Robert Balaicius
Understand the very clear and limited intention of Paul’s words. Understand what he says and what he does not say. Paul does not say that the law of circumcision was abolished any more than the dietary laws were abolished. God commanded circumcision throughout all out generations forever. God was prepared to slay Moses one time for his slackness in circumcising his son. God is not a fickle whimsical God Who would slay someone one moment for not obeying His Law, then in a menopausal hot flash change His Mind and abolish the very Law that is a sign of the Covenant! Circumcision is a sign in an Israelite man’s flesh that God has separated us from other people and that the male member only has appropriate uses and is not to cross the racial rubicon. It is also a sign that those who violate the Covenant shall be cut off.
However, the only point that Paul is making is that circumcision does not add to salvation more than baptism does. Circumcision is the sign of the Old Covenant. Baptism is the sign of the New Covenant. The New Covenant did not abolish the Old, but updated, revised, and perfected it in that Christ became the Eternal Sacrifice and the elect are covered by His Blood at the time of conversion. They are then free from Eternal Judgment; however, that does not mean that they can sin with impunity, it most probably is a sin that such a person was never converted. If there is a true conversion there will be true and lasting change of life, repenting of sin and obeying what God commanded.
Again, the Law of God is perfect. It is not bondage. Bondage is attempting to do anything to earn salvation, since it is unearnable. Christ provided it 100% free, 100% by His Own Work. -0% of man. Man does not even choose, God chooses. God chose (determined) the elect in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ even said to the disciples, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you…” Sheep do not choose their shepherd. Fetuses don’t choose to be conceived or born. Under the Biblical model, wives do not choose their husbands. “The wind bloweth where it listeth [determines]… so is everyone that is born of the Spirit”. God also forms us in the womb. Man’s spermatozoa and the egg it fertilizes are not on autopilot!
It needs to be understood that Paul knew the issues of which he was writing and the Galatians knew of the issues Paul was writing. Just because God’s people who are in spiritual blindness 2,000 years later do not understand what Paul was writing does not change what Paul’s intentions were. Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God’s Word is in complete harmony. Man’s darkened, disharmonious mind is what is the problem. What part of “not one jot or tittle” do you still not understand? Love = obedience to the Law of God. Re-familiarize yourself with the passages on (pages 48 and 49) The Book of Revelation and the Epistles of John- the very last books of the New Testament to be written, all firmly confirm the perpetuity of God’s Law and our obligation to keep it- with the indictment that those who don’t keep it do not even know God. Those who survive the wrath of the Great Tribulation will only be those who have the Faith / Testimony of Christ and who keep the Law of God (Revelation 12:17; 14:12). Circumcision is not a mere jot or tittle, it was the very sign of the Old (or Original) Covenant and the Law given codified at Sinai cannot change the Covenant and Law that was given by Promise 400 years earlier to Abraham. Circumcision is also a sign of headship in the family, church, and nation. Only men can be circumcised. [There are butcheries of women in savage lands referred to as female circumcisions, but they are not; they are merely mutilations.]
The issue is that some Judaizers who themselves misunderstood salvation, were telling the Israelites of the diaspora that they had to keep the entire Law of God (including circumcision) Before they could be saved. This is what Paul is talking about. My insertion of the words in brackets of Galations 5:1-6 gives the clear intended meaning, which can only be understood by a coherent harmonization with established Scripture.
“7 ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that [Who] calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you through YHVH, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. 11 And I, brethren, if [since] I yet [still] preach circumcision, why do I yet [still] suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Here Paul confesses that he still preaches circumcision (obedience to the Law of God because it is the duty of children to obey; not circumcision as a prerequisite or part of salvation). It is ironic that Paul says that he wishes those who caused them to err in faith would be “cut off”; since that is the act of circumcision itself; and that is the judgment that God commanded on those who refused to obey and circumcise. When Paul says, “by love, serve”, this is not some undefinable affection or emotion, it is obedience to the Law of God (defined by the next verse). It is certainly not the world’s concept of “love” (lust, perversion, permissiveness).
