Galatians 6:11–18 - The Last Word

In our study of Galatians, we’ve learned about the Judaizers. As we read through the book, we didn’t see that word. But in Galatians 2:14, Paul says, “But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” That phrase “live like Jews” comes from a Greek word that looks like “Judaize.” They campaigned for retaining the old covenant sign of circumcision and the keeping of OT ceremonial laws in the church.

But here’s a question to think about: were any of the Judaizers actually true Christians? After all, they did profess faith in Jesus Christ. Their Jewish neighbors persecuted them for that. And they considered themselves part of the church, though Paul explains that they weren’t trusting in Christ alone. They still believed that the Jewish religious acts previously impressed on their consciences were necessary for being accepted and blessed by God

What if I told you that we have the same tendency? That without realizing it, we can rely on religious acts in addition to Christ?

The word “religious” might make you bristle. Many Christians will say, “I’m not religious; I have a relationship with God.” I understand what they mean, and I appreciate it, but these people are still religious. Christianity is a religion. It is the belief in and worship of the triune God. And we perform various religious acts on a regular basis, such as Lord’s Day worship, individual and family worship, Bible reading, prayer, and various other practices.

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship.” What they mean is that all of these religious acts are not what secures God’s acceptance and blessing for us. And that’s true. But we still must do all these religious things. God commands them in His Word. He has prescribed them for our spiritual growth.

Yet we tend to rely on our performance of them to measure how God views us, which demonstrates that there is both a healthy and a harmful practice of religion, or to use the wording in my outline, there is both a healthy and harmful religiosity. In other words, there is a positive and a negative way to go about doing religious things.

It’s actually this harmful religiosity that has turned off many people to Christianity, and it has burned out many more. But we are prone toward it.

Theologian Richard Lovelace has some helpful insight here. He points out that the average professing Christian would affirm that their sanctification (or, their growth in holiness) is based on their justification (meaning, Christ’s saving work for them) – but functionally, the average Christian bases his or her justification on their sanctification – which is to say that in our thoughts, desires, and behavior we try to use these religious acts to secure God’s acceptance and blessing. This creates – even in people who are truly born again – what is commonly called “legalism.”

One big mistake as we wrap Galatians would be to assume that because we are not drawn toward the same religious acts as them that we are not in danger of the same religious trap as them. But we are. A legalistic Christian professes salvation by grace through faith in Christ but lives as if their real security and identity come from their own spiritual performance. This is the religion without an abiding relationship with Christ that is so harmful.

However, religious practices rooted in and fueled by that abiding relationship are God’s means for making us more like Christ. What we need, as you can see in the outline on page 6 is a right view of man and Christ.

Now, these verses conclude the letter, but Paul isn’t winding it down mildly. Notice verse [11]. “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” Paul often used scribes to write some of his letters as he dictated. But here, he takes the pen to write this last part himself.He writes with big letters to emphasize his point, and he tells us a lot about the Judaizers’ motives.

Paul says there were two reasons why they were trying to make Gentiles take the old covenant sign, along with keeping other ceremonial laws. First, if they could get the Gentiles to accept circumcision, then their own Jewish family or friends would not persecute them. See verse [12] “It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.”

It appears that this way, they could play both sides. There was a price to pay to follow Jesus. There was a cross to bear.

But notice the other reason, verse [13] “For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.” Paul notes that no one (other than Jesus Christ, of course) has kept the law perfectly. But the Judaizers wanted the approval of men, and they put these burdens on the Gentiles. If they could show that they were able to convince Gentiles to be circumcised, their Jewish family and friends would praise them.

Both reasons – avoiding persecution and gaining approval – were born out of a desire to please the world and not God. Above all, they wanted to be viewed favorably by the world. That amounts to satisfying the part of us that is hostile to God. They were using religion to please men, not to grow in their love for God.

You should understand that the Judaizers put themselves forth as very devout. They touted these religious acts as essential to be accepted by God. But at the heart, it wasn’t really about God at all. It was about man. It was about pleasing their own sin natures and those of their Jewish persecutors.

So even though they had professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and though some of them, perhaps, were truly saved, their harmful, negative religiosity was rooted in a wrong view of man.

I’m sure you’ve seen a funhouse mirror at some point. To the human eye, they look like normal mirrors, but they have a curved reflective surface. The result is a warped reflection. Most funhouse mirrors create very exaggerated reflections. So when you look at one, you know that obviously that isn’t what you look like. But what if there were only slight exaggerations, so that you look a little taller than you really are, or just a bit bigger or smaller. If you didn’t know your view was distorted, you would have a wrong view of yourself.

When we fear man and live for man’s approval – we have (functionally) a wrong view of man – both of ourselves and others. Regardless of what you say you believe, how do you operate? When religious acts function as a way to boast in ourselves and look good and feel that we are performing well for God, we have (functionally) a wrong view of man – both of ourselves and others.

Religious acts do not exist to curry favor with people or with God.

Religious acts do not exist to gain leverage with God or other people.

