Abraham had Two Sons,
Ishma’el by the Slave Woman
and Isaac by the Free Woman
4: 21-31

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael by the slave woman and Isaac by the free woman DIG: What is a Midrash? Why and how did Paul use it here? What does this parable have to do with the Judaizers? How are the Judaizers like Ishmael? What is Paul pointing to when he talks about the weak and worthless principles? Does Paul’s parable bad mouth Hagar or picture the Torah as bad in any way? How are the spiritual descendants of Sarah distinguished from Hagar’s? What was the promise? How did ADONAI fulfill His promise? Can you summarize the parable?

REFLECT: Can you identify with Sarah in any way? If you can, how does her experience comfort and excite you? Has your experience as a believer been more of a growing into freedom or living under a set of rules? Why? Has your joy in Messiah ever been crushed by someone else who thought you were breaking their set of rules? Have you ever imposed standards on others that limited their freedom? How so? What difference will the fact of your justification in the eyes of ADONAI and the fullness of the indwelling Ruach ha-Kodesh make in your life and witness this week? How often do you ask, “What does the Scripture say?” You can’t ask that question enough.

The parable of Hagar and Sarah illustrates the present status of legalism and grace. You can’t press the details of a parable, which makes one main point: As the son of the slave woman gave way to the son of a free woman, so legalism has given way to grace.

In a masterful stroke, the apostle turned to a scriptural illustration to conclude his theological defense of justification by faith. Paul’s Midrash (a rabbinic interpretation of the Scriptures) from the life of Abraham enabled him to review what he had already declared about the contrasts between legalism and grace, between deeds and faith. It also provided him the opportunity to verbalize to the Galatian believers that they should throw out the Judaizers (to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers).¹¹⁹

The preface to Paul’s Midrash begins with the provocative: Tell me, you who want to be under Torah, don’t you understand the Torah? (Galatians 4:21; Deuteronomy 6:4, 18:15; Exodus 24:7). When Paul uses the phrase under the Torah, he means a Gentile becoming a proselyte and converting to Judaism, and in the context of the Judaizers, through circumcision (see the commentary on Acts Bb – An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53: The third level were Proselytes of the Covenant). It was as if Paul was saying, “You want to be a proselyte? You don’t know what it says in the Torah!” Then Paul offers us a brief parable in which he briefly retells the story of Abraham’s two wives (Sarah and Hagar) and his two sons (Isaac and Ishmael).

Paul used the story of Isaac and Ishmael to illustrate two different types of benei Abraham (sons of Abraham). He was not contrasting Jews and Christians, nor was he contrasting Jews and Gentiles. Instead, he used the Isaac and Ishmael story to contrast two different types of covenants, “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman” (Galatians 4:22; Genesis 16:15 and 21:2).

Hagar was a slave woman. She was Sarah’s maidservant (see the commentary on Genesis Ei – Sarai Took Hagar and Gave Her to Abram to be His Wife). But one – the son by the slave woman – was born naturally, while the other – the son by the free woman – was through the promise (4:23). Abraham went to Hagar, attempting to fulfill God’s promise by himself. Therefore, Ishmael was born in the normal, natural way: by human, physical means, according to the flesh.

Abraham and Sarah, however, conceived Isaac through a supernatural miracle because Sarah was well past childbearing age. The promise would be fulfilled through Isaac, the son of promise. What was that promise? God promised to give Abraham seed (see the commentary on Genesis Et – I Will Surely Return This Time Next Year and Sarah Your Wife Will Have a Son). Paul has brought up the promise several times in Galatians already. He dedicated most of the third chapter to the subject and equated it with the whole gospel message: The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the Good News to Abraham in advance, saying: All the nations shall be blessed through you (Galatians 3:8). And again: Now, the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed. It doesn’t say, “and to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “and to your Seed,” who is the Messiah (3:16). The promise was that all the nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham’s Seed, the Messiah.

Now, to make [a midrash] on these things, the two women need to be seen as two covenants (4:24 CJB). The midrash contrasts two types of benei Abraham, or two types of proselytes. The Hebrew word midrash means study or interpretation. It comes from lidrosh, meaning to search. Most of the midrashic literature brings out ethical and devotional aspects of the Bible, sometimes drawing out and applying what is clearly there, and sometimes imposing meaning on the texts, although the norm in Judaism is not to make a midrash that violates the simple sense (Hebrew: p’shat) of the text. Here, Paul’s midrash goes beyond the p’shat of the Genesis texts, though without violating them. His application of them is bold, even shocking. For although the Judaizers claim physical descent from Sarah, Paul calls them physical descendents of Hagar. Revelation 11:8 has an equally surprising reversal of traditional Jewish identifications, but such shocking reversals are not limited to the B’rit Chadashah (see Ezeki’el 23-24, and Hosea 1-2 for comparable examples in the TaNaKh). The two women need to be seen as two covenants.

One is from Mount Sinai, the Torah of Moshe, and it gives birth to slavery, but not because the Torah is bad (for nowhere does the Genesis account badmouth Hagar); therefore, there is no need to demean the Torah on the basis of this passage. But this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem (that is, the non-Messianic Jewish community of the first century); for she is in slavery, to be enslaved by the weak and worthless principles (4:9) of legalism, because the people had perverted the Torah into a legalistic system of salvation through deeds (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law). It was the Judaizers who insisted that the Gentile Galatians follow those same weak and worthless principles. Therefore, Hagar, the present Jerusalem, or legalism, gives birth to slavery, along with her children, the Judaizers (4:24-25).¹²⁰

Paul likened the Gentile Galatians who underwent circumcision and pledged to obey the 613 commandments of Moshe to Ishmael. They had set aside the promise that God made to Abraham as a result of his faith – all the nations will be blessed through your seed. They forfeited that promise by being born according to the flesh – literally, circumcision, the removal of some flesh – the natural way of becoming part of Abraham’s family. The Judaizers wanted them to work their way to heaven. But that is the ultimate frustration because you can never reach perfection in this life. That is the first perverted covenant of legalism.

To establish his midrash, Paul quoted a proof text from Isaiah 54, a prophecy addressed to the city of Jerusalem which predicts the final Messianic Redemption, the ingathering, the building of Messianic Jerusalem, and the advent of the New Jerusalem in the world to come (see the commentary on Revelation Fs – The Eternal New Jerusalem). That prophecy depicts ruined Jerusalem as a barren woman because her children had gone into exile. At the time of the redemption, she realizes she has more children than she thought possible. The Jewish people return to her, and many Gentiles come as well. The rabbis interpreted the barren woman of Isaiah 54 as Sarah, the barren one who became the mother of the nation. Paul followed that traditional interpretation, by making Sarah symbolic for the New Jerusalem, and he proved it by quoting the first verse of Isaiah 54. For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman who bears no children! Break forth and shout, you who suffer no labor pains! For more are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband” (Galatians 4:27; Isaiah 54:1).

Next, Paul supplies the climax to 4:1-11 (see Bo – When the Fullness of Time Came, God Send Out His Son), where he has demonstrated that the Gentile Galatian believers have become God’s heirs through grace, apart from the weak and worthless principles of legalism. This brings Paul back full circle to his central argument concerning Jewish identity: Your seed shall be called through Isaac. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of god; rather, the children of promise are counted as seed (Romans 9:7-8).¹²¹ Paul told the Galatian Gentile believers: Now you, brothers and sisters – like Isaac, you are children of promise (4:28). He contrasts them with the Judaizers. To Paul, the Galatian Gentile believers were the children of promise that God made to Abraham when He said: All nations will be blessed through your seed (Genesis 12:3b). That is the second covenant of grace.

But the Jerusalem above, corresponding to Sarah, is free – she is our mother (4:26), the mother of all who have the faith of Abraham and Yeshua (2:16c), whether Messianic Jews or Messianic Gentiles. Ultimately, the heavenly Jerusalem will descend from heaven to the earth, which will have been made new (Revelation 21:5), to serve as the perfect home for the redeemed throughout human history (see the commentary on Revelation Fs – The Eternal New Jerusalem).¹²²

Paul took the analogy a step further and said: But just as at that time the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Ruach, so also it is now (4:29). When did the one born according to the flesh (Ishmael) persecute the one born according to the Ruach (Isaac)? As Moshe describes: The child grew and was weaned – Abraham made a big feast on the day Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had born to Abraham – making fun (Hebrew: from tsachaq). So, she said to Abraham, “Drive out this female slave and her son, for the son of this female slave will not be an heir with my son – with Isaac” (Genesis 21:8-10, for more detail see the commentary on Genesis Fj – Hagar and Ishmael Are Sent Away).

While the practical application relates to the Galatians’ immediate circumstances, it is based on several midrashim to mean that Abraham’s natural son of the flesh (Ishmael) behaved maliciously and immorally towards the son of promise (Isaac). Thus, rabbi Akiba lectured: But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had born to Abraham – making fun (Genesis 21:9). Now making fun refers to nothing else by immorality, as with Joseph and Potiphar’s wife: The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool (Hebrew: from tsachaq) of me” (Genesis 39:17 CSB). Thus, this teaches that Sarah saw Ishmael rape young women, seduce married women and dishonor them. Rabbi Ishmael taught this term making sport refers to idolatry when the golden calf was formed: They rose up the next morning, sacrificed burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party (Hebrew: from tsachaq) (Exodus 32:6 CSB). This teaches that Sarah saw Ishmael build altars, catch locusts and sacrifice them. Rabbi Eleazar said that the term fight refers to bloodshed, as in the verse: Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight (Hebrew: sachaq, meaning sport and in this context meant to wrestle hand to hand) in front of us” (Second Samuel 2:14). Rabbi Azariah said in Rabbi Levi’s name, “Ishmael said to Isaac, ‘Let us go and see our portions in the field,” then Ishmael would take a bow and arrow and shoot them in Isaac’s direction, while pretending to be playing. This is written: Like a madman shooting deadly arrows so is one who deceives his friend, and says, “I was only joking” (Hebrew: sachaq, meaning sport and in this context means playing around (Proverbs 26:18-19). But I say, this term sport [mockery] refers to inheritance. For when our father Isaac was born all rejoiced, but Ishmael said to them, “You are fools, for I am the firstborn and I receive a double portion.” You may infer this from Sarah’s protest to Abraham: Drive out this female slave and her son, for the son of this female slave will not be an heir with my son (Genesis 21:10) (Genesis Rabbah 53:11).¹²³ Therefore, as Ishmael acted maliciously and immorally toward Isaac, the Judaizers were acting maliciously and immorally toward the Gentile believers in Galatia.

And the Judaizers, who were behaving just like Ishmael, needed to have their claims rebutted. Just as Sarah had Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away, Paul urged the Galatian Gentile believers to reject the pressure and persuasion of the Judaizers. He preached: But what does the Scripture say? What is the truth of God’s Word? “Drive out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit eternal life with the son of promise, Isaac, born of the free woman, Sarah.” They had not lost their salvation, and Paul identified them as benei Abraham. So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, legalism, but of the free woman, grace (4:30-31).

Legalism and grace cannot coexist. But understand this. There is nothing legalistic or wrong with living a life based upon the teachings of God’s Word. There is nothing wrong with having a set of standards with which you live your life. That is not legalism. Legalism is when you think that’s what saves you. When you think that by your “being good,” or by you “keeping the rules,” will save you, you’re lost. We need to live godly lives, but that doesn’t save us; we live that way because we have been saved.

Summary of the parable: The passage contrasts two types of proselytes: the legal proselyte and the spiritual proselyte. The one becomes part of Abraham’s family by legalism, the other through faith in Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham, in whom all nations will find blessing. The passage does not contrast the Torah against the B’rit Chadashah. It does not equate Judaism and the Torah with slavery, nor does it pit Christians against Jews.

It means that if you are a Jewish believer, you should be proud of being Jewish because you are a child of Abraham, legally, physically, and spiritually. It means that if you are a Gentile believer, you, too, are a part of the people, the spiritual child of Abraham, and this is remarkable – miraculous even. You are a child of the promise that ADONAI made to Abraham so long ago.¹²⁴

Dear Heavenly Father, How much we love You and are so grateful that Your love includes both Jews and Gentiles as Your children in the Kingdom of Your Son (Colossians 1:13). Praise You that in the genealogy of Your Son, you included Gentile women -Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah’s wife (Matthew 1:3-6).

Praise Your wonderful heart that by the blood of the Messiah you were able to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross (Ephesians 2:13c and 16a).

Praise You that by reconciling us to the Father we now have access to Him! For through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Ruach. Also, you say that we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:18-19).

Wow – reconciled, access to the Father, fellow citizens and then you cap it off by including the Ruach in both Jew and Gentile! In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place in the Ruach. (Ephesians 2:22). After you heard the message of truth – the Good News of your salvation – and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach ha-Kodesh (Ephesians 1:13).We desire to respond to Your gracious offer of love by offering to you ourselves our bodies (Romans 12:1) our thoughts, our time, money and everything that we can possibly give You. We joyously place our lives humbly in Your hands, for You to use for Your honor. In the name of Your Holy Son and by the power of His resurrection. Amen

Until Messiah is Formed in You
4: 12-20

Until Messiah is formed in you DIG: What does Paul want the Galatians to do? Why was he so disappointed? What justification did Paul give that he became like them – a Gentile? What was his purpose in doing so? What was Paul’s physical ailment? What did Paul discover on his second visit to Galatia? How did he react? But what happened to the Galatians?

REFLECT: Paul said, “To the Jewish people I identified as a Jew, so that I might win over the Jewish people.” Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the Good News, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who trusts – to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” What are you doing to win Jews to Messiah? How is the Messiah being formed in you? What difference has knowing ADONAI made in your life? Is your life with Messiah moving forward into liberty or backward into bondage?

Paul appeals in a touching way to the Galatians to maintain their freedom from the influence of the Judaizers. He reminds them of their enthusiastic reception of him and the gospel which he first preached, and tells them of his longing to be with them now in order that he might speak to them personally.

Paul was a wonderful spiritual father; he knew just how to balance rebuke with love. Now he turns from “spanking” to “embracing” as he reminds the believers in Galatia of their love for him and his love for them. At one point they were willing to sacrifice anything for Paul, so great was their love, but now he had become their enemy. The Judaizers (to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers) had come in and stolen their affection.¹¹⁰

I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you (4:12a). Paul spoke of how he identified with the Galatians as non-Jewish believers, being equal brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is something the Judaizers, who demanded ritual circumcision and proselytization of them did not do (see the commentary on Acts Bb – An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53: The third level were Proselytes of the Covenant). It’s as if he was saying, “Become as I am, free from the bondage of trying to keep the 613 commandments of Moshe for salvation. I became as you are, Gentile.” He appealed to them to do this because he, who had possessed all the advantages of being Torah observant, had foregone those advantages and had placed himself on the same level in relation to the Torah as the Gentiles. He tells them that he gave up all those time-honored Jewish customs and those dear associations to become like them. He has lived like a Gentile so that he might preach to the Gentiles. He pleads with them not to abandon him, when he had abandoned all for them.

The Galatians could not fail to remember the occasion when at the close of Paul’s address at Pisidian Antioch, the Jews departed from the synagogue, but the Gentiles besought him to repeat to them the words of life on the next Shabbat. They could not fail to remember how the Jews had expelled Paul from the city (see the commentary on Acts Bo – Paul’s Message in Pisidian Antioch). They, the Galatians, had pursued Paul to maintain the freedom of the gospel. Now, he, in turn, was appealing to them to maintain the freedom of that same gospel.¹¹¹

Although Paul was primarily an apostle to the Gentiles (2:8), he never lost his passion for the salvation of his own people (Romans 9:3). To the Jewish people I identified as a Jew. Within scriptural limits Paul would be as Jewish as necessary when ministering to Jews. In Messiah, he was no longer bound to the ceremonies, rituals, eating kosher, observing special days, or traditions of Judaism. Following or not following any of those things had no effect on his spiritual life. But if following them would open a door for his witnessing to Jews, he would gladly do so that he might win over the Jewish people. To those under Torah I became like one under Torah (though not myself being under Torah), so that I might win over those under Torah (First Corinthians 9:20). But Paul was willing to live like a Gentile when he was ministering to Gentiles.¹¹²

To those outside Torah, like one outside Torah (though not being outside God’s Torah, but within the framework of Messiah’s Torah as upheld by Messiah), so that I might win over those outside Torah (First Corinthians 9:21). Paul was still under authority, but not still under the Torah. He was responsible to God (First Corinthians 3:9) and Messiah (First Corinthians 4:1), and was enabled by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to love (see Bu – Brothers and Sisters, You were Called to Freedom).¹¹³

To the weak I became weak, so that I might win over the weak. Paul was willing to identify with those, whether Jew or Gentile, who did not have the power of the Ruach ha-Kodesh in them to understand the gospel. When among those who were spiritually weak, he put the cookies on the bottom shelf. In other words, those who needed simple or repeated teaching, that is what he gave them. His purpose was to become all things to all men, so that by all means possible I might save some (First Corinthians 9:22). He did not compromise the gospel. He would not change the truth in any way in order to satisfy anyone. But he would condescend in any way for anyone if that would in any way help bring them to Messiah.¹¹⁴

You have done me no wrong. The Galatians might have easily spurned Paul and refused his fellowship. You know it was because of a physical ailment that I proclaimed the Good News to you the first time (4:12b-13). Apparently, Paul had not intended to evangelize that territory, but to go on to another place, but going through the lowlands of Pamphylia, a region through which he had just passed on his way to Pisidian Antioch, where an oriental eye disease called ophthalmia was prevalent. So, the inference should be clear that he needed a new pair of eyes. Paul mentions that if possible, they would have torn out their eyes and given them to him (4:15). His words in 6:11, “Notice the large letters – I am writing to you with my own hand,” confirm this, the large Greek letters being necessary because of his impaired vision. However, it must have made him somewhat repulsive in appearance, because he commended the Galatians for the way they received him in spite of the way he looked. And though my physical condition was a trial to you, you did not hate or reject me. No, you welcomed me as a messenger of God (see the commentary on Acts Bq – Paul’s Message in Lystra) – or even as Messiah Yeshua (4:14).

So, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? He refers to the fact that he had told them the truth, while the Judaizers had told them lies. It was probably on the occasion of his second visit to Galatia (Acts 18:23) that some church members had already come under the influence of the Judaizers and had begun to doubt the truth of salvation by faith alone, which they had learned and accepted from him. The doctrine of legalism had become more attractive to them than the gospel of grace, and the man who had been their friend had become like an enemy. Faithful are the words of a friend, but excessive the kisses of an enemy (Proverbs 27:6). Paul had proved his love to the Galatians by telling them the truth, but they had been deceived. They were enjoying the kisses of the Judaizers, not realizing that those kisses were leading them into bondage and sorrow. Messiah made them His children and His heirs. They had not lost their salvation (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), but they were rapidly becoming spiritual slaves and beggars.¹¹⁵ They had lost their joy in the Lord; they had left [their] first love (Revelation 2:4); they had lost the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

Paul told them bluntly: Others [the Judaizers] zealously court you – not in a good way. In contrast to his own frank truthfulness in which he risked incurring the displeasure of the Galatians, the apostle told them of the Judaizers’ dishonorable attempt to mislead them (see Bf – O Foolish Galatians, Who has Cast a Spell on You). Most cults show keen interest and even affection towards prospective members, promising them great personal fulfillment and happiness. But like the legalism of the Judaizers, the true nature of their spiritual enslavement is hidden. The Judaizers had no personal interest in the Galatian believers beyond entrapping them in legalism. They were like the scribes and Pharisees to whom Yeshua said: Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel over land and sea to make one convert. And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourself (Matthew 23:15). Paul spoke directly of his conflict with the Judaizers, his opponents in the theological battle for the allegiance of the God-fearing Gentiles in Galatia, saying: They wish to shut you out from God’s grace so that you will court them, and have nowhere else to turn (4:16-17).¹¹⁶

It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good. Paul went on to explain. He himself had been zealous for them when he first preached the gospel in Galatia. But his purpose was good, out of a love for Messiah and a deep desire to see them saved. And such enthusiastic concern was appropriate, and not just when Paul was there with them (4:18 NIV). He was not jealous of the Judaizers. He did not oppose them in order to preserve his own popularity but to protect the Galatians spiritual well-being. They were opposed to the glorious, saving gospel of Yeshua Messiah.¹¹⁷

Speaking like a mother, Paul addressed the Galatian believers: My dear children (Greek: from teknion, literally referring to a small child)! They were acting like infants who refused to be born. Again, I suffer labor pains. It’s like he was saying, “You have already experienced a new birth, but now you are acting as if you need to be spiritually born all over again. You make me feel like a mother who has to deliver the same baby twice. But however abnormal or tragic their spiritual condition, Paul would not abandon them until Messiah was formed in them (4:19). Being sanctified, being molded into the image of Messiah is the goal of every believer. As you received Messiah Yeshua as Lord, so continue to walk in Him (Colossians 2:6). ADONAI has predestined believers to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29a). We all, with unveiled faces beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory – just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit (Second Corinthians 3:18). The Father sent the Son to earth not only to die that we might be saved but also to live as the Divine example for those who are saved.

Paul’s wish was that he could deal more directly with these issues that would require him to be with the Galatians in person and be able to change his tone with them. He evidently regretted the severity of his language on the occasion of his second visit to the Galatian churches (Acts 18:23) at which time he had warned them personally in order that he might talk to them in a more tender and affectionate manner, however, still telling them the truth. For I don’t know what to make of you (4:20). He was literally at his wits’ end. He could not understand how they could have been taught the gospel so well, believed it so genuinely, and then appeared to abandon it so quickly (see Aj – No Other Gospel).¹¹⁸

Every believer experiences times when we come to an impasse and find our own resources are completely exhausted. After saying and doing everything under the sun to those we are trying to help – sometimes believers . . . sometimes unbelievers – they remain completely out of reach and sometimes even turn against us. In such times, we need to move over and let the Holy Spirit take the wheel of the situation, with a clear conscience, and knowing that we have done everything in our power. God is God and we are not.

