Chapter 6

There are four points of introduction to this chapter. 1. Concept roll-with-the-punch, same concept as found in Philippians 4:11,12; 2. Don’t race your motor, found in Philippians 4:6,7; Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7; 3. Rebound — 1 John 1:9; Keep moving, the principle of walking, running.

The seven points of rebound

1. The existence of the carnal Christian — 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Romans 7:15; Galatians 5:16-21.

2. The mechanics of rebound — 1 John 1:9.

3. The alternative to rebound is discipline — Romans 12:6.

4. The discouragement to rebound: legalism and other Christians — Luke 15:11-32; Matthew 18:23-33.

5. The principle of helping other believers to rebound — Galatians 6:1.

6. The importance of rebound: the only way to be filled with the Spirit is through rebound; the only means by which we can serve God is rebound. The implication is that we all fail, there are none of us perfect, we are all here by the grace of God, and we are all able to produce for the Lord on the basis of rebound.

7. Productiveness on the basis of rebound.

The biblical perspective of the subject of sin: seven areas of Christian sin which are generally not covered

1. The spirit of pride, Because of an exalted feeling based on success or good position, or because of good training , appearance, natural gift or abilities, one is often proud. Hence, the inner feeling of self-importance. This is one of the areas which is mentioned by inference in Galatians 6.

2. The love or the lust for human approbation and praise — the secret desire to be noticed and recognised by the Christian herd, the love of supremacy, drawing attention by conversation or exhibitionism or by playing spiritual king of the mountains.

3. Social interaction: anger or impatience, touchy and sensitive nature, resentment and retaliation when disapproved or contradicted, jealousy, sour grapes, envy, etc.

4. Self-will, the concept of a stubborn or unteachable nature, a disposition to be argumentative, harsh, bitter, a nit-picker, one who is critical and who minds the business of others more than his own.

5. Tendency to magnify the faults and feelings of others while emphasising your own virtue, the concept of having an unpleasant feeling when others succeed and prosper.

6. Negative disposition: a peevish, fretful disposition that loved to be coaxed and honoured; or, a dishonest deceitful disposition, or a disposition which tends toward discouragement and despondency under pressure, or an attempt to solve one’s problems by hysteria and tantrums.

7. Apathy: indifference to doctrine and scripture in general.

In verses 1-5 we have some of the facets of rebound generally not covered in other parts of scripture. For example, in verse 1 we have the concept of one believer helping another believer to get back in fellowship.

Verse 1 — “Brethren,” those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; “if,” a third class condition: maybe he will be and maybe he won’t; “if a man be overtaken in a fault.” God has made provision so he doesn’t have to be, but we also have the old sin nature and it means that obviously at some time or another we are going to be overtaken by a fault. The word ‘man’ here is a reference to the believer, and the Greek word used is a)nqrwpoj and refers to man in his negative sense rather than man in his noble sense and, of course, the idea of man in his negative sense is the carnal believer. (The other Greek word is a)nhr, referring to man in the sense of his nobility. It is often used for the believer in fellowship and filled with the Spirit) This indicates that the third class condition means that at some time or another everyone is going to step out of line, sooner or later. Therefore it is necessary for someone else to come along and help this believer get back in fellowship. ‘Be overtaken’ is an aorist tense and means to be overtaken in a point of time. The passive voice means that the individual receives the sin, indicating that at some time they are in some area of pressure and they succumb to it. The subjunctive mood means that human volition is involved in sin, and that includes believers, of course. There is always that old gimmick that people try to throw, and that is the idea that once you become a Christian you never willingly sin again. This is not true. It is very rare that a believer doesn’t know what he is doing and he does it deliberately. But we have developed this kind of protective system of rationalism as if to say that we didn’t really know what we were doing. The subjunctive mood here recognises the fact that we do deliberately sin. The word ‘fault’ means a falling aside, a lapse, a false step. So the principle here is instead of taking each step in the Spirit we take steps outside of the Spirit. ‘Fault” is described above in seven categories.

