certainly that's an aspect of church life, but the thing that makes us markedly different is the gospel of our salvation. It is the truth as it is in Jesus.
It is that faith once for all delivered to the saints that we have been charged to contend earnestly for. When the church is indifferent to doctrine, the church is in her darkest hours. When the church is on fire for truth, when she's fighting, when she's going forward, when she's persevering, when she's engaging, those are her finest hours. So Paul says they trouble you, and then notice what he says, and they want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
I made the distinction last week. There's just some not very bright bulbs that preach. There are some guys that just aren't smart, and we don't want to charge them as, you know, they're god-haters, they're perverters of the gospel. There's other guys that are smart.
There's other guys that know what they're doing. And they want to pervert the gospel, just like John 8, 44. The desires of your father, the devil, you want to do. It's not that you're neutral.
It's not that you've fallen into these things. It's that you've actively pursued these things as a manner of rebellion against the living and true God, and as a means by which you can plague the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul highlights that reality in verse 7, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Listen to John's thought.
To tamper with the gospel is to trouble the church. Indeed, the church's greatest troublemakers now, as then, are not those outside who oppose, ridicule, and persecute it, but those inside who try to change the gospel. Conversely, the only way to be a good churchman is to be a good gospelman. That's great!
Be a good gospelman. That means you'll be a good churchman. The best way to serve the church is to believe and to preach the gospel. Martin Luther had his unique way of saying the same thing.
He says, that work which is built up of long labor may be overthrown in a night. A man may labor half a score of years to build up some little church to be rightly ordered. And when it is so ordered, there creeps in some malbrain, yea, a very unlearned idiot, and in one moment overthrows all. Now that we don't resist this, that we don't reject this, that this doesn't bother us, we're not of the same spirit of the Apostle Paul.
I marvel, I marvel that so soon after the reception of this treasure, This stewardship that you've been given, you're quickly deserting, you're turning away. You're going after these guys who have no vested interest in your soul. They're troubling you. They want to pervert the truth as it is in Jesus.
They want to engage in things that are contrary to the written word that you have received. We need to be like Paul in that. And then notice thirdly, the curse that he pronounces in verses eight and nine. This is heavy.
This is powerful. This shows the gravity of the situation. Notice what he says. First of all, let's look at the extent of the curse.
Verse 8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. to the extent of the curse pronounced by Paul upon those who pervert the gospel of our Lord. There's no apostolic immunity, no apostolic immunity. Notice Paul includes himself in verse 8, but even if we, if it were the case that Paul followed up his first missionary journey, returned to those churches of Southern Galatia after the Judaizers had departed, and Paul said, oh yeah, those guys were right.
I neglected to tell you that in my first preaching ministry. I neglected to tell you, yes, you need to be circumcised. Yes, you're obligated to keep the laws of Moses. Yes, you need to do that in addition to belief in Jesus so that God may accept you.
Paul says, if I did that, then what I'm about to say, may it fall upon my head. But notice, there's no angelic immunity. If it were the case that a holy angel fell out of heaven and assumed a position of preaching in a pulpit, and he twisted the gospel of free and sovereign grace, then Paul's curse rests on him as well. And then later he extends it to anybody.
So there's no immunity. There's no safe haven. There's no hiding place for those who want to pervert the gospel. of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel embodies a core, a fixed tradition, which is normative.
The church has been given this. It is delivered to the saints, and therefore the saints are supposed to hold fast to it, they're supposed to defend it, they're supposed to fight for it, they're supposed to protect it. Now notice the gravity of the curse.
The Gravity of Anathema
So verse 8, even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Now the word employed here is the word anathema. You may have heard that word before. Anathema.
It's the Greek word. Some translations just leave it there as anathema. Here we have it translated as accursed. It means something devoted to God.
And that something devoted to God could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. The same word appears in Luke 21, where there's devotions, things given to God. But the background is a Hebrew word called haram. That's the particular word in view.