14 For all the Law is fulfilled in one word [saying], even in this; Thou shalt love thy [kinsman-] neighbor as thyself.
Children (with selfish hearts and shallow minds) and dishonest people pick one phrase they like out of a paragraph, twist it out of context, and ignore the rest of the paragraph which actually defines the part they like- because the rest of the paragraph actually shows it to mean something entirely different. Thus, they sweep the remainder of the passage under the theological carpet.
How does one love his kinsman as himself…? -by not robbing him, not committing adultery with his wife, not raping his daughter, not killing his son, not moving the property boundaries, not violating the Sabbath or worshipping idols or any other sin that will bring God’s judgment on the entire community and nation. Love is obedience and self-sacrifice of what sinful self may want, in favor of doing what is right.
Again, note carefully what Paul does not say. Paul does not say that some undefinable “love” replaces the Law. The Law is fulfilled when you obey it and obeying it is love. Love thy kinsman as thyself is another way of saying “do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. If a father tells his son to go mow the lawn and the son says, “no thanks pops, I’m going to go play basketball instead, but I love ya’,” and he give his dad a hug instead and leaves…is that fulfilling the Law?
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
As I have expressed earlier, when you walk in the Spirit, you walk in the direction in which the Holy Spirit is going and the Holy Spirit will not lead into sin. What are the lusts of the flesh? -the violation of the Law of God. Paul goes on to explain this by listing 17 examples. These examples are not intended to be an exhaustive list, for Paul then finishes by saying “and such like”. If the Law of God had been abolished, it would be double-minded for Paul then to say that all these actions are wrong and those who commit them without repentance will be rejected by Christ and cast into Hell, rather than being admitted into the Kingdom. Understand, Scripture does not teach a works-oriented salvation and neither does it teach a works-oriented perdition. Good works do not save and sin does not damn. Each produces what his nature is. The person is saved or damned because of his nature; the works are incidental and reflect what his nature is. A tree does not become an apple tree by bearing apples, an apple tree bears apples because that is how God designed it.
If you are truly led by the Spirit, you are so led because you have been regenerated and had your ears, eyes, heart, and mind opened; and you will follow the Holy Spirit and sin less- and when you do sin, you will get up and repent (not wallow in the mire enjoying it). If you are led of the Spirit you are not under the Curse (Judgment) of the Law- because, “For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Yahshua hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death” (Romans 8:2). Again, it is anti-intellectual to think that the law Paul is speaking of that we are not under is the Law of God Itself, since Paul then lists sins (works of the flesh) that are commanded against by God in His Law and Paul says that those who commit such things do not have eternal life abiding in them (they will not enter the Kingdom). If we were no longer under the Law of God, we could do all those things. The majority of Bible “experts” don’t know how to think. It is really elementary. However, God has to open their eyes, otherwise, they will never see even obvious truth.
Esau married outside the race, marrying two Canaanite women. The New Testament, of him, records, “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau…” (Hebrews 12:16). He is called a fornicator and profane person for marrying outside the race. The Greek word profane person actually means “one who crosses the threshold”.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
In further confirmation that the Law of God was not abolished, Paul then lists 9 virtues “against which there is no law” which is evidence that the 17 vices that he had mentioned in the previous verse do have laws forbidding them-which means that the Law was not abolished!
[Bible Numerics here are very interesting! There are 17 sins specifically mentioned. 17 is the 7th prime number, and Bullinger in his Number in Scripture says that is represents “the Perfection of Spiritual Order”. Clearly the perpetuity of the Law of God and His Command that we not sin is the Perfection of the Spiritual Order- and that is made possible through the Holy Spirit of Christ who keeps us from sin. It is also interesting that there are “seven deadly sins”. Spiritual perfection is stamped upon the Law of God in many ways. Oddly, the Fruit of the Spirit is not enumerated with 7 virtues, but 9. The number 9 represents Judgment, but is also represents FINALITY. Understand, Judgment is not one sided, but a two-edged sword. It is Justice: Reward on the righteous, condemnation of the wicked.]
True Covenant Quotes And More 