“ye which are spiritual” — any believer who is filled with the Spirit. The problem here is for the individual to determine for himself whether he is spiritual or not. On other words, the warning is this: Do not ever try to help someone else get back in fellowship when you are out yourself. You cannot do it; “restore such an one” — ‘restore’ is in the present tense, which means when you are in fellowship and the other believer is out you ought to make it a habit of helping them get back in fellowship. Interestingly enough, the word does not imply or indicate in any way that we are to be critical of those who get out of fellowship. You cannot help others get back in fellowship by being critical of what they have done. In fact, that is not the key. The key is that they must be critical of what they have done. That is confession — 1 John 1:9; 1 Corinthians 11:31. But neither can you help them get back in fellowship by being sympathetic with what they have done. This requires the filling of the Spirit to avoid criticising them. The present tense here means that we are to make it a lifetime habit of restoring but it must be done apart from criticism — you provide information. This verb means to provide information but it does not connote the idea of criticising. The right of criticism belongs to God’s Word, that is the absolute criterion. The word ‘restore’ is a medical term, it means to set a broken bone.

“in the spirit of meekness” — ‘in the Spirit’ is an instrumental case in the Greek, and the instrumental case means ‘by means of’ or ‘by instrumentality of the Spirit’, and this is a reference to the Holy Spirit. ‘Of meekness’ is a genitive of source and it means the Holy Spirit has the ability, when He controls the life, to produce in us meekness. ‘The Spirit of meekness’ means the Holy Spirit is the source of meekness, and this meekness is mental attitude grace. This is the only way that you can help another believer get back in fellowship.

“considering thyself” — the word ‘considering’ is a present active participle, which means you must habitually and continually consider yourself. it is a military word which means to make a reconnaissance. In other words, view yourself very carefully; “lest thou also be tempted.” The word ‘lest’ is really a negative purpose clause, and it should be “that” plus a negative; ‘tempted’ refers to temptation to get out of fellowship. Remember that where you find the word “temptation” it is different from the actual sin. There are three sources of temptation — the world, the flesh, and the devil — and there is one source of sin: the old sin nature.

The seven principles whereby a believer can help another believer to rebound

The fact that believers must be involved in the rebound of other believers is taught in 2 Corinthians 2:5-11.

1. You must teach and encourage the use of 1 John 1:9.

2. Do not hold the believer’s sins against him or gossip about them — Colossians 3:13.

3. Treat other believers in grace — Matthew 18:23ff.

4. You must be filled with the Spirit so that you can have the mental attitude of grace when you deal with other believers out of fellowship — Galatians 6:1.

5. Remember that God rewards the believer who enters into the ministry of restoring other believers — James 5:19,20.

6. Never get out of fellowship because some other believer rebounds — e.g. elder brother in the prodigal son, Luke 15.

7. Never be bitter or upset because some other believer does not appear to receive the discipline you think he should receive. Remember that discipline is in the hands of the Lord.

Verse 2 — the principle of helping others rebound. Note verse 5. There is no contradiction here. Notice in verse 2, “Bear ye one another’s burdens” (plural), then in verse 5, “Every man shall bear his own burden”. This tells us when we have so close a context, two things which are obviously antithetical, obviously we must have a category called laws of burdens. And we do have. So we need to have a good look at the three laws of burdens.

The first law is a selfward law, the second is a manward law, and the third is a Godward law. The selfward law is found in Galatians 6:5. The second law of burden is found in Galatians 6:2. The God ward law is the principle that God carries our burdens — 1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22; 37:4,5.

The first two words in verse 2 are one verb in the Greek, “Bear ye” means to carry something in your hand, or to carry it aloft. The word is used for carrying heavy burdens. It is a present active imperative. Present tense: make it a habit; active voice: you do it; imperative mood: this is an order.

“one another’s” — the word ‘another’ is the Greek word for another of the same kind — a)lloj. There are two different Greek words for ‘another’, the second is e(teroj, meaning another of a different kind. The word used here, a)lloj, brings us a very important point: You cannot bear the burden of an unbeliever, and it is not your responsibility to bear the burdens of an unbeliever; your responsibility is to give them the gospel. So this principle, the manward law of burdens, means that you can only bear the burdens of a fellow believer but never the burdens of an unbeliever. This word ‘burdens’ in verse 2 is in the plural and it means heavy burdens. It applies to troubles, afflictions, adversities, frustrations and testings. A part of Christian fellowship is bearing one another’s burdens.