Paul trusted the Holy Spirit to work in all things-in his health and in the hearts of the Galatians. He did not complain when he had a physical ailment, but he sought God’s help and looked at the situation from His eyes. I pleaded with the Lord three times about this, that it might leave me. But He said to me,” My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness, so that the power of Messiah may dwell in me. For Messiah’s sake, then, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (Second Corinthians 12:8-10).

Paul knew that his life was not in the hands of anyone, whether a boss, person, spouse or friend, nor in the hands of a disease or even of a doctor; but his life was in the hands of the Almighty, Sovereign God, Ruler of the Universe, Controller of the Future – who cares passionately for each detail in His child’s life.

Dear Father God, I praise You when problems come and I look up, I see Your loving face and feel Your arms of love tight around me. Though the trials/ problems still hurt, I am comforted by knowing that You are working in my life to refine me and bring greater glory to Yourself, just as You have always done in the lives of each of Your children. You are the best daddy! You delight in guiding circumstances into Your child’s life that will polish them to shine great for You (First Peter 1:7) and bring them great joy for all eternity.

Praise You that just as a potter takes a lump of clay and fashions it into a beautiful vessel, so You, Father God, take us as Your jars of clay (Second Corinthians 4:7) who came from dust (Genesis 2:7 and 3:19) and mold us to be more like You. We can move from frustration because of trials – to peace and contentment in problems, for now we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, (Romans 8:28 a-b). And we also boast in our suffering – knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope (Romans 5:3b-4).

Dear Daddy, the best gift that You could give us in any trial is Yourself, and how wonderful that You what You have given us – Your abiding presence Always with us for God himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5). There will never come a trial that we will have to go thru alone- for You are right there with us (Hebrews 13:5).
And hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Ruach ha-Kodesh who was given to us (Romans 5:5). That is such a wonderful comfort – You always with us, polishing us for your glory! Praise You! Thank You! Love You! In Your Holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

When the Fullness of Time Came,
God Sent Out His Son
4: 1-11

When the fullness of time came, God sent out His Son DIG: How is taking on the yoke of the 613 Commandments of the Torah like being an heir who is still a minor in 4:1-3? How has Yeshua changed all of that? Prior to their conversion, the Galatians followed the custom of honoring the Greek gods. How are they now doing the same thing with Jewish festivals in verse 10? What is the difference between celebrating the Jewish festivals (Pesach, Hag ha-Matzah, Rasheet, Shavu’ot, Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah and Purim) and what the Galatians were doing?

REFLECT: What are some contemporary barriers between people in our culture? What does 3:28 mean to you in that context? What do the images of being a “child of God” and “clothed with Messiah” say to you about living the life of a believer in Yeshua? Has your relationship with ADONAI slipped from being that of a child with a father to a matter of keeping rules? How did that happen? What can you do about it? How can you help someone with that problem this week? How does knowing God reassure you today?

Having established that the true “heirs” of God’s promise are those – Gentiles as well as Jews – who emulate Abraham’s faithfulness and participate, through spiritual immersion at salvation, in Yeshua’s own obedience in His death and resurrection, Paul proceeds to elaborate this statement through the example of sons (heirs) and slaves.

One of the tragedies of legalism is that it gives the appearance of spiritual maturity when, in reality, it leads the believer back into a “second childhood” of wilderness wanderings. The Galatian believers, like most of us, wanted to grow and mature in Messiah, but they were going about it in the wrong way Their experience is not too different from that of believers today who get involved in various legalistic movements (to see link click Ak – The Hebrew Roots Movement – A Different Gospel), hoping to become more mature. Their motives might be right, but their methods are all wrong.

This was the truth Paul was trying to get across to his beloved converts in Galatia. The Judaizers (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?) had cast a spell on them into thinking that obedience to the 613 commandments of Moshe would make them better believers. Their old sin nature felt an attraction to legalism because it enabled them to do things and measure external results. They measured themselves and their achievements, they felt a sense of accomplishment and no doubt, a lot of pride. They thought they were maturing, but in reality, they were regressing into childhood.¹⁰²

Life Under Legalism: Paul starts out with an analogy that everyone living in his day would understand. In the ancient world the division between childhood and adulthood was much more definitive than it is in most societies today. A Jewish boy was under the direct and absolute control of his father until his bar mitzvah. Now I am saying, so long as the heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, even though (one day after his father died) he would be the owner of everything (4:1). So, at his bar mitzvah, he would become a “son of the commandment” and take on the obligation of obeying the 613 commandments of Moshe as an adult in Jewish society.

In ancient Greece a boy was under his father’s control until about the age of eighteen. At that time a festival called an apatouria would be held in which the boy was declared an ephebos, a type of cadet, with special responsibilities to his clan or city state for a period of two years. During the coming-of-age ceremony, the boy’s long hair would be cut off and offered to the god Apollo.

Instead, he is under a foremen (Greek: epitropous, a general term for a person who cared for underage boys) and managers (Greek: oikonomous, or house stewards). Along with his guardian (see Bm – The Torah Became our Guardian to Lead Us to Messiah) the child could do nothing without their permission and go nowhere without their supervision. But at the date set by the father, the child’s status changed radically (4:2).

Paul now applies the principles of inheritance to his present argument. So also, when we were underage, we were subservient to the basic principles of the world (Galatians 4:3; Colossians 2:8 and 20). Before his bar mitzvah the boy is merely a potential heir. He has not received his father’s estate and is not even considered eligible to do so. In a general sense, his status is like that of a slave. Until his bar mitzvah, the child cannot exercise his rights of inheritance. He is not the heir. Likewise, Jews and Gentiles were subservient to the basic principles of the world, or human religion. Specifically, in the case of the Galatian believers, the perversion of the Torah, legalism, or obedience to the 613 commandments of Moshe.

In Colossians 2:8 Paul warns: See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men (Mark 7:8) and the basic principles of the world rather than Messiah. Here Paul clearly associates the basic principles of the world with deceptive human tradition and philosophy. Jewish society was dominated by legalism (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law), and in the Gentile world of that day, human philosophy and pagan religions were closely interrelated. Both Jewish legalism and pagan religions centered in man-made systems of deeds. They were fulfilled by rules and regulations, the obeying of which were thought to make themselves acceptable to God by their own efforts.

For an unbeliever there is potential salvation and fulfillment of the promise (3:29) given to all the world through Abraham (Genesis 12:3). But unless and until he spiritually “comes of age” through the saving trust in Yeshua Messiah, every unbeliever is a slave to sin (John 8:34), and is held captive through the basic principles of the world.

The Realization of Being Adopted: But . . . God marks the fact that divine intervention brought hope and freedom to mankind. Just as a human father in ancient times set the time of his son’s coming of age, so did God the Father set the time to send His incarnate Son to earth as our Redeemer. It was in the fullness of time that Yeshua Messiah came, exactly when the date had been set by the Father (4:4a).¹⁰³

Even the righteous of the TaNaKh died without receiving the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised (see the commentary on Hebrews Cv – Faith Through Trials). Like believers of every age, they will ultimately receive the fullness of the promise (see the commentary on Revelation Fd – The Resurrection of the Righteous of the TaNaKh). But during their lifetimes they also lived as merely potential heirs, not actual heirs.

But when God sent His Son (Galatians 4:4b; Philippians 2:6-8), He provided the guarantee that the righteous of the TaNaKh and all other believers after the cross would become joint heirs with the Son (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith). The Ruach Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, also heirs with Messiah who will receive full and complete adoption (Romans 8:16-17a).

The fullness of time refers to the completion of the period of preparation in God’s sovereign timetable of redemption. When the Torah had fully accomplished its purpose of showing man his utter sinfulness and inability to live up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness, ADONAI ushered in a new era of redemption. When He sent His Son, He also provided the righteousness for us that they could not provide for ourselves. When Yeshua was born, there were three reasons why everything was right for the coming of the Messiah.

First of all, the soil of faith had been tilled. During the Babylonian captivity (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule), Isra’el once-and-for-all abandoned idolatry into which she had so often fallen. Despite their many other sins and failures, including the rejection of their own Messiah, no significant number of Jews ever again returned to Idolatry. Also, during the Exile, Jews developed synagogues, which they used as places of worship, schools, and as courts. In addition to that, they at last had the completed TaNaKh, assembled by Ezra and others after the return from Babylon. All that facilitated the proclaiming of Messiah’s gospel among the people of Isra’el.

Secondly, the time was right culturally. Believers who spread the Good News during the first several centuries had a common language with those to whom they witnessed and with whom they worshiped. Alexander the Great had thoroughly established the Greek culture and language throughout the known world, and these continued their dominating influence long after Rome succeeded Greece as the ruler of the world.

Thirdly, the time was right politically. Rome had instituted the pax Romana, or Roman peace, which provided economic and political stability. The apostles and other early preachers and teachers could travel freely and safely throughout the empire and could do so on the magnificent system of roads built by the Romans.¹⁰⁴

Born of a woman (4:4c), that is, He was fully human, yet fully God. Otherwise He could not have been the Savior of the world. He had to be fully God in order for His sacrifice to have the infinite worth necessary to atone for our sin. But, He also had to be fully human in order to represent us and take the penalty of our sin upon Himself. We were the ones who had sinned, we were under the curse, and we were condemned to eternity apart from God. Yeshua therefore could not have been our substitute on the cross had He not taken upon Himself our likeness (Philippians 2:7). He had to be God to have the power to save us, and He had to be born of a woman to be able to be our substitute.

To free those under the curse of the Torah (see Bi – All Who Rely of the Deeds of the Law are Under a Curse). As Paul explains: For what was impossible for the Torah – since it was weakened on account of the flesh- God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh – so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach (Romans 8:3-4). Like every other man, Yeshua was born under the Torah. Like every other Jew, He was under obligation to obey perfectly the 613 commandments of Moshe; but unlike every other Jews, He satisfied all the requirements of the Torah by living in perfect obedience to it. And because He lived in perfect obedience, He was able to free those under the curse of the Torah, provided they had saving faith in Him.¹⁰⁵

So, both Jews and Gentiles, might receive adoption as His children (4:5). Adoption means being brought into the personal family of God, which implies eternal security if you look at God as the perfect parent (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). We have all the privileges due to us as if we were natural sons and daughters, not adopted sons and daughters.

In love He predestined us to be adopted as His [children] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:5; also see Second Timothy 1:8-9 and Psalm 139). We are adopted into God’s family at the moment of faith. Notice the last phrase, which I will italicize for emphasis: In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Yeshua Messiah, in accordance with His pleasure and will. An even more literal rendering would be, “in accordance with the good pleasure of His will.” The point is that ADONAI planned to adopt us as His children because this gave Him pleasure. It made Him happy, to use casual language. Think of that! YHVH chose to adopt you because the thought of this gave Him joy. So, here’s something upon which to reflect today. Ha’Shem adopted you, not only because He loves you, but also because the thought of having you as His child gives Him great pleasure. He saved you from sin, for adoption.

There are only two families in the world. There is the family of YHVH and the family of Satan. There is no middle ground. Adoption expresses the grace of God and excludes works. When parents adopt a child, they don’t look at the good works of the child. They adopt out of love. Adoption is an act of the parents, not of the child. Additionally, we are given full status with Yeshua Messiah, the natural Son of God, even though we are adopted. ADONAI is our perfect heavenly Father who can care for His own children. Everything that is true of Him is true of us, minus His deity. We are going to inherit what the Messiah inherits.

God the Father not only sent His Son; He also sent His Ruach. Now because you are His children, God sent the Ruach of His Son into our hearts, who cries out, “Abba (Papa)! Father” (Galatians 4:6; Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15)! The moment you were spiritually born into God’s family, you were given some remarkable birthday gifts: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access, and the family inheritance.¹⁰⁶ The Ruach ha-Kodesh brings us into a personal intimate relationship with our heavenly Father, whom we may approach at any time and under any circumstances, knowing that He always hears us and lovingly cares for us, because we are truly His own.¹⁰⁷

So, you are no longer a slave but a child – and if a child, also an heir through God (4:7). Paul, therefore, sums up his argument here by repeating the logical sequence. Once Yeshua has come in faithfulness, those obedient to Him have reached the age of maturity, when sin no longer has power of bondage over them. At this point the child was neither a slave nor a minor, but had entered into the status of an heir.

This brings the argument full circle, closing on the subject of the Gentile Galatians being heirs through ADONAI. God’s calling of the Gentiles by name is His sovereign act, accomplished through Yeshua’s faithfulness to death on the cross, whereby God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth (Genesis 12:3) is fulfilled. It is through this means – and not by any other – that the rest of the world receives access to God, in that, being separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Isra’el and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, they had been brought near by the blood of Messiah (Ephesians 2:12-13).

Paul’s concern was that his Gentile Galatian believers were being persuaded to follow a different gospel (4:6b). In doing so, they were, in effect, turning the clock back and seeking to live as though Yeshua had never come. But at that time, when you [Galatians] did not know God, you served those who by nature are not gods at all, but idols (4:8).

But now you have come to know God – or rather you have come to be known by God. Paul asked in bewilderment: So how can you turn back again to those weak and worthless principles? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again (4:9)?  He speaks in similar terms in Romans 8:15, declaring to his Gentile readers they had not received the spirit of slavery to fall again into the basic principles of the world (Galatians 4:3)

You observe (Greek: from paratereo, meaning a careful, scrupulous observance, an intent watching lest any of the prescribed holidays be overlooked) days and months and seasons and years (4:10). The days refer to Sabbath days and to the feasts which were observed just for a day. The months refer to the monthly recurring events (Isaiah 66:23), or to the seventh month and the sounding of the shofar (Numbers 29). The reference also could have to do with the celebration of the appearance of the new moon (Numbers 10:10 and 28:11). Times refers to the celebrations not limited to a single day, such as Pesach, Sukkot, and to the feasts of the fourth, fifth, and seventh months (Second Chronicles 8:13). Years was a reference to the Year of Jubilee or the Sabbatical year. But the Gentile Galatians observed those Jewish holidays neither out of joy in sharing what God has given the Jewish people, nor out of spiritual identification with them, but out of fear induced by Judaizers who had convinced them that unless they did so, Ha’Shem would not accept them.

John Newton, the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” was an only child and lost his mother when he was seven. At the age of eleven he went to sea as a sailor and became involved in the inhuman African slave trade. Soon hardened by his evil surroundings, he outdid his companions in immorality, vulgarity, and blasphemy. But when he was twenty-three his ship was caught in a severe storm, and when he began to fear for his life he cried out to God for mercy and was marvelously saved. Not wanting to ever forget the depths of sin from which he had been rescued by God’s grace, Newton later inscribed the words of Deuteronomy 15:15a above his mantel: You will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and ADONAI your God redeemed you.

Unlike John Newton, the Galatian believers did not remember what they were once like, and Paul was disappointed beyond words with their immaturity and lack of discernment. He was not able to understand how they could so quickly forget their former slavery in unbelief and so easily surrender their new freedom and blessings in Messiah. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored (Greek: kapiao, meaning to labor to the point of exhaustion) over you in vain (4:11)! The construction of the Greek does not give the impression that the apostle had fears about the future of the Galatians which may not be realized. It is clear that he suspected that what he feared had already happened. Paul was not apprehensive with respect to his own interests or his fruitless labors, but with respect to the spiritual welfare of his Galatian converts. They were the object of his anxiety.¹⁰⁸

We can all relate. There have been times in our lives when we have labored very hard at a job, a relationship, or a project, just to have it turn up as dust in our hands. But how sad for such a faithful servant of the Lord to believe that all the life-threatening, sacrificial service he had given on behalf of the people of Galatia was for nothing. All the travel, illness, loneliness, struggles, even the stoning he received in Lystra that left him for dead, was worthless if they reverted back in the slavery of a different gospel. No wonder it is such an impassioned letter, and compelled him to write as he did.¹⁰⁹

Dear Father God, How Awesome You are! We love You! When we love someone and want the best for them and then see them turning from You to other gods – to gods of popularity, or pleasure, or business – how it breaks our heart and Your heart also. Yet, we are so glad that You have given us the remedy which can turn it around and make all things right – the remedy of prayer.

Right now, each of us who are reading this are thinking of a family member or friend who is now on the right path. They may be far from you or just straying a little, but we earnestly praise your great power, love and wisdom. We place them (name of person) into your mighty, powerful and caring hands. We ask you to guide all that touches their lives. Please bring others who love you to them – friends, neighbors, business associates who speak to them of your love and guide them to want to love and follow You whole heartedly.

May You lovingly implant thoughts of You in their minds while they sleep, helping them to visualize how great you are and the great solution you are for them. May you cause them to seek you in Your Word and to desire to read it daily. Please give them understanding of Your Word and water these seeds that are planted by bringing to them a strong support system of loving friends and websites. May they always go to sleep and wake up with the “Joy of Jesus and the Hope of Heaven” on their minds.

As Paul did to those in Ephesus as he was leaving, so we now commit these family/friends into your care. We ask that even if they are still here during the tribulation – that you would move mightily their hearts so they have great courage to follow you. Now I commit you to God and the word of His grace, which is strong to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who have been made holy (Acts 20:32).

In Yeshua’s Holy name and power of resurrection. Amen

There is Neither Jew nor Greek
in the Body of Messiah
3: 26-29

There is neither Jew nor Greek in the body of Messiah DIG: What is the one condition to being a part of God’s family? How did Paul counter the Judaizers claim that they needed to be circumcised and obey the 613 commandments of the Torah to be a part of God’s family? How does being “clothed with Messiah” in verse 27 eliminate major cultural barriers in verse 28? How do some people confuse oneness with sameness? In what sense are we all one in the Body of Messiah? What distinctions still exist? How can Jews and Gentiles all be children of Abraham?

REFLECT: How do you feel about being adopted into the family of God? In which area of your life do you most struggle to remember that you’re “clothed with Messiah?” Did you have a paidagogos, a harsh disciplinarian, or hard time in your life that led you to Yeshua? When were you immersed into the Body of Messiah? What nine things did God do for you at the moment of faith? Can you undo any of the nine? What does that mean to you? If you are Jewish, do you attend a Messianic synagogue or a church? If you are a Gentile, do you attend a Messianic synagogue or a church? Why would a Jew attend a church? Why would a Gentile attend a Messianic synagogue? When you inherited the promise of God, you inherited the promise that God wants to bless you, so that you can bless others. Who can you bless this week?

When Paul declares that there is no difference between Jew or Gentile in Messiah, he does not mean to imply that Jews and Gentiles forfeit their unique identities and roles.

Paul’s vindication of the doctrine of justification by faith reached a climax here as he contrasted the position of a justified sinner with what he had been under the Torah. Three changes are noted.

First, all who believe in Messiah become God’s children: It was very important for Paul to make sure the Galatians knew what it meant for the paidagogos to have led them to the Messiah (to see link click Bm – The Torah Became our Guardian to Lead Us to Messiah). The invitation to be part of God’s family is universal, but there is one condition: For you are all children (Greek: huios, meaning someone of full age, no longer under a guardian) of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua (3:26).

The Judaizers in Galatia had emphasized ritual proselyte circumcision as being necessary for salvation. Paul, however, declared: For all of you who were immersed at the moment of belief in Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah (3:27). What Paul is talking about here is spirit immersion. This immersion into the Body of Messiah comes about not through getting wet, but through prayer to ADONAI in which one repents of one’s sinful ways of life and accepts Yeshua in Messiah’s atonement and Lordship: For in one Ruach we were all immersed into one body – whether Jewish or Greek, slave or free – and all were made to drink of one Ruach (First Corinthians 12:13).⁹⁶ The simplest definition of a believer is a person who is clothed with Messiah. One Heart now beats in all. The pulsating life of the Lord gives us a purpose driven life. One mind now guides all, the mind of Messiah. One Life is lived by all, the life of Yeshua Messiah produced by the Ruach ha-Kodesh in our lives.⁹⁷ At the moment of faith God does nine things for us (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith) There is no such thing as a believer who has not been immersed by the Spirit. Speaking in tongues, nor anything else, is not a necessary addition for salvation because salvation is faith-plus-nothing.

Getting back to the illustration of a guardian, when a child reached the age of maturity, as decided by the father, he would symbolize the transition to adulthood by clothing his son with a special toga, a mark of his manhood. In the same way, by believing in Yeshua we have been clothed with Messiah. He is the toga of our spiritual maturity. To go back to the 613 commandments of Moshe, meant that the Galatians were throwing off their togas and reverting to a state of spiritual immaturity.

