-6-
Going Forward
First, a little catch-up: After having spent much time and effort and even blood, sweat and tears establishing new churches all throughout the province of Galatia, Paul was shocked to hear that virtually all of the churches had adopted a NEW gospel.
He gravely tells them that there is no such a thing. He went so far as to pronounce a curse on anyone who would promote any other gospel.
The promoters of this new, 'other' gospel had ulterior motives. Underneath the facade of loving concern lay a fierce hatred for the apostle Paul.
These men to which Paul referred, were former Jews, that have come to recognize Jesus to be the true Messiah. And that part was good, and is to be commended. So they acknowledged Jesus as Savior, but they could not let go of their Jewishness. They were teaching a gospel of Jesus, plus the Law, equals eternal life.
In the early days of the Jerusalem church, Paul, (then known as Saul), was a feared Roman authority who had caused many of these early Christians to be imprisoned and even was responsible for some to have been executed.
Paul, as we know, made an abrupt about-face. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. This resulted in Paul's becoming a Christian.
Some of the former Jews, now turned Christian, though by now no longer fearing Paul, they did not love him. To them he was still a Roman. Ethnicity (racism) should not have a part in any believers life, but it was a big part of theirs.
So these men took it upon themselves to undo everything that Paul did. And they were obviously good at it. They caused every church in Galatia to adopt this new gospel.
So, in the early part of this letter Paul painstakingly examines the new additions that had been made to the simple gospel of faith alone and argues against every one of them.
He restates some wonderful aspects of coming to God in faith alone, and encourages them and us to move forward in our walk with God.
Perhaps it goes without saying, that, after God called Paul to salvation and then commissioned him to be the one to bring the gospel to the non-Jews, that Paul had one desire only – and that was to bring the unsaved, the lost, the condemned Gentiles to Christ for salvation. As he traveled throughout his known world, leading people to a place of accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, he organized these people into support groups. We (and the Bible) call those churches.
This letter to the churches of the province of Galatia is a 'first' for Paul. And these Christians are the first to have been drawn away from the truth. Paul is very concerned and said right near the outset of this letter, “I'm amazed that you have been so quickly removed from the truth of the Gospel. He referred to their having 'deserted Him who called you into the grace of Christ.'
He cares about these people, he cares about the unsaved in their cities who will now hear a 'flawed gospel'. He is angered at the subversive teachers who have led them astray. Paul is upset that these teachers have undermined his authority and his 'calling', as the appointed missionary to the Gentiles.
He has been dealing with all of these things up to this point.
We carry on in this study with,
Ga 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Verse 26 is a simple re-statement of his reasoning up to this point … we are sons of God (perhaps he is emphasizing the fact that coming to God in faith makes us heirs) and we became sons through faith, through believing God.
But, interestingly, Paul uses the term, baptized into Christ.
And since he brings it up, let's spend a few moments expanding on that.
The first thing that gets our attention is how clear and definite salvation really is. It is not a progression. It is not an unknown element. When you think baptism into … you think, either in or out.
The second thing that may come to mind is, are we talking about water baptism? That seems to go against everything that he has been saying up to now. He has said that salvation is by faith ...ONLY. Now he mentions baptism?
Paul's previous arguments from the beginning of this letter should be enough to show that he is NOT talking about water baptism.
He has said that there is only one responsibility that each of us had (or has) and that is to believe.
This is a key that causes us to look at what baptism into Christ means. It clearly is not our responsibility to get baptized into Christ. It is only our responsibility to believe.
And thankfully we have more biblical insight into being baptized into Christ, that should really clear this up.
So first we will consider 1Co 12:13, For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free— and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (ESV)
Paul here is talking to the Corinthians. He is reminding them, and us, of something. He uses the words; we were ALL
So he is talking about something that happens to ALL believers.
He also refers to the 'baptizer'. He says that it is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God baptized us … into Christ. We have nothing to do with that. That is all on God. It is His work. All we did was to believe … and at that point the Holy Spirit baptized … immersed us, into the body of Christ. That is an invisible act from our perspective.
But it is real and actual. It really happened. We were not a part of the body … and suddenly we are. Immersed into the body of Christ.
But, you may be thinking, water baptism is commanded in scripture, so how do we know for sure that Paul is not talking about water baptism? Let's look at his words to the Galatians once more:
Ga 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Because there are those who have used this verse to teach that it is by water baptism that we become Christians, it is important to take this a little further.