We have a principle here. It is a law in which when you are commanded to do a series of things and there is no word to indicate a break it must always be done in the same manner. How are you supposed to restore someone in the Spirit of meekness? “You who are spiritual.” The same is true in the concept of burden bearing. In bearing someone else’s burdens, hearing someone else’s troubles, you must not condemn them. You must not be critical. You can point out things which may be necessary but your objective is to help them to see their burdens and their problems from the divine viewpoint. Everything that we were supposed to do in restoring a believer in verse 1 now applies to verse 2 in bearing someone else’s burdens. When you have a series of things that you must do, if the context tells you how to do one and it doesn’t differentiate in doing the other in another way you do them all in the same way. You do them in the filling of the Spirit, you have that mental attitude grace, and so on.

By bearing one another’s burdens “we fulfill the law of Christ” — aorist active imperative. The word ‘fulfill’ is an aorist tense. There is no word “so” in the Greek here. When you keep on bearing the burdens of others, when you can listen to their troubles, you fulfill the law of Christ. Why do we change to the aorist imperative? For this reason: In the point of time when you are listening to someone else’s troubles and helping them, bearing their burdens, in that point of time you are fulfilling the law of Christ.

What is the law of Christ? It is mentioned in Galatians 5:14 — “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, in that thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

There is a warning to those who listen to the troubles of other people, to those who counsel, a warning to those who restore other believers. You can’t enter into this ministry without someone complimenting you and telling you how wonderful you are, a genuine expression of their appreciation. After a while, if you hear this often enough, then you may begin to really believe it! So the great danger in this type of ministry with any believer is pride. That is the warning of verse 3.

Verse 3 — the deceptiveness of pride. “For if a man think himself”; ‘if’ introduces a first class condition. This is a true situation; “to be something [and he does].” After restoring the believers out of fellowship in verse 1, after bearing the burdens of other believers in verse 2, he has now come to the place where he begins to think of himself in terms of ego. The word ‘think’ means to presume, to conclude. This is present tense which means he makes it a habit of concluding this. “To be” is a present active infinitive — that he keeps on being something, or that he has “arrived,” we might say; “when he is nothing” — ‘nothing’ is the perspective of grace, it describes all believers who have ever lived in all ages. In the perspective of grace we are nothing. Our assets are nothing because we operate on divine assets and because we continue in this life by the grace of God and if there is any way we become a blessing to others we cannot personally take the credit; “he deceives himself.” The present tense means he keeps on deceiving himself, and this word means to deceive yourself in your own mind, in the realm of mental attitude. This self-deception is exactly what the legalists have been practicing and they have now persuaded the Galatians to adopt it. This was the problem with the Galatians at this point. They were so loaded with legalism that they could no longer fulfill the functions of verses 1 & 2.

There are five ways in which the believer can deceive himself

1. To ignore the existence of carnality in the Christian life — 1 John 1:8,10.

2. In context, to reject the principle of grace while helping others — or pride.

3. To depend on the energy of the flesh — 1 Corinthians 3:18.

4. To hear and not apply the Word of God — James 1:22.

5. To be religious and legalistic and guilty of sins of the tongue — James 1:26.

Verse 4 — a criterion for production. Never test your production by comparing your works with someone else. That is the worst thing you could do. We do this in life, especially business where it is necessarily so, but when it comes to the Christian life you cannot compare your production with that of someone else. The criterion for production is never comparison with the works of others. And this is what the Judaisers had been trying to sell to the Galatians.

“But let every man prove his own work.” The phrase ‘let prove’ means to put something forward to the test for the purpose of approval. The proud one must test his own works by an absolute criterion, the Word of God. The proud one, of course, doesn’t do this. “Let every man” is literally ‘each one.’ The word ‘work’ here means production.

“and then shall he have rejoicing” — ‘then shall he have’ is a future tense, future from the time that he tests it. You test it by the Word of God; “rejoicing in himself [inside of himself].” It isn’t a matter of trying to compare one’s self with someone else; “and not in another [of the same kind].” In other words, he is not playing spiritual king of the mountains. The principle is that one must keep his eyes on the Word when he looks at any production that might exist in his life. Never compare it with others.

Why? Because in the first place production is always based on grace. In the second place, production varies with the spiritual gift of the individual. Difference in spiritual gifts will make difference in production. In the third place, all production in the Christian life is based on the filling of the Spirit. Hence, bona fide measure of production is how much time is logged in the filling of the Spirit. In the fourth place, evaluation of production lies with the omniscience of God. He is the one who sees inside us.

