Monday, May 21, 2018

Year 8, Day 141: Galatians 5 & 6


Theological Commentary: Click Here




As Paul gets ready to end his letter, he continues to hit home with respect to truth.  The first thing that he tells us is that we should be careful to know from where our salvation comes.  If we are saved by grace through Christ, the we are not saved by the Law through our works.  If we think that we are saved through the Law, then Christ has done nothing for us.  Paul isn’t saying that the Law is useless in Christ; he is simply saying that we should be confident that our salvation comes from Him.  Christ saves us, the Law illustrates how much we need Him.



Paul then speaks about love. What does it look like when a person is living in Christ?  We live in the same kind of love with which Christ lived.  A person who follows Christ makes sacrifices for the other.  He forgives the other.  He is patient with the other.  He makes peace with the other.  He helps the other.  He celebrates with the other.  The person who follows Christ looks like Christ is living through him.



People who are living in Christ do not provoke one another.  People who are living in Christ are not envious.  We are not haughty.  We bear one another in love.



In the end, Paul gives us a great perspective.  Circumcision – or not being circumcised – is nothing.  What is something is being a new creation.  It doesn’t matter if we are wine or grape juice for communion people.  It doesn’t matter if we are worship on Sunday or Saturday people.  It doesn’t matter if we are King James or English Standard kind of people.  What matters is that we are a new creation.  What matters is that Christ lives in us and through us.  That is what matters.  That should be our focus.



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