Stand Firm - Why Others Do Not Stand

Galatians 6:11-18 NIV 

[11] See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! [12] Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. [13] Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. [14] May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. [15] Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. [16] Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. [17] From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. [18] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.11-18.NIV)

My wife is from the Philippines and we have family there. We have a lot of experience of what it feels like to arrive at your destination at the end of a long journey (ours normally takes a minimum of two, but often three, flights, a hotel stay and a three hour ferry ride). We are well used to that sense of exhaustion and happy relief you feel as you cross the threshold. 

This post marks the end of our six week journey through Galatians. It has been long. At times it has been challenging, both theologically and practically. We have risen to the heights of some wonderful teaching, and plunged to the depths of Paul’s anger and frustration with the Galatian church for being fooled so easily. But we have made it. We have arrived. 

Just like my family arriving from a long vacation, we can’t relax and go to sleep just yet. Paul still has some dirty laundry to air and clean. There is a very sharp challenge coming. We would do well to pay attention to it. 

Paul has spent a lot of time in Galatians explaining to us why it is that the Jewish false teachers are wrong. He’s sometimes done so using arguments from Jewish history and culture that perhaps seemed a little removed from our own. 

But now he is peaking behind the curtain and telling us why it is that these men are involved in this error, what they are seeking to achieve and why it is that the Galatians should not be so naive as to believe them. He also provides them with the alternative to the lies those false teachers were spreading. 

So let’s not rest our weary hearts and minds just yet. We still have one more meditation to go.  

We will start by looking at the first reason for their erroneous teaching, which is Outward Demands. 

Outward Demands 

Galatians 6:12 NIV 

[12] Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.12.NIV)

I recently attended a very interesting discussion about assimilation in the workplace: how there is pressure to look and talk just like everyone else. This is particularly relevant for those who are outwardly different. Several African women on the call spoke about how the pressure to conform since their youth had caused them to treat their hair with chemicals that caused it to fall out, just so their hair would not be so distinctive. 

That is quite a tragedy. It’s wrong. 

I have to say, though, that as a white and steadily balding man, heading rapidly into his fifties, it’s hard for me to relate to issues about having big hair.  

Although, I do have my own tale about feeling the need to conform. I was raised by an English mother in Scotland. I originally spoke with a soft English accent.  

One week of school and that accent was gone. 

We all make small compromises to fit in with a group. It’s part of being human. 

The problem comes when we make these changes because we feel that we are not acceptable or good enough. 

There are people nowadays who make some pretty extreme body modifications – from small tattoos and piercings, to huge drawings all over their body and even head, to surgical interventions – to feel better about themselves. It’s as if someone would visit the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris and decide if would look better with a moustache or with smaller eyebrows or a larger mouth. That is the effect of what we are doing: God made an artwork; we are telling Him that we don’t like what He made and vandalising it. 

I once heard a heart-breaking conversation on a train between London and Glasgow between two slightly drunk women, whose faces had both been clearly surgically enhanced. One of them commented that when they grew old, they would likely have the face of a twenty-one year old, but would be dead inside. 

Way too much truth in that. 

Paul here is talking about the Galatians being asked to undergo surgery to fit in. This surgery is painful. I know. I had it done as an adult, albeit for a different reason. It’s noted in Genesis 34:24-25 how painful it is.

Yet the Jewish false teachers had no issue asking the Galatian men to undergo it. 

Why? 

Because they believed it was necessary for the Gentiles to be saved.  

They believed that God was demanding a physical modification to their body before He would welcome them into Heaven. 

That was – and is – absolutely wrong, as Paul had previously argued: 

Galatians 5:2 NIV 

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

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.2.NIV)

The very act of them being circumcised by the Jews was not just a case of a few days of pain and then you will be sorted. No, it made them converts to Judaism and obligated them to follow the whole Law (Galatians 5:3). It was not just minor surgery: it was an initiation rite into a belief system that had failed to bring salvation to its followers. 

And that was the tragedy. By being initiated into Judaism, these Galatians would have excluded themselves from salvation by grace, which works, and included themselves in salvation by works, which does not. 

