Christ + Something = Nothing

gal 5:1-6 Christ + something = nothing

I’d like to begin this morning by reading a letter.

Dear Pastor,

I need some advice from you regarding some elements of God’s law and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is: how do I tell? I have tried asking but most women take offense.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor to the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there degrees of abomination?
7. Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20 or is there some wiggle room there?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton-polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them (Lev 24:10-16)? Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Lev 20:14)?

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

That was from Garry Will’s What Jesus Meant.

Kind of humorous and absurd, but in reality, those are really good questions. One of those great theological questions for the past 2000 years has been Are Christians bound by the Law of Moses? If so, how do we determine which ones to follow and then how do we go about following them?

The answer to that question is: No; Christians are not bound by the Law of Moses. Christians are not to follow any of the commands in the Law of Moses. Fortunately for us, Paul answered this very question nearly 2000 years ago in his letter to the Galatians and God preserved that text for us in the Scriptures. Turn there with me in your Bibles. We will be in chapter 5 this morning as we brought chapter 4 to a close last week.

Now honest readers of Galatians are probably concerned at this point as you have noted that Paul does not seem to be in favor of the law. The natural response to this is typically:

So you’re saying no law? Paul, are you really an antinomian? It sure sounds like it. It sure sounds like you are against the Law. Then how are we to conduct ourselves? By what rule? We need some kind of religious structure by which to pattern our lives. What is going to make people be good? We need some kind of rules to keep people in check. How are we to define our morals if not by law? How will we define sin if not by that which transgresses the law?

Paul is going to deal with that in today’s text and continue to deal with it through the next several weeks as he transitions from the theological foundation to the exhortation and application.

Now before we jump into chapter 5, I want to remind you that last week we looked at Paul’s allegory in which he compared:

2 Sons	Ishmael	Isaac
2 Types of Birth	Of the flesh	Of the promise
2 Mothers	Slave woman	Free woman
2 Covenants	Old	New
2 Mountains	Sinai	Zion (Heb 12)
2 Jerusalems	Old/earthly	New/Heavenly
Status in Paul’s day	Slavery	Free
	Persecutor	Persecuted
2 Results	Cast out	Receive inheritance

With that understanding of the Old Covenant being slavery and the New Covenant being freedom, Paul moves right into Galatians 5.

 ¹ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

 ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. ⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

So Paul says

 ¹ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Again, here Paul is referring to covenants. Everything he just unpacked in the last part of chapter 4 should be in view as Paul speaks of slavery and freedom.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Christ came to set the captives free. He came to redeem his people from slavery. This is patterned after the Exodus. Paul keeps drawing from the Exodus account and shows that first century Jerusalem had become a spiritual Egypt spiritually enslaving God’s people under the OC.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In Christ we are free. Free from the Law. Free from condemnation.

STAND FIRM THEN.

This is a phrase used in the NT nearly 20 times, “Stand firm.” The idea is stand firm in the FAITH. Many people who read the scriptures without considering the context or audience relevance see this phrase as a proof that one can lose his salvation. However, if you consider the context it has to do with the 40 year transition period from age to age and is an exhortation to stand firm in the faith, and don’t be swayed to go back to slavery of the Law.

We don’t have Judaizers throwing the law in our face so we don’t relate to the difficulties these first century readers were facing. But Paul told them, STAND FIRM and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. And if you do a search on stand firm on www.biblegateway.com, you will find that the context typically points to standing firm to the end in reference to the end of the OC age.

Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery.

He infers that the Law was slavery, calling it a burden and he uses the term yoke. Now, these words may sound familiar. Jesus used these words also saying in Matt 11:29-30 ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

EGGS? Now, I have to say, I have learned so many new words since I started reading the bible. I first heard that and thought, “What does eggs have to do with this? Is he talking about eggs over easy? What does this mean?”

DEFINE. Think of yoke as a beam of wood or some other material that goes across the back of 2 animals as an apparatus that can drag a plow behind it and accomplish work. Imagine that concept with another human. Now if you think about being yoked together with another individual, you hope they are the same height and have the same strength and work ethic as you. In other words it would be unfavorable to be yoked with someone far weaker and lazier; the whole burden would be upon you. You would carry the load. That would be a burden and a heavy yoke, like the Law.