This verse would be one used by the Catholic church, very early on, to really push for water baptism. In their early belief system, they taught that anyone 'unbaptized' would eventually end up in hell. So naturally the emphasis would be quite heavy.
In the early days of their history, the catholic church used immersion for baptism. They only switched to sprinkling because some unbaptized people, on their deathbeds, not wanting to go to hell, called to the priests for 'last minute' baptism.
As long as they were able to get up and into the water and be baptized, fine. But some were not able. The church began to make a concession in these cases. When someone was unable to be immersed, the church would use sprinkling.
You likely have guessed where this is going. 'If sprinkling works for those who are unable to be immersed … then why would it not work for all?
So sprinkling came into being. But what about babies coming into this world?
In the Catholic view, children, inheriting Adam's sin nature, would not go to heaven 'unbaptized'. And yet these little children were too young to place their faith in Jesus.
So they came up with the idea that, even though salvation is by Faith, it need not be the child's faith - it could be somebody else's faith, offered in their behalf.
The likely person(s) to have faith in behalf of the child, would be the parents. But what if that parent was not that good a believer? A safety net was created … and that was to ask for another set of parents to 'believe' for that baby. They called these parents, God-parents.
So now there are two sets of parents, exercising faith for the baby's salvation.
There are (Biblically) two things wrong with this. One, babies do not need saving. God holds them unaccountable, or not responsible for placing faith in Christ until they are old enough to do so for themselves. And two, water baptism is not a part of salvation.
So let us be very clear on the second point. Baptism (Spirit baptism) literally places us into the body of Christ at the very moment we placed our faith in Christ.
But now add to this a very important scripture:
Eph 4:5 (There is) one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One baptism. Not two or three different types of baptism.
If we had to make a choice … since there is only one (real) baptism, which is it … water or Spirit?
Obviously we should choose Spirit baptism to be the ONE baptism of Ephesians 4 verse 5. Why? Because He, the Holy Spirit, actually performs the invisible and yet essential thing that we need … we need to pass from death to life … we need to become a part of the body of Christ. And, as we have read, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Well then, Since Spirit baptism is the ONE baptism, what is WATER baptism?
Are you ready for this? It is not a 'real' baptism. Just like that photo which appears on my driver's license - is not ME. It is a picture of me.
So also, water baptism does not 'actually' place us into Christ … but it pictures it. There is only one real baptism, and that is Spirit baptism.
OK, enough about verse 27.
Let's spend some time on the next verse:
Ga 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
In Christ, in the body of Christ … we are all one. What, if anything, does this have to do with the 'practical sense' of things?
What am I asking? I am asking … since there is now in the body of Christ, no male and female … does this mean we must take down the Women's and Men's signs from the doorways to our church bathrooms? Do we no longer, in the practical sense, recognize a difference between men and women in the church?
Consistency has been called a gem. Sometimes it seems a bit rare. There have been those religious groups who leave the women's and men's signs above the bathroom doors, but when it comes to leadership positions in our churches … suddenly there is no male – female distinction. And in this they are oblivious of explicit scriptures to the contrary. Well enough about that. Moving on,
Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
So here is a beautiful thought added by Paul. If we are Christ's … by faith alone, that makes us Abraham's offspring (In other words, since it was by belief alone that he became connected with God, became a child of God, it follows, that if we copy his lead … we too, by faith alone, become children of God. We did the same thing Abraham did. So we are called his off-spring. )
So if we are Abraham's offspring … we come in line to share in his inheritance. We are heirs.
Let's take a quick look at what Abraham is in line to inherit.
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
And then skipping to verse 16;
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.
The inheritance that God promised Abraham here is two-fold. The first promise is that of a physical territory. This 'land' was to be an inheritance.
His descendants, Israel would not actually inherit it until much later. They would be led by God to go in and literally conquer the land. It was 'theirs' by the promise of God. (Of course, now the Palestinians dispute that)
The second promise turns out to be a spiritual inheritance. We read that he 'looked for a city'. He lived in tents while others around him built permanent structures. He expected to live in the city of God one day. Whether he was a bit confused and thought that it might just 'show up' somewhere, sometime … we can't really know. But the writer of Hebrews claims that Abraham actually was looking for a heavenly city.