So right there, Paul highlights a major reason why these Galatians had not stood for their own freedom: they had gone with the crowd. They had chosen cheap false assurance over the Gospel. They had naively let themselves be scammed into surrendering their faith in exchange for cheap assurance that would not even work, and worse, would leave them lost. 

Look what Solomon said: 

Proverbs 4:14-16 NIV 

[14] Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. [15] Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. [16] For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.4.14-16.NIV)

What these false teachers may have been advising might have prevented the Galatians from being persecuted, and it may have made their lives a bit easier, but it would have made their eternity a lot harder. 

Paul is alerting them to the danger. He is telling them to not give in. Salvation cannot be obtained by outward means. It can only be obtained through faith in the grace of God. 

So being inducted into a group that teaches otherwise is useless and dangerous. That’s why it should be avoided. 

We see then, the pull of doing something superficial (albeit a little radical) to belong to a group that opposes Christ in order to avoid persecution. But outward demands were not the only thing that caused them to fail to stand for Jesus. Another one was Inner Corruption. 

Inner Corruption 

Galatians 6:13 NIV 

[13] Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.13.NIV)

When I was a teenager, I had a problem with acne. Like any teenager with an acne problem, it really affected my confidence – which wasn’t naturally that high anyway. After one particular spot got so large that it formed a cyst, I visited my family doctor to see if he could recommend a treatment for it.  

A new drug had come on the marker: Roaccutane. It had emerged successfully from clinical trials. He offered it to me as one of the early users and gave me the patient leaflet for me to read and see if I wanted to take it. 

I read that leaflet attentively. The side-effects scared me. I was a teenager, so my mental health and sense of worth wasn’t that great anyway. But the thought that this medicine, according to the patient leaflet, could give me suicidal thoughts, was too much for me. 

I turned it down. 

Roaccutane is now very rarely prescribed and under strict monitoring as two teenagers took their life while under treatment with this medication. 

We might think that meeting the entry conditions or being initiated into an organisation that promises us salvation in return is a harmless thing to do – a spiritual placebo in return for a lifetime of acceptance. 

It is not. 

Paul has already stated that it is deadly. Believing that anything can save you other than Jesus is a dangerous blasphemy and a serious insult. 

More than that: salvation by works is a prescription that does not cure the disease. 

Paul later stated this about the law: 

1 Timothy 1:8-11 NIV 

[8] We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. [9] We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, [10] for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine [11] that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1ti.1.8-11.NIV)

Sometimes people cross the line because they genuinely don’t know the difference between right and wrong. However, sometimes people know what is right and wrong, but choose the wrong regardless, as Paul explained to the Roman believers: 

Romans 1:18-20 NIV 

[18] The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, [19] since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. [20] For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.1.18-20.NIV)

Knowledge what is right and what is wrong can even be a temptation to do the wrong thing (Romans 7:7-13). That’s what caused Paul to write this to the Colossians: 

Colossians 2:20-23 NIV 

[20] Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: [21] “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? [22] These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. [23] Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. 

https://bible.com/bible/111/col.2.20-23.NIV 

Having the Law and knowing the Law does not necessarily make you a better person. If it did, then every lawyer would be one step below an angel. 

But they aren’t, because once you know the law, you start to look for loopholes to get away with breaking the law. It was that way in Jesus’ day (Mark 7:9-13). How much more nowadays? 

And that’s Paul’s point. Being converted to Judaism obligated the Galatians to follow a Law that even the Jews themselves could not obey (Acts 15:10). 

The reality was that these Jewish false teachers were in a numbers game. They wanted to win as many disciples for themselves as possible. They were building their own little fiefdom, not God’s Kingdom. They absolutely could not care less about what this did to those who chose to follow them. 

Friends, it’s precisely the same for every cult, every legalist group, every fake church nowadays, and it had always been that way. They care nothing for you. They would rather you abandoned salvation by grace to embrace their salvation by works for no other reason than to make them look good. It’s all about numbers. It’s all about power.  

You do not matter to them. You are nothing more than a cog in a wheel, a number in a spreadsheet and a means to an end. They will give nothing for you. They will only take. 

When Jesus gave His life to save you. 