JESUS’ YOKE. If you were yoked to Jesus on the other hand, not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense, he carries the whole load, he does all the work. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Paul is speaking to Galatian believers who have already experienced this light burden, this easy yoke of Jesus. He tells them it is for freedom that Christ has set us free from the yoke of the Law. Stand firm then and do not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. The law is slavery and burdensome. Do not put yourselves under that burdensome yoke.

 ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

MARK MY WORDS. That is something you say when you REALLY want to make a point. This is indeed a powerful point. If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. WHAT!?!?! We can’t do bits and pieces of the Law on top of faith? What’s wrong with that? Isn’t it like extra credit?

NO! Paul declares emphatically. If you add to the finished work of Jesus you rob yourself of its value. Paul is essentially saying

Christ + something = nothing. Christ + anything = nothing.

You EITHER believe OR you rely on works of the Law. You cannot do both.

You EITHER operate in the flesh OR you operate in the Spirit. You can’t do both.

Either Christ or Law. You cannot add to the work of Jesus Christ. Christ alone is sufficient.

HEART TRANSPLANT. Imagine if you had a heart transplant – a very intricate and specialized surgery that requires the work of a professional expert. So after a successful surgery, you wake up and look the surgeon in the eyes and say, “Well, looks like you did a pretty good job, well, perfect work, how about handing me that scalpel so I can get back in there and add to the surgery.” The surgery is complete. You can’t give yourself a heart transplant. He did for you what you couldn’t do for yourself at all. And after it’s all done you want to get in there and try to add to the work? Go ahead, here’s the scalpel, cut away. So you slice open and you nick an artery and you’re gone – you pass out, you bleed to death. His surgery is now of no value to you.

Adding circumcision or any work of the Law makes the perfect work of Christ of no value to you.

Christ + something = nothing. Christ + anything = nothing.

³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

AGAIN? What does he mean again? I think he is referring to the fact that he already mentioned in chapter 3:10 cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything that is written in the book of the law. So he has already declared the unity of the Law.

THE LAW IS A UNIT. You cannot arbitrarily divide the Law in any way shape or form. A lot of people like to try to trichotomize the Law into these 3 divisions of moral law, ceremonial law and civil law. But the Law doesn’t do that to itself but always speaks of itself as a unit. Further, neither Jesus, nor his apostles, nor anywhere else in the NT do we find a division of the Law into different parts. The Law is a unit.

THE LAW IS ALL OR NOTHING. You cannot just do part of the Law. If you want to be circumcised, you must obey the whole thing. You can’t follow part of the Law. If you want to start following the Law, you just obligated yourself to following the entirety of it. The law is all or nothing.

MURDER? But you might say, “Don’t we follow certain laws like: Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Don’t we follow those laws?” Nope. So you’re saying it’s okay to murder? Nope. So we obey the commandment in the Law that says do not murder? Nope.

SPEED LIMITS. This morning I was driving down 29 where the speed limit is 35 MPH. I’m obeying the speed limit on 29. So you say, well, then you’re also obeying the speed limit on Williams Drive because it also says 35 MPH. So I guess according to that logic I am obeying the speed limits of every street across the planet that has a speed limit of 35 mph.

But where is my gaze fixed? Upon the sign posted on the road I’m driving on. I don’t care what any other speed limit sign says.

I’m on the narrow road that leads to life, grace through faith. If while upon this narrow road I happen to be abiding by the same laws posted on the broad road that leads to destruction, so be it. My gaze is not fixed upon the signs posted on that road. My gaze is fixed upon Christ.

OTHER RELIGIONS. Do you realize how many different religions there are? I hear people say all religions are the same. They all pretty much teach the same things. There is some truth in that. Religion typically seeks to find purpose and meaning in life through knowing and pleasing God. And you will find that most religions have a lot of overlap in certain moral aspects. In other words, there aren’t a lot of religions out there that condone murder or adultery or theft. Most religions recognize those as wrong. So let’s say that Buddhism recognizes murder as wrong. Am I now following Buddhism since I’m not murdering? Jehovah’s Witnesses recognize murder as wrong, as do Mormons. So am I following those religions too?

What I am saying is just because Judaism (aka the Law) says do not murder or do not steal or do not commit adultery, that doesn’t mean that I’m following a part of Judaism by not murdering or cheating or stealing any more than I’m following a part of any other religion by not doing those things. To say that we follow part of the Law as Christians would be similar to saying we follow part of Buddhism and part of Hinduism and part of Confucionism.