Second, believers in Yeshua are all one in Yeshua: As far as justification is concerned, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free (in today’s language, the “haves” and the “have-nots”), there is neither male nor female – for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:14-18). This was not true in the Dispensation of Torah. Only the Jews could go past the wall of separation in the Temple compound (see the commentary on Acts Cn – Paul’s Advice from Jacob and the Elders at Jerusalem). If a Gentile entered in, he could be executed. Furthermore, slaves did not offer sacrifices under the Torah but freedmen did. The females didn’t have to bring sacrifice (although many did voluntarily), but the males did. These are references to a prayer that every Jewish man prayed every morning of his life, “ADONAI I thank You that I am not a Gentile, or a slave, or a woman.” Now, Jews made those distinctions, but the gospel of Yeshua Messiah does not. All are justified the same way. Therefore, Jewish and Gentile believers must treat each other as equals before ADONAI, as equal worth as human beings. So must believing slaves and freemen, and likewise believing men and women. In the Body of Messiah, we should all be as one today also. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

However, this verse is sometimes misused as an attack against Messianic Judaism in the following way when Gentile Christians mistakenly insist, “You Messianic Jews should not separate yourselves from us Gentile Christians by having Messianic synagogues! When Jews are saved, they need to come to church! Don’t you know that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek?” So be like us, give up your Jewish distinctives, stop observing the Torah and the Jewish holidays, and put it all behind you. Worship with us and live our lifestyle.” But they mistake oneness with sameness. Ironically, the Christian insistence on sameness between Jews and Gentiles has actually put up a dividing wall between Judaism and Jewish community.

Within the Body of Messiah certain distinctions continue. Differences in cultural background and religious heritage, differences that God has promised to the Jews as a people, and differences in what they are commanded to do. There will even be a Jewish branch of government and a Gentile branch of government during the Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom). Therefore, Gentiles should not try to prevent Jewish believers from recognizing those differences and building their lifestyles in a way that reflects them, so long as the lessons of Galatians are heeded. Which is that equality and fellowship in the Body of Messiah between Jews and Gentiles must be nurtured and preserved. Nothing in the B’rit Chadashah prevents a Jewish believer from choosing to worship with Gentile believers in church; likewise, nothing prevents a Gentile believer from choosing to worship with Jewish believers in a Messianic Jewish synagogue. In either situation what the B’rit Chadashah mandates is fellowship and equality between Jews and Gentiles in the Body.

Third, believers in Yeshua are Abraham’s seed of the promise: What is the promise that Paul writes about here? To find out we need to go all the way back to the beginning, when ADONAI said: I will bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Any discussion of the seed of Abraham must first take into account his natural seed, the descendants of Jacob in the twelve tribes of Isra’el. Within this natural seed there is a believing remnant of Jews in every age, the righteous of the TaNaKh, who will one day inherit the Abrahamic promises directed to them. Not all those who are descended from Isra’el are Isra’el, nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s seed . . . that is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; rather, the children of the promise are counted as seed (Romans 9:6 and 8).⁹⁸

But there is also the spiritual seed of Abraham who are not Jews. And in this one verse, Paul summarizes his whole argument to his Galatian disciples: And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed – heirs according to the promise (3:29). Are Gentiles full-fledged children of Abraham, or are they second-class children? Maimonides answered a comparable question from a Gentile convert to Judaism. In his, “Letter to Ovadyah the Proselyte,” he answered, “You are to say, ‘our God and God of our fathers,’ because Abraham is your father.” This letter is quoted at length in Romans 4:16. Paul is equally insistent on the full equality of Gentile believers in the Messiah.⁹⁹

To suggest, as the Amillennialists mistakenly do (see Ak – The Hebrew Roots Movement: A Different Gospel), that Gentile believers inherit the national promises given to the believing Jewish remnant – that the Church thus supplants Isra’el or is the “New Isra’el” is to ignore the clear, literal, teaching of the Bible. Those who are a part of any such movement are in grave danger. For Yeshua declares: I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his share in the Tree of Life and the Holy City, which are written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19).

The Judaizers taught that by becoming subjects to the 613 commandments of the Torah that the Gentile Galatians would become the seed, or the descendants, of Abraham. Paul asserts that this privilege comes to one by belief in Yeshua. In Romans 4, Paul shows that Abraham was justified by faith, and was therefore considered the spiritual father of all who put their faith in Messiah, whether they were circumcised or uncircumcised. ADONAI made salvation dependent upon trust in order that it might be available to both Jew and Gentile alike. Since Abraham is the spiritual father of all believers, this does away with the false belief of the Judaizers that becoming a Jew by Torah observance brings one into divine favor and gives one salvation. By belonging to Messiah, believers are also Abraham’s descendents, for Messiah is the Seed of Abraham. Since believers have entered into a relationship with Messiah, they are heirs of the promise and are likewise Abraham’s seed.¹⁰⁰

In his vision on Patmos, Yochanan heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is among men, and He shall tabernacle among them. They shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them and be their God. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer, for the former things have passed away . . . and the one who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be My children (Revelation 21:3-4 and 7).

We cannot come to Messiah to be justified until we have first been to Moshe to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moshe, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moshe send us to Messiah.¹⁰¹

Dear Awesome and Loving Father, How Great you are! Praise you that right from the beginning when You called Abraham, Your plan was to bless the whole world-and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

Praise You that the desire to bless all the families of the world continued with Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple, for he prayed: If your people Isra’el are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, yet when they return and confess Your Name, praying and making supplication before You in this House, then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Isra’el and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and to their fathers (Second Chronicles 6:24-25).

Moreover, concerning the foreigner who is not of your people Israel but comes from a distant land for the sake of Your great Name and Your mighty hand and Your arm, when they come and pray towards this House, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place and do whatever the foreigner asks of You. Then all the peoples of earth will acknowledge Your name and revere You, as your people Isra’el do, and they will know that this House which I have built is called by Your Name (Second Chronicles 6:32-33).

How awesome you revealed Your glory for when Solomon finished praying the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of ADONAI filled the House (Second Chronicles 7:1).

Praise God that Yeshua, He is our Shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility -the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross – by which He put the hostility to death. And He came and proclaimed shalom to you who were far away and shalom to those who were near – for through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Rauch. So, then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:14-19).

We worship you and desire to give back all of ourselves to You in love. In the name of Your Holy Son and the power of His resurrection. Amen

The Torah Became our Guardian
to Lead Us to Messiah
3: 19-25

The Torah became our guardian to lead us to Messiah DIG: In what sense was the Torah temporary? What was the Torah able to do for people? What was it unable to do? What can Messiah do for sinners that the Torah cannot do? How would trying to obey the Torah make a person more willing to receive Yeshua Messiah? How is trying to keep all 613 commandments of the Torah like being held under guard? How does Messiah change all that? What is a paidagogos, and how did Paul use it as an analogy to the Torah?

REFLECT: What does all this discussion of the Torah have to do with you? When are you most tempted to look to your own efforts to make yourself acceptable to God? Is the Torah still valid today? In what sense? What should be your attitude toward Torah? How has the Word of God kept you under protective custody until you could fully understand it? Who was the human mediator that introduced you to Messiah?

Paul compares the Torah and Jewish status to a paidagogos, a guardian entrusted with the care and supervision of a child.

An indignant Judaizer (to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?) was sure to respond with objections to Paul’s insistence that the Torah would not give the Ruach ha-Kodesh (3:1-5); could not bring justification (3:6-9); could not alter the permanence of faith (3:15-18); but does bring a curse (3:10-12).⁹⁰ In light of Paul’s convincing arguments up to this point, the obvious question would be why then were the 613 commandments of the Torah added to the promise (see Bl – The Promises were Spoken to Abraham and to his Seed)? If salvation has always been by faith and never by deeds, and if the covenant of promise to Abraham was fulfilled in Yeshua Messiah, what purpose did the Torah serve?

Paul’s answer was direct and sobering: It was added to define and condemn sin, because of transgressions (Greek: parabasis, meaning to choose to sin, to intentionally and willfully disobey) until the Seed [Yeshua] would come – to whom the promise had been made (3:19a). Unless people realized they were living in violation of the 613 commandments of the Torah and therefore under divine judgment, they saw no reason to be saved when Yeshua would come. Grace would is meaningless to a person who does not realize he or she was lost. Such a one would see no need of forgiveness by God if they do not know they had offended Him in the first place. Such a person would see no need to seek God’s mercy if they were unaware that they were under God’s wrath.⁹¹

First, the purpose of the 613 commandments of Moshe was not to save, but to make us aware of our sin as clearly as possible. Consequently, you don’t have to wonder if you have sinned or not. Start reading the Torah and it won’t take you very long to discover that you have already sinned.

The Law spiritually is like a mirror physically. When you look into a mirror you may see that your hair is messed up, or that your shirt is on backwards, or that you look fat. But looking into the mirror doesn’t solve the problem, it only tells you that there is a problem. That’s what the 613 commandments of Moses do. The Law doesn’t fix the problem . . . the Law can’t save us. The Law only points to a need for a savior.

Secondly, according to Romans 7, the purpose of Torah was to make us to sin more. Our sin nature must have a base of operation. Torah said, “You shall not,” and our sin nature says, “Oh, yes I will.”

Thirdly, Paul uses the word, “until.” This shows that obedience to the 613 commandments was temporary. While the Abrahamic Covenant was eternal, obedience to the 613 commandments of Moshe was only temporary.

Fourthly, until “the Seed would come.” Once Messiah had paid the price for disobeying the 613 commandments of Moses, the Dispensation of Torah ceased. It was temporary to begin with, but it ended with the Dispensation of Grace.

How was the Torah given? It was handed-down through angels (Acts 7:53) by the hand of a human mediator, Moshe (3:19b). An often heard Jewish objection to the B’rit Chadashah teaching that Jews don’t need Yeshua because they don’t need a mediator between themselves and God. This verse refutes the claim with its reminder that Moshe himself served as such a mediator – as, for that matter, did the priests and the prophets (Hebrews 8:6, 10:19-21; First Timothy 2:5; Exodus 20:19; Deuteronomy 5:2 and 5).

Therefore, the giving of the Torah through angels wasn’t direct. It wasn’t from ADONAI to Isra’el. It went from God, to angels, to Moses, to Isra’el. But if you go back to where the Torah was given in Exodus you don’t find any mention of angels. It would appear that YHVH was speaking directly to Moses. However, while much of Jewish tradition is unfounded, some aspects of Jewish tradition are true – like the giving of the Torah by the hands of angles. But three times in the B’rit Chadashah we find Torah being given by angels (here; Acts 7:53 and Hebrews 2:2). But that truth was already contained in rabbinical writings before the B’rit Chadashah came into existence. There are many things of that nature that are true in Jewish tradition and confirmed in the writings of the B’rit Chadashah. This is just one example.

Now, while the Torah came through several mediators, God, angles, Moses and Isra’el, the Abrahamic Covenant came through just one mediator. The means by which covenants were ratified in the ancient world was that you would kill animals and then cut them in half, putting the halves in two rows opposite of each other. The two parties making a covenant with each other would walk together between the halves of the animals. Then the covenant was binding for both parties. But something different happened with the signing of the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15. The animals were killed, cut up and placed in the ancient tradition. But Ha’Shem and Abraham didn’t walk through the pieces of the animals together because God put Abraham to sleep. YHVH alone walked through the pieces of the animals, pointing to the fact that the covenant was binding to ADONAI alone. Regardless of what Abraham would do, the LORD was going to keep His end of the promise. Now an intermediary is not for one party alone – but God is one (3:20).

Eventually, the Dispensation of Torah ended. It did not bring justification. If it were possible to be justified by legalism, then Messiah died for nothing. The very fact that it was impossible to perfectly obey the 613 commandments of Moses made Christ’s death necessary. The Torah did not justify. That wasn’t its purpose anyway (see four purposes above).⁹² Then, Paul asked rhetorically: Are the 613 commandments of the Torah against the promises of God? Do they contradict each other? Do they say different things? Does legalism offer life through deeds, while the unconditional promises to Abraham offer life through faith? May it never be! For if a commandment had been given that could impart life, certainly righteousness would have been based on the 613 commandments of the Torah (3:21).

But such a thing is unimaginable. Instead, the Scripture had locked up (Greek: phroureo, meaning to keep under lock and key) the whole world under sin (Greek: upo nomon, meaning under something that is not the Torah but a perversion of it, specifically, a perversion that tries to turn it into a set of rules that one can supposedly go through the motions, with neither faith nor love for either God, yet earn a right standing with ADONAI). The Torah includes both Jews and Gentiles in its condemnation of sin, so that the Abrahamic promise based on the faithfulness of Messiah Yeshua might be given only to those who continue to trust (3:22). Not until people smash themselves up against the demands of keeping the 613 commandments of Moshe perfectly do they recognize their helplessness, and sees their need for a Savior. Not until the Torah has arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced them to death will they be driven to despair in themselves and turn to Yeshua.⁹³

Fifthly, the Torah was to bring us to faith in Yeshua Messiah. Now before faith came, [the Jewish people] were being guarded (Greek: phroureo, meaning to keep under lock and key) under Torah because we are sinners, bound together and the Law doesn’t have the power to set us free. That is why the coming salvation by faith in Yeshua Messiah would be revealed (see the commentary on Hebrews Bp – The Dispensation of Grace). Before the cross, they looked forward to the Savior, as we look back. The Torah was their jailer who held them in protective custody, in order that they should not escape the consciousness of their sins and their liability to punishment (3:23).⁹⁴

In the ancient world a paidagogos was given authority over the son of his master to guard him from evil, both physical and moral. The paidagogos would actually have been a harsh disciplinarian, and the student was required to obey him. He was not a teacher, but was responsible to bring the student to the teacher. He had total authority over the son until the son reached adulthood, so his authority lasted only as long as the child was a minor. Once the child reached adulthood, his authority ceased to exist. It was a great day of deliverance when a boy finally gained freedom from his paidagogos. Therefore, the Torah became our guardian (Greek: paidagogos, literally a child under development by strict instruction) to lead us to Messiah (see the commentary on Exodus Dh – Moses and the Torah), so that we might be made right based on trusting in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Yeshua Messiah (3:24).

Just as the pedagogue brought the student to the teacher, the Torah brought the Jewish people to the Messiah. And just as the pedagogue was not the teacher; neither is the Torah the means to earn salvation. But now this mature faith has come. When Paul said: we are no longer under a guardian (3:25), he did not mean that the Torah is done away with (see the commentary on Exodus Du – Do Not Think That I Have Come to Abolish the Torah or the Prophets). He meant that we should not look to the Torah or legal conversion to Judaism, as the Judaizers were saying (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?), as a means of earning salvation. Salvation is, and always was, through faith for both Jews and Gentiles. 

The Gentile believers to whom Paul was writing had already been led to the Teacher of Righteousness. They were already sons and daughters through faith; they had already come to the Teacher. In previous generations, prior to the revelation of Yeshua, there were valid reasons for Gentiles to become Jewish and thus under the Torah. Doing so brought them and their children inside the circle of blessing, protected, and preserved by the Torah along with the rest of the Jewish people until the coming Messiah would be revealed. But now that He had been revealed, conversion under the Torah no longer served that purpose. The Law couldn’t fix their problem. Only the Messiah could save them from their sins.⁹⁵

Dear Heavenly Father, How Great You are! We love and praise You for giving us Your Spirit to live in us (Romans 8:9). We cannot conquer sin by ourselves. We need Your Ruach. The Torah is like a broom trying to sweep up a dried and hard stain on the floor of our heart, but you have the power to make pure and clean even a scarlet stain,” Come now, let us reason together,” says ADONAI. “Though your sins be like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they will become like wool (Isaiah 1:18). Water cleans so much better than a broom, which can only push the dirt aside. The water of Your Spirit has the power to completely clean and defeat the stain of sin. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, “out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” Now He said this about the Ruach, whom those who trusted in Him were going to receive; (John 7:38-39a).

Thank You that You live in your children (Romans 8:9) and are always there with us to help us conqueror any temptation. No temptation has taken hold of you except what is common to mankind. But God is faithful – He will not allow you be tempted beyond what you can handle. But with the temptation, He will also provide a way of escape, so that you will be able to endure it (First Corinthians 10:13).

How great that Your gift of salvation is – not only right now with You living in us, guiding us and helping us to please You – but also for a wonderful eternal life with You forever in heaven! It is with deep joy that we love and serve You! In Your holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

The Promises were Spoken to Abraham
and to His Seed
3: 15-18

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed DIG: Why did Paul use Abraham in his argument for salvation equals faith-plus-nothing? What is the distinction here between seeds and Seed? What is the parallel Paul wants to make between the types of covenants people make, and the covenant-promise in 3:8 that ADONAI made to Abraham? Since the Torah was not to take the place of the promise, how do verses 19 and 23 explain what the Torah’s purpose actually is (also see Romans 3:20)?

REFLECT: What is significant to you in Abraham’s story? How would you use this passage with someone who thought that keeping the Ten Commandments is enough to save their soul? What experience helped you see your need to let the religious rules that you might have been trying to keep drive you to Yeshua to find mercy?

Paul now presents an argument to show that the covenant God made with Abraham was still in force, basing it upon the priority of the covenant and its irrevocable nature.

After describing how the blessings of Abraham had come through Messiah for the Gentiles by faith (Galatians 3:14), Paul gave the Galatian believers a concrete example. While the previous verses have addressed the Gentiles’ status in relation to the curse and the blessings, here Paul speaks to the legal form of the inheritance. Four reasons are given for affirming the superiority of the covenant of promise.

First, the covenant of promise was superior because it was confirmed as irrevocable and unchangeable. Brothers and sisters, let me make an analogy from everyday life: when someone swears an oath (Greek: diatheke in its verb form means to place between the two), no one else can set it aside or add to it (3:15 CJB). The oath spoken of here refers to the act of one of two individuals placing between them something to which he obligates himself. It is a commitment on the part of one to do so-and-so.⁸⁴

When God made the covenant with Abraham (whose name was Abram at that time) He promised, “I am your shield, your reward [will be] very great . . . this one [Eliezer] will not be your heir, but in fact, one who will come from your own body will be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Look up now, at the sky, and count the stars – if you are able to count them.” Then God said to him, “So shall your seed be.” Then Abraham believed in ADONAI and He credited it to him as righteousness. Then He said to him, “I am ADONAI who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans, in order to give you this land to inherit it” (Genesis 15:1, 4-7).

When Abraham asked: My Lord ADONAI, how will I know that I will inherit it (Genesis 15:8)? God ratified the covenant with a ceremony common in the ancient Near East. On Ha’Shem’s instructions, Abram took a young cow, a she-goat, a ram, a turtle-dove, and a pigeon, then cut them in half and laid the two sides of each animal opposite one another, with a path in between. As the sun was about to set, ADONAI caused a deep sleep, as well as terror of great darkness, to fall on Abraham (Genesis 15:12-17).

Ordinarily, both parties to a diatheke would walk between the slain animals, whose blood would symbolically ratify the agreement. But in this case, God alone walked through, indicating that the covenant, though invoking the promises to Abraham and his descendants, was made by ADONAI Himself. The covenant was unilateral and entirely unconditional, the only obligation being on Ha’Shem Himself.⁸⁵

Therefore, Paul presented the argument that the covenant YHVH made with Abraham was still in force, basing it upon the priority of the covenant and its irrevocable character. He asserts that it is common knowledge that when people make a contract, and that contract is once agreed upon, it cannot be changed or modified except by the mutual consent of both parties to the contract. Therefore, Paul applies that basic understanding to God’s Covenant with Abraham (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Fp – The Abrahamic Covenant). It had the priority because it was the original. It was given to Abraham and to a specific seed. Isaac was the son of promise, not Ishmael (see the commentary on Genesis Fi – The Birth of Isaac). Not through the Torah, but through Yeshua Messiah. The Torah could never annul the Abrahamic Covenant, which means that salvation equals faith-plus-nothing.⁸⁶

Second, the covenant of promise was superior to the Torah because it was Messiah-centered. Paul begins to explain the analogy stated in the previous verse. The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed, Messiah. Now, the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed. Under the guidance of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, who inspired the writing of both Genesis and Galatians, Paul exegesis the quoted Genesis passage. He declares that the term seed in Genesis 22:18 is singular. It doesn’t say, “and to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “and to your Seed,” who is the Messiah (3:16). The fact that the promises were made to Abraham and to all believers down through the ages who follow Abraham in his act of faith, indicates that the way of faith existed before the Torah was given, continued through the Dispensation of Torah, and is still in effect after the cross. So, the giving of the 613 commandments of Moses had no effect on the covenant at all.⁸⁷

Third, the covenant of promise was superior to the Torah because of chronology. What I am saying is this: Torah, which came 430 years later after God’s promise to Abraham was confirmed to Jacob (see the commentary on Exodus Ca – At the End of the 430 Years, to the Very Day), was an addition and does not cancel the covenant previously confirmed by God, so as to make the promise ineffective (3:17). The word confirmed is a perfect passive participle, pointing to the lasting authority of the covenant. The Torah, our blueprint for living, did not cancel out justification by faith. During the entire Dispensation of Torah (see the commentary on Exodus Da – The Dispensation of the Torah), people were saved on the basis of faith. For if the inheritance is based on the legal part of the Torah, which is the halakhah, or the rules governing Jewish life (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law), it is no longer based on a promise; therefore, it no longer comes from a promise (3:18a). The Judaizers (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?) were not only attempting to retain the 613 commandments of Moshe for the Jews, but tried to impose them on the Gentiles, to whom the Torah was never given. That was what Paul was fighting against.

Therefore, Paul’s argument is as follows. If a covenant once in force cannot be changed or rendered void by any later action, God’s covenant with Abraham cannot be changed or rendered void by the addition of the 613 commandments of the Torah. If this principle holds good in a human covenant, how much more is it true when ADONAI makes the covenant as He did with Abraham in Genesis 15, since the promises of God are more reliable than any human could ever make.