We can find ourselves seeking our righteousness in our religiosity – even good ones. And again, when I say “religiosity” I mean our devotion to religious practices – Religious devotion is not bad – man-centered religious devotion is bad. It’s harmful and negative.

And when we find ourselves operated in this way, it reveals that not only is our view of man skewed, but our view of Christ is skewed as well. Look with me at these next verses.

In verse [14], Paul shifts gears. He says, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Notice that he doesn’t want to boast in any religious practice. This would include his profession of faith, his baptism, his worship, his taking of the Lord’s Supper, his ministry, his prayer life, his reading and understanding of God’s Word, or his recording and explaining of it. He would only boast in the cross of Christ.

“The cross” really includes all of Christ’s saving work. It includes the perfect life Christ lived up to and during his time on the cross. It includes his resurrection, which is inseparable from the cross. Through the whole saving work of Jesus, “the world has been crucified” to Paul.

When we see “the world”, we probably think of irreligion. In other words, a lack of religious belief or practice. We think of sinful living. That’s part of it, but it’s not all of it. “The world” encompasses anything opposed to Christ – including empty, man-centered religiosity. The world seeks righteousness in and through itself. A true Christian finds his or her righteousness only in and through Jesus Christ.

And Paul says there has been this mutual crucifixion. Each is a disgrace to the other. In this sense, Paul despises the world, and the world despises Paul. Each sees the other as cursed. Paul despises both irreligion and empty, vain religion.

But he does not despise religion altogether. God regenerated his heart. God opened his eyes to the glory of Jesus Christ. God transformed his mind. All so that Paul could know God and become more like Jesus Christ. Notice verse [15] “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. [16] And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them.”

You might call this “the rule of regeneration” or “the born again rule.” Only through being born again by the power of the Holy Spirit can we leave the old created order and join the new created order. We don’t enter the new creation or become a new creation by outward rituals or works or words – including to the good ones – but only by the inward work of the Spirit.

This is the rule: that the Holy Spirit regenerated me by God’s power and grace, and He continues to renew me by God’s grace, and this is my reality only because of the saving work of Jesus.

This is the only source of mercy and peace for all of God’s people: Jew or Gentile, OC or NC, past, present, future. Notice the end of verse 16, “and upon the Israel of God.” Paul says this to distinguish between ethnic Israel (those who were Israelites by physical birth) and the true people of God who are made so by spiritual rebirth.

This isn’t the result of outward signs, whether circumcision or baptism or anything else. It isn’t the result of repeating a so-called “sinner’s prayer.” It is the result of being transformed into a new creation by the Holy Spirit’s power.

In the past couple years, I’ve begun to need glasses for reading. It’s different. I have to carry them with me pretty much everywhere I go. And I have to take them off and put them on a lot.

I’ll tell you one thing I don’t like is smudges on my lenses. The smudges shift my focus. They distract me. You know, I don’t wear glasses for the sake of wearing glasses. I don’t want to see the lenses. I need the lenses to help me see. The lenses are not the point. They are the means to the point, right? And yet, the lenses are important. I need them, but I need them to help me see clearly.

The same is true of healthy religious practices. They are not the point. The point is Christ. But through these commanded practices, we see Christ more clearly. However, if our focus is on the practices and not Christ, well then, our worship will devolve into harmful, negative religiosity. Healthy, positive religiosity is rooted in a right view of Christ.

Do you view Christ in the exalted way that Paul describes him here? Is His saving work your only source of religious boasting? It can be today. Our religiosity can’t add to or take away from what Jesus accomplished.

Notice these last two verses. Paul refers to the persecution he endured in ministry. He had physical scars from mistreatment he endured. It seems that the conflicts had taken a toll – including what went on in Galatia. He wants the trouble to end.

And now look at this final line in the letter, verse [18] “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” This is a benediction. The sense here is “may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” This is, both literally and figurative, the last word of Galatians. The grace of Jesus – the undeserved, unearned favor of God through Christ. Grace alone tethers us to God. Not our religious works.

I want you to picture a parent carrying a small child out into the ocean. The parent holds the child, and the child put his arms around the parents neck, or places his hands on the parent’s shoulders. They go out into the ocean, and they can withstand the waves.

The child is safe and secure – but not because he is holding onto the parent. The child is safe and secure because the parent holds tightly to him. The child may squirm at times, he may try to get away from the parent,  he may be afraid – but the parent does not let go.

Our religiosity – our devotion to Christ and the practices He has given us to know and worship Him – may be sometimes good and sometimes not so good. But that is not what makes us secure with Him. We are secure with Him because He does not let go of those He saves – no matter what. The religious acts He prescribes are His ordained ways for us to cling to Him.

Will you trust Him and follow Him by faith? Will you cling to Him? Is today the day you begin trusting in Christ? Is today the day that you turn from your old life for a new start with Him? Whatever your situation, Christ alone gets the last word. And if you have trusted in Him alone, that word is “grace.”

Let’s bow in prayer.