Verse 5 — the first law of burden. Every believer is responsible for his own production. “For every man [literally, ‘each’] shall bear his own burden.” We have a different word for burden now. The word in verse 2 was baroj; in verse 5 we have a word which has nothing whatever to do with the previous word: fortion which refers to a weight which is very easy to carry. It means a burden which is really not a burden. A fortion is a burden which is not a burden but could be a burden; it is not in essence a burden. This word means that our production is not a burden. We are to be responsible or bear our own production. Our production never becomes a burden unless it becomes a matter of human pride. “Shall bear” is future tense, a reference to the judgment seat of Christ. We will be responsible for our own production at the judgment seat of Christ. The believer’s production is really based on two separate factors: the rebound technique — apart from rebound there is no filling of the Spirit, and apart from the filling of the Spirit there is no production; knowledge of God’s Word which is the absolute criterion and forms the perspective for evaluating out production and bearing one another’s burdens, helping other people with their problems, and so on.

In verses 6 and following we have the aftermath of rebound. The first aftermath is found in verse six: fellowship as a result of rebound. And fellowship means fellowship in the study of God’s Word. Once we get out from under the pride factor, or whatever it may be that keeps us out of fellowship, we no longer compete with other believers but we relax and have fellowship with them in the Word.

Verse 6 — “Let him that is taught in the word” — ‘him that is taught’ is present tense. It means constantly taught, habitually taught; emphasising, of course, the importance of constantly listening to the teaching of the Word. The passive voice (subject receives the action of the verb): would indicate you right now if you happened to be listening. You are receiving teaching. ‘In the word’ is a reference to the canon of scripture.

Now what do you do when you receive teaching in the Word? You are to communicate. What does it means to communicate? Whatever it means it is two things: it is present tense, imperative mood. It is an order. The word communicate here in its meaning has two possibilities: to remunerate one who teaches the Word, and while that is a true principle it isn’t the principle found here. There are four reasons why is does not mean to give money to those who teach in this passage. The word “communicate” has two different meanings in the Greek, one of them has to be acceptable and one has to fit, and one can’t.

1. Paul would be asking for money at a very poor time. He is chewing out the Galatians for legalism.

2. Giving money is not the subject of the context. It is in Philippians but not here.

3. Giving money is not the problem of the Galatians, they are very generous.

4. No special offering is indicated at this time.

The only other possibility is that this word “communicate” means to have fellowship through listening to Bible teaching. What is the point? You cannot take in the teaching of God’s Word when you are out of fellowship. Now when you are back in fellowship you can listen to God’s Word, you can take it in, and this is an order: “communicate” — take in God’s Word.

There are three reasons why it means this:

1. Because of the context. Paul is saying you Galatians have fellowship in the Word with the teachers of grace, and not with teachers of the law. They have been communicating with teachers of the law.

2. Because teachers of grace have “good things” for the believer from the Word, whereas the teachers of the law have grievous things — not “good things.”

3. Every believer stands alone in his own personal responsibility to get the Word. It is possible to come and hear the Word and not get it because you don’t listen, you don’t concentrate. The true meaning of communicate here is to concentrate on the Word. You cannot concentrate on the Word unless you are filled with the Spirit.

Corrected translation: “Let him that [habitually] receives teaching [in the Word] concentrate on the one that teacheth in [the sphere of] all good things.”

So the aftermath of rebound is the ability to absorb God’s Word, and through the absorption of God’s Word the ability to become oriented to the Christian way of life; and through such orientation the ability to produce, to serve the Lord.

The principle we find in verses 7 & 8 is that we are going to sow what we reap, only the reaping or the harvest is reward and the sowing is production in time. The believer is never going to reap reward in eternity unless he produces in time and all production in time is based upon one concept: rebound. Rebound is the right to be filled with the Spirit and the right to produce.

Verse 7 — “Be not deceived” — one of the great dangers in the Christian life is that we often deceive ourselves. Self-deceit is based upon ignorance of doctrine. ‘Be not deceived is’ in the present tense: keep on being not deceived, habitually be not deceived. It is in the imperative mood, and in this case the present tense plus the imperative mood means to stop being deceived, which means they are already in the mill of deception; they have been taken in by the legalists, by the Judaisers who came to the Galatian churches. They have already been deceived, now it is time to stop it. So we translate, “Stop being deceived.” The passive voice means that they have received the deceit. “God is not mocked” — again, present tense. God never is mocked. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that they are turning up their nose at God. How is it possible for a Christian to turn up his nose at God? He does it by legalism, operating in the energy of the flesh — “for whatsoever” — ‘whatsoever’ is not whatsoever at all, it is ‘for if’, and the ‘if’ is a third class condition: maybe yes, and maybe no — “a man soweth” — maybe he will sow and maybe he won’t. The word ‘soweth’ is aorist tense; in a point of time he sows. The subjunctive mood is the potential that goes with the third class condition. In a point of time a man may sow to the flesh but he doesn’t have to — “that shall he also harvest”. The word ‘reap’ simply means to harvest. This is a future tense and it means that what we sow in a point of time we will harvest in phase three at the judgment seat of Christ. We sow in phase two and we harvest in phase three. What God does for us in time is not based upon what we do but on what Christ has done. We receive blessing in time because of Christ — because we are in Christ.