Fourth, the covenant of promise is superior to the Torah because it is more complete. But, God gave [the covenant] to Abraham by means of a promise (3:18b CJB). The Greek word gave (charizomai) means a gift given out of the spontaneous generosity of the givers heart, with no strings attached. The Greek word for grace (charis) has the same root and the same meaning. As a result, the word gave here does not refer to an undertaking based upon a mutual agreement, but upon the free act of one who gives something, with no expectation to be reimbursed in any way. God graced [the covenant] to Abraham by means of a promise. This at once shows the difference between having to obey the 613 commandments of Moshe and grace. If salvation were by obedience to God’s statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court as seen in Deuteronomy 4:1), that would mean that it would be based upon a mutual agreement between Ha’Shem and the sinner whereby God would obligate Himself to give salvation to any sinner who would earn it by obedience to His statutes and ordinances. But the very genius of the word charizomai works against the teaching of the Judaizers, namely, that salvation is by deeds. There is a Greek word huposchesis which is used of an offer based upon the terms of a mutual agreement. But it is not used here.

Not only that, the verb gave is in the perfect tense here, which speaks of a past completed action having continuous results. The past act of ADONAI giving the inheritance on the basis of a promise, has present results to you and me. God gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise around 2,000 BC and that promise was still good after the Torah was given around 1,500 BC, and the promise was still good after the cross.⁸⁸

By definition, an inheritance is not earned but simply received, and to work for that which is already guaranteed is foolish and unnecessary. Trying to earn the inheritance of God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8) in His one-and-only Son (John 3:16) is much worse than foolish. To add obedience to the 613 commandments of Moses to faith in the promise of God is to nullify His grace and to cause Messiah to have died needlessly (2:21)!⁸⁹

Dear Great Heavenly Father, How Awesome You are! Praise You that we can trust every one of Your promises, For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ (Second Corinthians 1:20).The promise of your always being with your children is so comforting-Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.(Hebrews 13:5 NIV).

Praise you for Your promise of guiding Your children’s lives even when things don’t seem to be working out; for when I trust and follow You, I know that You are working all things for my good. Now we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Thank You that the good that You promise to give us is not things, not even very good things such as: a job, a marriage partner, or a family; but the very best thing that we could ever hope for is being conformed to You – and that is exactly what You do to Your children! For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29)

And You are polishing my character so I may have the joy of shining bright for You. You rejoice in this greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, You have been distressed by various trials. These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua. (First Peter 1:6-7).

When I look at trying life situations, I must remember to look at them through Your eyes, for You who know the future always guides what is the very best for me. For I know the plans that I have in mind for you,” declares ADONAI, “plans for shalom and not for calamity – to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11).

Praise You that nothing will ever be able to separate me from Your love! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

I rejoice in loving You! In Yeshua’s Holy name and thru His power of resurrection. Amen

Cursed is Everyone Who Hangs on a Tree
Galatians 3:13-14
and Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree DIG: What does the word Talui mean? Did the Jews hang people on the tree? Where does it come from? Why and how do the Jews use it today? How is the word Talui ironic? How does the Talmud interpret the word “live” and why was that important to Paul? If anyone hung on a tree is accursed, why isn’t Yeshua accursed? How did Paul take this taunt and put a new spin on it?

REFLECT: How do you feel about Yeshua being the Hanged One for you? When you think of what He went through, both physically and spiritually, on the cross, how does that image motivate you to tell others about Talui? How would you explain the promised “Ruach” in verse 14 to a seeker? Do you believe, and practice, Romans 1:16? Which truth in Galatians 3:13-14 excites you the most?

Paul reinvents a popular anti-Yeshua taunt derived from Deuteronomy 21:22-23 to argue that Messiah’s suffering and death releases those who rely upon him from the curse of the Torah.

Within Judaism, Yeshua of Nazareth has often been known by the name Talui, or ha-Talui, which literally translated means the Hanged One, or contextually, the Crucified One. In old anti-Christian writings, this belittling name is sometimes combined with other unflattering descriptions, but in general Talui means Yeshua, the crucified one.

Ironically, the word talui is also a Hebrew word used in the Talmud that is still used today for uncertainty. Because it means hanging, it is used to express a matter hanging in doubt. For example, in English we sometimes speak of a hung jury. Something hanging swings back and forth, so hanging cam mean uncertainty. In the days of the apostles, Jewish people offered a special kind of sacrifice called an asham talui, which literally means a guilt offering hanging. One who was in doubt as to whether he had committed a sin or not, brought a guilt offering of uncertainty. The Talmud says that Bava ben Buta brought as asham talui to the Temple every day because he thought, “Perhaps I have sinned and did not realize it.”

Today, the anti-missionaries contemptuously call Yeshua, Talui, meaning the crucified one, but ironically the name also implies uncertainty. Might He not be the promised Messiah? What if His claims are true? Even more ironic, Isaiah 53:10 predicts that the Messiah will suffer on behalf of the nation when His soul makes an offering for guilt (asham). Yeshua, the crucified one (talui), went to the cross as an asham talui, so to speak.

However, those Jews who do not believe that He is the Messiah today, call Him Talui as an uncomplimentary taunt; but the Ruach ha-Kodesh inspired the human author Isaiah to record it in a positive light. The term comes from the Torah: If a man is guilty of a sin with a death sentence and he is put to death, and you hang (talita) him on a tree. His body is not to remain all night on the tree – instead you must certainly bury him the same day, for anyone hanged (talui) is a curse of God. You must not defile your land that ADONAI your God is giving to you as an inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

The Torah says that if a corpse is hung on a tree, it is not to be left hanging overnight. Instead, the corpse must be taken down and buried that same day. This passage is relevant to Messiah’s death. However, the Torah is not speaking of crucifixion. In Tractate Sanhedrin 46b, the Talmud points out that the man hung on a tree in Deuteronomy 21:22 was not crucified. He was already dead prior to being hung on the tree. In the ancient world, authorities sometimes hung the corpse of an executed man as a public warning to others (see the commentary on the Life of David, to see link click Bw – Sha’ul Takes His Own Life: The Desecration of the Bodies). Hopefully, those who saw the executed man’s body on display would resolve not to commit the same crimes. The Torah does not actually demand such a grisly method of warning. Instead, the Torah aims to ensure the dignity of the corpse by requiring a timely burial.

Hanging on a tree is not found as a means of delivering the death sentence in the Torah. Crucifixion was never a Jewish mode of execution and would itself be a violation of Jewish law. In Roman law, however, a person could be crucified for piracy, highway robbery, assassination, forgery, false testimony, mutiny, sedition, or rebellion. The Romans also crucified soldiers who deserted to the enemy and slaves who denounced their masters. A cross could be a tree or simply a post embedded in the ground. The condemned carried the crossbeam to the place of execution with the titulus (an inscription identifying his crime) hanging from his neck (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ls – Then They Brought Jesus to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull). Rome introduced this cruel means of execution in Judea as a way of punishing zealot rebels. Routine crucifixions had been going on for as long as three decades before the birth of Yeshua. Thousands and thousands of Jewish men died by crucifixion. Josephus claims that by the end of the Jewish revolt, the Romans had cut down all the trees in Judea for crosses.

The Romans did not observe Deuteronomy 21:23-23. The bodies of the crucified might be left hanging indefinitely. In the case of Messiah’s execution, however, the Jewish authorities pleaded with Pilate that the bodies should not remain on the execution stake during Shabbat (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Lx – The Burial of Jesus in the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea). Regarding the commandment of taking down the body and not letting it hang overnight, Rabbi Meir said, “There is a parable about this matter. To what can it be compared? It can be compared to two identical twin brothers. Both lived in a certain city. One was appointed king, and the other became a bandit. At the king’s command they hanged the bandit. But everyone who saw him hanging there said, ‘The king has been hung!’ Therefore, the king issued a command and he was taken down” (Sanhedrin 46b).

Deuteronomy 21:23 says: Anyone hanged (talui) is a curse of God. This passage explains why the name Talui, the Crucified One, the Hung One, became a common title for Yeshua in Judaism. As the Jewish people struggled under the attacks and persecution of the Church, the Talui nickname became an inside joke. Who is Yeshua? He is Talui. And what does the Torah say? Talui is accursed of God.

Anti-missionaries (the counter-proselytization of Jews) still use the passage today, and I suspect the joke goes all the way back for centuries and centuries. As the apostles proclaimed “Messiah crucified” within the Jewish community, the early detractors who resisted their message probably responded with Deuteronomy 21:23. Talui is accursed of God. The Crucified One is Accursed of God!

The most learned and most vicious anti-missionary who ever lived was Sha’ul of Tarsus. Paul knew this passage. He used it in his debates against the early believers in contempt of Yeshua haTalui, the Crucified One. Reflecting on this matter, Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: I make known to you that no one speaking by the Ruach Elohim says, “Yeshua be cursed,” and no one can say, “Yeshua is Lord,” except by the Ruach ha-Kodesh (First Corinthians 12:3). He brought it up again in the book of Galatians.

In Galatians 3:13-14, Paul returned to his old anti-Yeshua, Talui-attack and cited Deuteronomy 21:22-23 in reference to Messiah again. This passage was always popular with the anti-Yeshua crowd. But this time he put a new spin on it. It was as if Paul was warning the God-fearing Gentiles not to listen to what the Judaizers (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?) were telling them, saying, “Do not suppose that becoming Jewish is the easy ticket to salvation. In fact, it’s just the opposite. If you become Jewish, the standard goes up. You place yourself under responsibility to the whole Torah, all 613 commandments, and under a curse if you fail to obey them perfectly!”

According to Paul’s view, the curse for failing to keep the whole Torah extended beyond this world and into the next. He said: The righteous shall live by faith (Galatians 3:11CJB). The word live in the Talmud means the olam haba, and describes a time after the world is perfected under the rulership of Messiah. This term also refers to the afterlife, where the soul passes after death. In that respect, to fall under the curse for disobedience is to forfeit the resurrection and the olam haba. Like Moshe, Paul sets before his readers a choice of blessing and cursing for Jew and Gentile alike: The faithful are blessed along with Abraham, the faithful one. [But] all who rely on the deeds of Torah are under a curse – for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is anyone who does not keep doing everything written in the scroll of the Torah” (Galatians 3:9-10).

Messiah liberated [Jewish believers] from Torah’s curse because it was never given to Gentiles, it was only given to Jews. Christ didn’t merely die for our sins. His death was a penalty. Furthermore, Yeshua Messiah became a curse for us. His death was a penalty which the Torah required for breaking it. Now, obviously Jesus didn’t break any of the 613 commandments of the Torah. In fact, He was the only person who ever lived not to do so. His death was a substitutionary one. We deserved to die on the cross, but He took our place.

According to Paul, the final curse of the Torah is condemnation in the eternal court of judgment (see the commentary on Revelation Fo – The Great White Throne Judgment). Elsewhere, he points out that the Torah brings about wrath (Romans 4:15). It does so because it defines sin. He said: Now the Torah came in so that transgression (meaning choose to sin, to intentionally and willfully disobey) might increase (Romans 5:20). In other words, one of the functions of the Torah is that we would be made more aware of our sin. In fact, Paul identified the Torah as the ministry of condemnation (Second Corinthians 3:9). When Paul spoke of the curse of the Torah here in Galatians 3:13, he referred to the Torah’s condemnation of sin.

Yet, there is now no condemnation for those who rely on the faithfulness of Messiah Yeshua. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what was impossible for the Torah – since it was weakened on account of the flesh – God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh – so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach (Romans 8:1-4).

When Messiah came, he accomplished what the Torah could not accomplish. Paul reasoned that since Messiah was completely sinless, without spot or blemish as the Lamb of God, He had not earned the condemnation (curse) of the Torah. Still, the Torah clearly says: If a man is guilty of a sin with a death sentence and he is put to death, and you hang (talita) him on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22). Despite the fact of His innocence, Yeshua had committed no sin, much less a crime punishable by death, the Master was put to death and hung on a tree. The one who is hanged (talui) is accursed of Ha’Shem.

If Yeshua was accursed of God and yet had not earned that curse through His own transgressions, where did He acquire the curse of being hung on a cross made from a tree? Paul believed that Messiah took the Torah’s condemnation for the sins of others upon Himself. He took upon Himself the curse due to Jewish believers, who were previously included under the curse of the Torah, and He also opened the Abrahamic blessing to the Gentiles.

Messiah liberated [the Jews] from Torah’s curse, having become a curse for [them], for it is written, “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.” Yeshua Messiah’s death satisfied every claim of Ha’Shem’s holiness and justice so that He is now free to act on behalf of sinners in order that through Him the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, and also that [the Jews] might receive the promise of the Ruach through trusting faith ( Galatians 3:13-14).

Paul took an old taunt, a taunt that he himself had probably used against believers in Talui . . . and turned it around. Our Master became, so to speak, accursed, in that He took upon Himself the accursedness of His people and suffered on behalf of all those under the curse of the Torah – and not only for the Jewish people, but for all who will believe in Him and rely on His faithfulness.⁸³

Dear Heavenly father, We love You! Praise You for satisfying sin’s demand of death and in great power rising from the dead (First Corinthians 15:4) “Death is swallowed up in victory” . . . thanks be to God who keeps giving us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! (First Corinthians 15:54c, 57).

You are our slain Passover Lamb (John 1:29, First Corinthians 5:7). How awesome to run to our strong daddy for protection, deliverance, and salvation for: The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalms 18:2) I will say of ADONAI, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalms 91:2). He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. (Psalms 62:2).

Praise You for being our solid rock and fortress that we can always go to for protection from the storms of life. Your power is so great that You can still any storm (Matthew 8:23-27, Luke 8:22-25, Mark 4:36-41); or You may choose to allow the storm to howl, but we are safe in You, For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” . . . “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.” (Hebrews 13:5c, 6b). We love You! In Jesus holy name and power of resurrection, Amen.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
Galatians 3:11-12
Leviticus 18:5 and Habakkuk 2:4

The righteous shall live by faith DIG: What does it mean that salvation by faith is also seen in the proof texts of Leviticus 18:5 and Habakkuk 2:4? How have believers typically interpreted this passage? What effect did these verses have on Martin Luther? Why did he call Galatians “my Katherine” [the name of his wife]. If upholding the 613 commandments of Moshe was never meant to be a means of salvation, what is its purpose today? What is the high standard of the Torah? What is the only way we can reach that standard?

REFLECT: How were you saved? By faith? How do you live? By faith? What does it mean to live by faith? Being saved by faith is a one-time act, but living by faith is a lifetime undertaking. How are you doing? Since the Torah is a blueprint for living, how are you following the blueprint? How does having the righteousness of Messiah transferred to your spiritual bank account change the way you see yourself?

Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5 and Habakkuk 2:4 in a manner consistent with rabbinic interpretation to establish that the righteous shall live by faith.

The Judaizers strongly advocated the necessity of obeying the 613 commandments of Moshe in order to be saved. But here again, simply the sequence of events in the TaNaKh should have shown them the foolishness of that belief. Abraham not only was declared righteous a decade before he was commanded to be circumcised, but more than 500 years before YHVH revealed His Torah to Moshe at Sinai. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and countless other Jewish believers lived and died long before the Torah was given by God. Just as the Judaizers and their Galatian victims should have known the justification was by faith alone and not circumcision, they should have known that it is not by good deeds of the flesh.⁷⁵

It is clear that no one is set right [justified] before God by Torah, for “the righteous shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11CJB; Habakkuk 2:4; Hebrews 10:38). Habakkuk 2:4 receives prominent attention in a famous passage in the Talmud. In that passage, the sages began by stating that God gave Isra’el 613 commandments by which they could attain eternal life. If a man does them, he will live by them. But since 613 is far too many commandments and far too difficult, King David simplified it, summarizing the 613 in eleven principles expressed in Psalm 51. Eleven is still a lot. That’s still too much. So Isaiah simplified it even further, summarizing it in six principles in Isaiah 33:15-16. But six is still a lot to remember. So Micah simplified it to three, when he said: He has told you, humanity, what is good and what ADONAI is seeking from you: Only to (1) practice justice, (2) to love mercy, and (3) to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). But even these three can be imposing, so Isaiah again simplified it, summarizing the entire Torah in two principles: preserve justice, and do righteousness (Isaiah 56:1). That’s concise enough, but the Talmud goes on to say, “Then came Habakkuk, and reduced and simplified the whole Torah into one principle, saying: The righteous will live by faith (Makkoth [Stripes] 24a).

By the word live in Habakkuk 2:4, the Talmud means the olam haba, and describes a time after the world is perfected under the rulership of Messiah. This term also refers to the afterlife, where the soul passes after death. It can be contrasted with olam ha-zeh, meaning this world (Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30 and 20:35; Ephesians 1:21; Hebrews 6:5; Revelation 20-21). Consequently, the sages and rabbis also used this Habakkuk text as a Messianic passage. The righteous who live by faith are those who have faith in the coming Messiah. This is the passage from which Maimonides, a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages, derived his twelfth article of the Jewish faith: I believe with a complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, though His [coming may be delayed], nevertheless, I will wait for Him every day.” For the vision is yet for an appointed time. It hastens to the end and will not fail. If it should be slow in coming, wait for it. For it will surely come – it will not be delayed . . . but the righteous will live by faith (Habakkuk 2:3-4).⁷⁶

Christian interpreters typically understand this passage to demonstrate the difference between Christianity and Judaism, the difference between a Christian and a Jew, the difference between faith and deeds of the flesh. When Paul flatly states: Torah is not based on faith, he seems to contrast “those who live by the Torah,” against “those who live by faith.” A Jew, therefore, is not a person of faith if he is Torah observant, for the Torah is not based on faith. As a logical conclusion of this thinking, if you want to have faith, the one thing you cannot do is be Torah observant.

When Messianic Gentiles tell their friends or relatives in the mainstream Church that they have decided to attend a Messianic synagogue, to observe Shabbat, or eat kosher, their friends and family members often react with alarm and concern. Any perceived observance of the Torah causes them to worry because Torah is not based on faith. Throughout Christian history, Christians castigated Jewish believers who were Torah observant in some fashion (for example, kept the Sabbath on the seventh day or refused to eat unclean meats). The Church considered such Jews insincere converts, backsliders, and not of true faith. The Church often made abandonment of Torah the litmus test for Jewish believers, a test by which they had to prove the authenticity of their commitment to Christ and Christianity. It was as if they were saying, “Now that you are a Christian, you are free from the law. Have a ham sandwich!” When Paul said that Torah is not based on faith, historical Christianity understood it to mean that Torah observance and faith are incompatible.

The Christian Church has maintained this standard even for Jewish believers in Yeshua. When a Jewish person becomes a believer, he quickly learns that he must no longer practice Judaism or keep the Torah. Christian confessions often considered renouncing Torah Judaism as a prerequisite to the life of faith for Jewish believers because the Torah is not based on faith.⁷⁷

There is no justification by means of the Torah. This is obvious. If no one can uphold the 613 commandments perfectly, no one can be justified by it. This is not only a doctrine found in the B’rit Chadashah, and to prove it Paul quotes Habakkuk who lived in before the cross: Behold, the puffed up one – his soul is not right within him. But the righteous will live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).

Early in his life Martin Luther was greatly troubled by Romans 1:17, where he read: For in the gospel of righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.” When he read it, he would ask himself, “What does this mean, that there’s this righteousness that is by faith, and that it is from first to last? What does it mean that the righteous shall live by faith?” The answer to his own question became the key verse in Galatians and later in Romans. And so, the lights came on for Luther. And he began to understand that what Paul was speaking of here was a righteousness that God, in His grace, was making available to those who would receive it passively, not those who would achieve it actively by good deeds, but that would receive it by faith, and by which a person could be reconciled to a holy and righteous God. And Luther said, “When I discovered that salvation was by faith and not deeds, I was born again of the Spirit of God. And the doors of paradise swung open, and I walked through.” Many Church historians maintain that the foundation of the Protestant Reformation was laid with the writing of Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians.

The great German reformer said, “The letter to the Galatians is my letter. To it I am, as it were, married. Galatians is my Katherine [the name of his wife].” It was out of his careful and submissive study of Scripture, especially the book of Galatians, that Martin Luther discovered God’s plan of salvation by grace working through faith, a plan unalterably contrary to the thousand-year-old Roman Catholic teaching of salvation by deeds.⁷⁸

Even in the Dispensation of Torah, people were saved strictly on the basis of faith. Upholding the 613 commandments of Moshe was never meant to be a means of salvation; it was a blueprint for living for the Righteous of the TaNaKh who had already had their sins temporarily covered by faith that YHVH would accept their sacrifice.

Torah provided a Levitical sacrificial system that allowed people to deal with their sin. When a Jew felt the pang of sin his conscience, he would take the appropriate sacrifice to the Tabernacle or Temple and give it to the Levitical priest, who would offer it on the bronze altar (see the commentary on Exodus Fa – Build an Altar of Acacia Wood Overlaid with Bronze). If the person bringing the sacrifice had faith that his sacrifice would indeed cover his sin, then his sin was temporarily atoned for by the blood of the sacrifice. However, those who were trying to pile up their good deeds as a means of salvation would be lost. All salvation, no matter what Dispensation, is by faith in the blood of a sacrifice. In the Dispensation of Grace, that sacrifice was the blood of the Lamb, Yeshua Messiah.⁷⁹

Legalism, or trying to work your way to heaven, is the exact opposite of faith. Verse 11 assumes this, however, verse 12 proves it. Torah is not based on faith, but on [a misuse of] the text that says “Anyone who does these things by merely going through the motions (see the commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click Cc – False Religion is Worthless) will attain life through them” (3:12 CJB). Legalists say, “No need to trust God, just obey the rules!”

