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Pathways Through Paul, Vol 2
Daily Devotional
January 21
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Today's Pathway:
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Yesterday in verse 3 we saw that a person can not keep their salvation through their works, nor do they gain favor with God simply based upon their deeds. I want to add something to that. A person's spirituality is not strictly determined by what they do or don't do. Allow me to give an example. I didn't murder anyone yesterday. Does that make me spiritual? Of course not, for billions of unsaved people did not murder anyone yesterday, and they can not be spiritual because as unsaved people they do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. So, the fact that there are sins that I do not commit does not necessarily mean that I am in a right relationship with God. However, if yesterday I did go out and willfully murder someone, I think it would be fair to say that I'm not terribly spiritual, and certainly not walking in the Spirit. Here is the problem. Some people want to declare themselves right with God simply because there are some things that they do not do. These people are legalists. At the same time, there are those on the other side of the issue who declare that they can do whatever they please and still be spiritual. These people are libertines. Both are wrong.
Here is another example. Going to church doesn't make you spiritual. Unsaved people do it. However, skipping church when you could and should be there certainly indicates a lack of spirituality. Our works do not make us spiritual. However, our spirituality will be revealed by our works. Jesus said,
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20),
and this is still true today. The difference is that some people are trying to gain spirituality by doing good works, while others are already spiritual and their good works come naturally as a result of the Holy Spirit working in them. Please allow me one more illustration. I don't beat my wife. It's against the law to do so. However, my motivation for not beating my wife has nothing to do with the law. I don't beat her because I love her. I don't need the law to tell me how to treat her; the love I have for her tells me. In fact, because I love her, I go beyond what the law says. The law doesn't demand that I treat her with kindness, or that I talk nicely to her; but my love for her does. In the same way, a spiritual man doesn't need the law to tell him what to do, for the Holy Spirit will direct him. If he has to force himself to obey the edicts of Scripture simply because the Bible says that he must, then there is something wrong with his relationship to Christ. Romans 12:2 tells us that as believers we should be "transformed". That means that we should allow that which we are on the inside (sons of God who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit) to shine though in our lives, and in so doing live out that "good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God".
Returning to our text, in verse 4 Paul asks another question. If the Galatians weren't really saved until they began keeping the Mosaic law, then why did they experience all the opposition that they faced prior to that time? Albert Barnes commented,
"Paul reminds them of what they had endured on account of their attachment to Christianity. He assures them that if the beliefs for which they had suffered were false, then their sufferings had been in vain, for what advantage was it to suffer for a false doctrine? The opinions for which they had suffered were not those which they now embraced, for they were not connected with the observance of Jewish rites. They had suffered because they embraced the gospel--the system of justification by a crucified Redeemer; and if those sentiments were wrong, their sufferings had been wholly in vain."
Paul concludes by stating that their sufferings were not in vain, and his hope is that the Galatians would realize that they had suffered opposition before the Judaizers showed up because they believed the truth, and would now come back to their senses.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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