Verse 8 — “For he that soweth to his flesh” — ‘He that soweth’ is a present active participle and it means he who habitually plants in the sphere of the flesh. The flesh has to do with the old sin nature and it has to do with the believer operating in the sphere of the old sin nature; “shall of the flesh also reap corruption.” ‘Shall reap’ is a future tense again, future from the point of sowing. Sowing to the flesh is what you do when you are out of fellowship and so you can expect to reap or to harvest corruption. The word ‘corruption’ simply means that which rots away, that which is not permanent, and there is no reward from your production when you are out of fellowship.

By way of contrast, “but he that soweth to the Spirit.” How do you sow to the Spirit? 1 John 1:9. If you are out of fellowship you are filled with the Spirit by getting into fellowship by the use of 1 John 1:9 — “shall reap of the Spirit.” ‘Shall reap’ is, again, future tense showing what happens after you sow. ‘Of the Spirit’ is literally, ‘from the source of the Spirit.’ The Spirit is the source of this reaping, and notice that it says “life everlasting.” In this particular case you don’t get eternal life by sowing to the Spirit. What it means it what you sow in life when you are filled with the Spirit will last forever. In other words, you are going to harvest from the source of the Spirit life everlasting. In phase three you are going to harvest. The issue here is not salvation, the issue here is sowing and reaping production and reward.

Principle: It is impossible to be filled with the Spirit apart from rebound; it is impossible to produce apart from being filled with the Spirit; and when you produce in the filling of the Spirit you have that which is eternal. Rebound, then, is the key to experiential Christianity.

In verses 9,10 we have production.

Verse 9 — “And let us not be weary,” present tense, linear aktionsart. Let’s make it a habit of never getting weary. The word to be weary is not really to be weary at all, it means to become mentally discouraged, to faint in the mind. It is very easy to faint in the mind. Sometimes people think that they are the only ones who are doing anything for the Lord. Everyone else seems to be out of step, etc., “in well doing” — the word here is ‘beautiful doing’, ‘noble doing.’ There are two Greeks words for beautiful or well. One of them is kaloj, and the second one is a)gaqoj. The word kaloj is used here and it means noble or beautiful, and it always emphasises the outer, whole a)gaqoj always emphasises the inner. So when the Greeks said someone was kaloj they always meant that they had beautiful features or a beautiful body, or they were graceful. But when they used the word a)gaqoj they were referring to the inner characteristics: stability, inner peace, etc.

“Let us not get discourage from the things which other people see are good” is the concept here, “for in due season [God’s season] we shall reap.” God’s season is the judgment seat of Christ. We harvest after we sow; “if we do not faint.” There is no ‘if’ in the original here. Instead we have a conditional participle, so everything is found in the phrase “we faint not.” It is a present tense referring dramatically to phase two — if we do not faint in phase two. The passive voice: the believer receives faintness because of criticism or something else or that sort. The participle here is a conditional participle which means, in effect, it all depends on us whether we faint or not. God has made provision so that we do not have to faint and everything depends on us. Here, then, is one of the great lessons of the Christian life: Avoid becoming weary; avoid becoming mentally despondent or mentally discouraged, or even mental apathy toward the Christian life.