One of Paul’s proof texts is taken from the Torah: So you are to keep My statutes and My ordinances. The one who does them will live by them. I an ADONAI (Leviticus 18:5). The sages taught that the words the one who does them will live by them means “people may attain the resurrection from the dead and eternal life if they do them.” James would later say: Faith without works is dead (James 2:26b). Paul stayed in line with the mainstream of Jewish interpretation by explaining Leviticus 18:5 as saying that, “if a person keeps the commandments, he or she will attain eternal life by them. Yeshua Himself quoted the same passage to the same effect (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gw – The Parable of the Good Samaritan for greater detail).

Now a certain Torah-teacher stood up to entrap Yeshua, saying, “Teacher, what should I do to gain eternal life?” Then Yeshua said to him: What has been written in the Torah? How would you read it? And he replied, “You shall love ADONAI your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind . . . and your neighbor as yourself.” Yeshua said to him: You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live (Luke 10:25-28). So, Paul is not pitting faith against Torah observance. He is saying faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same coin: faith and obedience. Paul is not saying that keeping God’s commandments is the opposite of faith, he is saying that keeping God’s commandments is the evidence of faith.⁸⁰

But legalism – that is, legalistic obedience to the commands of the Torah – is disobedience to the Torah. One could be obeying every single mitzvah (except, of course, the mitzvah of faith), but if these things are being done without the sincere trust in the God who sent His Son Yeshua to be the payment for sin, then all of the outward “obedience” is hateful to ADONAI (Isaiah 1:14a).⁸¹ Those who think they can work their way to heaven do not receive the blessings of faith, but receive a curse. Because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

The Torah itself marks the danger of trying to live up to its standard, which is perfection. Pointing to the same truth in the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua destroyed the very foundation of legalism in the Judaism of His day. Because YHVH’s standard is perfection. He said: Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). And Messiah had already made it clear that Ha’Shem’s standard of perfection is inner virtue and perfection, not simply outwardly respectable behavior. To those who had piously said they had never committed murder, He said: Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca’ shall be subject to the [Great Sanhedrin]; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be subject to fiery Gehenna (Matthew 5: 22). And to those who claimed they had never committed adultery, He said: But I tell you that everyone who looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28).

Whether reading Leviticus or Habakkuk, the message is the same: perfection allows no exceptions, no failure, no matter how small. Failure to obey just one of the 613 commandments of the Torah, is to break them all. For whoever keeps the whole Torah, but stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all (James 2:10). No wonder the Ruach ha-Kodesh inspired Paul to write that no human, on the basis of Torah observance, will be set right [justified] in His sight (Romans 3:20a).

A ship that is moored to a dock by a chain is only as secure as the weakest link in that chain. If a severe storm comes and causes even one link to break, the entire ship breaks away. So it is for those who try to come to God by their own perfection. They will be lost and forever wrecked.⁸²

Is there a weak link to the chain that anchors the ship of your soul? If your chain’s links include works/obedience-then that link is weak and will break. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves – it is the gift of God. It is not from yourselves – it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship – created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10). Is your chain secure in the work of Messiah Yeshua? Is so then you are securely anchored. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20_NIV). Let us half firmly to our faith in Yeshua, which is a secure chain that no power, nor storm of life can break. Therefore, since we have a great Cohen Gadol who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua Ben-Elohim, let us hold firmly to our confessed allegiance. (Hebrew 4:14).

All Who Rely on the Deeds of the Law are Under a Curse
Galatians 3:10 and Deuteronomy 27:26

All who rely on the deeds of the Law are under a curse DIG: What is the difference between believing in legalism for salvation and believing in the Torah as a blueprint for living? What is the curse of Cain, and how did that relate to the curse of legalism? How did the Judaizers bring a curse upon themselves? How are believers supposed to view the Torah today?

REFLECT: Why do you think legalism can be appealing to some people? Why do you think some people believe that they can work their way into heaven? What are some customs of your Messianic synagogue or church that should not be imposed on new believers? How would you explain the promised “curse” in verse 10 to a seeker?

Paul condemns the Judaizers for relying on the deeds of the Law for salvation,
and writes to convince the Galatian God-fearers from making the same mistake.

Paul loved the Torah, in fact he said: The Torah is holy (Romans 7:12). We need to understand that the Torah is righteous and an important part of God’s Word. As such, it will last forever. As believers in the Dispensation of Grace, we should love the Torah also. At Shavu’ot, about three thousand were saved (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click An – Peter Speaks to the Shavu’ot Crowd). But about thirty years later, tens of thousands of believers were still zealous for the Torah (Acts 21:20). Therefore, the Torah is not merely for the righteous of the TaNaKh, but for all believers today (see the commentary on Exodus Du – Do Not Think That I Have Come to Abolish the Law or the Prophets).

However, the Judaizers during Paul’s ministry, spiritually blinded as they were, maintained that their knowledge of the Scriptures entitled them to the blessings which were obligated to the sons of Abraham. Yeshua said to the Pharisees and Sadducees of His day: You search the Scriptures because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about Me. Yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life (John 5:39-40)! This was the sin of Isra’el, ignoring the righteousness of YHVH and trying to establish her own right standing before God (Romans 10:1-4). For everyone who depends on a legalistic observance of Torah commandments lives under a curse, since it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep doing (every moment of every day, all the time) everything written in the scroll of the Torah” (3:10). Salvation, either in the TaNaKh, or in the B’rit Chadashah, has always been by faith. So, Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 27:26. Instead of being blessed by their act of placing themselves under the yoke of the Torah (voluntarily agreeing to obey all 613 commandments), the Judaizers (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?) had, in reality, put themselves under a curse.

Paul argued that the Judaizers had brought a curse upon themselves because they were relying on legalism for salvation. For no one can keep all 613 commandments perfectly. James, underscores this curse by saying: For whoever keeps the whole Law, but stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all (James 4:4). Anyone trying to keep the Law is under a curse. Why? Deuteronomy 27:26 clearly taught that unless you are able to perfectly uphold every aspect of the Law, all 613 commandments, you were under a curse. Under the Dispensation of the Torah, the 613 commandments were not a “religious cafeteria” where people could pick and choose which commandments they wanted to obey (James 2:10-11). You only have to be guilty of breaking one of the commandments to be found guilty of breaking them all. All you have to do is to start reading through the 613 commandments and you won’t get very far before you notice that you’ve broken one. All of a sudden, you’re under the curse of the Law. Because no one can uphold all the commandments perfectly, all humanity is under the curse, and the ultimate result of the curse is death. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).⁷⁴

As a result, Paul warned the God-fearing Gentiles in Galatia that becoming Jewish would bring serious consequences. They could not accept the blessings of taking on the yoke of the Law without also accepting the curse obeying all of the 613 commandments of the Law perfectly. If they chose to take on a Jewish identity, they needed to also take on the full weight of the curse of the Law, which is the curse of Cain. Cain thought he could have a right standing before ADONAI through his own effort of working in the field and raising his own crops as an offering; the Judaizers thought they could have a right standing before ADONAI through their own effort of following the 613 commandments of the Torah. Both Cain and the Judizers neglected Ha’Shem’s commandment of a blood offering. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22b).

Therefore, for believers, what is the purpose of the Torah today? First of all, it is not a set of rules. Rules cannot bring freedom, they can only accuse. What they do accomplish is to reveal the heart of God, and thus are an indispensable part of the life of a believer. The 613 Commandments of the Torah have nothing to do with our justification, nothing to do with our salvation . . . but they have everything to do with our sanctification. Justification is a one-time action by the LORD whereby, negatively, He forgives the sins of believers and, positively, He declares them righteous by imputing the obedience and righteousness of Christ to them through faith (Genesis 15:6; Psalm 32:2; Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 3:28 to 4:6; Gal 2:16, 3:8-9, 21, 24). Sanctification, however, is to be set apart, specifically, to the holy use and purpose of God. It takes work, and is a continuous lifetime struggle to be transformed into the likeness of Christ (Second Corinthians 3:18; Romans 12:1-2). It is a goal, and in reality, is never accomplished during our lifetime (see Perfectionism by B.B. Warfield). The result of being transformed is inward peace (Isaiah 32:17), observable spiritual fruit (Second Corinthians 9:8; Second Peter 1:5-11), and a deep desire to honor ADONAI (Matthew 5-16; John 15:8).

The Ten Commandments, for example, reveal the heart of God in three ways. First, the Torah is still a moral guide by revealing sin (Romans 7:7). Secondly, we know that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (Second Timothy 3:16). Therefore, the Torah can be used as a teaching tool to show ADONAI’s standard of righteousness, so that we can know Him better and love Him more. And thirdly, it can also be used to point others to Yeshua (Galatians 3:24-25). Nine of these Ten Commandments are also found in the B’rit Chadashah with conditions of the heart added that make us even more accountable not only for our actions, but for our thoughts as well. You could say the Torah is God’s blueprint for living. If we view the Torah in this way, we can love the Torah as we love God’s Word, and not be under a curse.

The Scriptures Proclaimed the Good News
to Abraham in Advance
3: 8-9

DIG: How does the example of Abraham here support Paul’s argument? How is our faith in Messiah a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham? How does each scripture from the TaNaKh here expose the problem of trying to be right with ADONAI by trusting in one’s ability to keep all 613 commandments in the Torah? How does Yeshua solve this problem for us in Galatians 13 and 14?

REFLECT: What was different about Peter’s target audience for salvation and Paul’s? It was not a different gospel, but a different audience. How did Abraham receive his gospel? How would you explain the promised “blessing” in verses 8-9 and 14 to a seeker? What is the difference between Messianic Jews’ and Orthodox Jews’ view of being a blessing to all the nations of the world?

It is important to understand that how the Good News was pronounced to Abraham in advance was identical to Paul’s salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel.

Christians often wonder if the righteous of the TaNaKh are “saved.” Have you ever heard that question? When the Jews met at the Jerusalem council (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bs – The Council at Jerusalem), the question was, “Are these Gentiles saved?” But today, far too many times, the question has become, “Are these Jews saved?” Did Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Isaiah and others go to Abraham’s side when they died? Did they go to heaven? If not, where did they go? Will those men and women who confess the name of Yeshua Messiah ever be resurrected?

During the three days that Messiah was in the tomb, He descended into the low, earthly regions of sh’ol (Ephesians 4:9). The TaNaKh refers to the place of the dead as sh’ol (Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 26:6; Psalm 16:10). One part of sh’ol was a place of torment and agony, occupied by the unrighteous dead and by the demons who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built (First Peter 3:20a). Another part of sh’ol was a place of contentment and rest, inhabited by the righteous of the TaNaKh who had put their faith in God. Abraham’s side (Luke 16:22) was a common phrase for shot at the time of Messiah. The righteous of the TaNaKh rested there until Yeshua paid for their sins on the cross. Then, after declaring victory over those very demons, the Lord of life liberated the godly captives and led them to heaven when He ascended on high (Ephesians 4:8). Among those who went with Him were Adam, Eve, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah and the righteous of the TaNaKh before the cross, including those mentioned in the hall of faith in the book of Hebrews (see the commentary on Hebrews Cl – The Hall of Faith).

Then, in the far eschatological future, during the seventy-five day interval (see the commentary on Revelation Ey – The Seventy-Five Day Interval) between the battle of Armageddon (see the commentary on Revelation Ex – The Eight Stage Campaign of Armageddon) and the Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Revelation Fh – The Dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom), the righteous of the TaNaKh will be resurrected (see the commentary on Revelation Fd – The Resurrection of the Righteous of the TaNaKh).

The Bible does display a pattern of progressive revelation. ADONAI did reveal more and more of His plan of redemption to His people as time went on, and He did grant earlier generations hints, clues, and glimpses of the future, just the same as He has granted such hints, clues, and glimpses to us. Abraham saw the day of Messiah through some revelation, and he rejoiced to see it. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was thrilled (John 8:56).

The Bible does not give any indication that Abraham knew the name of the Master or the details of the gospel or the four spiritual laws or the sinner’s prayer. To put it truthfully, Abraham did not accept Yeshua Messiah as his Lord and Savior. But if not, what does the Ruach ha-Kodesh mean when He says: The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the Good News to Abraham in advance, saying: All the nations shall be blessed through you (Galatians 3:8). The word “gospel” means “good news.” Paul had his own version of the gospel, a slightly different telling of the Good News. Paul’s gospel declared that the Kingdom and the world to come are open to Gentiles also. According to Paul in Galatians 3:8, the Good News proclaimed in advance to Abraham proclaimed: All the nations shall be blessed through you.

The seven word gospel proclamation preached to Abraham in advance came from the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. ADONAI called Abram from his home in Ur of the Chaldeans, told him to leave his country and his father’s household and travel to Canaan. God promised to make Abram into a great nation, to bless him, and to make him into a blessing. YHVH promised to bless those who bless him, and to curse those who curse him. Then Ha’Shem added: and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3b).

With an Apostolic Age reading from the Hebrew text, Genesis 12:3b could be translated: In you all the families of the earth shall be grafted in. The sages agreed as we read in the Talmud. Rabbi Elazar, a contemporary of Paul, expounded, “What is meant by the verse, ‘And all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you?’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham, ‘I have two godly shoots (Hebrew: berachot) to engraft (Hebrew: lehivrich) on you: Ruth the Moabitess and Naamah the Ammonitess.’ All the families of the earth, even the other families who live on the earth are blessed only for the sake of Isra’el. All the nations on the earth, even the ships that go from Gaul to Spain are blessed only for the sake of Isra’el” (Yebamoth 63a).

Rabbi Elazar uses the passage to explain how two Gentile women came to be regarded as part of Isra’el and even mothers of the Davidic kings. Ruth was a Moabite and Naamah was an Ammonite. The Torah specifically says: No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the community of ADONAI – even to the tenth generation none belonging to them is to enter the community of ADONAI forever (Deuteronomy 23:4). Ruth became the wife of Boaz, the mother of the Davidic line (see the commentary on Ruth Bd – Coda: The Genealogy of David). Naamah became the wife of Solomon (First Kings 14:21), mother of the Davidic line. How could a Moabite and Ammonite be mothers of the kings of Isra’el? Rabbi Elazar says that the answer is that they were no longer to be considered Moabite and Ammonite. They had been grafted into Abraham through the blessing that ADONAI announced in advance, “In you all the families of the earth shall be grafted in.”

When Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, he addressed the Gentile God-fearers (see the commentary on Acts Bd – An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah) there by saying: For if you were cut out of that which by nature is a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree . . . being a wild olive, [you] were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root of the olive tree with its richness (Romans 11:17 and 24).⁷²

Abraham was saved by faith. When Gentiles are saved, they are saved as Gentiles, just as Jews are saved as Jews. But the Judaizers were trying to tell the Gentiles that they had to become Jews before they could be saved. Those who are saved are saved because of their faith, and those who are lost are lost because of their unbelief. The Good News for Abraham was that he would have a son, Isaac. In the same way, the Good News for the Gentiles is another Son, the Lord Yeshua Messiah, through whom salvation comes.

Therefore, Paul draws his conclusion: If you want to go back to the TaNaKh for salvation, go back to how Abraham was declared righteous. So then, the faithful are blessed along with Abraham, the faithful one (3:9). Gentiles who take their stand on the basis of faith are the candidates for the blessings of Abraham. Which they already had! Going back and trying the impossible task of trying to perfectly obey the 613 commandments of Moshe, as the Judaizers were pressuring them to do, would in no way draw them closer to the blessings of Abraham because that can only come on the basis of faith.⁷³

Dear Awesome Heavenly Father, How fantastic You are and how much we love You! Praise You for Your gracious mercy for You told Abraham, the father of your Jewish nation, “in you all the families off the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18, 26:4). Thank You that from the very beginning, your gracious heart included all who choose to come to You (Matthew 11:28-29) thru faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), whether Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:26-29). It cost You so much to love us sinners! We so want to thank You by giving You our whole lives- our thoughts, our plans, our desires, anything that we have or do-for Your glory! We love You! In Your Holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

Those Who Have Faith
are Children of Abraham
3: 6-7

Those who have faith are children of Abraham DIG: Why did the Judaizers think they had the upper hand in their debate with Paul? How did Paul use Abraham in his argument for his salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel? What does “credited” mean? Why do we have different Dispensations? What did James mean when he said, “Faith without deeds is dead?” Do Gentiles who exercise faith become spiritual Jews? Why? Why not?

REFLECT: What is significant to you in Abraham’s story? How would you explain the promised “righteousness” in verse 6 to a seeker? What do good “deeds” mean to you? What is (are) your spiritual gifts? Does good “deeds” mean using your spiritual gift(s)? How can you do good “deeds” apart from using your spiritual gift(s)? If you were accused of being a believer, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

To combat the different gospel of the Judaizers, Paul explains how Abraham was justified by faith, not deeds. Therefore, the true children of Abraham are justified in the same way.

The Judaizers (to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers) claimed to have the TaNaKh on their side, especially looking to Moshe as their teacher. But Paul went centuries farther back and said, “Consider Abraham.” How was the father of the Jewish people justified? The answer was simple and direct. He was blessed because of his faith, not because of his deeds (see the commentary on Genesis Ef – Abram Believed the LORD and He Credited It to Him as Righteousness). Abraham simply believed. Period. And because he exercised faith, God declared him justified. What did Abraham believe? God promised Abraham a son and because Abraham believed the promises of God that faith is what justified him. That is why we call the Dispensation in which Abraham lived, the Dispensation of Promise (see the commentary on Genesis Ds – The Dispensation of Promise).

It is not complete truth to say that the righteous of the TaNaKh were justified by looking forward to the death of Messiah, and we are saved by looking back to the death of Messiah. That sounds spiritual, but it is not completely biblical. While it is true that it is our faith in the death and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua that saves us (Romans 10-9-10), not all whom God saves were aware of that glorious fact when they were saved. The Prophets, who spoke about the grace that was to be yours, searched for this salvation and investigated carefully. They were trying to find out the time and circumstances the Ruach of Messiah within them was indicating, when predicting the sufferings in store for Messiah and the glories to follow. (First Peter 1:10-11). While in every Dispensation, mankind is always saved by faith, the content of faith does vary, that is why we have different Dispensations. And the content of Abraham’s faith was not the death of Messiah. The fact that the Messiah would die for the sins of Isra’el was not revealed until Isaiah’s day. Then, how was Abraham saved? He believed the promises of ADONAI, specifically, the promise of a son (also see Romans 4:1-25 and Hebrews 11:8-19). So, Abraham was the example Paul holds up to the Galatian believers.⁶⁸

Striking a tremendous blow to the Judaizers, Paul linked the past with the present and declared that just as Abraham was saved by faith so were those who now claimed to be his children. Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” know then that those who have faith are children of Abraham (3:6-7).

The words credited (Greek: logzomai) in Galatians 3:6, Genesis 15:6, and Romans 4:11, 22-24 all mean transferred to one’s account. When John says the Spirit gives life (John 6:63a), he means that all the righteousness of Messiah is transferred to our spiritual account at the moment of faith. The theological name for this is imputation. The Bible teaches us that we have all inherited Adam’s sin nature. Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 5:12 and 3:23). In the TaNaKh, there had to be a sacrifice. Blood had to be shed, and a death had to occur; therefore, because of the death of Yeshua on the cross we have a perfect, absolute, righteousness that God the Father imputes to us through His Son. Because of our faith, we have passed God’s final exam of the universe with a hundred percent. When ADONAI sees us, He doesn’t see our sin, He sees the righteousness of His Son (Romans 1:17). We are in the Holy One, and He is in us. The only way we get to heaven is a result of the perfect righteousness of Yeshua Messiah. Therefore, what is true of Messiah is true of you.

The children of Abraham are declared righteous the same way Abraham was declared righteous – by faith. Therefore, both Jews and Gentiles who exercise faith, and only faith, as the means of salvation, become the real sons and daughters of Abraham.

Later, James (Ya’akov) the half-brother of the Master, declared that faith without deeds is dead. He insisted that faith must be accompanied by good deeds. In other words, good deeds are the evidence, the good spiritual fruit, that a person is truly saved. He said: Wasn’t Abraham our father proved righteous by deeds when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see faith worked together with his deeds, and by the deeds of his faith was made complete. The Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness – and he was called God’s friend. You see that people are also proved righteous by deeds and not by faith alone. And likewise, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also proved righteous by deeds when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without deeds is dead (James 2:21-26). The conclusion is most clear. Faith and deeds are essential to each other as the body and the spirit. Apart from the spirit, or the breath of life, the body is dead. Likewise, apart from the evidence of good deeds, faith may be said to be dead. True faith continually contributes to spiritual growth and development.⁶⁹

It is also important to understand that this does not mean that Gentiles who exercise faith become spiritual Jews. The word Jew is never applied in this context whatsoever. Even in the physical sense, not every descendant of Abraham physically are Jews because the Arabs are descendents of Abraham just as much as Jews are. Try calling one of them a Jew! So, in the physical realm, not all descendants of Abraham are Jews, and the same holds in the spiritual realm. While Gentile believers become followers of Abraham and receive the spiritual benefits of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:3), they are never mentioned as “spiritual Jews” either in the TaNaKh or in the B’rit Chadashah.⁷⁰

The Jewish people were very proud of their relationship with Abraham. The trouble was they thought that this relationship guaranteed them eternal life. John the Immerser warned them that their physical descent did not guarantee spiritual life (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bf – You Brood of Vipers, Who Warned You to Flee the Coming Wrath). Yeshua made a clear distinction between Abraham’s seed and Abraham’s children (John 8:33-47). Some people today still think that salvation is inherited. Because their mother or father were godly people, the children are automatically saved. But this is not true. It has been said, “ADONAI has no grandchildren.”⁷¹

O Foolish Galatians,
Who has Cast a Spell on You
3: 1-5

O Foolish Galatians, who has cast a spell on you DIG: How does Paul’s appeal here validate what he argued in 2:15-16? How does Paul’s appeal to their suffering in verse 4, their experience in verses 2-5, and Messiah’s death in 2:21 expose the foolishness and futility of human effort? What is the role of the Ruach ha-Kodesh in salvation and a believers’ testimony before the world?