And the good news is … it is to be a part of his inheritance. It is also a part of our inheritance. One day we will see the heavenly city … and we will be taken to it.
But now Paul wants to talk about how each of us comes into our inheritance.
He says,
Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We too, are heirs. But what is the process or sequence of events that have to happen before a person ends up inheriting the promises?
Paul begins by saying that as long as an heir was a child, he was really no different than a hired servant or slave.
And in just a few verses we begin to see where he is going with this.
Ga 4:1 ¶ Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
So there is the comparison: Slaves will never inherit. They are under bondage. A child in a home is also under bondage, in a manner of speaking. He has to go to school. He is told to do this or that. And that will continue until he reaches adulthood.
So whether, before salvation, we numbered ourselves with the slaves or with a young child, Paul's example is, that prior to being of inheritance age … we are unsaved. The last sentence of Paul's which we read, bears this out.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
But what is he saying in the next couple of verses?
Ga 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
We likely are familiar with the timing and the purposes of God to send His son into the world at just the right time to become the savior of the world, which includes both Jews and Gentiles alike.
But look at this also in another light.
As far as you individually were concerned, when you were a baby, Christ had not come yet. What I mean is, He had not come to you. A few years went by and during that time, as we read in verse 2, you were in bondage to sin.
But in the fullness of time … that is, at just the right time, you heard of Christ. He came into your life and he redeemed you. He bought you. He gave you eternal life. He adopted you.
We read in verse 5, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons
How real is this? Before, we were as estranged to him as a slave is to his master. After placing faith in Him … we can already talk. From the very moment of salvation we call him Father … and do so affectionately. The term is something like 'Daddy' or 'Papa'. Here is how Paul put it;
Ga 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Ga 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Some people use 'Abba' as a term which we should continually use. I disagree. I believe that Paul is painting us a picture of a new-born child of God. Can you imagine an actual newborn, … after its first breath, cries a bit … and then looks over at its father and says, Daddy! What a shocking thing that would be.
But Paul is saying something just like that. We pass from death, to life. And the first word we speak after spiritual life comes into us is … Father, or Daddy, or Papa!
These are beautiful words from Paul. But he will show in the next section, that this is only the beginning of our relationship with God. He will show that we need to grow up. We call it 'Going Forward'.
Sadly, however, we must entitle the next section 'Going Backward'.
He gravely tells them that there is no such a thing. He went so far as to pronounce a curse on anyone who would promote any other gospel.
The promoters of this new, 'other' gospel had ulterior motives. Underneath the facade of loving concern lay a fierce hatred for the apostle Paul.
These men to which Paul referred, were former Jews, that have come to recognize Jesus to be the true Messiah. And that part was good, and is to be commended. So they acknowledged Jesus as Savior, but they could not let go of their Jewishness. They were teaching a gospel of Jesus, plus the Law, equals eternal life.
In the early days of the Jerusalem church, Paul, (then known as Saul), was a feared Roman authority who had caused many of these early Christians to be imprisoned and even was responsible for some to have been executed.
Paul, as we know, made an abrupt about-face. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. This resulted in Paul's becoming a Christian.
Some of the former Jews, now turned Christian, though by now no longer fearing Paul, they did not love him. To them he was still a Roman. Ethnicity (racism) should not have a part in any believers life, but it was a big part of theirs.
So these men took it upon themselves to undo everything that Paul did. And they were obviously good at it. They caused every church in Galatia to adopt this new gospel.
So, in the early part of this letter Paul painstakingly examines the new additions that had been made to the simple gospel of faith alone and argues against every one of them.
He restates some wonderful aspects of coming to God in faith alone, and encourages them and us to move forward in our walk with God.
Perhaps it goes without saying, that, after God called Paul to salvation and then commissioned him to be the one to bring the gospel to the non-Jews, that Paul had one desire only – and that was to bring the unsaved, the lost, the condemned Gentiles to Christ for salvation. As he traveled throughout his known world, leading people to a place of accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, he organized these people into support groups. We (and the Bible) call those churches.
This letter to the churches of the province of Galatia is a 'first' for Paul. And these Christians are the first to have been drawn away from the truth. Paul is very concerned and said right near the outset of this letter, “I'm amazed that you have been so quickly removed from the truth of the Gospel. He referred to their having 'deserted Him who called you into the grace of Christ.'