And that means under the ban. Something that is devoted, but in a negative sense. It's devoted to destruction. It's devoted to suffering.
It's devoted to decimation. In fact, let's turn back to the Old Testament and see two uses. Leviticus chapter 27. Leviticus chapter 27.
Again, this underscores the gravity involved of Paul's message here. Leviticus chapter 27, specifically at verse 29. No person under the ban, This is haram, or in the New Testament, the Greek word is anathema. Who may become doomed to destruction among men shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.
Now turn over to Joshua, Joshua chapter seven. You see an actual act of this in the life of Israel. Joshua chapter seven. Remember when they went on their campaign to decimate cities, there were certain times where they were prohibited from taking the booty, from taking any spoil, from receiving anything unto themselves.
Well, Achan, you know, he rejected that. Achan stole. Achan, you know, covered up and Achan, you know, hid stuff in his tent. Look at chapter 7 and verse 12.
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed from among you." Now turn back to the New Testament. So the idea is devoted to destruction, doomed to destruction. When we see this word in our Bibles and it says accursed, I think, yeah, sounds bad.
It does. I mean, it wouldn't be good to be accursed, would it? But to kind of explore the passage or to explore the use and explore the meaning a little bit, I think, again, underscores the gravity involved. Now, Paul uses this word several times in the New Testament.
You can turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. And in this specific passage, he is evidencing his love for his nation. Notice in Romans chapter 9, specifically in verse 1, I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were, here it is, anathema or accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. You see what Paul is saying there? Heart of compassion. I wish I could be devoted to destruction if it meant my countrymen, according to the flesh, could enter into heaven.
Moses does something similar in the Old Testament relative to the people of Israel. Really shows the heart of the love of the pastor of the people of God. He's willing, if it were possible, to take for them that devotion to destruction. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
Use of anathema there. specifically at verse one. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed.
And no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So no one speaking by the Spirit of God would ever dare say Jesus is devoted to destruction, under the ban, that he's somehow a bad thing. And then look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16. There's some question concerning singing or praying the Psalms of David that are imprecatory in nature.
The imprecatory Psalms are those Psalms where the psalmist is calling down the judgment of God upon his enemies. He's not calling down the judgment of God upon his own enemies. This guy cut me off on the road today, Lord. I was on Wellington.
He just bounced right out there. God, kill him, get him, destroy him. No, that's not the emphasis in the imprecatory Psalms. One instance is Psalm 119.
He says, do I not hate those who hate thee, O Lord? I hate them with a perfect hatred. Psalm 58, he talks about the righteous dancing in the blood of the wicked. There are those imprecatory psalms that express the justice that is built into us by God Most High.
And it is a way for us, as the Church of Jesus Christ, to give place to wrath. Paul cautions us in Romans 12, do not avenge yourselves, brethren, but give place to wrath. Well, how do we give place to wrath? We pray the imprecatory psalms.
Now, of course, people in our modern church say, well, that can't be. That's the spirit of not goodness. You can't ever call down God's judgment upon anybody. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and tell me if Paul the apostle would have a problem with the imprecatory Psalms of David.
I submit that the imprecatory Psalms of David, in some sense, is a walk in the park compared to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16, 22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Let him be devoted to destruction. Let him be doomed.
That's Paul's language relative to those who would reject the gospel of free and sovereign grace.
No Immunity for Gospel Perverters
So back to Galatians chapter one. If you think it's a small thing that Somebody twists, somebody adds, somebody takes away, somebody distorts, or somebody confuses the gospel. You're not thinking like Paul. This word, according to one dictionary, means he who preaches a false gospel is delivered to destruction by God.
Again, it is not a matter of an act of church discipline in the sense of excommunication. The curse exposes the culprits to the judicial wrath of God. That's Paul's emphasis in Galatians 1 verse 9. Even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be anathema.