So believers are not bound by the Law of Moses at all, not by the so called ceremonial aspects, or by the so called civil aspects, or by the so called moral aspects. Believers are not under the Law of Moses. Not one part. To follow one part means you have to follow the WHOLE THING. The Law is a unit.

So verse 2 says it’s not Christ AND circumcision. It’s Christ OR circumcision.

And if you pick circumcision, it’s not JUST circumcision. It’s circumcision AND the rest of the Law.

You cannot add to the work of Christ. Christ and Christ alone. Christ + something = nothing. Christ + anything = nothing.

⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Notice what Paul says here. You who are trying to be justified by the Law have been alienated from Christ.

Alienate: to turn away, transfer or divert.

In other words, if you are reverting back to the Law than you are no longer in Christ – you’re in Adam. If you want to be in Christ, then faith alone is the way.

You cannot have faith in Christ and obedience to the Law. Obedience to the law is alienation from Christ. It’s turning away from Christ. It is falling away from grace.

TWO OPTIONS: by grace through faith or by works through law. If you pick works of the Law, you have fallen away from grace.

These 2 modes are mutually exclusive. You can’t mingle the two together. They are like oil and water. The flesh mode is in opposition to the spirit mode.

⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

NOT YET RIGHTEOUS? Now the first thing I want to point out with this verse is that here Paul makes it sound like righteousness was not yet a reality but that which they were still hoping for. And that is because it wasn’t yet a reality and they were still hoping for it. But what about all of those verses that seem to indicate that they were righteous already? Didn’t Jesus already die on the cross for sins and shed his blood?

ALREADY/NOT YET. Now that is where we find what most scholars refer to as the “already-not yet tension.” You will find that the NT declares certain things to be…already. Then you will find those same things to be…not yet. For example, we already read in Gal 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Are sons…already. Yet Paul, the same author says in Romans 8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons. So already sons, not yet sons.

We find examples of this throughout the NT. Already redeemed, not yet redeemed. Already sanctified, not yet sanctified. Already new creation, not yet new creation.

So the already / not yet framework is in the Scriptures and this corresponds with the transition from covenant to covenant. The NT was written between 30 & 70 AD during the time of transition from the Mosaic Age, the OC age and the Messianic Age, the NC age. The New Covenant was already inaugurated but not yet consummated.

So bring that framework into Gal 5:5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

Thus, with the shedding of the blood of Jesus through faith they were already righteous by declaration. And they were awaiting the destruction of the Temple and the passing away of the old order that would fully usher in the New Age and the full reality of righteousness.

2 Peter 3 in speaking of the destruction of the old order – the passing away of the elementary principles of the world and the coming of the new order speaks of the new creation as the home of righteousness - the righteousness for which the audience of Gal 5:5 were hoping for through the spirit by faith.

So we dealt with verse 4 & 5 individually, but now I want us to look at them as a unit. Now, I want you to notice 2 things here: 1) the switch in pronouns, 2) the contrast.

⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

VERSE 4	VERSE 5
YOU	WE
SEEKING RIGHTEOUSNESS IN LAW	AWAIT RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH
ALIENATED FROM CHRIST	IN CHRIST
(FLESH)	SPIRIT
FALLEN AWAY FROM GRACE	BY GRACE

⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law, you have been alienated from Christ. We, however, are in Christ. And in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. Feast days – no value. Sabbath – no value. Dietary laws – no value. Nothing you do to observe the law has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

For those who struggle with Paul’s apparent antinomianism and long for the answer of that great question, how then do we live? By what rule do we conduct our lives, here lies the answer: faith expressing itself through love.

So while the Law of Moses may say do not murder I don’t follow the Law of Moses. Does that mean I murder? Absolutely not. Well, why not? Because that’s not faith expressing itself through love.

So while the Law of Moses may say do not commit adultery I don’t follow the Law of Moses. So do I commit adultery? Absolutely not. Well, why not? Because that’s not faith expressing itself through love.

So while the Law of Moses may say do not wear clothing woven of 2 different kinds of material, I don’t follow the Law of Moses. So do I wear clothing woven of 2 different kinds of material? Absolutely. Why? Because that’s faith expressing itself through love.

This is the moral code of the Christian. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Live out that faith by loving God and loving your neighbor.

It is not a new law by which we will be condemned if we fail. But it is the guiding principle of our lives as it is the royal law.

It is not a burdensome yoke of slavery as was the 600 + commandments of the OC. It is freedom – freedom to live and to love.