Verse 10 — “As we have therefore opportunity,” because we as Christians are not to go around and mind other people’s business. Here are times that other people’s business becomes our business because they come to us and make it our business, and then we have the opportunity to help them. But we are not to stick our nose in other people’s affairs. The present tense means that we are going to keep on having opportunity. The subjunctive mood means that our volition will be involved when the opportunity presents itself — “let us do good,” present tense, we are to keep on doing good. But this is not the ordinary word for ‘do.’ This Greek word means to exert one’s power and ability in an operation. It means to use one’s ability in running a business, to accomplish or to carry out a business. It is often used in the Greek language for an executive who is able to work out ways to make the business run properly. We as believers in this life are here on God’s business, and in that sense every believer is an executive and every believer is the administrator of God’s business. So, “let us administer good.” The ‘good’ is our second word here, a)gaqoj. This means inner good or good of intrinsic value, good which cannot be seen. Many things that you do are going to be a)gaqoj. They will not be seen by others and it is not necessary for them to be seen by others; “unto all” is literally ‘face to face with all.’ You can’t look people in the eye if you are thinking ill of them. ‘All’ means all people; “especially unto them [face to face with] who are of the household of faith [the family of God, those who are born again].”

Verse 11 — Paul’s handicap. “Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand.” ‘Ye see’ is an aorist active imperative. In other words, he is saying ‘Look!’ When the Galatians saw the autograph, the original letter, they noticed the fact that he wrote in large hand writing. Paul wants them to see that he has written this in large letters. The reason is because ‘I have written’ is what is called an epistolary aorist, an aorist tense in which the writer puts himself in the place if the reader and then describes as past what is present to himself, knowing that it will take a little while for the letter to be delivered but recognising the fact that when they finally get the letter it will be in the past tense. It may be two months before the Galatians get that letter and what was true at that moment is past tense when they read it. It is important that we understand this as an epistolary aorist because it tells us that Paul did not dictate this letter to an amanuensis. Often Paul dictated his letters but in this case he didn’t. He wrote this letter himself in large letters. Why? Because he was so burned up when he found out what the legalists were doing in Galatia that he just had to sit down and write it himself. The Greek says here, “with what large letters [plural] I have written”. Why large letters? Because he has eye trouble — Galatians 4:15. He has to be able to see himself what he is writing; “unto you,” dative of advantage. It is to their advantage to get the information in the Galatian epistle. As a matter of fact it is for our advantage, too, to have this tremendous dissertation on the evils and the dangers of legalism.

There is a principle behind this. Paul has a handicap — his eyesight. Paul is not hindered by an handicap. There is no handicap in human life which hinders one from serving the Lord. Paul is producing; Paul is sowing to the Spirit; Paul is sowing in the power of God the Holy Spirit even though he has a handicap. This very letter to the Galatians is a testimony to a man carrying on beautifully in spite of a handicap. So never become weary, fainting in your mind, because of a handicap. Physical handicaps, no matter how painful or how difficult, do not hinder the believer from fulfilling the Lord’s appointed service in phase two.

In verses 12 & 13 we have the last emphasis on the Judaisers.

Verse 12 — “As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh.” ‘As many as’ is a reference to the Judaisers, to the legalists who have come and led the Galatians astray. The word ‘desire’ means a desire which comes from the emotional pattern. To make a fair show means to make a good impression. it is an aorist active infinitive and it expresses the purpose of the Judaisers. it is the purpose of the Judaisers to make a good impression in the flesh.

“they constrain you” — the word mean to compel. It is in the present tense which means they keep on compelling you to be circumcised; “to be circumcised.”

Why d they do this? “Only lest” is literally, that they not. ‘That they not’ introduces a negative purpose clause; “that they should not suffer persecution.” They don’t want to be persecuted; they don’t want people to run them down. In other words, if they get so many circumcised the Mosaic law crowd will be on their side but if they centre everything on the cross then they will be persecuted and they didn’t want to be persecuted by their own kind.

What is the principle? Legalists will persecute legalists.

Verse 13 — “For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law” — they are making the Galatians keep the law but they don’t keep it themselves; “but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh” — that they may boast in your flesh [ the flesh which is removed in the operation of circumcision]. They want to boast in the operation. The word ‘glory’ means boast. It is an aorist tense which means in a point of time when you were circumcised. The subjunctive mood indicates that maybe they will have a cause to boast and maybe they will not, it just depends whether you are fool enough to fall into their legalistic trap.

Verses 14 & 15 — Paul’s emphasis. The emphasis should never be circumcision. What should be the true emphasis. In verse 14: the emphasis must be the cross. That is grace. In verse 15: the emphasis must be positional truth. That is grace.