He cares about these people, he cares about the unsaved in their cities who will now hear a 'flawed gospel'. He is angered at the subversive teachers who have led them astray. Paul is upset that these teachers have undermined his authority and his 'calling', as the appointed missionary to the Gentiles.
He has been dealing with all of these things up to this point.
We carry on in this study with,
Ga 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Verse 26 is a simple re-statement of his reasoning up to this point … we are sons of God (perhaps he is emphasizing the fact that coming to God in faith makes us heirs) and we became sons through faith, through believing God.
But, interestingly, Paul uses the term, baptized into Christ.
And since he brings it up, let's spend a few moments expanding on that.
The first thing that gets our attention is how clear and definite salvation really is. It is not a progression. It is not an unknown element. When you think baptism into … you think, either in or out.
The second thing that may come to mind is, are we talking about water baptism? That seems to go against everything that he has been saying up to now. He has said that salvation is by faith ...ONLY. Now he mentions baptism?
Paul's previous arguments from the beginning of this letter should be enough to show that he is NOT talking about water baptism.
He has said that there is only one responsibility that each of us had (or has) and that is to believe.
This is a key that causes us to look at what baptism into Christ means. It clearly is not our responsibility to get baptized into Christ. It is only our responsibility to believe.
And thankfully we have more biblical insight into being baptized into Christ, that should really clear this up.
So first we will consider 1Co 12:13, For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free— and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (ESV)
Paul here is talking to the Corinthians. He is reminding them, and us, of something. He uses the words; we were ALL
So he is talking about something that happens to ALL believers.
He also refers to the 'baptizer'. He says that it is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God baptized us … into Christ. We have nothing to do with that. That is all on God. It is His work. All we did was to believe … and at that point the Holy Spirit baptized … immersed us, into the body of Christ. That is an invisible act from our perspective.
But it is real and actual. It really happened. We were not a part of the body … and suddenly we are. Immersed into the body of Christ.
But, you may be thinking, water baptism is commanded in scripture, so how do we know for sure that Paul is not talking about water baptism? Let's look at his words to the Galatians once more:
Ga 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Because there are those who have used this verse to teach that it is by water baptism that we become Christians, it is important to take this a little further.
This verse would be one used by the Catholic church, very early on, to really push for water baptism. In their early belief system, they taught that anyone 'unbaptized' would eventually end up in hell. So naturally the emphasis would be quite heavy.
In the early days of their history, the catholic church used immersion for baptism. They only switched to sprinkling because some unbaptized people, on their deathbeds, not wanting to go to hell, called to the priests for 'last minute' baptism.
As long as they were able to get up and into the water and be baptized, fine. But some were not able. The church began to make a concession in these cases. When someone was unable to be immersed, the church would use sprinkling.
You likely have guessed where this is going. 'If sprinkling works for those who are unable to be immersed … then why would it not work for all?
So sprinkling came into being. But what about babies coming into this world?
In the Catholic view, children, inheriting Adam's sin nature, would not go to heaven 'unbaptized'. And yet these little children were too young to place their faith in Jesus.
So they came up with the idea that, even though salvation is by Faith, it need not be the child's faith - it could be somebody else's faith, offered in their behalf.
The likely person(s) to have faith in behalf of the child, would be the parents. But what if that parent was not that good a believer? A safety net was created … and that was to ask for another set of parents to 'believe' for that baby. They called these parents, God-parents.
So now there are two sets of parents, exercising faith for the baby's salvation.
There are (Biblically) two things wrong with this. One, babies do not need saving. God holds them unaccountable, or not responsible for placing faith in Christ until they are old enough to do so for themselves. And two, water baptism is not a part of salvation.
So let us be very clear on the second point. Baptism (Spirit baptism) literally places us into the body of Christ at the very moment we placed our faith in Christ.
But now add to this a very important scripture:
Eph 4:5 (There is) one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One baptism. Not two or three different types of baptism.
If we had to make a choice … since there is only one (real) baptism, which is it … water or Spirit?
Obviously we should choose Spirit baptism to be the ONE baptism of Ephesians 4 verse 5. Why? Because He, the Holy Spirit, actually performs the invisible and yet essential thing that we need … we need to pass from death to life … we need to become a part of the body of Christ. And, as we have read, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Well then, Since Spirit baptism is the ONE baptism, what is WATER baptism?