REFLECT: The Ruach ha-Kodesh is the only real evidence of conversion in a person. How have you seen the Ruach at work in someone’s life? When was the last time you were convicted by the Ruach ha-Kodesh? What “rules” seem to be important in your circle of friends who are believers? Why do you think that is? How similar or dissimilar are these rules to the Oral Law (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law)? Why do you think that is? Have you endorsed your check?

When Paul first came to Galatia, they readily believed in his salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel. But after having received new life in Yeshua by faith, they had been persuaded to live out their new lives by the old way of deeds. Therefore, Paul asked six different rhetorical questions to prove ADONAI saves sinners through faith in Messiah and not by the deeds of the Torah.

Few things are more tragic or disappointing than a believer who deserts the gospel of grace for the counterfeit gospel that tries to improve on the finished work of Messiah. However, in Paul’s absence from Galatia, many of the believers there had fallen under the influence of the Judaizers (to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers?).

Throughout church history some believers have begun well but later pulled away from the truths they first believed and followed. They were saved by the faith-plus-nothing gospel and lived for ADONAI in humble trust, but then fell prey to some system of legalism and works righteousness that promised more but produced much less. Some fall into legalism, substituting external ceremonies and rites, for the internal reality of a personal relationship with Yeshua Messiah. Others fall in legalistic systems of do’s and don’ts, hoping to improve their standing before YHVH by doing or not doing certain things. Still others look for a “second blessing” – a spiritual secret to unlock some higher plane of spirituality, an additional experience of grace – once again hoping to receive more of the Lord than they imagine was granted to them at conversion (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith).

Paul had been used by Ha’Shem to introduce the gospel of salvation equals faith-plus-nothing to the Galatians. But now they were drifting away from pure grace and had accepted a counterfeit substitute based on the 613 commandments of the Torah. The defecting believers had not lost their salvation (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), but they had lost the joy and freedom of it and had returned to the slavery of self-imposed legalism. They were still in Messiah and had a right standing with ADONAI, but were not living in conformity with the truth that had saved them to begin with. Because they had allowed themselves to be deceived, they also stumbled the unbelievers around them to think that being a child of God was a matter of following the 613 commandments of the Torah rather than simple faith/trust/belief in Yeshua.

The Adversary never stops in his efforts to destroy the Lord’s way of salvation, and because ADONAI’s way is by His grace working through our faith, the devil’s response is the opposite, the way of mankind’s own effort and good deeds. From the time of Cain’s first works-righteous offering of a grain instead of an animal sacrifice (see the commentary on Genesis Bj – Your Brother’s Blood Cries Out to Me from the Ground), unbelieving man has sought to make himself right with God through his own goodness and merit.

When Paul first came to Galatia on his first missionary journey (see the commentary on Acts Bm – Paul’s First Missionary Journey), he was amazed at his gracious reception. He was physically hurting, yet though my physical condition was a trial to you, you did not hate or reject me. No, you welcomed me as a messenger of God – or even as Messiah 

Yeshua (4:14). But now he was at a loss to explain their defection from the gospel of faith-plus-nothing that he had preached to them, saying: I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from the simple gospel of faith in Messiah, the One who called you by grace, to a different gospel; not that there is another, but only some are confusing you and want to distort the Good News of Messiah (1:6-7). Having received new life in Yeshua by faith, they had been persuaded to live out their new lives by the old way of deeds. They had turned back from grace to the obedience of the 613 commandments of Moshe, from trust to deeds, from the cross to ceremony, from freedom to slavery.

Here, Paul reminds his readers that a believer’s experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Ruach ha-Kodesh, and of God the Father are unquestionable evidence of having a right standing before YHVH through personal faith in the perfect, completed work of Messiah, apart from any human effort. Although experience in itself is not entirely reliable evidence of spiritual reality, it is nevertheless a powerful defense of the gospel when closely linked with and built on scriptural truth. Because genuine experience of a believer verifies the gospel of grace, the inspired apostle was led by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to use it as an effective means of defending the doctrine of justification by faith.⁶⁵

Paul uses six different rhetorical questions here, each giving an obvious answer, to prove ADONAI saves sinners through faith in Messiah and not by the deeds of the Torah.

O foolish Galatians (3:1a)! This is an expression of surprise mingled with indignation. Paul was incredulous, hardly able to believe what the Galatians had done. Like many other believers before and after them, they had been deceived by the Adversary. However, the Galatian believers were especially foolish because they were privileged to sit under the teaching of the apostle Paul himself, whose heartbeat was the gospel of grace. The Greek word for foolish is anoetos. It does not express mental deficiency, but mental laziness and carelessness. Anoetos frequently carried the idea of wrong attitude of heart and a lack of faith that clouds judgment. The believers in Galatia were not stupid; they had simply failed to use their spiritual intelligence when faced with the unscriptural, gospel-destroying teaching of the Judaizers. They were simply not using their heads.

First, Who has cast a spell on you (3:1b)? The phrase cast a spell is from the Greek word baskaino, which means to charm or fascinate in a misleading way, as by flattery, false promises, or occultic power, and clearly suggests the use of feeling over fact, emotion over clear understanding of truth. “Who flattered you so much?” Paul asked rhetorically, fully aware of the answer. Although the word baskaino can carry the idea of sorcery, but that isn’t the idea here. The Galatians were not victims of a magical spell or incarnation, but were misled by teachings that they should have instantly recognized as false. They were willing victims who surrendered to the counterfeit doctrine of the Judaizers.⁶⁶

Before your very eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as crucified (3:1c). Clearly portrayed translates progropho, a word that was used of posting important official notices on a placard in the marketplace or other public location for citizens to read. Yeshua Messiah had been clearly portrayed before the Galatians by Paul himself. Those who sat at his feet could almost hear the ringing of the hammer as it drove the nails into Yeshua’s hands and feet. They may have been able to visualize the blood flowing from His thorn-pierced head and spear-pierced side. They were convinced of His atoning death, convicted of their sin, and brought into the Kingdom of heaven by their faith.

The word crucified is in the perfect tense, indicating that the crucifixion was a historical fact that had continuing results. As John declares: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (First John 1:9). No ritual, ceremony, regulation, or anything else devised or accomplished by mankind can add to the Messiah’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. Those Galatians who put their trust in the Torah of Moshe for salvation obligated themselves to keep all 613 commandments, which is humanly impossible. They were so foolish.

Second, I want to find out just one thing from you: did you receive the Ruach by deeds based on Torah, or by hearing based on trust (3:2)? Paul’s repeated return to the deeds of the Torah indicates the wide-spread conviction of the culture that Yeshua was born into, that Torah-study and obedience had in fact represented the keys of knowledge which would open up God’s Kingdom. It is only now that people can know ADONAI through Yeshua’s faithfulness and obedience on the cross, ushering in a B’rit Chadashah written on the heart of flesh, that the shortcomings of Torah-study for salvation have become apparent.⁶⁷

Here, Paul considers the deeds based on Torah as advocated by the Judaizers as being comparable to perfection via the flesh, namely circumcision, coupled with bad motives. The apostle was not discounting the value of God’s Torah, but was focusing his readers’ attention on its misuse by the Judaizers. As an essentially Gentile church, they did not possess the Torah anyway.

Like the Judaizers of today, the Hebrew Roots movement (see Ak – The Hebrew Roots Movement: A Different Gospel) wants to add special requirements that supposedly add blessings to the finished and perfect work of Messiah – such as wanting to add the impossible burden of following the 613 commandments to faith in Christ, as if His shed blood isn’t enough to save us! Galatians 1:6-10 sums up what Paul said about adding Torah observance for salvation. The Judaizers of today appear to be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua, Paul declared. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what was impossible for the Torah – since it was weakened on account of the flesh – God has already done (Romans 8:1-4).

Third, are you so foolish? The Galatians’ foolishness in Paul’s eye was that they were seeking to add something that was already completed by Yeshua on the cross. The same way we came into the relationship with Messiah, is the way we live it out.

Fourth, after beginning with the Ruach, will you now reach the goal in the flesh (3:3)? It was as if Paul was saying, “How could you think that your weak, imperfect, still sinful flesh could improve on what the Spirit of God began in you when you first believed? Righteousness always having been a matter of circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6; Romans 2:29), why wonders Paul, did the Galatians need the physical sign of circumcision? Having begun with a spiritual transformation, were they then looking for justification through a physical transformation . . . and becoming Jewish? A misconception that the Galatians had was that they were justified by faith, but sanctified by works. But that is a different gospel (1:6).

Over a hundred years ago a book of B. B. Warfield’s collected writing called Perfectionism was published. There were certain men at that time who were claiming that they had reached a state of perfectionism in this life. And in his writings Warfield disputed that concept, claiming sanctification in this life was only a goal, not a reality. However, it probably would have been easier, just to ask the wives of those men a few questions.

Fifth, did you endure so much for nothing? When they first became believers they had to separate themselves from paganism and repudiate the worship of foreign gods. This resulted in great persecution from the other Galatians and the new believers suffered much. But now, since they were listening to the Judaizers and submitting themselves to the 613 commandments of Moshe, in essence, they were really saying that they had suffered for nothing. They were being told they really were not yet saved because they had not been circumcised. Was all their suffering for nothing! Paul softens the blow by adding: If it really was for nothing, leaving open the possibility and hope that it was not and they would come to their senses and reject the false gospel of the Judaizers (3:4).

Sixth, the Galatian believers received the Ruach ha-Kodesh by faith in Messiah, not through obedience to the Torah. The gift of the Spirit of God is the believer’s greatest evidence of ADONAI’s favor, His greatest proof of salvation and the down payment of eternal glory. So then, Paul asked: The One who gives you the saving Ruach and works miracles among you – does He do it because of your deeds based on Torah or your hearing based on trust and faithfulness (3:5)? They had seen Paul perform miracles in Iconium (Acts 14:3), and Lystra (Acts 14:8-11). It was clear, furthermore, that those supernatural miracles were not the result of deeds of the Torah, but from hearing that leads to faith. The Galatians did not know the Torah anyway, and Paul’s gospel was salvation equals faith-plus-nothing.

Today, the fact that you are reading this probably means that you are saved . . . and that is a miracle. There are people who have had their life changed. There are alcoholics and drug addicts who have been redeemed. There are people who were living an immoral life that have turned around and are walking in a different direction. There are people whose home was breaking up that have been given a new love and a new relationship. So Paul is saying when these miracles happened in your life, did that happen because of your deeds or because of His grace?

But for most in this world, it seems too simple to be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Messiah alone. So here in Galatians, Paul will declare his gospel of grace over and over and over again. It is not what we do, it is what He does. They think to themselves, “Surely there must be SOMETHING I have to do to have a right standing before ADONAI!” The Philippian jailer said: What must I do to be saved? And Paul’s answer was: Put your trust in the Lord Yeshua and you will be saved (Acts 16:30-31).

What does putting your faith/trust/belief (Greek: pisteuo from pistis) in Messiah mean? If someone gave you a check for a million dollars as a gift and you go to the bank and speak to the teller and say, “Wow! Can you believe someone gave me this check for a million dollars!” She would say, “I’ve never seen anything like that. How wonderful for you.” Then the teller would say, “But you have to endorse it.” And after you endorse that check, you leave the bank and start telling people that you had earned that money just because you signed your name to it. Would anyone believe you? No! There is no way that anyone would believe that endorsing a check would mean that you worked for the million dollars.

Over two thousand years ago, God wrote a check and made it out to you for eternal life. And He wrote it in the name of Yeshua Messiah. And the way we endorse that check, the way we receive that gift is our faith/trust/belief in Yeshua Messiah, His crucifixion on Calvary and resurrection. It is believing that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (First Corinthians 15:3b-4). It is nothing we do; but merely receiving the free gift of salvation that He has offered, in the same way that someone endorses a check.

Have you endorsed your check? If so, see my commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith.

The Doctrinal Argument:
The Failure of Legalism
3:1 to 4:31

So, in the first two chapters of Galatians, Paul laid out the problem. What is the nature of the gospel, and what does one need to believe to be saved. He showed that the gospel he was preaching came from direct revelation from God Himself. He was independent of all other sources. Next, in the doctrinal argument, Paul will deal with the Torah itself and show its absolute failure in our justification and sanctification. Paul defends his doctrine of justification by faith alone without deeds, against that of the Judaizers who taught that deeds of an individual gave a person acceptance with God.

In these verses Paul deals with the failure of legalism, or substituting external ceremonies and rites, for the internal reality of a personal relationship with Yeshua Messiah. The principle of salvation equals faith-plus-nothing is difficult for humans to accept. The problem that the Galatian church encountered with legalism is not uncommon. Somehow it doesn’t seem right that we should receive salvation without having to do anything for it or to suffer somewhat for our sins. Or if that doesn’t seem to be the case with respect to ourselves, it certainly does seem to be the case with respect to others, especially those who are especially evil.

The gospel itself is a very simple trust. We have nothing to do to be saved except to accept what Messiah has already done. Yeshua died for our sins, was buried and rose again. And all we simply need to do is to believe that, accept it by faith, and come into a relationship with ADONAI (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith). Because all other additions to the simple gospel are false gospels, counterfeit gospels, and they are, therefore, cursed. The simple gospel is salvation equals faith-plus-nothing. Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised [to life] on the third day according to the Scriptures (First Corinthians 15:3). Nothing can be added because the perfect sacrifice was slain, that perfect gift completely paid our sin debt. For our trust in Messiah’s death, and our choosing to follow Him, is like what God told the Israelites to do when they brought a burnt offering. He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, so that it will be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf (Leviticus 1:4). Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised [to life] on the third day according to the Scriptures (First Corinthians 15:3). Simply trust what God has already done for you.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It finally comes down to this: each one of us, individually, is responsible for the death of Messiah. It was our sins that nailed Him to the cross. For all have sinned willfully, in greater or lesser degree, against the God of creation and holiness, and therefore, each of us deserved to die and spend eternity away from His presence in sh’ol (Romans 6:23). But the Lord Yeshua loved us so much that He was willing – even anxious – to suffer the judgment that we deserved, and be our substitute, in order that we might be saved. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us (Romans 5:8).

God the Father was willing to offer His one and only Son as the sacrifice for our sins, in order to satisfy both the demands of perfect justice and the compulsions of perfect love. The forgiveness and shalom, both temporal and eternal, thus purchased for us by Messiah on His cross are now available freely and fully to anyone who will acknowledge and receive Him by simple faith, “For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart it is believed for righteousness and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation. For everyone who calls upon the name of ADONAI shall be saved” (Romans 11:9-10 and 13).

Therefore, having been made righteous by trusting, we have shalom with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah (Romans 5:1). Dear Heavenly Father. How we praise You! Your offer of salvation is so great, so loving, so undeserved! We bow humbly before You in worship. We seek to live our lives to please You. We offer up to You our every thought, every action, and every intent of our heart to Your glory and honor. In Your holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

In Chapters 3 and 4 Paul gives a classic defense of the doctrine of justification by faith, a defense he had introduced earlier (see Bd – Through the Law I Died to the Law). In 3:1-5 he defends the doctrine from the standpoint of personal experience, and in 3:6 to 4:31 from the standpoint of scriptural revelation.

Through the Law I Died to the Law
2: 17-21

Through the Law I died to the Law DIG: How does Paul turn the tables on his rule-keeping opponents? How did Paul rebuke Peter? Does legalism offer a remedy for sin? What is the purpose of the 613 commandments of Moshe? What does it mean to be crucified with Messiah? What did Paul mean when he said, “I have died to the Law?” How was Peter being hypocritical?

REFLECT: Is Messiah’s death everything to you? What difference does this make to your love for Him and your actions in life? How would you explain “justification by faith: to someone who has never been to a Messianic synagogue or church before? How would you explain the difference between being moral and being a believer to someone who thinks being good makes them acceptable to ADONAI? What “additions” to faith might outsiders perceive in your friends who are believers regarding what they should do to be approved? How can you help break down these barriers? In what ways is your old self dead, crucified with Christ? Have you taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self? Or are there some old practices still hanging around your neck that continue to give you problems? What can you do this week to remedy that noose around your neck?

In Galatians 2:11-21 the scene changes from Yerushalayim and the council there to Syrian Antioch, where the first Gentile church was established. Paul and Barnabas served as spiritual leaders, with help from three other men (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bn – Barnabas and Sha’ul Sent Out from Syrian Antioch). The remaining verses of Chapter 2 develop the inconsistency between Peter’s behavior and his beliefs. At the same time they form a superb transition and introduction to Chapters 3 and 4 which Paul defended his salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel.

In typically rabbinic teaching fashion (Romans 10:14-15), Paul anticipates an objection the Judaizers might make (to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers). The objection is two-fold. First, and easily disposed of is Messiah an agent of sin? Their reasoning was, if turning away from the yoke of the 613 commandments is sin, since we have to do that to become believers in Yeshua Messiah, then Messiah is an agent of sin, because that would be exactly what Paul would be asking them to do. Turning away from the 613 commandments of the Torah, and turn by faith to Yeshua Messiah. In theory, if that were a sin (which of course it is not), then Yeshua would become an agent of sin Himself (which of course He is not). But if, while seeking to be justified in Messiah, we ourselves also were found to be sinners, is Messiah then an agent of sin? In other words, does becoming a believer mean that we forsake Torah? Is eating and fellowshipping with Gentiles really a sin against Torah? The answer in Greek is very forceful: May it never be (2:17)!

The second part of the objection might be stated by the Judaizers like this, “You have been seeking to be righteous before God by uniting yourself with Yeshua; but instead of attaining righteousness, you end up being a sinner, just like the Gentiles, because you do not obey every single one of the 613 commandments of Moshe! But Paul answers this objection by declaring: Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor (2:18 CJB). Paul is really referring to Peter’s action of declaring the Levitical commandments regarding the eating of food, null-and-void when he ate with the Gentiles, and then declaring it valid when he turned around and withdrew his fellowship from them. But Paul tactfully puts himself into the picture and supposes a hypothetical case. His argument is that instead of committing sin by abandoning legalism for grace, one becomes a transgressor by returning to the 613 commandments for salvation, which he had previously abandoned.

It was as if Paul was saying to Peter, “If you, of all people, caused a sharp division between Jew and Gentile by removing yourself from the table of fellowship with Gentiles, you are rebuilding the wall of separation (Ephesians 2:14) that you originally tore down. If you are now putting it back up, then you are admitting that you were wrong in the first place, and thus, proving to have been living in sin and transgression.”

Paul then distinguished himself from Peter, contrasting what he did with the Torah with what Peter did with the Torah. For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional corrupted, and legalistic interpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God (2:19 CJB). Obedience to the 613 commandments of Moses is not our master; ADONAI is. It is not our relationship to the Torah that saves us, it is our relationship with ADONAI (Romans 7:1-2 and 4). Paul’s attempt to fulfill the 613 commandments of Moshe perfectly for salvation revealed his own inability to meets its demands, and its inability to make him righteous. As a result, he abandoned it as a means of justification and accepted salvation by grace in Messiah. He found that while the 613 commandments of Moshe did reveal sin, they provided no remedy for sin, but rather condemned him hopelessly, for no one could fulfill its requirements. Obedience to legalism for salvation exercised a double power over him, for it made him a sinner and then punished him for being one!⁶³

How does one die through the Law? Because legalism convicts the breaker of the 613 commandments, and then executes the punishment. Bondage to legalism kills. The Law did two things. First, it revealed sin. It told us what sin was. But secondly, it provoked sin. As Paul writes in First Corinthians 15:50-55, the power of sin is the Torah because our sin nature cannot operate unless it has a base of operation, and the Torah is sin’s basis of operation. As soon as the Torah says, “You shall not,” our sin nature says, “Oh, yes I will.” It suddenly has a base of operation to make us sin more. The problem was not the Torah, the problem was our sinful human nature. This is taught at length in Romans, especially in Romans 3:19-31, 5:12-21, and 7:1-25.

When Messiah died on the cross, by positional truth, we were crucified with Him. Do you not know that all of us were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were also immersed into His death? Therefore, we were buried together with Him through immersion into death, the death required for failing to perfectly obey all of the 613 commandments of the Torah perfectly (not because of His sin, but because of ours) – in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:2b-4ff).

And, like Isaac, who knowingly and willingly permitted Abraham to bind him to the altar of sacrifice, so the Lord Yeshua willingly suffered and died for us. I have been crucified with Messiah (Galatians 2:20a; Second Corinthians 5:15; Romans 6:10-11; Colossians 2:20; Second Timothy 2:11). We are saved by faith, but our faith goes all the way back to the cross. It was at the cross that Yeshua paid the price for my sin. When the Father looks at us He doesn’t see our sin, He sees His Son because we have been covered by the blood of the Lamb. We are justified, we are in Messiah (Ephesians 1:1, 3-4, 9-10, 12). We are saved by grace through faith in Yeshua Messiah. It is what Yeshua did that saved me. My faith is accepting and believing that, and even this is not from [ourselves], it is the gift of God – not by deeds, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

And it is no longer I who live but Messiah lives in me (Romans 8:9). Now something has changed. After salvation He lives in me. A mother took her young daughter to the pediatrician for a physical and he took an ear scope, and to make the child feel comfortable, he told her what he was going to do, and he looked into her ear he said, “I wonder if I can see the Cookie Monster in here.” She just smiled. He went to the other ear and said, “I wonder if I’ll see Big Bird in here.” She just smiled. Then he took a stethoscope and put it on her chest and said, “I wonder if I can hear Barney in here.” But she pushed his hand away and said, “No way! Yeshua lives in my heart. Barney is on my underwear!” She knew where Messiah lived. And you need to know where Messiah lives. In us! This fact gives us the ability to live out life as a believer. We cannot do this on our own. We can’t. And anyone who has been a believer for more than 48 hours knows that you can’t live a righteous life. You try to live a good life. You try to live a moral life. You try to live an honorable life in your own power, you are going to be very frustrated. Salvation is when we are in Messiah, but the ability to live out the life of a believer is when Messiah is in us.