Verse 14 — “But God forbid” — a very poor translation. This is an idiomatic expression in one word in the Greek. It is the aorist middle optative and it should be translated with the negative, ‘May it not happen [to me].’ The word “God” does not occur at all; “that,” introducing a purpose clause; “my purpose should be to glorify anything except in the cross.” This is the basis of boasting: boasting not about what we have done but boasting about what Christ has done. What Christ has done is mentioned by way of the cross; “of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [reference to the cross] the world is crucified unto me.” The world is the ungodly order of things arrayed against God under the domination and the influence of Satan. The world refers to doing good in the name of good; the world is everything from socialism to communism to United Nationsism, to any form of internationalism, to anything which is contrary to God’s Word. This is in the perfect tense, it has been crucified in the past with the result that it keeps on being crucified. The passive voice means that he has received this by the cross — “unto me” is dative of separation. Paul is separated from human viewpoint. The world is the sum total of human viewpoint and by the cross Paul has been crucified to the human viewpoint; therefore a complete separation takes place; “and I unto the world.” Here we have a double crucifixion. The world put Paul on the cross and Paul puts the world on the cross. That is the concept. Paul has severed all connection with human viewpoint.

Verse 15 — the second emphasis: positional truth. Why the cross? Why positional truth? Because in the cross we have something that Christ did for us. “For in [in union with] Christ Jesus” — positional truth. Why positional truth? Because positional truth tells us what the Holy Spirit has done for us; “neither circumcision availeth anything.” Circumcision doesn’t cut any ice with God. ‘Availeth’ is a Greek word, ‘is’ — “nor uncircumcision” — never at any time, in other words; “but a new creature.” We have two different Greek words for new. The first one is kaine and the second is neoj. The first one is used here. It means new in quality. In other words, freshness. The second word means new in point of time. It connotes the idea of recent. The word new is important here. It isn’t circumcision that is important, it is being a new in quality creature: “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new in quality creature” — 2 Corinthians 5:17. The ‘new’ emphasises what God has done for us. We are new in quality because of what God has done, because we have eternal life, because we have imputed righteousness, because we are the heirs of God and joint heirs with the Son of God, etc.

Verse 16 — the principle of grace. “As many as” — reference to believers; “walk according to this rule” — by means of, an instrumental concept. ‘This rule’ is literally ‘by means of this canon.’ The canon or the criterion in context is the truth of grace applied to experience; “peace” — a part of inner happiness; “mercy” — grace in action; “and to the Israel of God.” Who or what is the Israel of God? It is not the Church, though in this dispensation the Israel of God is a part of the Church. The Israel of God is the remnant according to the election of grace among Jews. It is the same term as is found in Romans 11:5. Believers are never called Israel in the New Testament. Israel refers to those who are Jews by nationality and are born again. In this context we have a reference to the true Jew of this age, i.e. the Jew who has trusted in Christ as his saviour. But this does not refer to Gentile believers. Paul distinguishes between Jewish and Gentile believers at this point because of something he said previously in verse 15.

Verse 17 — Paul’s enlistment papers. “From henceforth let no man trouble me.” In other words, after writing this don’t anyone ever give me static on the subject of legalism. The word ‘trouble’ means to bring about something to someone such as causing annoyance or trouble; “for I carry about in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” This has erroneously construed to mean that he has been somehow terribly abused. He has suffered many things but that is not the point here. The Greek word for ‘marks’ is simply the identification card or serial number of the recruit in the Roman army after he has been accepted as a soldier. It is his graduation certificate from basic training.

From “The Military Institutions Of The Romans”, pages 17,18 — “The recruit, however, should not receive the military mark as soon as he is enlisted. This mark was imprinted on the hands of the soldiers either with a hot iron or in some manner to make it indelible. He must first be tried if fit for service, whether he has sufficient activity and strength, he has the capacity to learn his duty and whether he has the proper degree of military courage. For many, although promising enough in appearance, are found unfit after trial. These are to be rejected and replaced by better men, for it is not the numbers but the bravery which carries the day. After their examination the recruits should then receive the mark and be taught the use of their own arms by constant and daily exercise.”

Why does Paul say not to give him any trouble? Because not only is he in the army of the Lord but he is a five star general in the army of the Lord.

Verse 18 — “Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with your spirit.” Why does he say “with your spirit”? He is referring to the human spirit and the human spirit is the only basis of absorbing spiritual phenomena. The big problem with the Galatians was that they have been made suckers out of by legalism because they did not know their doctrine well enough. Consequently he is now saying “with your spirit,” emphasising the importance of these Galatians getting information. Such information can only come to them through the human spirit.