For me personally, I know who I’d rather follow. 

So, we see, then, the utter superficiality of the cults and religions that maintain you can be saved by works. They have outward demands: harsh, exacting and onerous conditions that cause you to lose all that is most precious. Yet they are plagued by inner corruption – a corruption that even their almost airtight legalism cannot resolve. 

Lastly, in this glorious book, we see the one thing no legalist of any hue can ever produce: Inner Sanctification. 

Inner Sanctification 

Galatians 6:14-16 NIV 

[14] May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. [15] Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. [16] Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.14-16.NIV)

Have you ever been to a house that looked great on the outside, but you quickly realised that you could never live there? 

When we were last looking for a house, we found a place like that. It was a few blocks from a friend’s house, in a great neighbourhood, all amenities nearby and a beautiful location. We loved it. Just from the outside we were ready to dial up the estate agent with a bid. 

Excitedly, we rang the doorbell. 

And then the smell hit us. It was rancid. Absolutely awful. We almost had to hold our noses for the entire viewing. The owner had several cats and a pet bird. She had not kept it clean. The entire place stunk of what I can only politely call guano. It was pungent. 

No way we were going to move in there! 

Paul’s point throughout the whole of Galatians is that outward allegiances or appearances do not save you. Belonging to a particular group, worshipping in a certain way, singing the right songs, reading the right version of the Bible, following the right theological system or theologian, even reacting the right way in a service or displaying the right gift of the Spirit have all been the means by which some so-called Christians have judged other so-called Christians to see if they are ‘in’ or ‘out’. 

Galatians destroys all that thinking. It blows it to smithereens. 

Because, like that house, we can get all of those superficial, external things right, and still stink on the inside. We can whitewash our house and landscape our garden until it all looks pristine, but inside be absolutely putrid. 

However, Jesus Himself has a stern challenge for us. You see, when the inside is rotten, it won’t stay inside: it will eventually come outside: 

Mark 7:20-23 NIV 

[20] He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. [21] For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, [22] adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. [23] All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.7.20-23.NIV)

So you can maintain the outside all you want, but if you don’t fix the inside, then no-one will buy what you are selling. 

Paul mentions three things here that are important signs of inner sanctification. The first of these is crucifixion. He is referring back to the challenging words we read in Galatians 2:20-21: 

Galatians 2:20-21 NIV 

[20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.2.20-21.NIV)

We understood this to be a picture of full repentance: his old life was dead; his new life had begun. Because of this repentance, the way he viewed and treated other people had changed. Both he and they were saved by grace. He no longer had any grounds to behave in a discriminatory manner towards the Gentiles. 

So the first sign of inner sanctification is that your old life is dead. 

The second sign is circumcision. But, as Paul said, physical circumcision of the body is meaningless when it comes to salvation. It serves no purpose. So what do I mean? 

Perhaps these passages might help: 

Deuteronomy 10:16 NIV 

[16] Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.10.16.NIV)

Deuteronomy 30:6 NIV 

[6] The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.30.6.NIV)

Jeremiah 4:3-4 NIV 

[3] This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. [4] Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jer.4.3-4.NIV)

Acts 7:51 NIV 

[51] “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.7.51.NIV)

Romans 2:28-29 NIV 

[28] A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. [29] No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.2.28-29.NIV)

What God is looking for from us is the willingness to have our hearts circumcised. Now, if that sounds like painful surgery and you're wondering how and if it will be by open heart or by keyhole, let me allay your fears. What God is talking about here is the willingness to turn over to Him our longings, our affections, our emotions, our desires, and let Him renew them in His image.  

Why? 

Because if our fleshly desires are what get us into trouble, then dedicating these to God will keep us from trouble. 

It’s as simple as that. 

If we are not willing to do this, then that explains why our Christian faith wavers and we have such a problem with temptation and sin. 

The third sign is creation, or, to be more precise, re-creation. Because what matters is a ‘new creation’, which Paul mentioned to the Corinthians: 

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV 

[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2co.5.17.NIV)

Jesus also taught this, although He used a slightly different image: 

John 3:3 NIV 

[3] Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.3.NIV)

Now, those of us who are Evangelical will know that followers of the more established churches, as well as adherents of other great world religions, have huge problems with this concept. The reason why is that all major religions other than Biblical Christianity start off with the opinion that people aren’t that bad and can work themselves into heaven. They hold out rituals, rites, pilgrimages and special prayers as a means to somehow fast track their believers into paradise – at a price, of course.  