Therefore, Paul was telling those Gentile believers that to go back and try to live up to the 613 commandments of the Torah would be to cancel one’s union with Messiah’s sacrifice on the cross and therefore go back under sin. Having died to legalism, the old self is dead, crucified with Christ. You have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the One who created you (Colossians 3:9-10).

And the life I received by trusting in Messiah, I now live by trusting in Ben-Elohim – who loved me and gave Himself up for me (2:20b). The Greek verb behind live is in the perfect tense, indicating a past completed action that has continuing results. When we trust Yeshua for salvation we spiritually participate with the Lord in His crucifixion and in His victory over sin and death. Therefore, Messiah’s death and resurrection (the atonement) satisfies every claim of HaShem’s holiness and justice so that God is free to act on behalf of sinners. Once crucified with Messiah, because we are in Him (Ephesians 1:3, 7, 11-13), we are no longer under the power of the legalism. What Paul was saying to Peter was, in effect, “As Jews, we are free from the Law for salvation, we have died to legalism, and we have no reason to go back to it, consequently, we have no right to expect the Gentiles to obligate themselves to it.”

Summing up his case against Peter, Paul declared: I do not nullify the grace of God -for if righteousness comes through legalism, then Messiah died for no reason (2:21)! If it were possible to be saved by legalism then Messiah did not need to die. But it was necessary for Him to die, because no one (besides Messiah Himself), could perfect obey the 613 commandments of the Torah. Our sin nature would not allow it.⁶⁴

We are Not Justified
by Deeds of the Torah
2: 15-16

DIG: What does justification by faith mean? How does Paul use the term as compared with his opponents (2:15-16)? Why do these differences matter so much? Comparing verses 2:15-16 with Paul’s preaching in Acts 13:38-39, how would you sum up what the gospel is all about?

REFLECT: The heart of the gospel is having a right relationship with ADONAI apart from deeds. What difference would it make to you if you had to earn your way to heaven by keeping all of the 613 commandments of the Torah? If you can get to heaven in any other way than faith in the shed blood of Messiah, did He die in vain? Can you imagine anyone saying to God the Father, “I don’t need Your Son. I’ll figure this out by myself. I’ll find another way to heaven?” Do you know someone in your life that thinks like this? How can you pray for them this week?

In Galatians 2:11-21 the scene changes from Yerushalayim and the council there to Syrian Antioch, where the first Gentile church was established. Paul and Barnabas served as spiritual leaders, with help from three other men (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bn – Barnabas and Sha’ul Sent Out from Syrian Antioch). Paul continues his rebuke of Peter and the defense of his salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel.

Earlier, we saw that Peter visited the believing community in Antioch, the largest center of believers outside of Yerushalayim. He found a community in which Jewish believers and Gentile believers freely intermingled, worshipped together, and even ate together. Peter did the same until certain men from James (2:12) arrived and applied pressure on the Jewish believers to separate from the Gentile believers. When Peter gave in to their pressure, Paul rebuked him in front of everyone.

The heart of mankind’s spiritual dilemma is that we are incapable of overcoming the total sinfulness that separates us from ADONAI. Job’s friend Bildad asked: How can a person be justified before God (Job 25:4a)? How can a guilty and condemned sinner be made righteous, and thereby acceptable to a holy and pure God? Justification by faith is Ha’Shem’s answer to that dilemma and need. In explaining the true doctrine of justification, Paul first states what it is here in 2:15-16, and then gives his defense of this important doctrine in 2:17-21 (to see link click Bd – Through the Law I Died to the Law).

Paul’s rebuke of Peter (see Bb – The Antioch Incident: How Can You Force Jews to Live Like Gentiles) culminated in one of the most forceful statements in the B’rit Chadashah on the doctrine of justification – the very doctrine that Peter and the men from James were, in effect, renouncing by their hypocritical separation from Gentile believers.⁶¹

We are Jews by birth and not sinners from among the Gentiles (2:15). The word we is emphatic and serves to emphasize the sharp contrast which Paul is about to make between himself, Peter, all other Jewish believers, and the Gentles. First-Century Judaism divided the world into two main categories: Jews and Gentile sinners (see Ba – Gentiles during the Second Temple Period). It’s as if Paul was saying, “As for us, by nature we are Jews, not habitual sinners like the Gentiles.” If you would like Paul to elaborate on what he means by Gentile sinners, just read about God’s wrath against sinful humanity in Romans 1:18-32 and he will tell you exactly what he means by castigating the entire Gentile world as Gentile sinners.

In this verse, one of the most important in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the word justified occurs for the first time in the Bible. Yet we know that [whether Jew or Gentile] a person is not justified by deeds based on [obeying the 613 commandments of the] Torah, but rather through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua (2:16a). Justification is the act of ADONAI whereby, negatively, He forgives the sins of believers, and positively, He declares them to be righteous by transferring all the righteousness and obedience of Messiah to them through faith. Whatever is true of Him is true of them. It’s just-as-if-I’d never sinned.

At the Jerusalem Council, Peter declared the same truth in response to these belonging to the [sect] of the Pharisees who had believed (Greek: peoisteukotes from pisteuo, meaning to believe, to have faith in, to trust in) stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Torah of Moshe” (Acts 15:5). He declared: Why do you challenge Gentile salvation and put God to the test by putting a yoke on the neck of the [Gentile] believers – which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But instead, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Yeshua, in the same way as they are (Acts 15:10-11).

Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation, said that if the doctrine of justification by faith is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost. In this last section of Chapter 2, Paul was inspired by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to introduce this most essential doctrine, a doctrine he had preached and explained to the Galatians on many occasions. He uses the verb form of justification (Greek: dikaioo) four times in verses 16-17 and the noun form (Greek: dikaiosune) once in verse 21, where it is translated righteousness. In the B’rit Chadashah these and other forms of the Greek word are variously translated as justify, justification, righteousness, just, righteous, and justified.

So even we [the Jewish believers] have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua, in order that we might be set right [justified] based on trust in Messiah and not by deeds based on Torah – because no human will be justified by deeds based on Torah (2:16b).

And to be justified by Yeshua Messiah, the believing Jews needed to reject the deeds based on Torah. It was as if Paul was saying, “Because we are Jews by nature, and we saw the need for Yeshua Messiah, and believed that He is sufficient for all of our spiritual needs, why now do we suddenly compel the Gentiles to believe in a covenant that we ourselves found that we could not keep? We couldn’t keep the 613 commandments of Moses, and that is why we turned to Yeshua Messiah. Why ask the Gentiles to keep it?

This is the condition of the Jewish believer today. No amount of Torah-keeping can make a person righteous, because the root of sinfulness is in the fallen nature of the human heart. Our basic problem is what we are . . . not what we do. Sinful acts are merely the outward expression of a sin nature that contains sinful thoughts. As a result, no amount of deeds can save a person, because the best of human deeds cannot change the sin nature of the person doing them. Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those trying to obey all of the 613 commandments of Moses for salvation, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God’s judgment. For in His sight no one living will be considered righteous (Psalm 143:2) on the grounds of a legalistic observance of Torah commandments, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are (Romans 3:19-20 CJB).

The Torah is important as a mirror to show us our sinfulness; but it can only reveal sin, not remove it. But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness – namely, the righteousness of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua, to all who keep trusting. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua . . . for we maintain that [we] are justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Torah (Romans 3:21-24 and 28).

Only faith in Yeshua Messiah can bring a person the gracious gift of righteousness that provides forgiveness and salvation. Faith/trust/belief in Christ is not mere intellectual assent to the fact that Jesus died and rose for our sin (see the commentary on Hebrews Al – How Shall We Escape If We Ignore So Great a Salvation), but is personal trust in His death to remove and forgive our own sin. It is a total surrender to Him, not only as Savior, but also as the Lord of our life Therefore, submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:7-8a).

All claims that salvation is through belief in Yeshua Messiah plus something else are blasphemous, satanic lies from the pit of hell. There can be no effective or acceptable human addition to Christ’s work on the cross. This passage is as clear and forceful statement of the doctrine of justification by faith alone as can be found in the Bible.⁶²

The Antioch Incident:
How Can You Force Jews
to Live Like Gentiles
2: 11-14

The Antioch incident: how can you force Jews to live like Gentiles DIG: Who were those “men from James?” How can we be confident that they were not Judaizers? Read Acts 11:1-18. In light of this experience, how do you account for Peter’s actions here when he comes to Antioch? Likewise, how can you account for Peter’s actions after the Jerusalem council? Why did Peter withdraw from eating with the Gentiles? How had Peter “lived like a Gentile?” Why did Paul rebuke Peter in front of the whole church? Why was the defection of Barnabas so devastating to Paul?

REFLECT: Have you ever compromised your faith in a social situation? Can you identify with how Peter felt? Were you called out by another believer in front of everyone? If so, how did you react? Or were you talked to privately? Or did you realize what you were doing and correct yourself? Have you ever confronted someone else for their hypocrisy? Have you ever neglected to do so because you were worried about how others would view you? Have you ever stumbled by putting your eyes on another human instead of putting your eyes on Yeshua (Hebrews 12:2)? How can you model your defense of the gospel after Paul? If someone followed you around all week, and knew every conversation and interaction that you had, would your walk live up to your talk?

In Galatians 2:11-21 the scene changes from Yerushalayim and the Council there to Syrian Antioch, where the first Gentile church was established. Paul and Barnabas served as spiritual leaders there, with help from three other men (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bn – Barnabas and Sha’ul Sent Out from Syrian Antioch). Paul continues the defense of his salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel.

After the Jerusalem Council had met (to see link click Ax – False Brothers slipped in to Spy Out our Freedom in Messiah), Paul and Barnabas returned to their home church in Syrian Antioch with Peter. There, an incident occurred that Paul used in his letter to the believers in Galatia when he heard that their faith was being compromised by Judaizers (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers). The purpose for Paul including the “Antioch incident” in his letter was to emphasize that Torah observance in any fashion could not be added to his salvation equals-faith-plus-nothing gospel.

But when Peter came to Syrian Antioch Paul opposed him to his face in front of everyone, because he was clearly in the wrong. For before certain people from James (Jacob), he regularly ate with the Gentiles (2:11-12a). It is clear that these men sent by James were men of importance as is shown by the difference with which Peter treated them, and the compliance with which he bowed to their requests. They were not Judaizers, for James would never have sent such men. He had just ruled against them at the Jerusalem Council. They were Jewish believers who, like James, continued to be most scrupulous in their obedience to the Torah. Even after the decision of the Jerusalem Council regarding the relation of the Torah to Gentile converts (see the commentary on Acts Bt – The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers), James thought that Jewish believers should use their freedom in Messiah to continue to be Torah observant, not for salvation, but merely as a way of life. It was at the insistence of James that Paul go to the Temple and participate in a ceremony marking the culmination of the Nazirite vow of four men to show that he was Torah observant (see the commentary on Acts Cn – Paul’s Advice from Jacob and the Elders at Jerusalem). The news had reached Yerushalayim that Jewish and Gentile believers were eating together, and Jacob sent certain people to Antioch to enforce the Torah dietary commandments so far as the Jewish believers were concerned.

It seems that when the Jerusalem Council made their decision that Gentiles were free from the obligation of circumcision, that all the food restrictions of the Torah were set aside. The foods previously forbidden to the Jew (but found on Gentile tables) would then be available to them. Accordingly, the Jewish and Gentile believers welcomed the opportunity to fellowship together over a meal. This practice had not been in force before the Jerusalem Council, or it would have been dealt with. So, Peter, finding this situation in Antioch, was eating together with Gentiles during meals. However, when James heard of his actions, he sent certain men to investigate and they found Peter eating with Gentiles.⁵⁸

But when the men sent from James came, he began to withdraw and separate himself from the Gentiles, fearing them (2:12b). The word withdraw (Greek: from hupostello) is used frequently to describe strategic military operations. This suggests that it was part of Peter’s strategy in the circumstances with which he found himself. The words withdraw and separate are both in the imperfect tense, indicating that Peter did not start his withdrawal and separation from the Gentile tables all at once, but gradually, under the constant pressure from the visitors from Jerusalem. Peter’s reluctance to separate himself immediately from the Gentiles was probably what was offensive to them.

And because Peter was a natural leader, and the lead apostle, the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy (2:13a). The Greek word hypocrisy originally referred to an actor wearing a mask to indicate a particular mood or type of character. A hypocrite is someone who, like a Greek actor, masks their true identity. From Paul’s point of view, it was Peter’s true belief in the salvation equals faith-plus-nothing gospel that was masked, the usual type of hypocrisy that comes from fear . . . Peter and the Antioch Jews were afraid.

They would no longer eat with Gentile believers, which probably meant they would not partake of the Lord’s Supper with them also. As a result, the church was split apart on the issue. The love-feast, the bond of fellowship expressing the love among believers, was divided into two groups. The friendly groups of Jews and Gentiles in fellowship was discontinued. The middle wall of separation (Ephesians 2:14) had been built back up so the one was then two. The fact that the rest of the Jews joined Peter in his withdrawal from the Gentiles, shows that the entire group had previously eaten with the Gentiles.

So, that even Barnabas, the great encourager, was carried away with their hypocrisy (2:13b). It was bad enough for Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles and the champion of Gentile liberty to have Peter act as he did. But the hypocrisy of Barnabas was a cruel blow. With the single exception of Paul himself, Barnabas had been the most effective minister of the gospel in winning Gentiles to the Lord. He had been commissioned by the church in Antioch to go to the Jerusalem Council as its representative. He had come back with the wonderful news that the position held by Paul and himself with regard to Gentile freedom from circumcision had been upheld by the Jerusalem apostles. Now, his withdrawing from fellowship with the Gentiles, seemed like a betrayal to Paul and the church at Antioch. Furthermore, the defection of Barnabas was of a far more serious nature with regard to Gentile freedom than the vacillation of Peter. Barnabas was Paul’s chief colleague in the evangelism of the Gentiles, and now to have him play the hypocrite and deserter, was a bitter blow to the great apostle. This may have prepared the way for the dissension between them which two years later led to their separation (see the commentary on Acts Bv – Disagreement between Paul and Barnabas).⁵⁹

Even Barnabas . . . even the great encourager, the one who made people stand taller, run faster, and do better was carried away with their hypocrisy! But this is also a warning to us. Somebody is watching you. Somebody is watching me. And you are going to influence them. Now, you may not like that, and you may want to be taken off of the influencer list, but we all influence in our sphere of life for the better or for the worse. And you can’t plead the fifth and you can’t sit it out. The question is not are we going to influence people, the question is how are we going to influence people. What do people see when they observe your life? Are you walking in the flesh or walking in the Ruach? Even though we are only human and have our faults, we should walk in such a way that when people look at us they see Yeshua, and not a hypocrite. If someone followed you all this week, you didn’t know they were there, but they observed every conversation, every interaction, they read everything you wrote on your computer, and watched the way you walk, and then they saw you reading your bible . . . would they be surprised?

When Paul recognized what was going on, he rebuked Peter in front of everyone. But when Paul saw that they were not walking in a straight line with the truth of the Good News. So, because Peter’s offense was public, Paul rebuked him in public . . . right in front of the whole church on a Sunday morning. Every believer in Antioch, and doubtlessly many unbelievers as well, knew that Peter was no longer associating with Gentiles as he had once done so freely and openly. The Church father Augustine once said, “It is not advantageous to correct in secret an error which occurred publicly.” Unless the public sin of a believer is dealt with publicly, people will think the local assembly does not take sin seriously and therefore give silent approval of it. A body that does not discipline sinning members (especially the most prominent members) loses its credibility because it does not take seriously its own doctrines and standards.

Paul’s response was electric. “If you – being a Jew – live like the Gentiles.” He simply pointed out the obvious inconsistency of Peter’s behavior in Antioch. Paul reminded him when he arrived there, Peter had fellowshipped freely with Gentile believers and regularly are with them. He had openly visited their homes and joined them in love feasts and communion, showing no evidence of legalism or prejudice. In that sense, he lived like the Gentiles and not like the Jews sent from James who continued to believe that Jews should only eat kosher food and not associate with Gentiles while eating. But after his vision of the unclean animals (see the commentary on Acts Bf – Peter’s Vision), and his experience with Cornelius (see the commentary on Acts Bg – Peter Goes to the House of Cornelius), Peter no longer viewed the necessity of eating kosher. He finally came to the realization that even the God-given Levitical commandments observed during the Dispensation of Torah, were no longer valid. But under the pressure from the men from James, he faltered, and fell back in the old way of thinking. Therefore, Paul asked him, “If you live like the Gentiles, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews” (2:14)? Very hypocritical.

Paul had no desire to lord over Peter or to build up his own reputation at the expense of a fellow apostle. Paul was just trying to follow the Matthew 18 principle (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gi – If Brother or Sister Sins, Go and Point Out Their Fault). His motive was not to humiliate Peter but to correct him in a serious error that had caused many other believers to stumble with him. Paul could tolerate nothing that threatened the integrity of the gospel, especially if that threat came from a prominent and influential leader such as Peter.⁶⁰

Those Jews were watching Peter then . . . and somebody is watching you today. Now, you may say, “Take me off the list of being an influencer.” But the fact is we all influence people in our sphere of life either positively or negatively. Whether you know it or not, you are feeding people spiritual food as they view your life, and there’s only two kinds of spiritual food. There’s angel’s food and devil’s food. And if you’re not feeding them one kind of food, you’re feeding them the other. The question is not – are we going to influence people? The question is – how are we going to influence people? There is only one answer to that question: Therefore, since we have such a great witness surrounding us, let us also get rid of every weight and entangling sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2a).

Dear Great Father God, You are such an Awesome Father! Praise Your love, holiness, kindness, Almighty power, wisdom . . . It is so special to meditate on how wonderful You are; but sometimes You give us work to do for You – like discipline gently, yet firmly, our brother . . . and correction is not pleasant.

Please help us to remember that ADONAI disciplines the one he loves (Hebrews 12:6a) and Now all discipline seems painful at the moment – not joyful. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11). Help us to be willing to encourage our brothers and sisters to walk worthy of the gospel (Colossians 1:10).

Praise You for being such a caring Father, for when we believe on You (Ephesians 1:13) as our Lord and Savior, You give us Your Holy Spirit to guide us in remembering Your words and living holy lives for You– which includes both praise and correction.

Thank You that though we can do nothing to earn our salvation – You give us the opportunity of serve You by building on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear. For the day will show it, because it is to be revealed by fire; and the fire itself will test each one’s work – what sort it is. If anyone’s work built on the foundation survives, he will he will receive a reward (First Corinthians 3:12-14). May our every word and thought be to bring You glory in all we do-whether in joyful praise or in the harder service of correction. In Your holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

Gentiles during the Second Temple Period

During the Second Temple period, Gentiles were characterized in general not only as idolaters but also – and consequently – as violent, dirty, immoral, and impure. Cattle may not be left in the inns of the Gentiles since they are suspected of bestiality; nor may a woman remain alone with them since they are suspected of lewdness; nor may a man remain alone with them since they are suspected of shedding blood. The daughter of an Israelite may not assist a Gentile woman in childbirth since she would be assisting to bring to birth a child for idolatry (Abodah Zarah 2:1, also see Matthew 15:26ff; Mark 7:27ff; Romans 1:18ff; Ephesians 4:19; Colossians 1:21-22).

Eating with an uncircumcised person was regarded as the same as eating with a “dog” or consuming the “flesh of abomination.” Why did he [Abraham] circumcise them [the men of his household]? Because of purity, so that they should not defile their masters with their food and with their drink, for whosoever eats with an uncircumcised person is as though he were eating flesh as though he were eating with a dog. All who bathe with the uncircumcised are as though they bathed with a leper, and all who touch an uncircumcised person are as though they touched the dead, for in their lifetime they are like the dead; and in their death they are like the meat of the beast, and their prayer does not come before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said: The dead do not praise ADONAI (Psalm 115:17) (PRE – Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 29).

The question of precisely when the Gentiles first began to be regarded as Levitically unclean is frequently explained in reference to the Eighteen Decrees enacted by the Shammaites just prior to the outbreak of the War in 66. On this reading, the decrees constituted a political act designed to prevent contact between Jews and their Roman adversaries. The acknowledgment of impurity to the Gentiles nevertheless more accurately seems to represent an extension of the Oral Law (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ei – The Oral Law) concerning the uncleanness of idols to include those who worshiped them – a tradition that arose much earlier than the Eighteen Decrees and which the latter reinforced (TBE – Tanna debe Eliyyahu page 105).

The strongest proof of the ritual impurity of Gentiles is perhaps reflected in the demand for a proselyte to be immersed upon conversion (see the commentary on Acts Bb – An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53), together with the prohibition against Gentiles entering beyond the middle wall of separation within the courts of the Temple (see the commentary on Acts Cn – Paul’s Advice from Jacob and the Elders at Jerusalem). The Oral Law included doing business with Gentiles for three days preceding their festivals in order to prevent the smallest risk of being involved with their idolatrous practices (Abodah Zarah 1:1f). It was also argued that bathing in a public bathhouse could bring impurity, in other words, putting a Jew in a state of uncleanness because the bathhouse contained a statue of a goddess and a Jew who entered was at risk of participating in idol worship (Abodah Zarah 1:7, 3:4). Gentile land (its earth and air together) and Gentile houses were both regarded as primary sources of impurity.