As we have said before, so now I say again, why Because repetition causes the receiver to understand the importance of the particular theme that is repeated. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. The preacher of another gospel, Edy says, exposes himself to the divine indignation, and the awful penalty incurred by him is not inflicted by man. He falls into the hands of the living God.
That's Paul's words to those who trouble you. to those who pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, who teach that Christ is good, but he's not enough. You just need to supplement a bit by going to get circumcised. And once you do that, then you'll be wholly accepted by God most high. That flies in the face of all that Christ has accomplished.
That is to resist and reject all that Christ has accomplished. If we choose that means or path, then we have denounced or denied the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Application: Doctrinal Vigilance
So in conclusion, we ought to appreciate, we ought to at least notice the intolerance of Paul Again, Machen says, to the men that dominate the life of the modern church, now he's writing in the early part of the 20th century. Think about that. He's writing in the early part of the 20th century. We've come a long way, baby, and not in a good way.
There's been some major defection going on. There's been some major, you know, trajectory life-altering bad decisions made ecclesiastically and theologically and soteriologically. So he's dealing with, for the most part, in terms of threats to the gospel of Jesus Christ, German neo-orthodoxy or theological liberalism. So for Machen, that was not another species of Christianity, but an altogether different religion.
I suspect that Machen would brand some of the approaches that we use today to get to God as altogether different species and not subset or connected to Christianity. So he says, to the men that dominate the life of the modern church, it would seem to be a subtle, hair-splitting distinction at the most. Surely, they would say, Paul ought to have made common cause with those Judaizers who had such a zeal for righteousness, and furthermore, exalted the Lord Jesus Christ so high. You see that tendency today.
We're going to compromise the doctrine of justification by faith alone to circle the wagons with guys who are good on culture? I think you can be both. I don't think you have to have an either-or approach. You can be right on culture and maintain fidelity relative to justification by faith alone.
It's not the case, well, you know, we've got to go over there because they're really combating the culture. You know what combats the culture? It's theological orthodoxy. It is the church preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is the church doing what the church is called to do. That's the best way we challenge culture. That's the best way we deal with culture. We do what God commanded us to do.
That, or therein, is safety. He goes on to say, as a matter of fact, the apostle did nothing of the kind. What he actually said with respect to the Judaizers was, let them be anathema. He seemed to have none of the modern virtue of tolerance at this point.
So the intolerance of Paul then, my second observation is
Intolerance of Doctrinal Compromise
the intolerance of the church today. Brethren, we want to be tolerant in terms of, you know, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We want to be tolerant of people from different backgrounds. We want to be tolerant of, you know, different socioeconomic groups.
We want to be tolerant insofar as we are able. But we're not to be tolerant at the point of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. We as the church need to be aware of a doctrinal indifference. Oh, it really doesn't matter.
Yes, it most certainly does matter. We need to be careful of a doctrinal imprecision. Oh, you reform people. You're always dotting I's and crossing T's.
There's a whole world out there to be saved. What are you going to save them with? The Judaizing heresy? What are you going to save them with?
A Jesus that is not Jesus? What are you going to save them with? A God that doesn't have the ability because you've stripped from Him all those perfections that are absolutely requisite? Beware of doctrinal departures.
A departure from the truth should be evident and recognized by the Christian church. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If I come up here and I preach heresy, tell Cam and he'll break my neck, And I mean that spiritually speaking. I don't want to be too vicious or unkind.
Or call Pastor Kirkpatrick, call Pastor Maljars. Brethren, don't sit under heresy. Don't sit under a departure from the truth. Don't sit under a man that's going to teach you faith in Jesus. plus something else in order to be accepted by God.
That is false. That is a perversion. That is a departure. That is an apostasy.
And it is not to be entertained in the life of Christ's church. Beware of doctrinal compromise. Again, we have great fellowship with people that don't see eye to eye on every other thing. Probably the bestest friend I've got in Chilliwack, in terms of a pastoral colleague, is a Paedo-Baptist.