But Biblical, Evangelical Christianity is different. It teaches that people can never be good enough to qualify for heaven, that we are all sinners, and that we needed God to save us by sending Jesus to die on the cross and rise from the dead. 

That is what it means to believe that we are not saved by our works, but God’s work. 

But traditional religions don’t like that. It undermines their business model. It undercuts their income. It states that nothing they sell will ever work. So, of course, it’s understood to be an insult and they react against it. 

That is why Evangelicals often get a hard time even in so-called ‘Christian’ countries. 

But for us to be saved and live the life God requires, we must be born again. We must be a new creation. And we need God to do it. 

So we see then three reasons why people fall away from Biblical Christianity.  

Firstly, because they are more interested in the outward demands: in a superficial, skin-deep faith. 

Secondly, because of inner corruption, and how they would rather keep their sinful life than be cleansed of it. 

Thirdly, because they cannot face the reality of their own sin and seek inner sanctification. 

May God grant that we do not fall away on account of these things. 

Conclusion 

Galatians 6:17-18 NIV 

[17] From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. [18] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.17-18.NIV)

In the year 1632, the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was sent to the Inquisition by the Catholic church, he was tried, found guilty and placed under house arrest until his death in 1642. His crime that justified being confined to his home for ten years? Galileo had proposed a theory – which we now know to be correct – that the sun does not revolve around the earth, the earth revolves around the sun. The church’s sense of dignity and self-respect was so offended by this that it took until 1992 for the Pope to admit the church had been wrong.  

Imagine! A brilliant scientist wrongly accused of heresy for three hundred and sixty years! 

The church had nothing to fear from Galileo. 

However, it, and every other established church or religion that preaches salvation by works has a lot to fear from another ‘G’ – the book of Galatians. Because Paul takes that belief and he leaves it without a single leg to stand on. He shows it up for the profound blasphemy and insult to the cross of Jesus Christ that it is. 

This book is quite incredible in the breadth of theology that it covers in a very compact six chapters. It takes us from the deeply personal disputes Paul had with both the church in Galatia and with Peter, through Paul’s personal story of salvation and his credentials as a missionary, through ancient Jewish history and law, his brilliant systemisation of faith and freedom, and then deposits us on the far shore of what this means for us in our every day life.  

And yes, it is life changing. I have found Paul’s explanation of how we retain and defend our freedom in Christ to be very helpful, but also incredibly challenging. 

Now we find ourselves at the last few verses. But still Paul isn’t done. He delivers up a verse that has constantly been misunderstood and abused for generations. 

You see, some of the more mystical and esoteric branches of the church have interpreted this to be the stigmata: markings on Paul’s hands that mirrored the markings on Jesus’ hands. This has been the territory of crazy horror movies and bizarre theologies for generations. 

But it is nonsense! Unbiblical, theologically poor nonsense. 

Let me take you back to Isaiah: 

Isaiah 53:5 NIV 

[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.53.5.NIV)

So if by Christ’s wounds on the cross we are healed, what makes us think that He will then inflict those wounds on anyone else? Of course He won’t! Why would He? The cross was a ‘one-and-done’ sacrifice. No-one else had to bear our pain. No-one else had to bear our wounds. Only Jesus. To even pretend for a second that someone else would need to do anything for our salvation or their own is utterly absurd. 

So no, I profoundly do not believe that Paul bore the stigmata. And I’ll tell you something: neither did anyone else. It was all, and is, a giant misunderstood hoax. 

So what is Paul saying here? 

I believe he is saying something way more challenging and profound. 

Paul is saying that he carries on his body the scars from all the persecution he has endured, and that these scars are proof of his loyalty and faithfulness as a follower of Jesus Christ. You see, although this letter was written fairly early on in Paul’s ministry, for the Jews he is already a very controversial figure. He’s already had to escape from Damascus in a basket over a wall to escape them (Acts 9:20-25). He’s already faced Jewish opposition in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:13-52) and Iconium (Acts 14:1-7). 