Food was obviously a central issue of discussion with respect to ritual purity (Acts 11:3), not only because of the danger of idolatry but also because of the independent food and ritual impurity laws. It appears that the peculiar nature of Gentile impurity led to the removal of foods that Jews could eat. The Eighteen Decrees included a list of items prohibited because of their association with Gentiles. “On the very day they prohibited eating Gentiles’ bread, their cheese, wine, vinegar, brine, muries, pickles, stews, salted foods, fish-brine, pounded spices, barley, language, testimony, offerings, sons, daughters, and first-fruits (J Shabat 1, 4, 3c-d).

Peter’s reservations in Acts 10 include both hosting Gentiles and visiting them in their own homes. The issues involved in doing so included the Levitical dietary commandments founded on the distinction between clean and unclean animals, the prohibition against eating meat and milk together, slaughtering regulations, benedictions, and purity commandments – the latter only being applicable in the Land of Isra’el.

The severity of food restrictions can be seen in numerous early texts. Judith refrained from partaking of Holofernes’ food, living instead on the oil, bread, and wine which she brought from her own house (Judith 10:5, 12:1-4), while Tobit kept himself from eating the “food of the Gentiles (Tobit 1:11). Josephus relates that the priests sent by Felix to Rome to plead their cause before Nero subsisted on a diet of nuts and figs in their refusal to compromise Jewish dietary regulations” (Josephus Life 13f). Not only was much of a Gentile’s food prohibited but his/her utensils were also considered to be ritually impure: If a man brought utensils from a Gentile, those [of metal or glass and others used for uncooked foods] which it is the custom to immerse [in order to free them from uncleanness before use] he must immerse, those which it is the custom to scald be must scald; those which it is the custom to make white-hot in the fire he must make white-hot in the fire. A spit must be made white-hot in the fire; but a knife needs to be polished and it is then clean (Abodah Zarah 5:12).

In addition to the restrictions regulating what food was permitted, it was also forbidden to say a blessing over food dedicated to idols. Eating food which a pagan considered to be sanctified to his god was equivalent to co-operating in the deification of created things and hence a blasphemy to the Creator – who would be blessed over the same food. The benediction would consequently become a curse. Rabbi Simon said, “If three have eaten at one table and have not spoken threat words of the Torah [it is] as if they had eaten sacrifices [offered] to the dead, for [of such persons] it is said, ‘For all tables are full of filthy vomit, [they are] without the All-Present (Isaiah 28:8). But, if three have eaten at the table of the All-Present, blessed be He, as it is said: This is the table of the Presence of ADONAI (Ezeki’el 41:22) (Pirkei Avot/Sayings of the Fathers 3:3).

Those who partake of idolatry cannot bless the Creator for their food and therefore are also unworthy to host the presence of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. This attitude is found in several rabbinic sayings, sometimes based on the example of Hezekiah. Among the things a man should keep in mind is taking care not to sit at the table of a heathen Gentile. For [we find], as set forth concerning Hezekiah, king of Judah, that he sat at a table with a heathen Gentile, and because he did, consequently had great punishment imposed on him . . . Hence, we conclude, he who sits at a table with a heathen is on his way to heathen worship and to eat sacrifices to lifeless idols. If such a man is a disciple of the wise, he belittles his learning in the Torah, blasphemes the name of his Father [in heaven], wastes his possessions, turns his sons over to his enemies – indeed, kills them with the sword or causes them to be exiled from their Land (TBE – Tanna debe Eliyyahu pages 46 and 48).⁵⁷

Syrian Antioch during the Time of Paul

During the Seleucid dynasty numerous cities throughout Eretz (the Land of) Isra’el, Syria, and Pisidia, were named in honor of Antiochus. Seleucus Nicator founded Antioch on the Orontes in 300 BC, naming it after his father, where it served as the Seleucid capital. It rapidly became a city of importance and in 165 BC was already the third largest city after Rome and Alexandria. Modern scholars estimate its population in the first century as around 100,000. Following Pompey’s reorganization of the whole region it became a free city in 64 BC, serving as the seat of administration of the Roman province of Syria. Its position on the Orontes River encouraged its growth as a commercial center, the produce of Syria passing through the city on its way to other Mediterranean countries. Enlarged and adorned by Augustus and Tiberius, Herod the Great contributed to the city’s glory by paving its main street with marble and lining it on both sides with marble colonnades. It was called Antioch the great, Antioch the Beautiful, and the Queen of the East.

Jews had settled in Syrian Antioch since its foundation, being included among the military colonists who established the city. In line with city’s political importance, its Jewish community ranked in status with those of Alexandria and Rome. The growth of the Jewish population was presumably stimulated by the material advantages the city offered, as well as its attractions as a major urban center. Many Jews appear to have emigrated from Isra’el, Jews from Syria itself also tending to congregate in the capital – together with migrants from Babylonia and other parts of the Parthian Empire.

The annexation of Eretz (the Land of) Isra’el by the Seleucids around 200 BC intensified the contracts between Antioch and Jerusalem. Jewish representatives were frequent visitors in the Seleucid capital and Onias III apparently sought refuge from his opponents in the famous temple of Apollo at Daphne near Antioch (Second Maccabees 4:33). The book of Acts witnesses to the traffic between Antioch and Jerusalem, as well as the cosmopolitan character of both, noting that in theses days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 11:27) and that among the prophets and teachers were Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen (brought up since childhood with Herod the Tetrarch).⁵⁴

Persecution scattered the early Hellenistic believers to the city of Antioch, the modern Syrian city of Antakiyeh, which became the home church for Gentile missions. It had a school of theology and became the church home of two church fathers, Ignatius and John Chrysostom. It was there that we see the first widespread evangelism of the Gentiles. As a result, Syrian Antioch became the center of Gentile Christianity, just as Jerusalem had become the center of the Messianic Community. Early on, the city became one of the major bases of the Church (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bj – The Church in Syrian Antioch). And it was in Syrian Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26b). This may clarify how the church at Antioch was able to send relief help to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem (see Au – After Fourteen Years, Paul went up to Jerusalem, and took Titus and Barnabas with Him).

Antioch was made up of Greek speaking Syrian majority, with a large Jewish minority and probably more than a dozen synagogues. But, it was a major city of pagan worship. Its patron god was Tyche, but being polytheistic, they also worshiped the Ashteroth, which involved immoral festivals and ritual prostitution. Only five miles away was the town of Daphne, which was the center of the worship of Apollo and Artemis, and it was noted for its pleasure seeking Temple. Syrian Antioch was such a wicked city that it was perhaps only overshadowed in its depravity by Corinth. It was so morally corrupt that the Greek writer Juvenal, wrote in his satire that “the sewage of the Syrian Orontes flowed into the Tiber River.” He was describing the degradation of Rome, but blamed it on Antioch.⁵⁵

Jews had settled in Antioch since its foundations, being included amongst the military colonists who established the city. In line with the city’s political importance, its Jewish community ranked in status with those of Alexandria and Rome. The growth of the Jewish population was presumably stimulated by the material advantages the city offered, as well as its attractions as a major urban center. Many Jews appear to have emigrated from the land of Isra’el, Jews from Syria itself also tending to congregate in the capital – together with migrants from Babylonia and other parts of the Parthian empire.⁵⁶

Remember the Poor of Jerusalem
2: 6-10

Remember the poor of Jerusalem DIG: Why did Paul, Barnabas, and Titus go up to Jerusalem? Who is Agabus? How long did the famine last? What that before or after Paul went to Tziyon? Why were the Jewish believers in Yerushalayim in such a dire condition? What did extending the right hand of fellowship to Paul from the pillars of the Messianic community in Jerusalem mean to the spread of the gospel? Did the problem of the Judaizers go away? Why?

REFLECT: How often do we forget this crucial teaching. In our daily lives, do we make the mistake of only focusing on outward rituals, overlooking (perhaps even on purpose) those areas of the TaNaKh (Deuteronomy 15:11,24:10-22) that demand that we be concerned with the poor, the needy, and the destitute.

The apostles in Jerusalem endorsed Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles, and they endorsed his gospel of salvation equals faith-plus-nothing with one condition . . . that he remember the poor.

48 AD

After more than a decade, Paul went up to Jerusalem. He took Barnabas and Titus along with him. He went up because of a revelation (2:2a). According to the book of Acts, the revelation was a near historical prophecy delivered by a prophet from Jerusalem named Agabus, who predicted through the Ruach that there was going to be a great famine over all the Roman world (Acts 11:28). Like Joseph in Egypt preparing for the seven years of famine, Paul and Barnabas raised money for the famine relief from the church at Antioch. They brought it to Yerushalayim to help the Jewish believers there.

The Jewish believers in Jerusalem needed the help. Now the whole group of those who believed was one in heart and mind. No one would say anything he owned was his own, but they had everything in common. No one among them was needy, for all who were owners of lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds and set them at the feet of the apostles. And the proceeds were distributed according to the need each one had (4:32, 34-35). They assembled daily in the Temple courts to worship ADONAI and to wait for the coming of King Messiah. They were called the evyonim, or the poor ones. Their self-imposed poverty came from their radical dedication to our Master’s teachings regarding selling one’s possessions and giving to the poor. However, their self-imposed poverty had made the Yerushalayim poor ones especially vulnerable to the famine they had endured from 44 to 46 AD.⁵⁰

Paul had taken advantage of the famine-relief trip to Jerusalem to seek a private audience with James, Peter. They were the pillars of the Messianic community. Reflecting back on their meeting, Paul remembered that those who seemed to be influential, James, Peter and John, whatever they were, makes no difference to me. Paul was not demeaning the acknowledged leaders but calling attention to the fact that office, position, eminence, that is, outward appearances, do not matter because God shows no partiality, as Peter had learned with some difficulty (Acts 10:9-48). But what does matter is the content and truth of the gospel; and in this, those leaders, who Paul knew of great importance in the life of the Messianic Community, added nothing to him or his message (2:6). They saw no defect in Paul’s gospel and treated him as an equal of apostolic rank with them, only requesting that he remember the poor.

On the contrary, far from demanding concessions, they saw that Paul had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised just as Peter was for the circumcised (2:7). At that point the Judaizers’ contention that Paul was preaching a deviant gospel message was refuted once-and-for-all. As Luke explains, not only did the Jerusalem Council vindicate Paul’s message of salvation equals faith-plus-nothing, but they also entrusted him with the primary responsibility of reporting their decision to the churches in Pisidian Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia – areas where his gospel had been severely criticized by the Judaizers (Acts 15:22-24).

For the same God who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the Jews, also was at work in Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles (2:8). When Paul returned to Yerushalayim several years later, the brothers and sisters welcomed [him and those with him], and when he began report to them in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry, James and the other elders began glorifying God (Acts 21:17-20). Contrary to the claim by some today’s traditional Jewish community that Jews should not be approached with the gospel, Scripture teaches us precisely the opposite. ADONAI specifically commissioned Peter to evangelize the circumcised, the Jews.⁵¹

Realizing the favor that had been given to me, James and Peter and John, who are the recognized pillars of the early Messianic Community, partnered together with Barnabas and me, so that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews (2:9). The agreement therefore was that Paul and Barnabas should go as apostles to the Gentiles, and the Jerusalem apostles were to go as apostles to the Jews, both groups taking the same gospel. Paul was not only in doctrinal harmony with them, but in personal harmony with them as well.

James and Peter and John extended the right hand of fellowship (Greek: koinonia) to Paul. This was very serious. From the First Century Jewish perspective, this was far more significant than, “we shook hands on it,” as the right hand in Semitic thought had some major significance regarding approval. In common with most cultures, the TaNaKh and the B’rit Chadashah assign special significance to the right hand of strength, the right hand of blessing. This meant that Paul’s detractors could no longer claim that he was some kind of rogue, operating without Jerusalem’s knowledge or approval.

The next move was from the theological to the practical. Helping the poor. Certainly those things go together. Correct doctrine is never a substitute for good works (James 2:14-26). Paul had always been interested in helping the poor (Acts 11:27-30), so he was glad to follow the leaders’ suggestion. They asked only that we remember the poor – something I also was eager to do (2:10). Significantly, aorist verb was eager (Greek: espoudasa) indicates an action which he had been accustomed to take in the past. The phrase thus expresses Paul’s regular practice of keeping the Jewish believers’ welfare at heart.⁵²
In addition, Paul regarded it as a matter of principle, for Gentiles to give material support to Jews. I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aide to the kedoshim, the holy ones. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are under obligation to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they also ought to serve them in material blessings (Romans 15:25-27).

Even though the Jerusalem Council ended with Paul and the leaders of the Messianic community in agreement, it did not permanently solve the problem. The Judaizers did not give up, but persisted in interfering with Paul’s ministry and invading churches that he founded. Paul carried the Good News of the Council’s decision to the churches in Pisidian Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia (Acts 15:23), and other areas where he had ministered (Acts 16:4). But wherever Paul went, the Judaizers were sure to follow, sowing their seeds of discord. The curtain falls on this drama, but it will go up to reveal another. Once again God’s “freedom fighter” will have to defend the simplicity of the gospel, this time before Peter.⁵³

Dear Heavenly Father. How much we love You! Thank You that the good news of Your gospel is open to not just to the Jews, Your firstborn son (Exodus 4:22); but also, to the Gentiles. Praise You that You appointed and prepared a special messenger, Paul, to give Your message to the Gentiles.” But, the Lord said to him [Ananias], “Go, for he is a choice instrument to carry My name before nations and kings and Bnei-Yisrael. For I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15).

What a joy it is to share Your good news! Even though sometimes sharing Your love does bring, mocking, and slander, when we think of how long eternity is-please give us the heart of compassion with wise words to share about the reality of heaven and hell. May the forever length of eternity and the eternal joy which the person would have in heaven, give us the joy and courage to share- despite any persecution. Please guide us to first pray for and then to share Your gospel with a friend. Help us to remember that hell is for an eternity and though we may get laughed at when we share about God– it is OK for we know that for all eternity we will have joy in Your presence.

Right now dear Father, we are asking for You to soften the heart of our friend named . . . . Please bring other people into their life to also share about You. May You work in their mind to draw them to You all during the day and even at night. Please let remove distractions, deceitful lies and anything else that is blinding them to the joy of accepting You as their Lord and Savior and receiving eternal joy! Help them to seek after You, to listen to Your words and to see the great peace that comes from following You. Praise You that You love all and all may come to You, if they are willing to listen and learn from You, as Yeshua said: It is written in the Prophets, “They will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has listened and learned from the Father comes to Me. (John 6:45). Please abundantly water the seed that the Holy Spirit helps plants and continue to bring people and experiences into their life to grow strong them in You, producing much fruit for You (Matthew 13:23).

How awesome it will be to see our friend in heaven for all eternity! Praise Your mighty power that freed and rescued us from sin’s grasp and for Your living in those who have chosen to follow You (Romans 8:9). How great that we don’t live the life of faith alone, but that You are always right there with us to help and to guide us. For God Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). We love to tell about You because You are so Awesome! In Your holy Son’s name and power of resurrection! Amen

False Brothers slipped in
to Spy Out our Freedom in Messiah
2: 3-5

False brothers slipped in to spy out our freedom in Messiah DIG: How does Paul confront those who believe Gentiles had to first become Jewish to be really believers? How did the decision about Titus confirm Paul’s message? Give the charges against him (1:10), why was this a critical issue for Paul? Given the position of Peter, James, and John, how would their approval of Paul’s message validate his claim in 1:11-12? How does caring for the poor relate to preaching the gospel (Galatians 2:10; Acts 11:25-30)?

REFLECT: How do you feel when your beliefs run counter to popular opinion? What would you have done in Paul’s position? What would it matter to you if Paul’s argument had lost out? What forms of legalism have you had to confront today? Have there been times in your life when you have begun to think that your performance counts toward salvation? What caused you to think this way? ADONAI sent Peter to take the gospel mainly to his fellow Jews, and He sent Paul to take the gospel mainly to Gentiles. To whom has God sent you? Are you ready to share your testimony in a couple of minutes?

Paul brought Titus with him to a meeting with the apostles to seek their endorsement for his gospel to the Gentiles. Had Paul been unwilling to wage this spiritual warfare, the Church might have become nothing more than a Jewish sect, preaching a mixture of Torah observance and grace. But because of Paul’s courage, the gospel was carried to the Gentiles with great blessing.

48 BC

Galatians 2:1-10 would appear to refer to an earlier private meeting between Paul, Barnabus, James, Peter, and John at which an already-determined decision to let Peter concentrate on Jewish and Paul on Gentile evangelism was ratified. Behind this decision would seem to lie the conviction that the Gentiles were not required to be circumcised – a fact that Peter’s initial behavior supports.

It was because of a revelation from God Himself that Paul went up and presented to them the Good News that he proclaimed among the Gentiles. It is possible that the Ruach ha-Kodesh spoke to the leaders of the Antioch church, along with Paul, just as He had done when Paul and Barnabas were commissioned for their First Missionary Journey (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bm – Paul’s First Missionary Journey). In any case, the matter was resolved when Paul, divinely appointed to go up to Jerusalem, was obedient, and the Antioch church affirmed that command by giving their blessing.

There were two councils; there was a public council and a private council. The private one is spelled out here with the three key elders of the Messianic community in Jerusalem, James, Peter and John. But I did so privately to those who seemed to be influential (2:2). Paul was received in brotherly fellowship, and had been accorded full recognition as the apostle to the Gentiles. Thus, he again demonstrated his entire independence of any human authority. After the private meeting, it must have been agreed among all the parties that a larger public meeting among the other apostles, elders and members of the Messianic congregation at Jerusalem, other local Messianic congregations, as well as the elders of the Antioch church needed to be included in the decision to gain a larger consensus. The word went out, and after a time, the public council took place.

Paul took Titus with him and probably asked him to share his testimony before the whole council. Can you share your story before others? Every believer should be able to tell their story of salvation. Yet not even Titus who was with me, a Greek, was forced to be circumcised. Now this issue came up because of false brothers who secretly slipped in to spy out our freedom in Messiah (also see Acts 15:1), in order to bring us into utter bondage, the slavery of obedience to the 613 commandments of Moshe (2:3-4). The people who Paul is talking about were Judaizers (see Ag – Who Were the Judaizers), or false brothers (Greek: pseudadelphos), who had been claiming apostolic approval of their perverted gospel. Although the Judaizers did not proclaim the same gospel as taught by the Twelve, they knew they needed apostolic confirmation in order to be taken seriously. They therefore made-up a lie that their message was approved by the apostles in Jerusalem and that they were among the apostles’ acknowledged representatives.⁴⁷

Those Judaizers were like spies who were determined to discover weak points in the enemies’ military position. They claimed to be believers, but when Paul would start a new church in a new city, after he left those Jewish unbelievers would swoop in to try to confuse the baby believers into thinking they had to be circumcised, follow the 613 commandments of the Torah and the Oral Law (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law). They are the ones who are cursed in Galatians 1:8. Peter basically told Simon the sorcerer: May your silver go to ruin, and you with it (J. B. Phillips’ rendering, “To hell with you and your money!” conveys the actual sense of Peter’s words) because he was a false brother (see the commentary on Acts Ba – Simon the Sorcerer).

The Judaizers stood up and declared: Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved (see the commentary on Acts Bs – The Counsel at Jerusalem). Believers are never cursed in the Scriptures. At worst, if a believer teaches false doctrine or continually drags ADONAI’s name through the mud, the Bible tells us to turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his fleshly nature, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Yeshua (First Corinthians 5:5). And Paul was beyond aggravated (see 3:1, 3:3, 4:19-20, 5:12).

But we did not give in to the Judaizers even for a moment, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you (2:5). Paul stood his ground. How important were Paul’s actions? The entire status of Gentile believers was involved in the case of Titus. The question as to whether the Church was to be merely a modified form of Judaism or a system of pure grace, was at stake. Salvation equaling faith-plus-nothing was on trial. Circumcision would have set it aside. The phrase be preserved is from the Greek word diameno. The idea of firm possession is present in the compound verb. For you is from pros humas. The idea is not that of simple rest. The preposition expresses the relation of an active bearing on life. One could translate for you, and paraphrase it: with a view to your welfare.⁴⁸

Not only did the Jerusalem council approve Paul’s gospel of salvation equals faith-plus-nothing, and oppose the Judaizers, but they also encouraged Paul’s ministry and recognized that ADONAI had committed Gentile evangelism into Paul’s hands. They could add nothing to Paul’s message or ministry, and they dared not take anything away from it. They were in agreement. There was only one gospel to preach to Jews and Gentiles alike. Therefore, James, the leader of the Messianic community in Jerusalem, wrote a letter to be circulated to all the other churches (see the commentary on Acts Bt – The Council’s Letter to the Gentile Believers).

We need to recognize the fact that God calls people to different ministries in different places, yet we all preach/teach the same gospel and are seeking to work together to build Messiah’s Church made up of Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14). Among those who know and love Yeshua, there can be no such thing as competition. Peter was a great man, the leading apostle, yet he gladly yielded to Paul – the newcomer – and permitted him to carry on with his ministry as the Lord led him. In Galatians 1, Paul explained his independence from the apostles; now in Galatians 2, he points out his interdependence with the apostles. He was free, and yet he was willingly in fellowship with them in the ministry of the gospel.⁴⁹