That's fine. We never talk about it. We don't arm wrestle about it, and he'd probably win. I don't think that makes his position right.
But the bottom line is, When it comes to this other stuff, when it comes to compromise over the gospel, no. We'll compromise on eschatology. I think premillennialism is wrong, but come to our church, praise God with us, enjoy life together and worship and adore and bless the risen savior. But when it comes to compromise with a papist at the level of soteriology, when it comes to compromise with a federal visionist or a new perspective on Paul at the level of soteriology, You'll hear things like, well, you know, isn't he right?
He got the Gospels right. He got the historicity of Jesus right. Yeah, but he gets soteriology wrong. He gets Paul wrong.
Read Machen. He got the New Testament right, and he got justification right. In a world where there's books printed of J. Gresson Machen, read him versus N.
G. Wright. We don't compromise with people that want to add to the finished work of our blessed Savior. And beware of doctrinal novelty, something new.
Brethren, I've got to say this, if in 20 centuries of Christ's Church, the best and brightest theologians didn't see something, it's most likely not there. Oh, I found this new discovery in the Scripture. Now, I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong, but I am saying you're most likely wrong. When it comes to theology, I think Charles Hodge had a great statement concerning the founding of Princeton Theological Seminary, which unfortunately today has not held fast to Charles Hodge's words.
He says, we strive to have no new thoughts here. We want no new thoughts at Princeton. What does he mean by that? He means that we are going to contend for that faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
It is our stewardship, it is our trust, it is sacred between God and us, and we're not going to relinquish our responsibility in that. So beware of doctrinal novelties. If Calvin and Luther and John Owen and C.H. Spurgeon didn't see it, most likely, and I hate to shatter your little mindset of snowflakeness, but you probably haven't seen it either.
Galatians 2:21 as the Key Verse
Now, one final passage, Galatians 2.21. I think it summarizes the entirety of Paul's message. after highlighting, after pointing out, after driving home the reality that we're justified by faith alone. Look at verse 16, for instance, in chapter two. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Even we have believed in Christ Jesus. that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not.
For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We typically use Galatians 2.20 as a sanctification passage. I don't think it is. I think it's a justification passage.
Paul's gonna deal with sanctification in the latter part of the epistle. He's making a, theological or soteriological point in terms of justification. Verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now notice verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. That's the point. If you could make it to heaven, if you could work out your salvation or work for your salvation, if all you needed was a little help from Jesus, then the whole cross was in vain.
It's either all of Christ or none of Christ. And it's imperative that we go the way of the Savior himself. Machen says this verse is the key verse of the epistle to the Galatians. It expresses the central thought of the epistle.
The Judaizers attempted to supplement the saving work of Christ by the merit of their own obedience to the law. That, says Paul, is impossible. Christ will do everything or nothing. Earn your salvation if your obedience to the law is perfect, or else trust wholly to Christ's completed work.
You cannot do both. You cannot combine merit and grace. If justification, even in the slightest measure, is through human merit, then Christ died in vain. I submit that that brother was absolutely positively right on that comment on Galatians 2.21.
We have a rich heritage in the Reformed tradition. We have a sacred deposit given in the Old and New Testaments. We have the Gospel as our treasure. It is our job to fight for it.
It is our job to protect it. It is our job to defend it. And it's our job to meditate upon it and let it roll over us and cause us to reflect upon the great love of God in Christ Jesus for us, and may we respond with love back to Him for the finished work of the Savior. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our gracious God and Father, we thank you for the gospel of our salvation. We thank you for this section of Holy Scripture, which underscores the importance of the gospel. And God as well, may it be such an encouragement, the balm of Gilead to our own hearts. As we come weary to the table, may you encourage our hearts, may you strengthen us.
May we reflect upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and may that faith grow in Him, and may that love for Him grow as well. We thank you for this church. We thank you for one another, that at the supper we not only commune with our blessed God, but we commune with your people. We commune with one another.
We pray now through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.