It isn’t just here in Galatians that Paul mentioned that he was being persecuted. He also mentioned it here: 

Galatians 5:11 NIV 

[11] Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.11.NIV)

And much worse us to come, as we know from 2 Corinthians 11:16-23. 

But let me tell you the truth that shakes those who believe a works-based salvation: it was believers in a works-based salvation who persecuted Paul. They were the means of the marks and the scars he bore. 

Why? 

Because of Jesus. 

For three reasons: 

Number one: they missed their Messiah. As John explained: 

John 1:10-11 NIV 

[10] He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. [11] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.1.10-11.NIV)

I have missed buses. I have missed trains. I have missed planes. But I cannot think of anything more tragic than waiting for thousands of years for a Messiah, a Saviour, a Redeemer, and then completely missing Him. That is beyond sad. 

Well, there is something more tragic... 

Number two: they killed their Messiah. As Peter taught: 

Acts 2:23 NIV 

[23] This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.23.NIV)

Acts 3:15 NIV 

[15] You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.3.15.NIV)

These accusations stung them deeply, as well they might (Acts 5:28). 

Now, let me state again: these were religious men who relied on good works and rituals to gain God’s favour. 

But worse, much worse was to come: 

Number three: their Messiah made their religion obsolete. 

Hebrews 8:13 NIV 

[13] By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.8.13.NIV)

Do you fully understand what this means? All the rituals and rites, all the payments and prayers, all the prostrations and protestations aimed at securing a place in paradise were useless. A complete waste of time and energy. An exercise in complete and utterly futility. 

Why? 

Acts 4:12 NIV 

[12] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.4.12.NIV)

But the very business of religion is to sell that hope to other people. If Pharisees and priests and pastors cannot entice people to give on the basis of getting them into Heaven, then...? 

And that is the very point of it. Religion of any variety simply becomes nothing less than a fraudulent timeshare. Even false teachers who claim to be Christians find themselves like the rioting idol makers in Ephesus, irate that their con trade has been exposed and desperate to harm those who have exposed it (Acts 19:23-41). 

Let me tell you, I have seen persecution like this first hand. I was in a Christian mission team driven out from a village by an Orthodox priest because we were ‘stealing the bread from my mouth’. This is real. And it is happening now. I don’t doubt that for a second. 

One of the reasons why Jesus was slain on the cross was because the Jewish leadership could not stand Him undermining their way of life. Do we honestly think for one second that anything has changed? 

The reality is that those who believe in salvation by grace through faith and not works will experience persecution, rejection and opposition at some point. The Christian Gospel is so fundamentally different that people will react against it  

And that is why so many do not stand as believers. Jesus Himself explained it: 

Matthew 13:20-21 NIV 

[20] The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. [21] But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.13.20-21.NIV)

The big question is: will we stand? 

Our travel through Galatians has brought us through the many and varied landscapes of faith. We have seen Paul’s disputes with the Galatians, Peter and Jewish false teachers. We have seen his strong and incontrovertible arguments for salvation by grace through faith.

We have also seen his challenging teaching that shows us what it is like to truly live by faith in the Son of God who gave His life for us. 

But Galatians leaves us with two challenging questions: 

Firstly, is this what you believe? Do you truly believe that following Jesus is the only way to Heaven? 

Secondly, does it show in the way you live? Do you live a life of love, or are you a Christian in name only, but a functional nihilist who lives as if there was no God? 

Those are questions only we can answer. But we must. Our eternal salvation depends on it. 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I thank You for this wonderful, but challenging letter to the Galatians. I believe You are the only way to heaven.  I want to live like I believe. Show me what I need to change, I pray. Amen. 

Questions for Contemplation

1. Why don’t people stand up for Jesus? What do these verses say are the reasons why they give in? Are you affected by any of these reasons? 

2. Why was Paul persecuted? What did this have in common with Jesus? 

3. Answer the two questions posed at the end of this meditation? What will this mean for you?  improve in your own life right now, and why?