Once again, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
17Finally, let no one cause me troubles, for I am bearing
the marks of Jesus in my body.
18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with the spirit of
you (pl.), brethren. Amen.
And so I come to The End. My notes indicate I embarked on
the study of this book on May 26, 2011. Today is July 14, 2013. Just over two
years. During that time, I took several breaks to spend time in the OT but
still I’m aware I’ve been at this for a long time.
I actually embarked on this study specifically because I
owned a John Eadie commentary on Galatians and wished to consort with my old
friend. He only wrote a few commentaries but I always find him a kindred
spirit. He loved to dig very deep, paid very close attention to the exegetical
and technical details of the text, and yet always emerges as a man of warm
faith. When I think about the Proverb, “He who walks with the wise will be wise”
my mind goes first to John Eadie. It’s always a treat to “walk” with him and
listen to his wisdom. And so it has been beyond my wildest imaginations.
As I related when I started, I’ve never “liked” Galatians. I’ve
read it many, many times but just never felt I really understood what was going
on. I didn’t realize just how much I didn’t
understand law and grace. I knew that was the subject of the book, but could
never make sense of it by my superficial reading. But, apart from John Eadie, I
may never have studied it because it is also a book about fighting. The whole
book is a fight. It is about a church fight. My soul is weary of church fights.
I’ve never been a fighter and I’m still not. So, given that it was a book that
didn’t make sense, about fighting which I don’t enjoy, I may have never taken
the time to study it.
But I am so glad I did. No matter where I am in the Bible, with
practically every verse I study it seems the Lord rocks my world. His truth is
again and again like atom bombs going off in my heart. “You shall know the
truth and the truth shall set you free!” Wow did He mean it! Sweet, sweet
freedom. Freedom to rise above the petty goon I am, to learn to really love, to
really walk with Jesus, to practice the presence of His Spirit in me, to know
the Father, to actually live! But
that all said, I don’t know of any other book that has blown my mind like this
one. Grace. Wonderful glorious liberating grace.
All my Christian life I have wondered at grace. Very early I
realized that the Lord loves me regardless of how little I deserve it. Very
early I realized that He will never leave me nor forsake me and very early I
learned to lean on Him constantly as I worked through the minutes of my days.
But I puzzled over exactly what to do with Law. As I related earlier, what I
practiced and taught is what I would now call “grace with an asterisk.”
Salvation was by grace and God loves you no matter what … but there are a lot
of “rules” to live by. It particularly puzzled me to note verses like in I
Timothy 1: “Laws are for law-breakers.” And it always puzzled me how little
good it seemed to do to teach people the Bible. It was like they never “get it.”
Now I understand why. God doesn’t bless “grace with an asterisk”. He doesn’t
bless teaching people grace out one side of our mouth, then putting them under
law out the other. I never, never, never realized just how much it is true that
legalism eclipses the face of God in people’s hearts. And if they cannot see
God, they will not change. “For this is eternal life, that they might know
Thee, the only true God …” That they might know
You. It is only in beholding the face of the Lord that we are changed into
that image, from glory to glory. They must
see God.
It is frightful to realize that the biggest enemy of a real
relationship with God is religion!
Religion is what the Pharisees had … and they crucified the Messiah. What Jesus
had and what He wants for us is a real, intimate, personal relationship with
the living God. Jesus was consumed with that relationship, seemed to have
little regard for “the rules” and the religionists crucified Him for it.
Interestingly, the tax collectors and prostitutes loved Him for it. Mary
Magdalene crawled to His feet one day possessed with seven demons and His “religion”
set her free. If the only “religion” she’d ever known was the Pharisees’, I
dare say she’d have died in her sins. Christianity was hopelessly and
incorrigibly legalistic all through the 20th century and America
went to hell in a handbasket. All non-believers saw was the legalism and just
like in Jesus’ day, it eclipsed the face of God in their hearts. They never
caught a glimpse of His beautiful face. We hid it behind our legalism.
Only grace reveals the face of God. And that is grace without an asterisk. Grace is all about a
Jesus who died for us “while we were yet sinners.” Grace is all about being
able for the first time to sit and look into the face of God without fear,
without guilt, and without that face being one that rises and falls with my
performance. Grace is not about resolving to do a better job, to keep the rules
better. It is about awakening to the Holy Spirit within me and letting Him give
me the heart of God that I might see the world through His eyes, love people
with His love, make the choices I make because I’m enamored with Him.
I realize now all I ever really wanted was to know God.
Legalism only got in the way. I pray it never will again.
I’ve got a lot to learn. I know that. That is why I’ll move
on now to another book of the Bible. I want to learn more. I want to know more
of grace. I want to know more of God. But, that said, I feel like this study of
the book of Galatians has been the most liberating of all the Bible studies I’ve
ever done. So much of the Bible makes so much more sense to me. God makes more
sense to me. Certainly the Holy Spirit makes more sense to me.
I could make a few comments on the text of Galatians
6:17,18, but I don’t suppose they’d add anything to what I’ve already learned.
I could point out that I still don’t understand why Paul seems to teach the
unity of faith, that there no longer is any difference between Jew and Gentile,
and yet, it seems the rest of the apostles made a definite distinction between
them. It seems to me the Jewish Christians continued to tolerate grace/law. I
totally don’t understand that still. But … I’m thrilled with what I do
understand. It’s hard to believe that another study could be this liberating in addition to what I’ve learned, but
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!” “Call
unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you know
not!”
Seek and you shall find. Ask and it shall be given you.
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Teach me more!
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