Sacrifice Day 15 Demo Day: Digging Deeper

1) What has Paul torn down that he ought not rebuild? (verse 18)
Paul is stating he cannot build his own bridge to gain access to God through righteous acts. He tried that approach before coming to faith in Christ. (Philippians 3:4-6) Galatians is a New Testament letter to the churches in the region of Galatia with an urgent reminder to cling to the true Gospel, for there’s only one. Paul highlights how “a different gospel” is budding among them and causing division as well as a return to a dead-end pathway of attaining righteousness by relying on self. (Galatians 1:6) In contrast to this “different gospel”, Paul explains the pure Gospel as God giving Himself for our sins (Galatians 1:3-4) and how, in this act alone, the work of salvation was completed in Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. (John 19:28, Hebrews 10:12-13) On hearing how Jewish Christians had come to new Galatian believers and began mixing the works of the Old Testament Law with the finished work of Jesus Christ as the way of salvation, Paul is outraged! (Galatians 3:1) Paul calls this a “different gospel”. Jews who had converted to Christianity still struggled with the mindset of following the Law of Moses. Peter, and other Jewish Christians, segregated themselves over keeping the works of the Law. (Galatians 2:11-14) This disunity of rejecting Gentiles’ new faith in Jesus stood in stark opposition to the gospel their lips preached of grace and faith in Christ. Paul, previously a devout Jewish leader, calls this out as hypocritical, stating God’s plan was to always build His kingdom on faith and not works. (Galatians 3:5-9) Therefore, Paul had been working to tear down old beliefs he held before accepting Jesus’ work on his behalf. He now understood salvation is only embraced through faith alone without added works of law. (Galatians 2:16) He spends the rest of his life pointing people to salvation through grace alone by the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

2) How was Paul crucified with Christ? (verse 20)
Correct, Paul was not up on the cross with Jesus. There is no clear evidence Paul even witnessed the arrest, trials, and whippings of Jesus. So, how does this statement of being “crucified with Christ” even make sense? Paul repeats this concept in Galatians 5:24, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” In Galatians 1:13-14, Paul provides a glimpse into three of his personal strivings before coming to Christ: 1) intensely persecuted God’s church 2) his advance in Judaism 3) (the heart of it all) he was, “extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors” (Galatians 1:14) Paul was striving in his own strength after personal passions without a relationship with God. When God “was pleased to reveal His Son in [Paul]” (Galatians 1:16), Paul became a new man. He was transformed and began living with his eyes on Christ, having become alive to Christ. His personal desires to please himself or his image were put to death. (Galatians 6:14) Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God “condemned sin in the flesh”. (Romans 8:3) Paul is stating his own weaknesses, disobediences, and acts centered on his gains of status and wealth were condemned to death with Christ’s perfect sacrifice.  Those desires are dead, no longer taunting Paul’s desires away from Jesus. In Christ, his desires are new and reborn. Paul moved from death of his flesh to life in the Holy Spirit through Christ. Paul was no longer motivated by, or a slave to, concerns of social status, traditions, or opinions of the world. In Christ, he became free to live for Christ! (Galatians 5:1)

3) What does it mean to set aside the grace of God? (verse 21)
At the end of verse 20, Paul points to God’s grace, reminding Christians of their freedom to live by faith because of God’s love. Charles Spurgeon is quoted, “‘Who loved me.’ The verb is in the past tense. Jesus loved me upon the cross; loved me in the manger of Bethlehem; loved me before ever the earth was. There never was a time when Jesus did not love His people.” Out of God’s eternal love for His people and payment of Christ’s sacrifice flows great grace of salvation for the Christian. In verse 21, Paul reiterates that to be caught up in traditions is to “set aside the grace of God.” In Galatians 5:1 Paul states, “For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul is clarifying how one cannot be free in Christ while trying to attach anything else to Christ in the salvation of their soul. In attempting to add Old Testament Law onto salvation, Paul goes as far as saying this person is, “alienated from Christ” and “fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4) because they are choosing to be justified by the Law of Moses as a replacement for the sacrifice of Christ. Acts 15 summarizes the encounter of Paul’s rebuke to Peter, describing how these apostles soon revisited this hot topic of following the Law, specifically circumcision, in Jerusalem. But this time, it was Peter who stood up explaining that to circumcise the Gentiles is unnecessary, “We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.” (Acts 15:11)