Are you ready for this? It is not a 'real' baptism. Just like that photo which appears on my driver's license - is not ME. It is a picture of me.
So also, water baptism does not 'actually' place us into Christ … but it pictures it. There is only one real baptism, and that is Spirit baptism.
OK, enough about verse 27.
Let's spend some time on the next verse:
Ga 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
In Christ, in the body of Christ … we are all one. What, if anything, does this have to do with the 'practical sense' of things?
What am I asking? I am asking … since there is now in the body of Christ, no male and female … does this mean we must take down the Women's and Men's signs from the doorways to our church bathrooms? Do we no longer, in the practical sense, recognize a difference between men and women in the church?
Consistency has been called a gem. Sometimes it seems a bit rare. There have been those religious groups who leave the women's and men's signs above the bathroom doors, but when it comes to leadership positions in our churches … suddenly there is no male – female distinction. And in this they are oblivious of explicit scriptures to the contrary. Well enough about that. Moving on,
Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
So here is a beautiful thought added by Paul. If we are Christ's … by faith alone, that makes us Abraham's offspring (In other words, since it was by belief alone that he became connected with God, became a child of God, it follows, that if we copy his lead … we too, by faith alone, become children of God. We did the same thing Abraham did. So we are called his off-spring. )
So if we are Abraham's offspring … we come in line to share in his inheritance. We are heirs.
Let's take a quick look at what Abraham is in line to inherit.
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
And then skipping to verse 16;
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.
The inheritance that God promised Abraham here is two-fold. The first promise is that of a physical territory. This 'land' was to be an inheritance.
His descendants, Israel would not actually inherit it until much later. They would be led by God to go in and literally conquer the land. It was 'theirs' by the promise of God. (Of course, now the Palestinians dispute that)
The second promise turns out to be a spiritual inheritance. We read that he 'looked for a city'. He lived in tents while others around him built permanent structures. He expected to live in the city of God one day. Whether he was a bit confused and thought that it might just 'show up' somewhere, sometime … we can't really know. But the writer of Hebrews claims that Abraham actually was looking for a heavenly city.
And the good news is … it is to be a part of his inheritance. It is also a part of our inheritance. One day we will see the heavenly city … and we will be taken to it.
But now Paul wants to talk about how each of us comes into our inheritance.
He says,
Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We too, are heirs. But what is the process or sequence of events that have to happen before a person ends up inheriting the promises?
Paul begins by saying that as long as an heir was a child, he was really no different than a hired servant or slave.
And in just a few verses we begin to see where he is going with this.
Ga 4:1 ¶ Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
So there is the comparison: Slaves will never inherit. They are under bondage. A child in a home is also under bondage, in a manner of speaking. He has to go to school. He is told to do this or that. And that will continue until he reaches adulthood.
So whether, before salvation, we numbered ourselves with the slaves or with a young child, Paul's example is, that prior to being of inheritance age … we are unsaved. The last sentence of Paul's which we read, bears this out.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
But what is he saying in the next couple of verses?
Ga 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
We likely are familiar with the timing and the purposes of God to send His son into the world at just the right time to become the savior of the world, which includes both Jews and Gentiles alike.
But look at this also in another light.
As far as you individually were concerned, when you were a baby, Christ had not come yet. What I mean is, He had not come to you. A few years went by and during that time, as we read in verse 2, you were in bondage to sin.
But in the fullness of time … that is, at just the right time, you heard of Christ. He came into your life and he redeemed you. He bought you. He gave you eternal life. He adopted you.
We read in verse 5, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons
How real is this? Before, we were as estranged to him as a slave is to his master. After placing faith in Him … we can already talk. From the very moment of salvation we call him Father … and do so affectionately. The term is something like 'Daddy' or 'Papa'. Here is how Paul put it;
Ga 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Ga 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Some people use 'Abba' as a term which we should continually use. I disagree. I believe that Paul is painting us a picture of a new-born child of God. Can you imagine an actual newborn, … after its first breath, cries a bit … and then looks over at its father and says, Daddy! What a shocking thing that would be.
But Paul is saying something just like that. We pass from death, to life. And the first word we speak after spiritual life comes into us is … Father, or Daddy, or Papa!
These are beautiful words from Paul. But he will show in the next section, that this is only the beginning of our relationship with God. He will show that we need to grow up. We call it 'Going Forward'.
Sadly, however, we must entitle the next section 'Going Backward'.